King Pin Business Cards

Visit any household in the world and chances are you will find fridge magnets on their refrigerator. For some, odd reason everyone has them. Now think laterally.

What if you as a business owner were to create a magnetic business card and give it out as a fridge magnet. Now I don’t know about you, but in either my home or my office the fridge is one of the most often used appliances around. I have fridge magnets so old I can’t even remember where they came from. These so called “speciality items” stand a good chance of being used, even if only to support a child’s picture or newspaper clipping. The potential exposure is an untapped goldmine.

For this to work effectively you would have to make your magnetic business card stand out from the crowd using a shape, color or design. An expensive option would be to make it glow in the dark, so it’s always visible, even with the lights out. You will need to give it some value other than as a paper hanger. Couple it with a voucher or discount offer, but not one that would mean having to take it off the refrigerator, because then you lose visibility. Keep the information it contains neutral, that is, nothing with dates, calendars, fashion items or anything that can date it. Once it looks out of date it will become ignored and lose its value to you. It may still support those paintings, but it won’t be marketing your business.

Most families have a telephone in the kitchen. Make the most of this by making your number stand out, or give it pride of place. Add a call to action underneath if you have the space. Use it to talk to and engage the audience, they are far more likely to call you. Use sales techniques like the call to action, “call now and save $$$”, or “Call now for free samples”.

With a little imagination and creativity you could create a useful and valuable marketing tool. A magnetic business card/fridge magnet could be on someone’s refrigerator for years and years. There are companies who spend millions of dollars trying to do that, and you could do it for a few dollars. Making them the same dimensions as a business card with be a subtle reminder that that is what it is. Making it more likely that one day your customer might actually use it for the purpose for which it was intended.

This is only a suggestion of course, because working with different shapes is an ideal way of making your brand stand out. Effective use of the real estate on the card is also important. As already mentioned, ensuring the phone number is prominent and easily readable is an excellent way to get results. But don’t forget the rest of your business contact information. It would be remiss to ignore important information in place of a larger number.

This is just one way a creative businessman can use existing tools in different ways to make their business stand out from the crowd.

Coming up with marketing ideas or creative innovations is a full time job. Finding ways of grabbing the attention of an increasingly bored and advert avoiding public is getting harder by the day. The traditional ways of marketing and advertising are falling by the wayside. Television and newspaper marketing is slowly losing ground to the internet. Tivo and PVR’s sounded the death knell to TV advertising even though there was a move to stop these devices from being able to fast forward through the ad breaks.

Internet advertising is where it’s at. You can’t surf a site or watch a video without seeing some kind of advert. Millions of dollars and hundreds of man hours go into researching the most effective way of making you buy stuff you don’t need. Google have spend millions of dollars working on more intelligent ways to advertise, as have other giants like Amazon and Apple.

As a business owner you need to take whatever steps necessary to gain the attention of your target market. Then expend whatever means necessary to keep that attention. One innovation that made me smile is the meat card. One of the wackiest business card ideas I have ever seen, and I have seen a few.

There is a company in the US called meatcards.com who will laser etch your business contact details onto a strip of jerky to promote your business. This admittedly will appeal more to men than to women. After all they contain two of mans most favorite things, meat and lasers!

These admittedly novelty cards are a case in point of using imagination and perseverance to create a truly novel and effective way of getting attention. The card is impractical, won’t fit in a card wallet or rolodex and will probably end up smelling if kept in your pocket for any length of time. Despite this, it’s an excellent marketing tool. Who, when given this card isn’t going to remark on it. Then show his friends, who will in turn tell others. This cuts to the center of marketing and advertising, getting yourself talked about.

This idea will inevitably lead to others of a similar nature. As long as the ideas that come out aren’t too labored or manufactured then it should lead to some interesting times in all areas, not just business cards. It is fascinating the considering the amount of products and used up ideas there are in the world, people can still come up with something new. Being able to build on and adapt other people’s ideas is one of the marks of a true creative, as the product range and society at large expands, so do the subjects and inspiration for fresh ideas.

This meat card is just a single idea in a sea of millions, but it illustrates how imagination and application can collaborate to get attention and promote your business. It also demonstrates how a great design and concept can overcome its shortfalls.

