Summary

Why do people exchange visiting cards? The first purpose of course, is to promote their business (subtly) to others. But then, there are awkward silences you need to fill while travelling in the elevator, on a subway, or while trying to fight the sociopath monster within you.

Visiting cards take you beyond the formal smile exchange program. They work as an icebreaker and are no less than a blessing in disguise. They give an identity to your professional world while reflecting what you do.

If you are into the business of selling business cards, you need to serve the plethora of purposes mentioned above. Unfortunately, having a small print shop within your vicinity, sitting in the worn-out chair ordering your employees to print 200 copies of a certain business card doesn’t work anymore.

For expanding your business and making its presence felt, you must move online. Or let’s say, have a digital shop integrated with a business card design software that enables your customers to create their own visiting cards.

We never meant to overwhelm you with the above descriptions. We understand how difficult it is to step into the realm of the digital printing world and succeed with it. And that’s why we have carved a step-by-step guide on how to start a business card business. If you’re ready, let’s delve into it:

Knowing Your Industry

1. Conduct Research to the Fullest

Before you establish a web-to-print store, it is important to know the ins and outs of the business card printing industry and how it works.

If you read the story of customized print giant Vistaprint, you must have known how it grew from being a basic website providing customized visiting cards to a full-fledged web-to-print store that is into selling an array of customized products including t-shirts, mugs, signs, posters, and more.

So, as the first step, you will have to gain all the knowledge pertaining to your industry. Here’s what you can do:

• Try to know how the established card printing industries work. Build a rapport with someone working at a card printing company, ask questions, and try to get information about the industry.
• If you can work for a company like this, even better; as you can learn things at an experiential level.
  Conduct some research on installing printing plates as well as inking the presses. You will also get to learn a lot about paper sizing and machinery.
• It is important to know about the history and the current trends of the card printing industry. For example, cards of certain colors might work on certain festivals/occasions. But, would it make sense to invest into them only during those times of the year.

2. Take an Industry Tour

Field visits were quite common even while we were students. Well, if you want to start off with a card printing business, visiting the card printing facility is of utmost importance. You can converse with the employees and know about the products and services they offer in detail.

• Gather information about the inventory they have in store, including the card materials.
• Try to know the amount of inventory available on shelves and the kind of industries they serve with their quantity. It will provide you with know-how about the kind of financial potential you need to drive your business better.
• Get information about the price of the cards they sell and how much do they charge from customers. In case you can undercut the price they quote, you can have a competitive advantage over them.

Learning from the Top Players In the Industry

To help you with research, we have prepared this chart of the top 4 players in the industry and what they do best.

If you were to look at the website of all these companies, it is extremely well-functioning and without any clutter. When you start a business card business, you need to ensure that the website you build offers a seamless experience.

If you plan to let customers design their cards, you have to have another category on your website that separates customizable ones from the rest. For instance, Zazzle has a separate option to create on its menu bar.

Looking to develop a platform that combines customization, categorization of cards, and an engaging theme-based store?

Looking to develop a platform that combines customization, categorization of cards, and an engaging theme-based store?

Our expert team at Brush Your Ideas is here to help you bring your vision to life. Get in touch with us today and let our team guide you in developing the perfect solution

Supercharge your online presence with a custom-built website tailored to your business needs.

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3. Join ICMA (International Card Manufacturers Association)

This is one of the most crucial steps. ICMA, also known as International Card Manufacturers Association, is a global card association for card personalizers and manufacturers. Its mission has been to promote the transaction card industry along with the value of its services and products by offering a platform to share knowledge pertaining to the industry.

ICMA provides education for visiting card companies and enables companies to collaborate and share innovative ideas amongst themselves. It actively operates in places including, but not limited to Europe, MEA, Asia and America. Several industry giants and card suppliers are a part of this association. If you want to keep the printing and manufacturing related glitches at bay, it would be advisable for you to be a part of this association.

4. Be Different

The traditional and the conventional methods of printing cards are a passé. It is important to remember that we are a part of the world driven by the Internet of Things. And hence, it is important to stand out from amongst your competitors. Churn over the most innovative ideas and offer your customers with features and functionalities that your customers can’t.

You can look for superior quality business card design software that helps your customers to create their own visiting card from scratch. This gives them the much-needed freedom and excellent level of personalization. Ensure that your tool is platform independent and compatible with all kinds of files and formats. The best way to win amongst your competitors is figure out where they lack and offer a solution to that.

