Greeting Card Biz Insider Secrets – Part 1

Art Director/Creative Director Don Ruge guest blogs about the greeting card business and getting started. He has such a wealth of knowledge that it takes three installments to share it all! 

Don Ruge

Anyone wanting to create their own greeting card line needs to do some research first. A lot of ground regarding manufacturing and distribution was covered in the article, “What You Didn’t Know About Starting a Greeting Card Line,” so I’d like to focus on the product development side of things. The following are things you absolutely need to know if you want to create a successful and profitable greeting card line:

Who’s your target customer?

First, you will need to “define your market.” It’s something the major card companies spend big bucks on, but that’s because they are usually targeting a wide range of customers. If you’re planning to design a line of cards that you yourself would personally buy, then you’ve got a great head start on defining your market. You’ve also got a great head start in developing a successful greeting card line!

Why? Because the most successful card lines are usually those that are started by artists creating product that they themselves would send to a friend and/or a relative. They have a creative vision of what the end product will look like because it’s what they feel inside. If you can create a card line that personally speaks to you, and you can communicate those emotions through design and verse, then chances are your cards will speak to others as well. Like they say to writers, “write about what you know.”

What kind of cards does she buy?

Note: I’m saying “she” because 80% of all greeting cards are purchased by women. Again, this can start with the artist. Where do you buy your cards? Where do your friends buy their cards? When you receive a card, look on the back to see who made it – after a while you’ll begin to identify certain companies and recognize their designs (my friends accuse me of looking at the back of a card before I even take the time to look at the front!). Then visit the company’s web site and find out where they sell their cards in your area.

A lot of companies will show their entire product line on the web, and while that gives you a good opportunity to view all their designs in one sitting, it does not give you the opportunity to see the cards in the store. By visiting stores, you can see the product “in action” so to speak. Remember, greeting cards are a very tactile product: the paper stock, the special finishes, even the envelope are all a part of the card buying process. You can also get a look at other card lines that focus on the same demographic you’re targeting (these lines are your competition). Chances are the store has already done some of their own work determining who their customer is so the card lines they feature will no doubt reflect that research (as will the rest of their merchandise). Take note of the shoppers in the store – are these the type of people you envision buying your cards?

Now, while you’re still in the store, take advantage of the people that work there and find out what card lines sell well. In my experience, sales people and/or store owners love to be asked their opinion on why one card line does better than another. Is it the price point? The verses?The designs? What specific cards do they continually reorder? As sales reps will tell you, there is absolutely no substitute for going out into “the field” and talking to people. After all, greeting cards are all about communication, and you’ll be hard pressed to create a product line that really appeals to people (which is, after all, your goal) if you’re working in a vacuum.

How will your cards be different?

Keep in mind that a retailer needs a reason to replace an established card line in their store. They want to make sure every square inch of their establishment  makes money and they’re not going to stop selling a profitable line unless they’re absolutely sure the new line (meaning yours) will outsell it. Of course, there’s always the chance they have a line they’re eager to replace but you can’t count on that. Even if you’re planning on licensing the cards – in lieu of manufacturing and distributing them – the company that considers your designs will still be thinking, “Will retailers be willing to get rid of an existing line and take a chance on this one?”

Here’s where I circle back to my earlier comment about the best card lines being created by artists who have a vision, because I truly believe they’re more likely to develop a successful product line than someone who is merely second-guessing what the customer might buy. It’s still very important to do the research, however, because a vision in and of itself is not enough– especially if you’re going to spend a lot of money printing and marketing your own line. It’s often in this research phase where you can begin to determine how your cards will be different from those already out there in the market.

While you’re at the card store and talking to the owner and/or sales person, ask them what they would do to improve some of the lines they carry. You’ll hear comments like “I hear customers laughing out loud when they read the cards but I think they would buy even more of them if the art was better;” or “The illustrations are beautiful but the lettering doesn’t seem to match – I would use a much softer type style;” or “The cat and dog photos are adorable but the editorial is too off-color…they would sell better if the verses were cuter.”

Granted, if these card lines are not similar to the one you’d like to develop then the comments may at first seem unimportant. But keep in mind that too much information is always better than not enough! You may not be designing a line of cards that feature cat and dog photos but you still need to know that the success or failure of a card line can definitely be affected by copy that doesn’t match the art. I should note here that excellent editorial is one of the most important parts of any successful greeting card line. Good writing can’t be faked, so if it’s not your forte, it’s worth the money to find a professional who can provide the copy. A common theory in the social expressions industry, and one to which I subscribe, is that people PICK UP a card because of the design but they BUY the card because of the verse.

A good example of taking an idea and making it different is Shannon Martin’s line of cards (and other products) at Madison Park Greetings.  Using old photography for a humorous line of cards is nothing new; Tim Mikkelsen and Phyllis Wright, who founded Mikwright, have been doing it for years. And a small company in Maine, Borealis Press, has been very successful with card lines that feature literary quotes paired with black and white photography.

But Shannon took old photos, combined them with quotes (and great sentiments), and made everything one color: sepia. The components weren’t exactly original, but the end result was a new and refreshing card line. Another good example is a line I developed a few years ago called Just the Right Words. Again, the elements were similar – black and white photography paired with quotes – but the “twist” was to feature three distinct formats: interior die cut, debossed panel, and perforated bookmark. I also utilized a palette of nine on-trend colors as a way to guarantee this line would stand out from the competition. To date it is still the company’s best selling line.

Checking out the competition may seem like a waste of time when you’re developing your own card line, especially when you can hardly wait to see your designs sitting in the rack and/or spinner at your favorite card store. But without taking the time to see what else is out there, and finding out how you can distinguish your line from all the others, that’s all your cards may ever do; just sit in the rack and/or spinner of your favorite card store.

Thomas Edison once said that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” That can be applied to success as well.  If you want your card line to be successful, then you need to do the work required to make it so.

Don’t Miss Greeting Card Biz Insider Secrets – Part 2 and Greeting Card Biz Insider Secrets – Part 3

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