Many businesses have used free or cheap resources to get started, myself included. There is no shame is trying to save as much money as possible when stepping out into the world on your own without the security of a paycheck.

There are many sites online and plenty of places in real life that provides free or cheap services and resources for the new business. Even local councils and governments have schemes to encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs to strike out on their own and make a success of things.

Care has to be taken however to make sure that what free or cheap resources you use don’t look it. Like with anything, if you shop at a discount store choose things that don’t look like they came from a discount store. Saves a lot of embarrassment, especially if they were clothes you bought!

Fortunately most of the resources you need for starting up a business, with the exception of a website and brand, look neither cheap nor expensive. Any businessman knows how difficult it is to get things started and make a success of things. A lot can be forgiven in the early days as long as the business ethic is there, and the work you do for clients is of good quality. There is a level of understanding between freelancers and small businessmen, you’ll know it when you see it. The small smile and knowing nod when you talk about the difficulties of getting started on your own.

Branding is something that anyone with a moderately creative mind can achieve with a little effort. There are plenty of free graphic or paint programs out there that can give you a blank canvas and the tools to make something great. Spend ten minutes with Google to find hundreds of websites with templates, fonts, shapes and a myriad of other resources to help you create an original design. You can make your own free business cards, stationery or other items with a computer and an afternoons work!

Making your own stuff is quite cathartic. There is something uniquely satisfying, looking at your own company, that you made, including the brand, logos, designs and those business cards. It can say a lot about your approach to business and the desire to make a success of things. There is no shame in making your own things in any part of life. Not everything has to have the polish of a multimillion dollar brand, especially not to begin with. There is nothing to say you can have things polished up by a professional further on down the line anyway, if you would want to.

I’m strangely attached to my brand. I spend a couple of afternoons on the computer just playing around, and came up with it. It doesn’t look professional and doesn’t have the panache of many bigger brands, but its mine, I made it, and for now at least I won’t part with it.

Magnetic business cards, or advertising magnets as they are also known allow businesses to market themselves and advertise in another new way. Although they can generally be stored in a card wallet like traditional cards, they are designed to stick onto a metal surface, thereby displaying your business details for all to see. Fridge magnets seem to stick around forever, even after the novelty has worn off. Most offices will have a refrigerator or metal surface to be able to display one so is a good marketing gimmick. In times when traditional marketing and advertising is falling on deaf ears it pays to be imaginative with ideas. Trying something different or a little unconventional can be a good way of publicizing something, as long as it’s done right.

These cards are designed the way any other card is and given to the printer via a digital file. For most designs the printer will use an offset printer to apply the design to the card. Instead of using thick paper, or art board as is usual, these designs are applied to a magnetic sheet. This is a sheet of thin steel with a magnet on one side and a thin veneer of vinyl on the other. It comes in large sheets which are imprinted and then cut to size. They come in varying thicknesses depending on requirements but start at 15mm thick and go up to 30mm. Deciding on thickness is a choice between size, weight and cost versus longevity.

The vinyl coating allows the ink to bind to the surface to take the imprint, and special solvent inks are used to provide a more durable and fade resistant finish. Ink needs a key to be able to bind to a surface. The steel/magnetic sheet is too smooth and the molecules too close together for the ink to be able to penetrate. By adding the vinyl coating, which has purposely loose packed molecules, the ink can stick without adding any more bulk or weight to the surface.

The ink is added to the plate as usual for offset printing and the sheet is fed into the press. The imprint is passed to the rubber blanket which is in turn pressed against the sheet, vinyl side to the ink.

Once printed, the sheet then has a coating of UV laminate to further protect the finish and allow the card to be cleaned without damaging it. Once dried the sheets are cut into shape, trimmed and rounded off to create a soft edged finish. Then they are ready for use.

Magnetic business cards aren’t that new, or that clever. They do offer something a little different, a variation of a theme that can be enough to get a business the attention it needs. While the market is as challenging and as competitive as it is now, it pays to explore every avenue open to you in order to get publicity and promotion.