Brush Your Ideas provides printing businesses like yours with a fully functional card design tool.

The tool makes customization super easy for your buyers, as it comes with a super intuitive dashboard and numerous customization features.

Through this tool, you can provide your buyers with the following features, making their card customization process a breeze.

• • Extensive Customization Options: Your buyers can enjoy a wide range of customization options, enabling them to personalize every aspect of their cards, including colors, fonts, images, and layouts.
  • Template Library: You can enable professionally designed templates, providing a starting point and inspiration for your buyers’ creative designs.
  • Image Upload and Editing: Enable your buyers to upload their own images, logos, or artwork, and seamlessly incorporate them into their card designs using our robust editing tools.
  • Real-Time Preview: Your buyers can instantly visualize how their final cards will look as they make design changes, ensuring their satisfaction with the end result.
  • Variable Data Printing: Seamlessly incorporate variable data, such as names and addresses, for personalized card printing.
  • Bleed, Cut, Safe Lines: Ensure accurate printing by utilizing bleed, cut, and safe lines for precise trimming and alignment.
  • Print-Ready Output: Generate high-resolution, print-ready files that can be easily sent to your printing press, streamlining the production process.
  • Canvas Resize: Resize the canvas to accommodate different card sizes or dimensions, giving you flexibility in your designs.

Through this tool, you can provide your buyers with the following features, making their card customization process a breeze.

Discover a plethora of additional features specifically tailored to help card businesses deliver

exceptional customization experiences by visiting our website.

Learn more about offering customized cards

Setting Up An Online Store

1. Get the Printing Equipment

Like we mentioned in the paragraph above, the technology has advanced and hence, having generic printers won’t suffice. It is important to find out which printing system would suit you the best.

Also, if you do not want to confine your business to visiting cards, you can think about investing into a superior quality web-to-print equipment.

If you want to start on a small basis, an inkjet printer might help. However, if you have a huge customer base and want to print more than a thousand cards every month, you would have to invest in a high-end industrial printer.

You might need a cutting machine that offers you with different shaped cards. If the number of orders is less, having a hand operated machine would suffice. Not otherwise.

2. Invest into Product Designing Software

These days, it is quite common for E-retailers willing to have a successful venture to embrace the power of product designing software. A software that not only has a powerful backend but also offers excellent frontend facilities.

And that is not all! Its working should be no less than a human designer; a step by step guidance to the one who is designing.

One of the biggest challenges that e-retailers having a web-to-print shop face is – platform compatibility.

So, let’s say if you have a Magento or WooCommerce based store, you would need a business card design software that works with your platform smoothly and doesn’t affect the working of your website.

Brush Your Ideas web to print software has been a valuable addition to the kits of several visiting card owners who want to add personalization to their e-store.

Explore more features and capabilities of our card designer tool as per your business requirements. Talk with our experts in person, who will walk you through our product.

Ask for a Personalized Demo

3. Work on Your Inventory

With the business of personalization, you never know what works when. At one moment you might be running a small web-to-print e-store. But at the next, a social media post from someone who has created their card from your e-store might go viral. Result? Your e-store is overflowing with orders. The only way to address this would be to work well on your inventory.

Ensure that you have enough stock to cope with everyday orders as well as unexpected rushed orders. The more variety that you can offer with paper types, the better it is. By offering your customers the kind of card they’re looking for, you would be able to bring a huge smile on their face.

4. A Website That Entices

What does your visiting card web-to-print look like? Is it conversational? Do you want to give it a professional look or a creative one? Mull over these questions before hiring a company to design and develop your website. Now, no matter what design you go with, you must ensure that it is aesthetically pleasing for your customers and has an easy to use interface.

Try displaying the best cards designed by your customers on the first page or give a classic look that shows the picture of your printing or cutting machines. This will make your website look quite attractive. Last but not the least, if you keep the nature of today’s professionals in mind, your website must be mobile responsive.

Build a website at minimum costs and less time with a web-to-print storefront solution

Check our W2P Store

 

Working on the Business Card Business Plan

1. Conduct Market Research

Before you jot down your business card business plan or create strategies, it is important for you to analyze the visiting card printing market. What kind of professionals work in your area? What would be the risks of serving a particular group of professionals? By doing so, you would be able to minimize the risks.

