2. Find and analyze your audience
Next, it’s time to find your audience and get to know them. By choosing a specific target audience, you can focus on those most likely to buy from you. Ask yourself: who are you selling to, how big is your target audience, and what are their attitudes, values, and interests.
Here’s your plan of action:
Competitor analysis
See what the top greeting card companies are selling, who their customers are, and what pain points they are addressing. Analyze their designs, customer interaction, social media accounts, greeting card messages, etc.
Read reviews of other successful greeting card businesses like Hallmark or American Greetings. Check out their offering and identify gaps in the market that you could fill.
Source: Hallmark
Gather feedback
Your social media followers could be potential customers. Survey them to learn more about their opinions. Ask about their buying habits and what they may be missing in the greeting card industry. Some popular free survey creators include SurveyMonkey and Google Forms.
Create buyer personas
Create buyer personas that represent your target audience and their key traits. Divvy up your buyer personas by demographics, education, employment, leisure, social network preferences, favorite communication channels, goals, and main difficulties.
Buyer personas help you better understand your customers. Then, you can create tailored content, messaging, and product development to meet specific needs and concerns.
3. Create a business plan
Developing a business plan will help you define your company structure, values, and goals.
Follow these steps to create a business plan for your own greeting card company.
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Company description. Note down a detailed description of your business. Include its name, website, mission statement, and products you sell. Explain what makes your business unique by crafting a brand story.
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Market analysis. Conduct thorough research on your industry size, expected growth, target market, and competitors. Understanding market trends will help you plan strategically.
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Products or services. Outline what type of greeting cards you want to sell. Focus on the benefits of your products and how they meet customer needs. For example, ‘‘Gift A Green is a manufacturer of Unique Greeting Cards With Organic Microgreen Seeds‘‘.
Source: Gift a Green
- Marketing and sales strategy. Sketch out how you plan on attracting and retaining customers. Consider your marketing strategy, sales tactics, pricing strategy, and advertising or promotional plans.
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Calculate costs and potential income. When starting an online business, calculate profits/losses to ensure healthy profit margins. Consider taxes and design, production, and shipping costs. Calculate fees for listings and referrals, and any other fees your chosen ecommerce platform or marketplace sets.
Learn how to price print-on-demand products.
For example: if you’re interested in starting a t-shirt business, you should focus on how to develop a winning t-shirt business plan. And this logic can be applied to creating a greeting cards business plan too—or any other print-on-demand dropshipping business.
4. Establish your brand
Next, it’s time to establish your brand. A brand is more than a logo or product—it’s a consumer’s overall perception, emotions, and experience associated with your business. It represents a company’s promise, values, personality, and story. Your brand also determines how you interact with customers and treat your employees.
To establish a memorable brand, follow these steps:
Develop a strong brand identity
When developing a brand identity, consider your brand name, behavior, visual aspects, and values. Decide the tone of voice you want to use in advertising, content creation, promotions, and customer service. Align your brand with your target audience’s characteristics. Come back to your buyer personas and consider how they’d express themselves.
Find out more on How to Build a Brand in 2024 with our complete guide.
Create a compelling brand story and establish a brand personality
People love stories. They’re relatable, immersive, and usually convey a valuable message. Crafting a brand story and developing your brand’s personality will help customers remember you. When writing your brand’s story, go back to your brand values, target audience, and mission statement.
A Definitive Guide to Brand Storytelling
For example, Food for Thoughts Cards donates a sandwich every time someone buys a card. Their site explains: “We believe that sending a greeting card and fighting hunger can go hand-in-hand. A stamp. A sandwich. A smile.”
Source: Food for Thoughts Cards
Choose a memorable brand name
Brand names play a powerful role in our everyday language. Creating or rebranding a brand name can even involve inventing a new word or feeling people can form fresh emotional connections around.
Another route is choosing “a comforting or familiar name that conjures up pleasant memories so customers respond to your business on an emotional level,” as Entrepreneur advocates.
Regardless, when selecting a business name, aim for something that no other company is using. A memorable name will enhance brand recognition and establish strong, positive, and distinctive brand connections.
Also, make sure social media handles are available. That way customers will be able to find and identify you quickly on social media platforms.
Your brand name should be meaningful, appropriate, and memorable, yet difficult to imitate. Learn more on how to come up with the perfect brand name.
Pro tip: When creating a website, consider using domain name generators to find available domains that match your brand name. This will make it easier for potential customers to find your company’s site.