Business cards are the most commonly used form of marketing in face to face dealings in the world today. For the most part they are a ritual undertaken when meeting new people or contacts. Many people never give much thought to the fact that they are actually marketing tools. They are used throughout the world as a standard form of introduction, with many cultures having entire rituals around giving and receiving them. Countries like Japan and China take great pains with their cards and will be mortally offended if you don’t treat them with respect when they give you one.

Business cards are used in far greater numbers than any other form of real life advertising now junk mail is pretty much useless. By real life, I mean non-electronic methods such as web promotion and email marketing and useless I mean filling our trash cans without being read.

Putting a little thought into it when you make your own business cards can give you a head start when competing with other companies. Many of them, as already mentioned just view them as a ritual and not as a marketing tool. Don’t make the same mistake and turn them into an effective publicity tool.

There are certain pieces of information that should always be on your business cards.

They are:

• Logo or Company Branding
• Business Name
• Business Address
• Your Name/Title
• Your Contact Phone Numbers
• Your Website Address
• Your Email Address

Once these elements are covered you‘re pretty much free to let your imagination run wild. Begin by putting yourself in your clients shoes. If the client was to put ten business cards on the table would yours stand out? If the answer is no then you need to go back to the drawing board and start again. If the idea of making your own business card doesn’t appeal, you can always hire someone to do it for you.

Ensure you use both sides of the cards to tell a story about you. Use bright colors, images, interesting photos or anything that takes your fancy. Do what you like as long as in the end it looks professional and says exactly what you want it to say to your target audience.

You aren’t limited to plain flat boring cards either. Think about the material, card, metal, plastic, or even fabric! The use of texture, rough, smooth, patterned. It doesn’t have to be flat either, although it is better if the dimensions remain standard, it isn’t written in stone. If the card is good enough, your audience will keep it, even if it doesn’t fit in a card wallet or Rolodex.

If you can get into the mindset of exploring every opportunity you will soon start picking up these little ideas for yourself. Making your own business cards, or using them as a marketing tool instead of just something you do is a good step towards promoting yourself and your business and hopefully taking a step ahead of those firms that don’t take these advantages.

Anyone who works for themselves knows setting up business is an expensive enterprise. Once all the administration is taken care of there is the branding, marketing, advertising and a million other expenses to take care of before you even earn a dollar. Considering the expense and adversities the average business faces, it is amazing that any new ones start at all. The overwhelming desire to express ourselves in business and make our own decisions drive us onwards and through these adversities.

There are many ways a new business can save money when starting out. Taking care of all your own administration, working out of the cellar until you can afford an office, not employing anyone to help you, selling the car and working completely online, the list goes on. One place not to scrimp is with the ‘face’ of the company.

From the outside, your company must look and feel quality, professional and authentic. It doesn’t matter what goes on behind closed doors, or how much scrabbling around or hunger goes into making it all work.

One of the most important aspects of any business is its identity. The overall impression that the brand and any visual cues give about you and your company. It is easy to regard these things as extravagant or an unnecessary expense, but that would be a mistake.

Nobody is saying you need to spend thousands of dollars getting creative people in to make a brand or pay someone to create a cool logo or anything like that. The advice is to be careful and clever about how you spend your money. Create or assist in creating a vibrant and energetic brand for your business. Unless you are in the funeral business you need to inspire and energize people into doing business with you. A coherent and professional looking brand will help you do this.

Stepping closer for a moment, what impression do you imagine a cheap business card will give a prospective client? Will it convey the feeling of quality or originality? Chances are it will present the impression of a business run on a shoestring, or someone who cuts corners or who doesn’t care enough to manage first impressions. That isn’t a good way to meet people.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on branding, personal or commercial, but you should spend something on it. Even if it’s time and effort creating your own. There is no excuse for a cheap business card or any other piece of corporate branding. Designers and design services are accessible enough by now that you can get something made for you that doesn’t cost a fortune and that will present the right impression to new people.

It may seem like an expense when you are starting out and have plenty of other seemingly more important expenses to worry about. Trust me though, there aren’t many more important things in business than creating a good first impression.

I didn’t start out as a business card designer, but that’s what I ended up doing. I quite like it actually because it’s a constant challenge. I have to get ideas and information onto a canvas the size of a credit card.