How to start a business card business:

• Find out about the growth, potential and the trends pertaining to the card printing industry. Try to know how the other printing companies in your area work
• Mull over the kind of customers you want to target and find out if your competitors meet their needs.
• Figure out the weak spots and vulnerabilities of your customers so that you can create your USP and attain your targeted customer base.

Game-Changing Business Cards Trends

1. Minimalism – Simplicity is the key to greater engagement, and hence, businesses nowadays are considering simple minimalist designs.

(Logo, name, contact information, website, & social media handle – demand for cards that have just the essentials is growing)

2. Recycled cardboard – This one is for the conscious customer. Card printing companies like JukeBox have become a lot popular due to their unique offerings of recycled materials.

(Cards from recycled materials is a great niche to start a business card business)

3. Painted Edges – Bright edges and contrasting colors are the latest trends. Such hues with a 3D effect on card designs are sure to make your business card a best-selling product.

(Painted edges – the latest trend in business cards)

4. Unique Shapes– These cards are trending because they give a break from traditional rectangular cards. Unconventional shapes like circles, squares, or die-cut designs create visual interest and leave a lasting impression.

(Business Card with Unique Shape)

5. Raised Texture – Raised texture business cards are evergreen. Also known as embossing, this design creates a tactile experience of feeling the texture, adding a unique and memorable touch to cards.

(Textured Business Card)

2. Work Out the Finances

When you’re about to start a business card business, investments are inevitable. However, any business needs to run successfully that your profits outweigh the investments you have made. So, you need to make sure that you have an account of insurance, taxes, labor costs, overheads, benefits and more.

After considering your expenses, you can reach out to different organizations and ask them to support you or get a loan. Consider going for grants and loans – a Microloan or a general business loan. Pitch your business to venture capitalists and if they like your idea, they are likely to fund your business. To maximize your borrowing potential, you can use Keeper’s loan calculator. This will help assess the loan amount that can be borrowed based on credit score and other criteria. And last but not the least, you can ask for crowdfunding after pitching innovative ideas to your customers.

3. Create Your Business Plan

How do you plan on running your business card printing business from day one and keep achieving success over the years? If you have fantasized about it, great! But that is not enough. You need to have a complete roadmap right from how you will start until you achieve targets and do after that.

Suppose you are not sure as to whether or not you have created the right business plan. In that case, you can discuss your thoughts with a marketing professional or a digital marketing company. They will provide you with a strategy to launch your business and handle it in the best way possible. Note these strategies down and ensure that you follow them and you are sure to be successful.

Build your dream store integrated with a designer tool to drive more traffic and sales. Partner with the expert team of industry analysts, designers, developers, and marketers.

Request Demo Today

 

4. Write Apt Content Descriptions

Any website should be representative of what it does and the kind of audience it serves. And that is reflected through the content of the website. If the content is not precise, concise, and doesn’t have the right call for action buttons, it is sure to affect its overall sales.

For your client’s understanding, consider adding visuals. Well-written features with images are way more impactful than simply listing down the information.

For example, this website has detailed product descriptions, but it is text-heavy.

On the other hand, text with such visuals adds charm to your product page.

You can even add FAQs on your product page. It will allow your clients to find all the answers in one place, plus FAQs that include the right keywords will allow you to improve your website’s online ranking.

(FAQs for website visitors to find all the answers)

Also, the best way to capture your audience would be to display your business connections, the partners you have worked with, the companies you have served, and more. This way, your customers would be able to rely on your brand and trust it in the longer run.

You can do so by adding customer reviews directly to your product page. Reviews work as social proof and help build trust with your customers.

5. Register your business

Do you want to go for a partnership, a proprietorship, or a Texas LLC? Before you register your business, having this clarity is a must. Proprietorships and partnerships are cost-effective as more than one person takes care of the financial aspects. If you choose to form a limited liability company, the taxes have to be paid at individual rates and not business rates.

Also, before you start with your business, ensure that you have all the permissions you need. In case of visiting cards, you need to deal with a lot of stationery, for which you would have oversized vehicles visiting your premises. This asks for you to get a federal permit.

6. Choose the Right Location

Even if the presence of your business is on the web, you would need to have a place where your print operations take place. Decide whether you want to have the same place to execute the entire print production cycle or not.

Also, if possible, have your presence in the area where you can get noticed. That way, you can attract an audience that is curious to know about your business.

One of the biggest mistakes that visiting card manufacturers make is that they do not consider the future after some years of establishing their business.

