Business Cards for a Freelance Writer
July 22nd, 2008I’m not a big fan of shameless self-promotion, which is why I probably never seriously pursued the theatrical limelight. I definitely wanted to be an actress (Audrey Hepburn, to be exact) and was decent in school plays and college improv, but I wasn’t driven, per se, like many of my friends whose lives are now embedded in theatrics.
But for any business to succeed, it needs a little bit of marketing and shameless self-promotion. Being a freelance writer means that I’m in business and I need to promote my skills to succeed, regardless of the amount of raw talent my mom assures me that I possess.*
I researched what other writers put on their business cards and almost ended up listing some of my “specialties,” which included Creative Copy, Business Communications, Technical Writing, and Web Marketing/SEO. Including specialties has the potential to better attract the attention of a client… they could look at the card and think, “Hey! I could use someone to help me with my business communications!” So I carefully selected those specialties and please note that I didn’t repeat a single word. I could have used “writing” in every form: “Copy Writing, Business Writing, Technical Writing…” but using different words infers more versatility, I think.
Ultimately, I kept it simple and opted for a stand-out deisgn rather than a more cluttered, yet informative, design. It’s a glorified calling card, but I’m happy with it because I will be able to hand it out to many different people in different situations. Here’s what it includes:
- My name [black ink]
- The title “Writer and Editor” [red ink]
- My professional website [black ink]
- My professional email address [black ink]
- My cell phone number [black ink]
- a simple ink blot graphic that I downloaded from istockphoto.com [black ink]
I chose not to include my mailing address because 1) Few people will ever need to snail-mail me anything and 2) I want to be able to hand out my business card without the potential invasion of privacy that could result from including my home address. If I had a P.O. Box, I would include that information. But I think for today’s freelance businessperson who works from a home office, a cell phone number and email address is the right amount of contact information.
Now I could have used a Microsoft Word template and printed these cards out myself, but I decided to splurge and go for a more professional look. “Act like a writer, become a writer.” I spent $50 with a local print shop (where the company I used to work for would print some of its packaging) and now I have 500 very professional-looking business cards. Overkill on the amount, probably, but they look great. The two colors of ink are sealed on there and will not bleed when wet (I checked!) and the 100 lb. card stock used feels great and has a matte sheen on it.
I’m comfortable with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, so I was able to provide the printer with a design in high resolution (300dpi). The edges of the letters are smooth and crisp as a result.
Even though I didn’t deal directly with the printer in my marketing position at my former company, I took note of some of the tricks of the graphic designers I worked with. They were always happy to answer my little questions of “That’s cool! How did you do that?” and my interest has paid off in because it increased my skill set. I have a professional-looking business card even though I’m not a graphic designer.
When you work in a corporate setting, take advantage of your coworkers’ knowledge and expertise and always take the opportunity to learn when you have the chance! And of course, once you have a stack of professional-looking business cards, be sure to hand those babies out at every opportunity.
I want to have a whole network of people who know what a good writer I am so that I can always have a great line-up of freelance work. That’s the goal, anyway.
*I’m a good speller, but the word “possess” throws me for a loop every time. It was the word I misspelled as the 8th grade champ in my school district spelling bee. A 6th grader ended up going to the regional spelling bee instead of me. Over 15 years later, how is it that I still freak out a little when I spell that word? And why does the letter S make up 57% of that word? That’s messed up.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 6:33 am
While surfing the net, lately, I read more and more articles saying old fashion paper made business cards are obsolete and are about to vanish. Many professionals, in the fields of communication, networking, marketing, public relation and sale, together with future forecasters and electronic gadgets freaks, tell us that there are alternatives. The Cell Phones, the Palmtops, the IPhone and the IPod, are going to be the main means of transferring personal data which up till today were written on the paper made business cards. They are talking about “Electronic business card” (EBC). They say that EBC contain much more information, can be modified easily if you need to change some details in your card, no need to throw away hundreds of useless cards and reorder new ones with up-to-date information. The EBC can be passed on from one electric toy to the other and stored there until you retrieve it to be used. Everyone can design his own EBC no need of a Printing Website to contact with and pay for what you can do by yourself.
I think this forecast is false. I believe it’s far from being realistic. There are at least ten reasons why the good old paper made, conventional and simple business cards will stay here forever:
1. It is cheap. Many printing websites offer 250 business cards for free only shipping costs a small amount of money.
2. It is easy to be carried. 9 X 5 cm and very light. The volume 10 of them require in our wallets is less than a credit card.
3. It is very easy to be manufactured and a professional printing website will do a much better job than amateurs at home.
4. It can be taken everywhere you spontaneously go. No special preparations are need to be carried out in advance. Even in the most unpredictable circumstances you’ll pass it on because of immediate request or opportunity.
5. It is electric-power free. No need to be electrically charged or being worried of batteries empty. It doesn’t need any care like electronic devices.
6. It is transferred from hand to hand, by human interaction, while visual contact. It is much warmer and creating some kind of an obligation comparing to the cold and remote artificial interaction through electronic devices.
7. It is visually fine! Well designed, attractive, appealing and in many cases a real peace of art. Such cards create deals.
8. It can be customized to be even more useful by adding a calendar on its backside or a note of “next meeting” form.
9. In order to operate all those sophisticated electronic instruments one has to learn how to use them. Researches reveal the famous formula of 80% of the users know only 20% of the gadgets features. With paper made business cards you don’t have to be College graduator of an F-16 pilot to handle it over.
10. Paper made business cards are not always “Paper made”. Sometimes they are made of wood, metal, plastic, or any other unconventional material. Some of the designs are so creative: people use humor, draw cartoons, or turn their card into a game! And the sky is the limit.
All these reasons make the simple and humble business cards irreplaceable. You can issue yourself with the up-to-date state-of-the-art gadgets if you want to impress your associates and show them you are “IN”. But never leave home without a stock of some paper made business cards because I didn’t meet a respectable businessperson moving around without them.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Oren, thank you for your keen observations on the solid future of business cards. I agree that they will not be going anywhere, no matter how digital our lives become. There will always be offline moments, and for those offline moments, a business card is an absolutely essential piece of marketing.
Joni, I’ve updated the post to include the actual business card. I blurred out my phone number for a smidge of privacy, though.