Design a distinctive logo
Your logo is one of the first impressions customers get of your brand. It should be captivating, memorable, and appropriate for your product or service.
Research logos of successful competitors to ensure your brand’s logo is one-of-a-kind. A logo combines several visual elements, so consider font, imagery, and color scheme. Start by familiarizing yourself with color theory.
Source: Mountain Vista Psychology
Establish brand guidelines
A brand’s guidelines outline how its visual identity, typography, tone of voice, and logo should be presented. This ensures brand consistency across all marketing platforms. Share your brand guidelines with influencers, designers, and anyone you collaborate with.
Stay consistent
Brand consistency fosters customer loyalty and trust. Make sure your audience can easily recognize your brand across all platforms. If your brand’s personality is quirky and fun on social media platforms, for example, let that show in your website copy.
Apply for necessary permits
To make your greeting card company official, you need to register your business. First, choose your business structure—limited liability company (LLC), sole proprietorship, etc.
You’ll then have to check with your local authorities and apply for necessary business licenses.
If starting an online greeting card business with a print-on-demand service provider Printful, consult our business set-up checklist.
Disclaimer: Legal requirements, fees, and procedures will differ depending on your country of residence. Before proceeding, check with local authorities and a professional legal representative.
Find out how to build a brand from scratch in our detailed guide.
5. Design your greeting cards
Now you have a business name, a brand identity, and a clear idea of who your target market is. It’s time to start creating custom greeting cards!
Here are the steps to create greeting cards from scratch:
Find a blank card
First, you need a good-quality blank card as the basis for your designs. Printful offers customizable greeting cards in three different sizes. You can personalize the cards from top to bottom and they can be designed to stand both horizontally and vertically.
Create your design
You can upload your existing artwork or use Printful’s Design Maker to create a design from scratch. Our Design Maker includes 20,496+ clipart graphics, 791+ fonts, and 668+ colors and patterns. With just a few clicks, you can easily add text, illustrations, photos, or any other content.
Source: Printful
Check out this tutorial on how to use Printful’s Design Maker. Also, make sure you watch our video sharing 11 things you didn’t know Printful’s Design Maker could do.
You can also use free design tools like Canva or Inkspace, or paid tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. If you’re not confident in your design skills, you can also hire a designer to do the work for you.
Pro tip: Ensure your design fits within the card dimensions. Use a high-resolution image (300 DPI) for clear, sharp prints. Include a bleed area (extra space around the design) to prevent white edges after trimming. Follow Printful’s print file guidelines for best results.
Review and mockup
Use Printful’s Mockup Generator to see how your card will look once printed. This helps ensure your design is aligned and visually appealing. If necessary, tweak your design based on the preview to achieve the desired look.
Order samples
Ordering samples is the best way to feel and see how your greeting cards will look in real life, and make sure the final design meets your expectations.
6. Find a site to sell your products on
Now it’s time to share your greeting cards with the world! There are several ways to do it: you can create your own website or use an existing ecommerce platform or marketplace. Each option has its pros and cons.
Popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce offer user-friendly interfaces and customizable templates. You can access market research tools, content marketing tools, and more.
Some platforms require an initial investment, while others offer free plans and trials. Many ecommerce platforms integrate with print-on-demand services. Browse the full list of Printful’s integrations here.
Pros:
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Control over design, branding, and customer experience
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Extensive customization options
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Scalability as your business grows
Cons:
Online marketplaces
Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy provide immediate visibility for your products with minimal marketing efforts. They also offer free listing options.
Pros:
Cons:
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Fees for listing products and sales commissions
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High competition from other sellers
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Limited branding and control over customer experience
Custom website
Creating your own website provides the highest level of control and flexibility. Use tools like WordPress and WooCommerce or website builders like Wix or Squarespace. With their help, you can create a professional-looking site on your own, like Black Lamb Studio did with Squarespace.
Source: Black Lamb Studio
Pros:
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Full control over customer journey and branding
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Independence from third-party platforms and fees
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Search engine optimization (SEO) opportunities to attract organic traffic
Cons:
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Time and effort required for building and maintaining the website
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Some technical know-how is beneficial
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Can be costly (starting from about 39$/month)
When choosing how to sell your products, consider your technical skills, startup capital, and how you plan to scale your business. For example, Etsy is great for getting started, as it’s the go-to global marketplace for unique and creative goods. But ecommerce platforms or custom websites will be excellent for scaling your business in the future.
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Source: Printful