If the number of customers goes up or you add new machinery or inventory, you would need a bigger space. Get in touch with engineers and interior designers to understand the difference between commercial and residential properties and determine whether or not the expansion is possible.

7. Advertise Well

Once you have everything in place including the printing materials, machinery and the business card design software, it’s time to let people know that your business exists. Social Media of course, is a powerful way to make your digital presence felt. But what platform you choose is crucial. Since you will be dealing with other business owners, you need to find out what platform your potential customers are using.

Creating a business page on Facebook is the 1st step for any B2B marketing. You can take advantage of Facebook advertising and target prospects. Secondly, you can sell directly on the platform using Facebook shops. Selling on different channels along with your website is the quickest way to establish new revenue streams.

Also, do not underestimate the power of word of mouth. Get in touch with the businesses in your area and build a rapport with their representatives. Once they know more about your business and how you work, you are sure to get better orders.

Get marketing assistance tailored to your business goals. Know more about our marketing services

Let’s Get in Touch

 

Start Build a Successful Card Printing Business Now

We hope that the above guide was helpful enough for you to start a business card printing business. However, before you start in a full-fledged manner, remember that you need to get over the mundane ways to run a print business. So, do what it takes, be unique and stand out from your competitors. You are sure to win.

Brush Your Ideas has been helping entrepreneurs like you to build, sustain, and grow their printing businesses. A fully functional product designer tool is our flagship product that aims to make customization easy for your end customers. Additionally, our solutions like print ERP work as an all-in-one software to completely streamline your daily print operations.

Get in touch with a tech team here to assist you at every step of your entrepreneurial journey.

Get Started Now

Also Read: How to Start a Greeting Card Business?

All product and company names are trademarks™, registered® or copyright© trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Is ordering business cards for your entire company simple, quick, and affordable? Are the designs always consistent, including logo placement, colors, and formatting?

If you answered yes, you're probably utilizing the power of a Business Card Ordering Portal.

If you aren't, then this blog is for you. We'll take a look at what a Business Card Portal is, how it works, and the many benefits it provides.

What is a Business Card Ordering Portal?

A Business Card Portal —also known as a "Business Card Ordering Portal" and "Business Card Print Portal"— is a centralized platform that simplifies the process of ordering, creating, and managing business cards. They allow your company to easily order and customize each business card order from a single, private, self-service online store.

With features like customizable templates, easy reordering, and streamlined approval workflows, these portals make the ordering process seamless, ensure brand consistency, and save time and resources.

How Does a Business Card Portal Work?

Imagine visiting an online store and seeing an image of your company's business card and it has an "order" button next to it. You click the button, choose how many business cards you want, and then insert your contact information to see it prepopulated in the business card design. Once your information is applied, you then add the cards to your cart and proceed to check out. The business cards are then printed and delivered to where they need to be.

Simple right? That's how a Business Card Portal works—no contacting the design team, locating a printer, or distributing business cards. These web-based platforms streamline the entire business card ordering process.

The best part is that because the portal has the correct branded design and printing specifications locked in, you can give access to all employees, department administrators, or locations with confidence that no matter who is ordering business cards, they are on brand every time.

In addition to the self-ordering capability, these portals simplify business card management. You can set rules based on how many business cards a user can order and when they can order. You also have complete control over what can be customized within the design. For example, you may allow users to personalize the name, email, and phone number on the business card design but not the website URL or address.

So, what if you redesign your business card? It's simple! All you have to do is provide the new art and any other specifications to your portal provider. They'll then update your portal, and your entire company will have access to the newly approved, on-brand business cards.

The Benefits of a Business Card Portal

With business cards being such an essential business tool, ensuring they represent your business consistently throughout your entire company is something every business can benefit from. This means that where you store business card design templates and how you order them are also important.

Online Print Portals, as a primary business card printing method, creates a simple, efficient, and cost-effective way for large and small organizations to meet their marketing needs and successfully promote their business.

Here are just a few benefits you can take advantage of with a Business Card Portal:

Reduces the Time it Takes to Order Business Cards

Business Card Portals streamline the ordering process, eliminating the need for time-consuming back-and-forth communication between employees, designers, and printing companies. They turn a process that typically takes hours or days into just a few minutes.

Business Card Portal features that help you save time include:

• Employees can order business cards on their own while maintaining consistent branding.

• Users can quickly reorder their business cards with just a click of a button.

