How to Start a Greeting Card Business

A greeting card warms up everyone’s heart. It acts as a refresher to one’s life with the notion that the sender is thinking about you, whether it is during your birthday, celebrating an anniversary, or congratulating you for a job well done.

 Things have become even easier in the digital era, as you can send your greeting card on social media, and the receiver gets it instantly. It is expected that by 2027, the greetings card market will be worth $13.5 billion. It always sends an emotional healing, and since we are emotional beings, chances are that we cannot live without encouragement.

If you are looking forward to starting a greeting card business with print-on-demand, then keep reading to learn an 8-step guide on how to start the business and overcome any anticipated challenge within a short period.

1. Identify Your Audience

For a Business card business to succeed, it is imperative to identify your target audience to know the kind of messages to write in the cards.

The first and foremost thing to know is  to 

Categorize your potential customers – this can range from age, gender or profession.

You will also need to know how many they are under each category so that you will know how many they are and what their values and interests are.

Research what the industry has had in the past-For instance, look for many existing card businesses online and read their reviews to know what customers liked and did not like about their cards. Get a competitive advantage over the weaknesses.

Study your social media followers-Understand their goals, and see what you can offer better to them if they become your customers. You can do this by choosing a platform such as Google Forms or Survey Monkey to receive feedback about your survey.

2. Select a Niche

You need to stand out from the crowd in a fully saturated marketplace. Yes, you would think the greetings card is your niche, but you are wrong. You need to go down further and come up with specifics to give room to hone your craft as you build a solid customer base.

True to say that a greeting card has a universal appeal, but the moment you specialize in a defined sector, say, birthday cards, people will keep referring to you as the birthday greeting card seller. You will be surprised to see how many customers you will get over time. Remember, birthdays take place every day. You do not have to worry about where to fill your basket of clients from. They are already looking out for a specialized design-savvy for this niche.

By doing this, you will sell more while spending less on advertisement costs in a highly competitive field.

3. Prepare a Business Plan

Preparing a business plan is critical when learning how to start a  greeting card business with print-on-demand. It aims to describe goals and ways to make these goals a success.

A good business plan will be comprised of the following components;

• Executive summary– This content explains the business vision and mission, understands your target audience, and describes how you intend to achieve the goals.
• Market Analysis– This is a market research composition with an overview of what happens in the card industry, your competitors, and your project estimate upon starting the business.
• Management and Staffing- It summarizes the company structure, staff number, and responsibilities.
• Customer Segmentation– It gives an overview of your target customers in terms of demographics such as gender, age, and market size.
• Products- Specifies the exact details about the products you offer in comparison with the industry and get to know how to price them.
• Marketing-Shows a detailed strategic plan on how your marketing activities will be taking place. For instance, the use of posters, Radios, TVs, or even use of social media channels.
• Financial Planning– It lays down your projected income statements and balance sheets and helps one make a crucial decision about accessing finances from financial organizations to get startup funds.

4. Business Registration

Business registration depends on the state where you reside, the location, and the business structure.

However, there are general requirements to starting  a business, and these are;

1. Choosing your Business Structure– This depends on how you wish to operate. In the U. S, you can set it up in the below structures

• A Sole proprietorship- A Sole owner operates it
• Partnership- This is where more than one person operates the business, and they share all the profits or losses as per the partnership agreement.
• Corporation- It separates the owner from the business and does not take personal risk.
• Limited  Liability Company- The structure protects your assets and limits a company’s liability.

2. Choosing a Business Name– A unique business name that blends with the  Business is critical. It should identify your customers’ brands and easily search on the domain.
3. Business Registration -Revolves around making the business official on government sites.  Research what your county or state requires to register the business from the location and the entire documentation.
4. Designing and Preparing the  Greeting Cards

This is a critical area that can break or make your business. If you are unsure how to design one, hire a professional designer to create unique designs.  Essentially, you need to take a few steps, as outlined below, for a perfect card.

• Create an account with   designer companies
• Select the greeting card designs of choice.
• Amend the design to match your target audience for final printing.

6. Spot a Place to Sell your Greeting Card

Since you now have the product to sell, where do you take it from there? You need to spot joints where you will be selling them, and they can be sold on wholesale, retail, or as per demand. Generally, there are places where you can sell these cards, such as Ecommerce platforms like Wix, Shopify, BigCommerce, or Squarespace.

Other notable ecommerce marketplaces such as Etsy and eBay can be perfect places to sell greeting cards.

7. Setting up a greetings Card Store

When setting up a greeting card store, you need to understand the sales channel you use to make it effective. But you also need to give full information about your business if you want your customers to gain confidence and buy your products.

If you decide to sign up for the eCommerce platforms, ensure that you give out your details such as Homepage, about us page, product page, contact page, and shipping details pages to make it easier for clients to reach out to you.

8. Marketing Your Greetings Card Business

The key to making profits for any business is by marketing your products. As you start that birthday greeting card business, creating awareness about the product is imperative. This can be done by use of various channels, including;

• Email Marketing- Though this is an old-age way of marketing, you can easily reach out to your customer’s inboxes and promote your business there.
• Use of Social Media Accounts- Social Media helps connect and instantly engage your prospects. You can use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other relevant social media accounts to advertise your business.

Finally

It is never that hard to start a greeting card business. All you need to do is self-motivate yourself and follow this guide for comprehensive support.