Eternite Media

Business cards make great mini-flyers. A good stack easily fits into your purse, pocket, man bag, shoes, or any little piece of personal storage space you have on you. Even better, it fits nice n’ easy into your target clientele’s space as well, so you have a better chance at it having your card make it to their common places. Whether you are a business or a band, business card sized flyers are a great and inexpensive promotion tool.

First Things First- Don’t Print Your Own

Lets be honest, self printed business cards look like crap. At the very least they portray that you are not successful enough to have a good-looking card, and it’s pretty easy to tell when someone has done it them self. The reality is you may even spend more creating your own then having a small batch made.  A quick look at staples.com finds that the paper itself costs about $14 for 250 business cards. Now a big factor that people often forget is the cost per print on inkjet printers is fairly high. We found via Quality Logic’s “Cost Of Ink Per Page Analysis” study (http://www.qualitylogic.com/tuneup/uploads/docfiles/QualityLogic-Cost-of-Ink-Per-Page-Analysis_US_06-08-09.pdf) that states the average cost of ink per page is about $0.14 for color, standard print quality not photo. This adds another $3.50 to your cost (or $7 if you print on both sides) which brings the cost to print your cards to about $17.50 +/- for 250 one-sided cards depending on your printer and how much color you are using. At the time of the writing of this blog, 250 one sided, full-color offset printed business cards runs you about $16 from Eternite Media… ‘Nuff said.

Need To Know Info

Now that you are ready to check out professional printing, there are lots of options you need to consider. Not one is better then the other, but it is important to take the time to think about physical elements of your card just as much as the design. Both are equally important.

Stocks: There is a cornucopia of paper types (and other mediums) to print your cards on. You will find most cards will be in the 14pt – 16pt range- the higher the points, the thicker the card. One unit of thickness equals 1/1000 of an inch, so 14 pt. is actually .014 inches thick. Some other stock types include linen, vellum, and even plastic.

Thickness: You want to use a paper stock that is thick enough to withstand being in someone’s pocket. Many of the “do-it-yourself” inkjet and laser papers are really thin and last about 10 minutes. If your business card is going to be printed on an alternative stock like plastic you may want to go with a thinner card so it is not too bulky.

Coatings: Before we talk about what coatings are available, lets explain some lingo. C1S means Coated on 1 side, C2S means Coated on 2 sides. Usually a number after a coating code (when you don’t see C1S or C2S) may also let you know how many sides you will be coating.

Ultra Violet (UV)

UV coating is a plastic-like extremely glossy coating that is applied to print to offer durability and finish not available with AQ (Aqueous) coating. UV coating hardens on the sheet by applying a high intensity Ultraviolet light. If you don’t need to write on the product after it is printed, and you prefer a super-glossy finish, this is your best option. Cutting accuracy also is affected slightly as it is hard to cut a stack of slippery sheets, even with cutting edge equipment, and sharp operators.

Aqueous (AQ)

AQ coating is a thin subtle coating applied to print, strictly for protection and to allow the printing of the backside immediately. In most cases, unless you know what to look for, there is only a subtle difference in sheen to the AQ coated side of a job. Aqueous is similar to watered-down version of the white glue like you may have used in grade school. There is also Satin and Matte versions of AQ which provide a dull look that can often add to the elegance of your card

Uncoated

Uncoated is paper with no treatment or coating on the surface. This refers to both a uncoated blank sheet before printing, and a printed sheet with no sealant applied after printing.

How To Use A Biz Card Flyer

Let’s face it; a business card does have a bit of a space limitation when you are using it as a flyer. You need to be clear and concise on the information you are trying to portray.

-If you are putting together a general information flyer about your band there are some obvious things that should be on your card: your groups name, how to get a hold of you, and perhaps something about you.

-If you use a logo as your bands name, be honest with yourself… will anyone be able to read it? If your logo is an elaborate graffiti image you need to make sure the possibly middle-aged venue booker can decipher it or throw it away.

-For your contact info: instead of listing your social networking sites, email address, website and mothers name on the card; you can simply create a page on your website (your band should have a website, but we will save that for another blog) listing all your social networking sites, booking information, and all other important info.

Example:

Find us… Follow Us… Contact Us…

www.yourbandsname.com/contact

This saves a lot of space rather than having all of your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo links on your card. It also drives more traffic to your website and allows you to change the contact info without changing your card. One could argue that it is better to just list your web address instead of a direct link to your contact info, but I feel that having that specific link will help build awareness to anyone needing to contact you immediately (i.e. someone looking to prospect for a gig).  Even if your website is simple and easy to navigate, it might be more helpful to take out unnecessary steps.

-Another good idea is to somehow integrate what type of music you play so if you give the card to a promoter they know if you are appropriate for a gig. Some examples (yes they are cheesy but you get my drift) would be:

“We <3 Metal”

“House Never Sounded So Good”

“Drum N’ Bass In Your Face”

“An Emo Band To Cry About”

Promote Your Shows

A business card flyer is great for promoting your band’s shows. Use one side for your band info and the other for your upcoming show(s). If you find a cool print company who will help you out, you may even be able to have them update your show text before a re-order. Using business cards for this is a great option. It is so easy to carry, you can hand out or drop them on tables at a club without drawing too much attention from the promoters (which could be a good thing if they don’t let flyers in). Plus they are cheaper than flyers so you can get a lot of bang for your buck.

Incentives

Use the card like a coupon… some examples are “Come to our show and use this card for $2 off our CD” or “Use this card for free admission to our show”. It is easy to stick a business card in your wallet so your fans may be more apt to hang on to it, and since you are giving something away with it at least it only cost you a few cents!

Sell Something

You can use a business card flyer to advertise your release on iTunes. Even better, direct people to your website where they can download the album directly from you (let’s open the ‘direct to fan’ can of worms in another blog). You can also urge your fans to buy some merch or your iPhone app… the list goes on. Try tossing a stack out into the crowd at the peak moment of your show so people grab them. Maybe your power ballad will motivate your new #1 fan to buy some stuff cause you touched the card (ok maybe that’s a stretch… or is it?)

Make your basic design interchangeable

I would say no matter what you use your business card for, it is a good idea to make it like a Swiss Army Knife. Chances are you are on a budget, so squeeze out all you can from your designer and have them create something that you can update quickly and easily. It would be a good idea to get all of your info on one side of the card. If your card is just that, a business card for your band, have your other side a photo or design that will work well with text over it. Now you are like the industrial revolution, changing out the parts when needed without having to redesign the whole thing! Save time, save money, and look good.

To wrap it up, business cards, when designed and produced right, make awesome flyers. We talked mostly relating to bands here but you take what was said above and adapt it to your business while offering promotions or incentives related to the work you do and add value to your card. Remember, take a look at pricing on quality professional business cards before you run out and buy label paper to do it yourself. If you have any questions you can always reach us at printing@eterintemedia.com.