Perhaps the most popular greeting card business angle is to design and distribute your own, original greeting cards.
There are a few different ways to get involved in the greeting card business. Perhaps the most popular greeting card business angle is to design and distribute your own, original greeting cards.
This greeting card business plan can be quite lucrative if you hit upon just the right niche, but don't get involved expecting your greeting card business to make a killing with every new card you put out there.
What Kind of Cards Should you Produce?
You should probably decide on a kind of mission statement for your greeting card business. Greeting card businesses tend to develop a reputation as the greeting card business that makes funny cards, or the greeting card business that makes cute cards, or the greeting card business that makes crude cards.
In some ways, it may not be quite fair that greeting card businesses tend to be typecast as it were as a company that only produces one sort of card, but keep in mind that retailers have to peruse literally hundreds of different greeting card business catalogs and websites looking for the right cards.
By having a focused greeting card business plan for what kind of card you hope to sell, you may be able to take the lead over some of your greeting card business competition by the fact that your buyers will know exactly what kind of product you sell just by looking at your greeting card business's name or glancing at your website.
This is true whether or not you plan on dealing with retailers. If you're hoping to sell directly to the consumer through a website, a focused greeting card business plan can still be of help.
If your greeting card business is working with retailers, though, know the market you're dealing with before sending blindly. Sorry to be crude, but if your greeting card business focuses on fart jokes, Hallmark might not be interested. On the other hand, novelty stores like Spencers tend to love such a greeting card business.
What you'll need to get your greeting card business started will be:
- A Few gretting Card Designs
Don't spend money on this. If you're not an artist, you probably know a talented artist who would do the work for a percentage of your greeting card business sales.
- A Trip to the Local Print Shops
If you don't want to put your home printer to the task of printing dozens and dozens of cards (and yeah, you probably shouldn't try to print dozens and dozens of cards with a consumer grade computer printer), you'll want to shop around the local print shops like Kinkos and Staples.
Check the phone book and other local listings, call around, and see who's willing to give you the best deal on printing some cards (maybe just a few hundred for now, and if those sell, you can reinvest into producing more cards).
A Relatively Low Risk Business Investment
The cool thing about the greeting card business these days is that small press publishing and home-brewed graphic design have become so accessible that anyone with a good idea can make a name for themselves in the greeting card business.
Because of the low start up costs for a greeting card business (you probably won't spend more than a hundred bucks to print more than enough greeting cards to supply the first retailers who place their orders), the greeting card business is fairly low risk, however, there's no guarantee that retailers are going to share your vision.
You can always sell online, but even there, there is no guarantee. Your greeting card business is playing largely to individual taste, so if you don't get it right the first time, you can always just try again until you stumble upon your greeting card business's niche.
Self Expression through Unlikely Channels
A greeting card business can also allow some degree of self expression. Yes, your business goal is simply to say “Get well soon!” or “Happy Birthday!” but allowing your own sense of humor, your own artistic sensibilities to work their way in and, hopefully, if enough people share your unique view on things, you might just be able to get a decent start in the art and entertainment industry through the greeting card business.
Greeting Card Business Resources
Important Point To Keep In Mind
See Also: How to Start A Business : Business Idea of The Day
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