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Trigger
 
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| O.K. the wagon is rolling before the wheels are on it. I've been working on the menu and business card. Clay-doh thinks the business card needs more flash - my thought was that the more sterile/black and white the card was, the more clean/safe the business would be read. Clay-doh says the card should sell - thus color/pictures... My first go 'round is with some higher educators, so I don't want to come off too flashy. Oh, the "flare" is for the fire in the food, not "flair" for talent/gift. I'm not sure about that one either. Any input is greatly appreciated. 
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Sailfish
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The design looks good, but do one card each.
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White Marlin
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White Marlin
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| Sheepshead's right. Color on the plate and fork and the comapss would go a long way and still leave it classic black and white for the most part.
www.saltwater-events.comBleach is for socks, not for docks, jackass!
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Snapper
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In my opinion, a business card is just a contact...its what you do after they call you that they will remember you by...frankly go as "kiss" as you can on the card...mine are
"If you can kill it, I can Grill It!"http://www.staycationscatering.com
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Grouper
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put some color in it....make people look at it and remember it...the more it stands out the more attention it gets
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Grouper
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| A business card should be for providing contact info. I don't think it needs to sell your product- just me. I work for the most profitable corporation in the world and all our cards are pretty simple- mine looks just like the higher ups. Only color is for the company logo. If you are going to be using the card to try and drum up business then anything that grabs attention would be good, including color. I think you are off to a good start just using the free advertising on the forum- I have hired a lot of folks off the forum- it's the first place I look when I need a local service provider.
Mike2009 Key West 1520 CC 2009 Yamaha 50 HP 2 Stroke- FOR SALE- 5 yr. Transferrable Extended Warranty, Stainless Prop- Link Below http://www.pensacolahuntingforum.com/fishingforum/Topic313442-46-1.aspx My Pix... http://www.forumpictureprocessor.com/gallery.asp?gallery=1255
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Grouper
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Foil the lettering, and choose a background color. Also coloring the plate setting would be the way to go. Give it that high end look, b/c your card creativity reflects your business creativity. Just my opinion
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White Marlin
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| Keep it simple, one card each, a little color and drop the compass. Who...What and contact info. JMO and get another E-Mail address from your provider, like dscatering@..... Also thinking... "Food with a Flare" drop the "a"
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Snapper
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| I have had some experience with designing business cards and layouts and you have some good ideas brought out by the other posters on this idea. My take on a business card is it should give your prospective customer enough important information so that they know what your business does and they can contact you without any further searching. Name of the business is most important and should stand out on the card. Business phone # and address (if in a storefront) should also be on the card. Email address is OK if you feel that it is an important enough means of contact that you will faithfully check it each and every day no matter how busy you get but one email address is more than sufficient as is one phone contact line. If you have a website that is professional looking and is updated regularly, that is another good contact source for customers. The internet is steadily becoming a primary source for business information for the consumer. But think to yourself where you would look for that type of business before you put money into utilizing that form of advertising. Do you go to the internet to find a good food caterer? Do you use Google to find a reputable body shop to repair your wrecked vehicle? Use the advertising that you use to find different types of businesses and ask your friends where they look to find a good restaurant or caterer. (From all the past comments and threads, I would recommend one of the places be right here on the PFF for starters!!) Now, the logo, many will say that you don't need a logo, many will want a logo. Whatever the choice, make it stand out and be consistent. The logo you have chosen has the obvious look of clip art and that isn't what attracts customers nowadays. With all the imaging programs available to most people today and with the graphics companies that are willing to turn your visual idea into a professional looking logo that you can stick with forever and use as a "brand" for your business, I would spend the extra money and have one professionally designed for you. It will pay back more in interest from your customers than you can ever imagine. And the branding of your business is quite important to your future even though you may not realize it now. What do the golden arches remind you of, or the patriotic colors of the logos "Esso" or "SOHIO" or "Exxon" bring to mind?? The colonel's portrait on a red and white background?? Branding is very important and is one of the more advanced methods to set your business apart from all the others but it is well worth considering as it is very inexpensive to use once it is designed properly and used consistently and people will know you by the image after they have been "educated" to what your company is represented by. And it doesn't necessarily need to be an image of something, I know right off what the large black block letters "IBM" stand for or "AT&T" or the royal blue and gold of "NAPA". So, along with the "KISS" concept, you need to include the most important things that you want to convey to your prospective customer on that little card and do it precisely and with as few words as possible without becoming redundant. For example, your separate names and phone #'s, quite apparently the two consecutive #'s that Ma Bell assigned to your new business. [(Ma Bell, hmmmm, no doubt who THAT is!!) Another good example of branding, using a nickname or slogan consistently like "Xerox" or "Kleenix"!] I would put both names and one phone # on the card or else have separate cards printed out for each of you with your own names on each version of them. Good luck with your venture and I sure hope that some of these little tips will help you develop a top notch business card design.  Edit: Tuna man has a good idea too, get a dedicated email address from your carrier, it doesn't cost a penny and further gets your business name out there for prospective customers to see. And separate business cards are always a good idea as I stated before. Use your common sense to decide what YOU would do in each situation when looking for a business and then cater to that form of location of information to do your own "fishing" for new customers.
