Brochures, Advertising, Business cards, Point of Purchase Price Cards.

This past Christmas one of the people on my gift list wanted coffee mugs.  I went into the Brown County Craft Gallery where I used to a member to check out some mugs.

There were three displays of local potters.  I liked equally well the mugs of two of the potters. 

I choose one over the other because one of them had a small descriptive brochure that I could include in the gift.

When I give a gift that is made by a craftsperson I want the recipient to know that it is hand made.  That this gift is unique!

End result is that one potter made a a sale and one potter lost a sale all because of a small brochure.

A point that we all need to understand is that the dollar bill we want is the same dollar bill that McDonalds, Microsoft, Kraft Foods, Coke a Cola etc. is after. 

Whether we realize it or not we are in competition for the consumer's dollar. 

We don't have millions of dollars to spend on advertising like these companies, so we have to use what we have which is a "unique hand crafted product". 

"Point of Purchase".

The consumer is looking at your display, what can you do move them from "maybe" to "I'll take it"?

A baseline is that the design is good, the work is of quality and the price is reasonable.

Person A doesn't care about a card or how the sculpture was made.  They just want to make the purchase and be on their way.

A simple card will do for Person A.

Simple folded tent card

Inside of card card.

I do these cards in Microsoft Word and then take the to a Quick Print like Kinko's and have them copied on beige card stock.

Person B would like some biographical information about the artist / craftsperson.

A small gift card with a bit of history about the artist and their work.  These can be laid out in Microsoft Word and then printed on a laser printer on heavy bond paper or take them to a Quick Print.

This card was done at a time when the dollar was very low and I had a lot of European and Asian tourists coming through my shop.  That lasted for a couple of years. 

If I was doing that card today I would delete Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia.  Now, I rarely sell anything outside the US or Canada.

Person C likes lots of information.

Here is where a three fold brochure with some black and white photos, technical information on the processes involved and some personal biographical notes..

I do these in Microsoft Publisher and print them out on a laser printer. 

This is a very economical solution using a Brother laser printer that cost $90.00. I buy the paper at Staples which is a 24 pound bond.

Outside

Inside

Some people are hesitant about asking price of a particular item.  I make sure that everything is clearly prices.

These

Holders are made out of scrap material. 

The price cards are done in Microsoft Word.  Then taken to Quick Print and copied on to beige card stock.

Here's an example of the cards used in a display.

Magic Wand card:  Since I used so many of these I did one in Microsoft Word and then had 5000 printed at the Quick Print.

Inside of card.

This is a post card that I had done at a commercial printer in Chicago.

When you want color printing you'll want to shop around for quality and price. 

This is the front of a Christmas Card.  I traded a piece of sculpture to an artist for this sketch..

Another Christmas card for another shop.

The above gives some ideas of the printed material I've used over the years.

I'm not a graphic artist!  My software is limited to Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher. 

For me it is a matter of trial and error until I get something I am satisfied with.

A good graphic artist is definitely worth the money but I prefer doing it myself..  I'd rather spend the money on other parts of the business.

Early on I always thought that this new card or new brochure was the answer I was looking for to increase sales.

What I've discovered is that there is no magic bullet.  Each addition to improving a display, a new card or brochure; they all help.  For me it has been a matter of experimenting and coming up with new ideas.

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