VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Jen Gosnell]

I realize this is rather subjective, but wanted to get current opinion as the only relevant thread I could find was at least 4 years old and rather incomplete with broken links.

I'm trying to finalize my business card design. Not being ready for the uber-minimalist QR-code-only approach - I'm going pretty standard with ties to my website design. I have only a few examples of current business cards from working voice talent, so I'd like to hear from more of you whether you put a street address on your business card. If so - is it your residential address?

I do not have nor plan to get a PO box for my business. If I put an address on my card, people will know where to find not only me but my husband, kids and of course the ferocious watchdog. (Yes, of course there is a ferocious watchdog here just waiting to gobble up potential miscreants who set foot on the property… )

Not that I really think anyone would come to find me physically unless invited. Part of me just says this is an outmoded data point to include. But another part says, well Jen, you want them to know where to send the check without having to send you an extra email to ask! I could solve that concern, though, by simply putting the remittance address on my invoice, perhaps protecting my personal information to some extent by only extending key parts to those I am actually doing business with.

I'm probably overthinking this. But I still want to know, what do you do? Any thoughts for me?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.
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Skype: jen.gosnell
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[Jacob Ekstroem]

[Karen Souer]

Personally, I go for a relatively minimal approach on my cards. I put, name, site, phone, email. Communication is so fast and easy that personally, I don't think it's a lot of effort for them to ask for your address. Plus, cards are small, so they may lose it and ask you anyways.
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[Bish]

I think that a physical address on a card can possibly do you a disservice. The internet makes us "Business Sans Frontières" ... Why let the guy with the check book in FL peg you as a talent from OR? If you're working from home, it's irrelevant and can only serve as a barrier... unless, of course, you're me who uses nationality and location as a tag-line

If you were in a relatively major market area and targeting local studios, then that may be different. But if you're including a phone number on the card (unless you're paying for 800 service), anyone with half a brain can work out where you're from anyway without having it spelled-out.

Cheers
Peter
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[Chuck Davis]

I'd leave the physical addy off the card Jen. For your family's security. Here I don't advertise the fact that there's a recording studio...and the house is alarmed.

Including your addy on invoices is the way to go.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
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[Rognog]

Logo & tag, name, phone number, website, email. That's it and that's all!
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Tom Dheere - The "H" is Silent, but I'm Not!
www.tomdheere.com

[todd ellis]

i never thought of it from a security standpoint, so that's a good point. i sometimes add a "suite 401" to my address - there's only one house here and the post office doesn't seem to mind (YMMV) it makes me look like a bigger deal than i am. i always thought about it from a graphic design standpoint. i always keep the front of the card minimalist - graphic element & website and full color with a gloss coat. i put any other extraneous information on the back in black with no coat. with or without the street address - printing on the back cleans up the look of the card and allows for stuff like: mobile number, skype, twitter, facetube, agent contact - surly not all - but any/some/none of the above. and it's not expensive. www.gotprint.com 1000 cards front/back $14.10 + shipping.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Lee Gordon]

[Karen Souer]

The only thing that's helpful on your website (speaking as someone who's had to find this information) is your state (and if relevant) country. That way if someone is calling you from elsewhere, they don't call you at a wildly variant time.
_________________
Any project, any size, I can help.
karensouer.com
voiceoverassistant.com/blog/

[forefront]

Using a Suite # is helpful on a biz card and makes it look like an office:

Jen VO
My Home Address
Suite #123
City ZIP State

Or find another X-based VO person with the same problem and switch addresses?

Although the chance of people visiting your home/office are slim, I've always felt the NRA should make "Welcome To Our Home" door mats with the NRA logo on...


BTW www.moo.com biz cards are excellent quality
_________________
====
David Cross
A spinner of stories, a teller of tales.
Evocative. Provocative. Smart.
www.VoiceOve.rs
david@davidcrossvo.com
Office: +1-503-232-8852

[Fran McClellan]

For me, my address is on the invoice and that's it. I don't actually want potential clients knowing that I live in the middle of nowhere (unless it happens to be brought up in conversation - after the booked session of course )
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Back into the murky lurk from whence I came
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"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon

[KaraEdwards]

I did include my address on my new business cards- as well as a photo of myself. I use the photo because it's all too often you are handed a card and when you look later, you have no memory of who that person was.

BUT I have never given out my home address, ever, anytime, or anywhere. I use a PO Box for everything. And in the instance that I simply HAVE to give a physical address- I use a family member's address. Let's just say I've had my own little run ins with folks tracking me down. I like to make it as difficult as possible
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Threadjackers local 420

Kara Edwards
http://www.karaedwards.com
kara@karaedwards.com

[Frank F]

I agree with all the above Jen. No address is a good thing.

I do put my location (the city) on my latest cards as it's a known high-line area (not that I am high-line, I just happen to be here). But that is vanity and not necessary.

A business card should supply the information needed for someone to contact you, not how to reach out and touch you. As a Voiceoverist with a home studio there is no need for people to travel to your location; so why provide information which is not needed? Besides that, white space makes your card look rich.

As for QR codes - not everyone has as to read them - to me another wasted space.

My favorite business card of all time was in the movie - "Oh, God". It had one word printed - "God".

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[jsgilbert]

No Street address, yes - you put that on your invoices or other correspondence with people who have reason to send you something via the post.

I would consider some sort of "line" that might offer a unique proposition, such as "The Voice of Bank America"

additionally, depending upon your approach to social media, put down your Facebook address, LinkedIn, twitter and so forth. You always have the option of gracefully bowing out of accepting an invitation.
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j.s. gilbert

js@jsgilbert.com
www.jsgilbert.com

"today is the first day of the rest of the week"

[melissa eX]

No. No address. I jealously guard mine. In fact I use a mailbox (not P.O. box but private one) for all my business dealings.
I just have name, tagline, phone number, website and email address. And on-line I don't even note the town I'm in unless I have to. Just NYC area. or Local NYC. I'm with Bish. My cell phone area code is a number unique to NYC cell phones. My GV # is a NYC landline a/c. Anyone local here will know where I'm local to.

And as an extra layer of security (NO it's NOT paranoia - just the common caution one grows up with when one grows up in NYC - I can never figure out why people can't figure out how to get out of my house when they leave here. They try the door, it doesn't open. They keep trying and pushing and pulling and turning the knob 10 different ways and it never occurs to them to actually UNLOCK the door. Which I LOCK whenever I close it. And I'm not even 20 mins. from midtown. But they grew up here - in Not NYC - as opposed to there - in NYC. ) I NEVER give my home landline number to anyone who HAS my actual home address. (well other than friends of course and those I trust) Just the cell phone number. And I let them know it's a cell. So they'll never know if anyone's home or not.