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Snapper
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| instant karma posted about your choice of the word "flare". i dont see the post now. anyway "flair"= style "flare"= flash fire a "flare" happens when cooking, so if you meant that then it applies. "flair" can be your style of cooking/presentation, so if you mean that then you might want to spell it right on your card. i agree with simplicity. name of business. your name. your contact info (one only). and what you do. instead of a logo, how about a pic of you/hubby or a pic of one or all of your dishes if you can get the detail to stand out on a little card. mine have one side glossy. they are a little more rigid/durable. when i hand customers my card, i think they could care less about how "much" is on the card as much as they just want to be able to identify "me" and get in touch with me. i do have a pic of a mercedes on it to help with the "branding" rememberance factor. my .01 worth (.02 after taxes)
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Sailfish
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| okay, my .02 cents (ain't worth that much by the way). 1) based on your email "duesouthcharters" is a company website. When I went there I got your charter bussiness. May want to add a link there to a page talking about your catering. 2) I agree, loose the compass. Took me a bit to understand why it was there (due south, duh,) 3) What kind of food do you do? I don't know, only that its a flare (or flair) 4) what kind of catering? "we do weddings, parties, company picnics, etc" tells me that you do what I want. I'll probably go what the company that actually said that verses the one that assumes I know.
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Sailfish
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| maybe this? 
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Snapper
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Tuna Man (8/20/2008)
Keep it simple, one card each, a little color and drop the compass. Who...What and contact info. JMO and get another E-Mail address from your provider, like dscatering@..... Also thinking... "Food with a Flare" drop the "a" I'm with the Tuna man on the EM add change to dscatering@....the charter add is confusing.I'm not fimiliar with your business, and it could be missunderstood as catering for people on there yachts or something.Do get your own cards though, as for changeing them, Keep it simple and clear.
Wish'n I was Fish'n
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White Marlin
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| I agree on the graphics used, they look as though they came from clip art......honestly that was the first thing I noticed.....only b/c I use word 8 hours a day. I would suggest designing your own logo (or having someone do it for you). I'm thinking incorprate the compas and plate......like have a plate with a compass design on it......it would incorporate the "catering" and the "due South" part. just make the compass design much lighter so that it's only noticed if you look for it (meaning it doesn't "over shadow" the plate) Just an idea.....
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Sailfish
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Sailfish
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| how bout a chef's hat with compass in front. Not a good graphic, just concept idea 
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Trigger
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| Unless your business name is changing to somethng with BLAZING or FIRE or BBQ in it, I'd spell it FLAIR, not FLARE. If I got your card and saw that, I'd at first think "these people can't spell". Then I'd think "well maybe it's a play on words", but eventually, I'd dedie "they just can't spell". Harry
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Mingo
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| Perhaps you might try putting a shadow behind the lettering of your company name. And then super-impose company name over a compass.
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Trigger
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Alright, thanks so far, here's edit #2. As said before, thanks so much for the advice. We agree with the separate cards, but this is on the fly for a party of 30 or so. We'll go separate next week. The dish in the picture is a soft-shell crab stuffed with crab meat, lobster meat, shrimp and crawfish, topped with a cream sauce. Not exactly a "signature" since I haven't made it for a "party" but a pretty great dish. The largest group for that one was a sit down with about 24 folks. It's pretty labor intensive, but flashy. What do you think?