• Inventory fulfillment is available for even quicker business card ordering.

• Provides a simple workflow for managing and approving orders without all the steps.

• Advanced design software allows users to modify contact information and other details and see it in real-time to ensure their information is correct.

• Automatic updates regarding order confirmations, invoices, inventory levels, and approval notices are sent.

They help put control in the end users' hands and remove all extra steps, including finding and uploading files, personalizing, waiting for approval, finding a printer, and more. And you can spend your time on other essential business matters instead of worrying about who needs business cards and having to order and distribute them.

Saves Money and Reduces Waste

In addition to saving time, Business Card Portals also save money. While in the end, you will still need to pay for the business cards themself and shipping costs, by using a portal, you can order in smaller quantities, eliminate the need for costly design services, and plan your budget better since your portal is through a single vendor instead of several.

Overall, a few ways a Business Card Portal saves you money include:

• Product costs are reduced by moving away from multiple vendors with different prices to a single vendor with a set price.

• Waste is reduced with the ability to order only the quantities that are needed when needed.

• Design mistakes that require a re-print due to inconsistent branding are eliminated.

• 24/7 access to place orders rather than only during your printer's business hours allows you to prioritize business initiatives that will increase your revenue.

Ensures Consistent Business Card Designs

When your brand is delivered consistently, it retains its identity, which also needs to translate to your business card designs.

If the first letter of names in email addresses is capitalized, every employee's business card should reflect this. No matter the employee or department, the colors, logo placement, typeface font size, and layout must be the same.

These portals ensure consistent business card designs, ensuring that every business card ordered adheres to the same design standards and brand guidelines. With editable brand templates, users can quickly personalize their business cards without the ability to change anything about the design.

Better Control and Easier Managing

A Business Card Portal provides better control and oversight over the managing and ordering process. With an approval workflow, you can set rules, if desired, to review and approve all orders before they are produced.

You have complete control over who has access to your portal. As your company grows, you can update, remove, or add additional designs and products to your portal.

Capabilities that a Business Card Portal has to improve control include:

• You can limit access by employee role or by department.

• You can specify how many business cards a user can order and how often.

• You can require administrator approval on certain orders or every order.

• You can set restrictions for new employees so they can't place orders over a certain quantity.

• You can receive volume reports monthly or as needed.

• You can easily see orders by each user, including what materials they are ordering and how often.

Convenient For Your Entire Company

Online Business Card Portals are designed to make ordering business cards as simple as possible, and they offer 24/7 access so users can order their cards whenever it is most convenient for them. And they can be accessed wherever there is internet access.

Business Card Portals streamline the ordering, managing, proofing, shipping, and payment process. Instead of using separate printers for each of your company's locations or tracking down business card designs, everything is in one place.

Simply put, these portals are an efficient and convenient way to manage your company's business cards and empower your employees to order what they need when needed.

Flexible Accounting

Business Card Portals offer flexible payment options to match how your company operates.

They allow you to allocate costs across departments or locations, making it easier to manage budgets and expenses. For example, your portal provider can bill each user at checkout or track orders and send monthly invoices.

When to Use a Business Card Ordering Portal

It's time to join successful businesses that use Business Card Portals if:

• You find ordering business cards time-consuming.

• Your company orders business cards often.

• Your company is growing.

• You plan on growing your business.

• You have multiple locations.

• The number of employees you have is increasing.

• You have experienced staff changes.

• Your company uses several business card designs.

• You own multiple companies.

• Your company has more than one department.

• You’re looking to save time and money.

• You want to protect your brand.

• You’re considering or going through a rebranding.

• Your company has multiple sales and marketing materials.

Who Offers Business Card Portals?

Now that you know what a Business Card Portal is and how it can help, where do you find a portal provider?

Luckily, many companies offer portals like these, so finding one isn't difficult. When looking for one, make sure to find one that offers affordable prices, a helpful and attentive customer service team, fast turnarounds, high-quality printing, and the ability to implement other products into your portal other than just business cards, including apparel, direct mail materials, signage, digital assets, and more.

At Conquest Graphics, our Business Card Ordering Portals, or Print Portals, are designed to simplify creating, managing, and ordering business cards, other materials, and brand assets. Plus, with our in-house mailing center, portal experts, design services, fast turnarounds, and advanced printing technology under one roof, we can save you even more time and money.

To learn more, click below to schedule a quick demo today.

Schedule An Ordering Portal Demo Today!