Best Business Card Winner

1. How did you come up with its concept, as far as the fold-in-half tent style and the color choices?

We have always been very involved with our local Chambers of Commerce. We wanted a business card where we could stand up on a table at Chamber of Commerce meetings and it could be read from both sides at the same time and when someone picked it up they would say, “Wow!”

That encouraged everyone else to pick it up and look inside. The tent style allowed that feature. The paper had to be heavy enough to stand on its own. It required a crease for easy folding and the printer used a high quality coating so the ink would not crack and peel at the fold.

When we were designing our logo we wanted people to remember our name “Stardust Cruises” and associate us with service and elegance. We first asked our artist for a black background with a falling star. She came up with several designs and we incorporated a few of them to come up with the perfect image. The lettering resembles sparkling gold and the five stars represent our Five Star Service.

We use the celestial theme in many areas of our business. Each vehicle has a celestial name, i.e. “Supernova” “Galaxy”, “Red Star”. Because we introduced the first limo bus to our area, it was imperative we have photographs of the interior and exterior of our vehicle. The tent style allowed us to put the pictures on the inside. Our first photograph was done by our daughter’s fiancé, Mike DeWitte, in exchange for a kitchen table!

2. Are you still handing out this business card?

We handed out, by hand, over 10,000 of these cards in our first six months of business. That is pretty remarkable when you consider we live in a town of about 90,000 people. We printed our post office box on our first card. We have since eliminated that and closed the PO Box. People still have that card and try to use that old address! We haven’t used that card since 2003.

3. When and why did you come up with the second-generation business card?

Our first business card changed when we purchased the “Red Star.” We eliminated a lot of the text which described the types of events we can do. We replaced it with a photograph of the “Red Star”, our 1930 Model A stretch limousine. It is a real eye catcher.

One night I was at a winery open house when a gentleman asked me to dance. He asked what I did for a living and when I told him I had a limousine service he stopped dancing and told me had a limousine I just had to see. Then he pulled our business card out of his wallet to show me the “Red Star!” He had pulled up behind the limousine at a stop light and instantly fell in love. But before he had a chance to write down the phone number off the back it had pulled away. He feared he would never see it again. Then months later he was visiting a winery and found our card. He kept it, looked us up on the internet and even contacted his brother online to show it to him. He had carried our card in his wallet ever since. What a surprise when he found out he was dancing with its owner. This gentleman has since made a point of visiting our garage just to see this car.

That is effective advertising. We also replaced the first interior picture with one done by a professional photographer (and cost a lot more than that kitchen table!)

4. Do you use the menu card as a business card?

Due to the size of the graphics, we had to use a format that ended up being slightly larger than a traditional business card. Each page shows the interior and the exterior, as well as the car’s capacity. One of the photographs was done by a local professional, one was provided by Krystal, and the rest were taken by us.

However, we met a stumbling block. This card stock could not be as heavy, and while one card would stand up by itself, we found multiple cards would not. This posed a problem when we displayed cards at wineries, hotels, restaurants and local businesses. We found an inexpensive card holder that was perfect for the cards. It allowed them to stack on the holder and be seen from both sides. So we printed up labels that instructed the reader to call us for more cards when empty.

Then we invited all our employees over for pizza and a safety meeting while we attached the labels to the card holders and stacked the cards on them. With all this help, we had them done in no time at all.

Our holders are so popular; we have found our competitor’s cards sitting on them. We have made some modifications since winning the award. Our logo now sports “Operator of the Year”, our “story” has been shortened to one page about our recent awards at the LCT Show, and we added our newest vehicle, the “Eclipse (White)”. It is our only business card now.

5. Who do you hand it out to?

Everyone! We hand our cards out to anyone who shows the slightest interest in our service. Yesterday I met two little girls who had never seen the interior of a limousine. With mom’s permission, they climbed inside and I demonstrated our “Disappearing TV”, a high tech feature on our Krystal 120” stretch.

The girls were awe struck. I handed them a card as a memento. As it turned out, the oldest is planning a birthday party. You never know who your next client will be.

We went through 10,000 menu cards in about 4 months. We hand them out to anyone who provides a service to us, whether we are “on the job” or not. We are always representing Stardust Cruises Limousine Service. We hand them out to restaurant servers, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Shows, any guests aboard our limousines; even my manicurist keeps some for her clients. We send one along with any written quote.

One year I dressed in a Flapper Dress and walked behind our Red Star in the Santa Maria Christmas Parade of Lights handing out cards. People were running into the street to get a card. Our sales person visits hotels, restaurants, and wineries in different geographical areas each week. He takes them a card holder and a stack of cards.

Just today we got a referral from the concierge at a local hotel. They were out of business cards, but an employee happened to have one in his pocket! It seems that they keep these cards forever!

6. What has the overall feedback and response rate been from each of the two different business cards?

We have had nothing but positive feedback from each of the cards. People love the visual information they get from the card, plus it has all the vital information they need to contact us. Some have asked for us to add our prices. We prefer prospective clients call us for prices. That gives us the opportunity for us to “sell” our service, which is much more than just the vehicle.

With the advent of the menu card we no longer have to describe our diverse fleet. Prospective clients now use a vehicle’s celestial name when inquiring about prices and availability. We wasted no time to modify our card so we could proudly boast “Operator of the Year” on the front, which gives us another opportunity to explain what makes Stardust Cruises Limousine Service different.

7. Anything you’d like to add?

Because of its folded style, our business card is often chosen in drawings. We were winning so often, we withheld our cards in some chamber drawings! Quality has always been of utmost importance. If you are willing to skimp on your business card, will you also skimp on your service?

Also, because of the black background, we found they did not copy well on the standard black and white copiers many chamber newsletters use. So our graphic artist has made an image with a white background, black lettering, and added our contact information on the front of the card so it can easily be printed in newsletters.

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TCP#15193-B