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Snapper
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i like the pic. but you didnt answer the inquiry about the "food with flare".nothing looks on fire in that pic
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"if you expected me to say yes, then you wouldn't have asked" fred angeles pensacola imports (mercedes benz repair/maintenance) 3000 mobile hwy pensacola, fl 32505 mon-thurs 6am-5pm 850-791-6607
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Snapper
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| You definitely want simple...but you want classy as well. Do not do the black and white you have. The current card makes it looks like you are not a high-end operation...and I'm sure you are. Your card doesn't sell you but it is the first impression. If they read into the look of your card that you are not first class then you have no chance to prove otherwise. Your card won't get you the sell...but it might get you the opportunity to bid. The sell is up to you and your product. Go with a black (or other bold solid) card with silver foil writing. Remember...you want classy and high-end. You can always "simplify" the food and service for the old redneck bar-b-que but you also want the very high end "filet" jobs as well. Your current black and white doesn't reflect that. The cost difference is negligable compared to the benefits. One high-end job and all the cards are paid for! Here's another hint...NEVER>>>EVER give out just one card at a time. ALWAYS give out 4 or 5 to each person. That way they will have plenty of opportunities to find it (because they are laying around everywhere) when they happen to need it. It is the cheapest advertising you can do. Also, when they have a friend over and are telling of your services...they can say, "here, I've got one of there cards." Best of luck. Don't skimp on the advertising. It is the lifeblood of your business.
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Sailfish
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rocklobster (8/20/2008)
Alright, thanks so far, here's edit #2. As said before, thanks so much for the advice. We agree with the separate cards, but this is on the fly for a party of 30 or so. We'll go separate next week. The dish in the picture is a soft-shell crab stuffed with crab meat, lobster meat, shrimp and crawfish, topped with a cream sauce. Not exactly a "signature" since I haven't made it for a "party" but a pretty great dish. The largest group for that one was a sit down with about 24 folks. It's pretty labor intensive, but flashy. What do you think?
i like it. Although the picture doesn't do a lot for me. Don't know why, maybe because its to colorfull? Maybe needs a border? Thats probably it, needs a border. Nothing fancy, just something. The green at the bottom doesn't do much for me either. Kindof clashes with the picuter. I've found that problem using clipart coloring with actual pictures before.
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White Marlin
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| Personally Michelle, I LOVE the new card. Like I told ya ta O'Learys the other night...makes me slobber. If that is the kinda catering I wanted...seafood/spicy/southern/cajun....ect...your card imparts all of that, and it will appeal to the type of customers you want, namely...people that want to hire a caterer with unique, flavorful dishes! Your card lets them know that you are it for the job. They say in food presentation means a lot..and although we will all say flavor, it IS presentation that gets our attention, and that IS what a bizz card needs to do, is get attention. Thats why they have fake wax pieces of pie and cake and dessert in resturaunts, to stimulate your visual sences which are connected to your other sences, namely taste. Thats why most resturaunt billboards, from fancy to fastfood like Burger king, have big huge pictures of a juicy burger airbrushed and sprayed with baby oil to mmake it look as pretty as possible, and stimulate your pallette. Wow...I just used the word pallette. Look for me on next weeks episode of queer eye for the straight guy.
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Grouper
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How about some flames? That would add some flare and color. A flame with a purple base followed by red,orange and yellow looks really neat.
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Sailfish
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Snapper
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White Marlin
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rocklobster (8/19/2008)
............Any input is greatly appreciated........... Well, I guess the woman herself made the rules of who could reply to her question! Didnt see a prequisit for experience. However, to answer your wonderful first post anyways....I have owned, and marketed my own business since 1996. Including designing my own business cards, flyers, ads, truck signs, yard signs, ect. Presentation is your FIRST chance to grab attention. My truck has been picked out of a parking lots FULL of other contractors trucks with there magnetic signs, and my has grabbed the attention with the metal flake gold lettering on a black background with thin cream outlines around the old english letters. Presentation. Are you a marketing or ad rep? I am sure you must be since it would be crazy to reply to this if not.
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White Marlin
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| No, if you read her original post, I was the one she said told her it was too sterile. And I like the NEW card. Did I spell sterile right? Cuz I reallly could care less about my spelling on a chat forum. And the pay on words is cute....you guessed it right...my name Clay, and a play on words, Clay-doh. Very observant.
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White Marlin
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| Wow. Thought you could fill in the spaces and figure a customer picked...grabbed attention...ect. You are seeming like a real winner. Will you always just stay anounamous (did I spell that right bitch?) or will you ever show up at any gatherings? Again, welcome to the forum......you seem like a great guy so far!
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