Artist Business Cards-
Your Personal Salesman
4 steps for a powerful marketing tool!
Business cards for Artists. What would we do without them? In the
vast world of business cards, businesses themselves do not carry cards. A salesman for a company carries a
card to represent his company. A Realtor carries a card to represent her realty group. But you, as an artist, carry
a business card to represent YOURSELF! But does your card actually do that?
Too many artists strive for individualism in their business card message. In doing so, they achieve the
opposite of what they are trying to achieve. They unwittingly create anonymity! A signature scrawled
across the front of the card with the word "artist" on it, tells your prospect nothing when it is re-discovered
months later, along with 7 other artist business cards that say the same thing! Even a domain name linked to your
website will still not entice them to keep your card or look you up if the information is too vague. John Doe,
artist, at John Doe.com tells them nothing.
As much as an artist may hate to acknowledge it, people forget who you
are! In the excitement of an art festival, a gallery opening or any event where many prospects took your
card, it is easy for them to later forget you and what you created by insufficient information on the card to jog
their memories. No matter how excited they were when or if you talked with them personally, you were probably not
the only artist whose business card they collected.
Examine your current card objectively. An artist should be utilizing both sides of the card. What
information can be found on your card? How will your card identify you as the artist, and what you create, a few
months or even a year later, to the prospect who has your card?
To create a business card whose message keeps on selling you and your artwork, your card needs to serve four major
purposes.
1. identify you
2. include your contact information
3. identify your art product or major field of work
4. include a tag line
Remember that, as a general rule, the clients of your art product are not artists. So your card message must should
be geared to the public. In doing so, the message can still be simple, concise and beautiful.
Here are the 4 elements needed to make your artist business card stand out, be memorable for your clients
and prospects, and keep working for you, long after they have collected one!
Tip #1
An image of you. Take a tip from the realtor's profession. A recognizable photo of you, the
artist, should be on one side of the card. A photo not only identifies you to prospects but helps refresh their
memories that you were the artist with whom they spoke. Clients forget your face! Don't use an unrecognizable
substitute image. Be creative with your photo image if you wish but make sure that it is a good, clear photo of you
as you are usually seen. If you always wear a hat, a scarf, a particular color, then include that in the image. But
the point is to help jog the prospect's memory by identifying YOU, not a representation of you.
Tip #2
Contact information. As obvious as this seems, your contact information should be on your card.
Your domain name, your name, your mailing address, email and a phone number where you can be easily reached.
All print needs to be in easy to read fonts. This contact information can be included on the same
side of your card as your image. A post office box is recommended for a mailing address. There are still many
clients who communicate via the US postal service. Use common sense. It is not always advisable to include your
home address. If that is the location of your studio, simply leave out the street address and use your town and zip
code. If the client communicates by phone, you can then give the address. Your domain name should link the clients
directly to your website. But that will only happen after your card has enticed them to log onto their computers!
Your phone number needs to be the one you are most likely to answer even on the road. If you do not use a web
accessed cell phone, then use your cell phone number on the card. Prospects call you because they are seeking more
information or want to order from you. Be available!
Tip #3
Your Art. Perhaps the most memorable feature on your card should be your identifiable art product.
No matter what you create, this image has to be an example of what you create that can be considered your trademark
style. If you participate in art festivals, it helps to have a particular item with you all the time that can be
showcased in your booth as well as on your card. Clients may forget your face but they won't forget as easily, the
image of a beautiful painting, glassware, jewelry, woodwork or sculpture that first captured their attention. If
you do not keep one piece of your work to display continually as a trademark, then the photo on your card needs to
represent what you create the most. If you are a stained glass artist, that is what needs to be on your card. If
you create pottery, a sample display of several wares photographed together, should be on your card. If you are a
painter, an image of the artwork, in the style you create, needs to be on your card. All images must be of the
highest quality and print caliber to best showcase your work!
I cannot tell you how many times a person has looked at my card and recognized the painting that I have on my
card which is an image of a large portrait of a litte girl that I have used in my booths/displays/shows for years!
It is an immediate "Oh, wait! I know you" moment to the prospect and opens the door instantly to
continued communication
Tip #4
Your tag line. A tag line is further identification of what you create. Simply stating on your
card that you are an Artist does, not in any way, help to identify what you create! Help the client out by
clarifying your tag line with descriptions of what you create as an artist. If you work with glass for instance,
even "glass artist" does not narrow it down enough. Is it stained glass? Hand blown glass? Glass mosaics? Both the
written word and the visual photo should reinforce each other. Two dimensional artists have a huge selection to
narrow down. Are you a Portrait artist? Impressionist landscape artist? Abstract cityscapes? In large categories
such as Realism or abstracts, further narrow down your niche for the benefit of better identifying yourself to your
prospects. Don't clutter your tag line space with vague generalities such as slogans of "Eternal Mysticism, Light
filled journeys, painter of ethereal memories, etc." Save those descriptive slogans for your website. Keep your tag
line simple and one line only of what you create!
Perhaps the very best way to view your business card is to see it as an unpaid salesperson! You
are essentially sending that salesperson out into the world and asking him to sell your art while you work in your
studio! In order to do that effectively, you have to give that salesperson all the tools to effectively do so. Keep
that image in your mind as you design your next business card utilizing all 4 tips for a powerful selling artist
business card!
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