When clients ask me to create a business card for them, the most common request is, ‘Can you fit my company logo onto the card somewhere’. The answer is invariably, no.

A business card should be seen as a key. If the key fits it will be used. To fit it must reflect the values of the person and company it represents. Just copying an existing design onto a card is a mistake. It shows a lack of creativity and ideas and will not only reflect badly on the client, but me too.

I try and convince any client to use his business card designer to his fullest. After all, there is no point getting me to do the work an intern could do with a spare afternoon. A good design will take elements or an influence, say a color or shape from the main company brand. Then play around with it a little until it can fit the smaller format of the card. If this is done right then what we end up with is a blank card containing no information, but is instantly recognisable as the company in question. That’s the real test of a good logo or brand design. Does it say what you want it to say without any words? If the answer is no, then it’s back to the drawing board. If it’s a yes then we’re onto a winner.

Adding text to a card is pretty straightforward. The formula is normally the same. Company name, person’s name, number, email and company address. There are sometimes variations on this like adding a Twitter or Facebook address. All we can do here is play with the font a bit. Fonts should still use the influence of the overall brand, preferably the same font if it’s clean enough. There have been occasions when the font used in the brand was distinctive enough to be used as the design element to connect the two.

The material to use is 90% card, with the 10% opting for plastic or metal. There have been the odd fabric card which was a nightmare to design! You have to make the fabric interesting enough to stand out, but plain enough to carry the message. Not an easy task.

Shapes are pretty straightforward too, with most opting for the standard rectangle. Rounded edges can add a nice effect to some designs but not others, you have to be a bit careful with those. Fancy shapes or folding designs are cool, but take a lot of thinking about. You have to be creative while still retaining the portability of the card. You have to remember its purpose.

Overall I like what I do, there is enough freedom of expression while still obeying the laws of design and branding that I don’t think I’ll get bored for a long time to come!

NAPLES — Court Reporter – Attorneys for Brandy Bain Jennings, the Naples man sentenced to death row for a 1995 triple homicide at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant, concluded a special hearing in his case inside a Collier courtroom on Wednesday.

With prosecutors, they’ll submit closing arguments to a Collier judge, who will choose if Jennings’ original case was flawed and merits another look.

The hearing follows Jennings’ petition for post-conviction relief due to ineffective counsel, a regular action in death penalty instances.

It might also represent 1 of his last opportunities to escape death row. The Florida Supreme Court denied his appeal in 1998, and also the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to hear his situation the following year.

The evidentiary hearing, held before Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt, was continued from April, when testimony was taken for two days. Jennings was present both times, attentive and clad in an orange jumpsuit.

Wednesday morning, he listened as clinical psychologist Faye Sultan described the consequences of his chaotic upbringing. Raised amidst sexual abuse and moved often from point out to state, Jennings grew up without regular impulse control, Sultan stated.

He began drinking and doing drugs at an early age, producing him an overly sexualized substance abuser, Sultan stated.

“They don’t develop usually neurologically, and they don’t develop usually emotionally,” Sultan said.

Such an assessment of Jennings’ background should have been presented during his trial, his attorneys contend.

Jennings, 41, and his accomplice, Charles Jason Graves, 33, had been each convicted of three counts of capital murder and 1 count of robbery within the killings of Dorothy Siddle, 38, of Golden Gate; Vicki Smith, 27, of Copeland; and Jason Wiggins, 21, of East Naples throughout an early morning holdup at the restaurant on Collier Boulevard near Interstate 75.

The two former Cracker Barrel employees, Jennings and Graves bound their 3 victims and placed them inside a freezer on Nov. 15, 1995. Jennings, the state proved, then repeatedly slashed the throats from the victims, although Graves stood at the freezer door with a pellet gun to avoid their escape. They had planned the crime much more than a month ahead of time, hoping to snatch up to $15,000 in a simple parking lot robbery.

The two men were arrested in Las Vegas less than a month following the killings.

Jennings is being represented by Paul Kalil of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel. Assistant Point out Attorney Richard Montecalvo represented the state within the hearing, with assist from Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar.