A window on the world of greeting card publishing, art, design and entrepreneurship.

1. Gypsy Chic
magazine
Issue 14 - 2017
the magazine dedicated to greeting card publishing and entrepreneurship
INSIDE!!! Interviews with Laura Kavanagh & John
Higgins of Go La La!, Orla Barry and Louise McGinty
of Impack Art
BOOK
NOOK
ARE YOU
ON A
MISSION?Stationery
Trends
COLOURING
PAGES
INVESTMENT
PITCHING

2. 2
CONTENTS
3
4
7
10
13
14
17
18
20
22
23
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
INTERVIEW WITH... GO LA LA!
INVESTMENT PITCHING
INTERVIEW WITH... ORLA BARRY
COLOURING PAGES
INTERVIEW WITH... IMPACK ART
BOOK NOOK
STATIONERY TRENDS
WHAT VALUE ARE YOU ADDING IN YOUR BUSINESS?
ARE YOU ON A MISSION?
GYPSY CHIC QUOTES
P.4
P.14
P.22
P.10
P.7

3. from the Editor
LETTER
W
elcome to Issue 14 – another
Gypsy Chic milestone. In the
past month we’ve celebrated
Spring Equinox, the UK’s
Mothering Sunday, St Patrick’s day, St David’s day
and International Women’s day to name a few –
all great card designing/sending opportunities.
I’ve been working fast and furious on a number
of projects including my architectural sketches,
more animal designs, and writing for this ezine.
In between, I’ve been packing boxes, and
decluttering ready for my next house move. A
rolling stone gathers no moss – just racks up a
lot of chiropractic bills to alleviate the strained
muscles and back pain from humping heavy
bedframes and chests of drawers up and down
flights of stairs. I really ought to buy a Gypsy
Caravan some time and take to the road for good.
That would teach me not to hoard
so much stuff. The removals guy
who has helped move everything
designed a series of Facebook
memes inspired by me which
gives you an idea of just how
much I have. They had me
laughing out loud: “Only a few boxes, she said”
and “It will only take 10 minutes, she said”.
In this issue I’ve tried to include topics that I
think will be of interest around pitching, knowing
one’s mission and how to add value to your
service offering. I had a lot of help with these
things during my six months in Belfast Hatchery
and want to share some of that here.
But back to greeting cards. It is my pleasure to
introduce you to some more great contributors,
all hugely talented in their different ways who
have greeting cards at the heart of their product
offering. Dynamic duo Laura Kavanagh and
John Higgins of Go La La, Louise McGintey
of Impack Art, and Orla of Orla Barry. So as
always, grab something pleasant to drink (my
pick of the month is Twinings Popcorn green tea)
and enjoy the read.
Lorraine
www.lorrainestylianou.com
3

4. 4
Interview with .....
Laura Kavanagh & John Higgins
of Go La La!

5. 5
1. GO LALA! IS AFAIRLY
NEW KID ON THE GREETING
CARD BLOCK. TELL USWHO
MAKES UPTHE TEAM,
AND HOW DID THE IDEA
TO PUBLISH CARDS START.
WHAT HAS LIFE BEEN LIKE
SINCE THE LAUNCH?
lll Go La La! comprises
of husband and wife team
John Higgins and Laura
Kavanagh, with help from
our 2 rescue cats Alf and
Freddie. When Laura found out that she
was going to be made redundant from her
role as an area manager for a Housing
Charity, she felt that she needed an outlet
for creative talents that were not being
fully utilised, and after throwing several
ideas around, we came up with the idea
of Greeting Card publishers. We went
to the pub and brainstormed our first
range (Dramatic Paws). This range is the
most time consuming to make, as each
character is hand sculpted from clay,
painted, dressed, posed and photographed
in a scene, before being photographed.
Each one can take several weeks.
When starting, in the background we
also knew that John was going to be made
redundant from his business broadband
engineer role within the next 6 months,
so we planned our new life around this,
and officially launched at PG Live in May
2016 with 60 cards.
Since the launch, life has changed
considerably. Neither of us has worked
from home full time before, and adjusting
to that has not been without some pain.
Additionally, at this early stage our home
is now full of cards, envelopes, boxes, cello
wraps (the pull off strips get everywhere)
and other assorted card related stuff,
although hopefully this will lessen as we
will be asking our printer to despatch
straight to retailer probably by the time
these answers are being read
by you. We also work many
more hours than we expected;
7 days a week, early morning,
late evening and weekends;
sometimes it is hard to switch
off….but when your job is
enjoyable this isn’t a problem.
2. I LOVE “CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU GOT THE JOB. NOW TRY
NOT TO GET THE SACK”. WHO
THINKS UP THE HUMOUR, AND
ARE THERE SOURCES YOU REFER TO
FOR INSPIRATION.
lll Humour is a joint effort, we both have a
sense of humour that is a little left field and
so thinking up stuff is not a problem; many
of our ranges are joint efforts, but we do like
to do our own thing too. Sometimes we get
too carried away and have to rein ourselves
in, just because it makes us laugh it won’t
necessarily make others if too obscure. We
do find things like early morning walks, and
meetings out of the house help us to come
up with new ideas, and we currently have a
plethora of designs to put into new ranges,
but of course with just the two of us we
have many other roles and responsibilities,
and while card designing is the fun part, it
isn’t always the most important (which we
probably didn’t consider fully at the outset).
3. ALTHOUGH EARLY DAYS, DO YOU
PLAN TO STICK WITH CARDS FOR THE
TIME BEING OR WILL YOU INTRODUCE
OTHER PRODUCTS.
lll For now, while we are becoming more
established, we plan to concentrate on
cards alone, but from the very beginning
our plan has always been to introduce
other products into our portfolio; t-shirts,
tote bags, badges, tea towels etc. as well
as some other more unusual things that
we are working on, so they will follow,
but probably not for another year. F

6. 6
4. DO YOU ACTIVELY
KNOCK ON DOORS TO
GAIN STOCKISTS, OR DOES
YOUR MARKETING EFFORT
CONCENTRATE ON OTHER
WAYS TO GET ORDERS.
lll We have undertaken
some face-to-face contact,
but to be honest, nowhere
near enough. Neither of us
are natural salespeople,
so we find this the hardest part of our job.
The first thing we undertook when we got
back to work after a few days off over New
Year, was to revise our marketing strategy,
and as such we will now be out on the road
concentrating on getting our name known
to retailers in the local counties. Until now
our marketing has comprised of sending out
cards, brochures, samples etc. to shops, as
well as engaging in all facets of social media:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
This has worked to an extent, but we feel we
need people to see and know the real us.
5. WHERE ARE YOU CURRENTLY
STOCKED AND WHERE WOULD YOU
LIKE TO SEE YOUR CARDS IN 2017?
HAVE YOU ACQUIRED AN AGENT YET?
lll We are stocked in several shops in
the local area, as well as further afield,
with London and East and West Sussex
being particularly good areas for us. Card
publishers obviously want agents, but
need agents that work well for them. In
the early days, we were quite green to
the idea of agents, so a couple of initial
ones didn’t work out. Looking back on
it, I can appreciate that this was in part
our own doing. We were trying to attract
them while having a very small selection
of cards, and of course as many agents
only have a handful or so of publishers
on their books, they do require plenty
of options for their customers. We now
have many more ranges and an increase
in style diversity, and
we are hopefully a more
attractive proposition
for them. We currently
have one agent we are
extremely pleased with,
even though he has only
started working for us
recently; he approached
us rather than the
other way around and
is very experienced in the industry,
as well as well-respected by his peers
and customers. He is already getting
some good and valuable leads for us. Of
course, we are still on the lookout for
more agents, so if any of you are reading,
please get in touch.
6. IT’S 2020. WHERE DO YOU HOPE GO LA
LAWILL BE IN THE NEXTTHREE YEARS?
lll Good question. I think we have
achieved a lot in a short space of time, and
we would obviously like to see ourselves in
some of the bigger chains: Paperchase and
Scribbler are two of our current favourites
and we hope to achieve that sooner rather
than later. We do have a licensing deal for
cards in USA, and would like to expand
on that and into other areas, although we
want to take our time and ensure that we
aren’t overstretching ourselves. We’d like
to be employing staff and distributing into
other parts of the World, and have a brand
that is instantly recognised by many. We
are attending Spring Fair (Stand 3K43 in
the GCA Debut area) in February, and then
back at PG Live in June, and we are hoping
these will bring us many new customers to
help us start realising our goals.
GO LA LA!
Website: www.golala.co.uk
Email: info@golala.co.uk
@golalacards on Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram and Pinterest
Tel: 01458 830913

7. INVESTMENT
PITCHING
the idiot’s guide to
raising funds

8. T
here will be times in business
when you need to raise
funds. I’m sure you’ve
already heard of the Bank of
Mum & Dad, or the FFF Club (Family, Friends
and Fools). You could also re-mortgage
the London home [I’ve done that numerous
times]. If these have been exhausted one
method available to businesses of all sizes is
pitching directly to bankers or angel investors
at Chamber of Commerce events, enterprise
days laid on by Government bodies, national
competitions online (e.g. Virgin), or in
smaller “dragon” themed events. But you
don’ get investment without giving away
a slice of equity - unless you go down the
crowdfunding route. So know how much of
your business you are prepared to give away.
I know at least two colleagues of mine
who’ve successfully pitched their business on
Kickstarter or Indigogo and succeeded. I
also have one or two colleagues who failed
and didn’t get the backing they sought. I’ll
save why I think the latter failed for another
article but in this piece I want to give you
my two pennies worth on the things to think
about when pitching.
To be successful, you need to know what a
pitch is, what investors are looking for, and
what they are not looking for.
SO LET’S GET STUCK IN
A Pitch is simply a drone’s eye view of your
business where you, the expert, paint a
broad picture of what you do that everyone
understands. You then need to focus in
on what specific problem you solve, and
by what means. Start pitching with some
energy – don’t make listening to you a heavy
experience for your listeners.
Your goal is to make yourself memorable in
the minds of your potential investors by giving
them a hook. So let’s say you design luxury
cards, you need to be remembered as the Ritz
of greeting card manufacturers – tell them about
the 24 carat gold leaf added to every card. If
being an eco-friendly, environmentally-focussed
business is your raison d’etre then show what
you have done to stand out as the Body Shop of
your niche – a business so big on recycling you
print a handy 5 step infogram on the back all
your cards illustrating how they can be recycled
when finished with.
Show your potential investors the
magic behind your designs – Interesting
manufacturing processes. Share any
efficiencies you are proud of – stats and
figures that show you have made your
process more competitive than your peers.
Show samples in different colourways and
sell them the psychology behind your
range/techniques.
SO NOW YOU ARE IN FRONT OF
THE VENTURE CAPITALIST OR BANK
MANAGER - WHAT DO THEY WANT
TO HEAR?
Firstly, they want to learn about
1) Your people – the team
2) Your market and
3) The technology used in getting your
product to market.
Outline your team briefly but don’t overdo
it. If the investor likes your products they will
get to know your team – not vice versa. Give
them a quick resume of your relationships
with printers, outworkers, your accountant,
couriers, agents, distributors, and your printer.
Know the greeting card market size, and,
for example, the percentage your Wedding
designs share in that piece of the pie.
They’ll look specifically at your track record:
partnerships you have already forged with
retailers, licensees etc so blow your own
trumpet if these are genuine. Mention
celebrity endorsements, your 24 million
followers on Instagram, and the industry
8

9. 9
awards you have acquired. Show them
how your presence in your area helps the
community via charitable involvement etc.
“Angels” love community focussed initiatives.
WHAT DO THEY NOT WANT TO HEAR?
They don’t want FAKE NEWS – no hyper-inflated
market sizes, or non-existent partnerships.
Their BS detectors are finely tuned.
Start your pitch by telling your audience
exactly what you do early on. Smile and engage
with them, delivering your information fluently
and as believably as possible. If you have
qualifications relevant to the product tell your
investors – they will be thinking: Why should I
listen to him/her? Qualify your expertise.
Be succinct, to the point. Make sure you
have practiced, and fine-tuned your material
– Don’t just wing it. Know the solutions you
are proposing, what the biggest issue you are
solving and how you plan to do that.
If you choose to use a slide presentation as
part of your pitch format DO NOT READ the
slides. Know them off by heart.
Look animated and passionate about what
you do. If the material sends you to sleep, you
can bet it will send the “angels” to sleep too.
REMEMBER SUPPLY AND DEMAND?
Why not introduce some scarcity into your
product offering. Prices go up when raw
materials are in short supply. Think carefully
what component in your card can be
leveraged to create the idea of scarcity. .925
Silver components? Know about marketing
– you are not selling sea salt – you are selling
Himalayan sea salt blessed by Buddist Monks.
What about limited Editions? – check out
Caroline Gardner for ideas on that. What about
private commissions and personalisation – with
the original artwork included in a bundle for
£500+ and upwards. Your original signature
on all card designs (for a premium)? Study the
art of limited edition prints (runs of no more
than 25) and see if that can be adapted to your
business. Grant exclusivity – AT A PRICE with
large minimum orders. Know what you are
willing to accept. Dare to be different.
One of my fellow chicklets on the E-spark
programme designs a fashion brand of luxury
leisure wear (Kimono style dressing gowns and
pyjamas) made from a mix of the finest wool
and silk. The New Zealand sheep who supply
the wool are the only two remaining types of
this flock on the planet. Now that is scarce.
AS YOU WRAP UP, REMIND THE
AUDIENCE WHAT YOU
1) are known for, (e.g. skyrocketing your
stockists’ turnover, uniqueness, luxury)
2) how you make your customer feel
(elated, valued, amused, uplifted,
delighted, connected, enriched)
3) Most importantly know your ASK
- whether it is money, mentorship,
partnerships, help with distribution etc.
Know what amount of money you need and
why - Don’t be modest - Think BIG.
Happy Pitching!

10. xx
Interview with .....
Orla Barry

11. 11
1. I REALLY ENJOYED
SEEING YOUR LOVELY
ART AT THE RDS DURING
MY SECOND VISIT TO
SHOWCASE IRELAND.
HOW WAS THE SHOW
FOR YOU IN TERMS
OF LEADS, ORDERS,
AND LEARNING
EXPERIENCES?
lll Thank you very
much! It was my fourth
year doing Showcase
and I’ve always enjoyed
it as a way to make
connections with
buyers. Its great way to get
feedback on your art and see what will
work commercially which is always
unpredictable. You’re always learning
more; every year and show is different.
The fact that it’s in January really helps
motivate me for the year ahead too
as there can be a lull after Christmas.
One of the best things about Showcase
though is meeting the other creative
entrepreneurs who are exhibiting and
seeing their amazing work.
2. I NOTE THAT YOU ARE VERY
INVOLVED IN THE ARTIST COMMUNITY
WHERE YOU LIVE AND HAVE WON
PRIZES, TRAVELLED THE WORLD
TAKING PART IN ARTIST RESIDENCIES
AND ORGANISED AND CURATED POP UP
SHOPS. HOW DO YOU PRIORITIZE WHAT
YOU GET INVOLVED WITH?
lll I have more than one diary, a
calendar on the wall and make a lot of
lists! Usually the priority is the next
deadline and it’s good to remember that
you can only do one thing at a time. The
run up to Christmas and then Showcase
close after is the busiest time of year for
me. It’s good to have a variety of projects
on the go to keep things interesting.
3. TO GETAWIDE RANGE OFARTISTS’
WORK INCLUDED INAPRE-CHRISTMAS
POP UP NEEDS LOTS OF PLANNING,
ENERGYAND CONNECTIONS. TELL US
ALITTLEABOUTWHAT IS INVOLVED IN
SECURING PREMISES, PARTICIPANTS,AND
WOULDYOU REPEATTHE EXPERIENCE?
lll Myself and ceramicist Sarah
McKenna are both based in Bridge
Street Studios in Dundalk. We run a
pop up shop of designer art and craft
at Christmas time in the town centre.
As is the nature of a pop up shop most
of the work can’t be done until right
beforehand. You never know until a
couple of weeks before the pop up what
will happen as everything depends on
what premises are available. We’ve
been very fortunate so far and have
run it 4 years in a row. We usually have
between 30 and 40 artists and makers
work which ranges from wall art to
jewellery, ceramics and textiles. It’s
wonderful to promote and sell other
people’s work. There’s a wealth of
creative talent in Ireland which I think
is very impressive for a relatively small
country. It’s important to encourage
people to buy local. F

12. 12
4. DOYOU HAVE LOCALACCESSTOALASER
CUTTERWHEREYOU CAN PRODUCETHE
PARTS NEEDED FORYOURJEWELLERY.
lll The main focus of my work is my
acrylic paintings on canvas which I
have reproduced as prints and cards.
I also have a new range of brooches
which are watercolours that I get
printed elsewhere on laser cut wood. I’m
inspired by animals, nature, symbolism,
surrealism, fairy tales and a search for
perfect colour combinations.
5. CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR LIVING
COSTS THROUGH YOUR ARTISTIC
ENDEAVOURS OR DO YOU NEED TO
SUPPLEMENT THINGS, LIKE SO MANY
CREATIVES, WITH OTHER WORK?
lll This is the number one question people
ask me most often! I love working for
myself and doing my own thing. Every day
is different. I am very lucky to do a mix of
things and I like that variety. This includes
painting pictures and exhibiting them,
selling originals and prints and wholesaling
prints, cards and brooches to shops. I also
work on commissioned paintings and teach
part-time as well.
6. WHAT BIG DREAMS DO YOU
HAVE FOR YOUR BUSINESS FOR THE
REMAINDER OF THIS DECADE?
lll I have lots of dreams for my business
and art! Painting is my main love so I
like to create a new body of work each
year to exhibit. I’ve been on some lovely
residencies over the years and hope
to partake in more both in Ireland and
abroad. My last one was at the Tyrone
Guthrie Centre in Monaghan in 2014. I
also want to continue wholesaling and
expand my number of stockists and my
collection of work for that avenue. This
January I started a Certificate in Art
Therapy which is fascinating and I may
study that more in depth in the future. I
also have a mock up of a children’s book
I wrote and illustrated a few years ago
that I plan to get back to working on.
Plenty of things to keep me busy!
ORLA BARRY
Website: www.orlabarry.com
Email: info@orlabarry.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/orlabarryart
Instagram: www.instagram.com/orlabarry

13. I certainly haven’t been cat
napping this winter. No time for
hibernation here at cat central.
I’ve put together a 16 page
collection of colouring pages based
on my cards of the same range.
My next step is to work out
how to make them instantly
downloadable – and when I do,
I’ll share the process.
If any of you already sell digital
products like this feel free to
email – I would be happy to shine
a light on your designs, process,
and e-commerce sites.
PAG ES
Colouring
13

14. Louise McGinty
of Impack Art
Interview with .....

15. 15
1. YOUR DESIGNS ARE CONTEMPORARY,
ENERGETIC AND UPLIFTING. TELL US
WHICH ARE MORE LUCRATIVE FOR
YOU – PRINTS OR GREETING CARDS AND
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT MAY BE?
lll Both prints and cards work for me as
I design and print from my home office.
I began with framed prints which have
been well received and I have extended
these into greetings cards This is quite a
new venture which began in a busy tourist
giftshop and I am only just finding my
routes to market elsewhere. It is great to
have large framed prints for those who
want to fill their walls, I do smaller framed
prints and I also offer artwork in mounts,
and the more affordable greetings cards
for those with a limited budget.
2. WERE YOU DEBUTING AT SHOWCASE
IRELAND OR HAVE YOU ATTENDED
PREVIOUS YEARS? DO YOU CONSIDER
THE EXPERIENCE VALUABLE AND WILL
YOU BE REBOOKING?
lll Showcase has been a great
springboard for Impack Art, this was my
first year and I was lucky enough to get a
stand through Fingal Enterprise Board. It
was an invaluable experience as it made
me focus on all elements of making my
products ready for market. Ironing out
delivery, making my trade and RRP prices
attractive and all the POS and order forms
ready for potential stockists. I made so
many contacts and received feedback and
advice from other exhibitors. I took several
orders on the day and I have several
potential ones - I hope to grow this network
in the coming months.
3. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE BEHIND
YOUR COLOUR SPLASH ART?
lll I am a graphic designer so my images
are created in Illustrator and digitally
printed - they are like logos so I can
design in any shape or colour palette
offering flexibility and bespoke artwork
to interior designers or custom designs to
tourist/gift shops who require something
specific to their locality.
4. HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF
PRODUCING REPEAT PATTERNS
AND LAUNCHING GIFT WRAP OR
PERHAPS TEXTILE PRODUCTS WITH
THE COLOURFUL SYMBOLS YOU
CURRENTLY SELL?
lll The possibilities are endless, I
haven’t tried gift wrap (yet!) but
my designs have translated well
onto hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, bags
and keyrings. F

16. 5. ARE YOUR STOCKISTS PRIMARILY
BASED IN IRELAND AND DO YOU SELL IN
NORTHERN IRELAND OR UK? FROM THE
VISITORS AT THE SHOW, DID YOU HAVE
ANY INTERNATIONAL BUYERS VISIT
YOUR STAND OR ARE THEY PRIMARILY
FROM R.O.I?
lll I have had international buyers
through my website www.impack.ie
and etsy store (Impack Art) but at the
moment all of my stockists are based in
Ireland, some of which service the US
market, my initial designs were irish
gifts (Map of Ireland/Claddagh/Celtic
Cross etc) aimed at the Irish diaspora.
I have created further nautical options
to appeal to a wider audience and my
variants are growing all of the time to
include the UK and the rest of the world.
6. GIVENYOUR LIVERPOOL CONNECTIONS
DOYOU SEE POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH
THERE,AND OTHER UK CITIES?
lll I took part in a Christmas shopping
event for a corporate in Liverpool last
year which went really well and sold out
of my Liverpool Skyline and Liverbird
designs. I will be there this year with
several more suitable designs and have
interest from a high street store so fingers
crossed I will have UK outlets shortly!
The versatility of my designs means I can
create designs for iconic buildings / places
/ emblems in each area.
7. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE
IMPACK ART IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS?
lll I am moving from Dublin to Achill
Island, County Mayo on the west coast of
Ireland this summer, where the idea for
my first design (a map of Achill Island)
came from. I hope I will have more time
and be inspired by the land and seascapes
to continue to develop more designs and
ideas. I want to print onto canvas and try
new styles. I want to grow the business
and have stockists worldwide and to offer
my existing stockists more variety and
continued value for money.
IMPACK ART
Tel: 01 822 0361 Mob: 086 8548 375
Email: louise@impack.ie
Website: www.impack.ie
Dublin: 3 Burnell Park Green, Castleknock, Dublin D15
Y73P. Mayo: ‘Inish Rua’ Askill, Bunnacurry, Achill
Island, Co. Mayo F28 X744

17. l Updated this year (2017), this title is definitely worth a read. Kate
is one of the most prolific writers in the greeting card industry and is
well known for her card focussed blog (Greeting card designer).
This book explains how to earn royalties from your images – taking
you full circle from original designs to submitting them online, finding
agents and submitting them to your publisher.
The gold comes in the 100+ card and gift company contact list to
which you can submit your work for evaluation
and getting them ready for market.
Not to be missed – for the break the
bank price of £4.10 on Kindle.
20 STEPS TO ART LICENSING:
HOW TO SELL YOUR DESIGNS TO
GREETING CARD AND GIFT COMPANIES
BY KATE HARPER
THE BOOK NOOK
17

18. 18
W
As we are all too aware,
stationery trends mirror what
is happening in the world of
fashion. Trend reports consider
the themes used by designers in several
ways – the mood they evoke, the colour
palettes employed and the print direction
across the industry. Fashion designers
show their mood boards along with their
Pantone references for colour matching in
production. In addition to 1) Typography
2) Wild animal print 3) Blossom on dark
backgrounds the themes we will see on our
notebook covers and pencil cases in 2018
will incorporate the following:
n microscopic imagery showing intricate
anatomical sculptures and symmetrical
cellular patterns
n 3D Fibre art and paper sculptures and
n The solar system – galaxies filled with

19. 19
stars and constellations.
Some of the leading designers have
acquired cult status for their wizardry
in creating entire worlds created from
folded paper, and increase their following
by placing a leading brand in the artwork
itself. Surely we can emulate that?
These three emerging themes give us
massive scope as greeting card publishers
– imagine all the gorgeous foils we can
incorporate to imitate starry galaxies that
light up the midnight sky. Comets and UFO’s
whizzing past our telescopes and leaving a
blazing trail of colour or wild gardens filled
with gorgeous blossom full of mystery and
opulence – teaming with flora and fauna
juxtaposed in interesting ways.
So without further ado, it is time for me to
get back to the drawing board and come up
with some new ideas.

20. 20
O
ne of the most effective ways of
adding value in a business is through
COMMUNICATION: Talking about
your work process, your products,
and telling your story.
It is my guess that the vast majority of creatives
in the card publishing world approach their
communications in a very random way, with little
planning, strategy or consistency.
We all tweet here and there, write a blog article
every two months, and post to Instagram every
other day. That’s certainly better than nothing
but in this competitive game, it is not enough.
Unless your art is simply UNIQUE with collectors
or stockists lining up before the paint dries on the
canvas or your designs have been put in
their cello bags, you won’t really get the
recognition you need if your approach
to communication is scattergun.
More is needed to make a massive
dent in your universe, to be heard
above the noise of hundreds of other equally
talented publishers. To be effective you need to
know what your audience is looking for. Until you
know who your market is you won’t really be able to
tailor your message. To get agent representation
or distributors interested in your designs you’ve got
to up your game.
Attending trade fairs is, of course, the best
known avenue to commercial success but not if
you haven’t told people you are there, produced
your best work, communicated your story
loud and clear beforehand, and continuously
afterwards. Interesting content will be part of
your marketing play.
SO WHY HAVE A STRATEGY?
It’s like the ladder that lets you take the photo
other photographers can’t get. Once you’ve
planned out the content you want to write, you
then have to distribute it. The key is producing it
consistently – so scale up your output!
WHAT VALUE
ARE YOU
ADDING
IN YOUR
BUSINESS?

21. 21
WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?
It is that extra value that people look for from a
business owner and designer. It is your message
that raises awareness, builds a tribe of fans,
collectors and stockists. It is a gentle form of
selling and great for those who want to cast a
light on their designs but find direct sales tricky.
As a rule, it is generally free.
It draws people to your brand, gives you a
personality and adds flesh to the bones of what
may otherwise be a weak brand idea. It makes
you memorable. It is generous, and warms
people to your message and brand. It helps
break the daily boredom that a lot of people
experience, keeps relationships going and helps
optimize your website or blog with new content.
WHAT CONTENT MARKETING IS NOT.
It is not intimidating, uninformative and doesn’t
interrupt. Your objective in creating content
is to enlighten, entertain and help presell your
products in the minds of your fans. It is not a get
rich quick scheme and will not instantly sky rocket
you to internet fame – unless you are extremely
lucky and one of your videos goes viral, for
example (Not impossible, but probably unlikely).
START YOUR STRATEGY
1. Dedicate x minutes a day to creating content
2. Get a calendar and pencil in your planned activity
3. Get organised
Starting out you don’t need to pay for
advertising. No buying space in a magazine,
airtime on a radio or commercials on TV. But you
will have to get some material together.
Know what problem you are solving with your
cards, the gift wrap you are manufacturing or
any other product you have in production. What
message are you projecting and how does that
resonate with the person who buys your products.
For example, if you produce cards with
verses, and poetry (even sarcastic ones)
you are helping someone express more
humourously or in a heartfelt way than they may
be able to themselves. You are helping to give
the recipient a warm fuzzy feeling, creating a deep
belly laugh, and the knowledge that someone
cared enough to put the card in the envelope for
them. So know your goal before you start.
SO WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING FOR?
• It builds trust
• It builds authority
• It builds fans
• It builds customers
• And keeps your nosey competitors on their toes!
Without preaching to the converted, you have
many channels at your disposal: Twitter, Pinterest,
LinkedIn, Facebook, Email etc
Once you have a calendar or plan of activity
the next step is metrics. You will know from the
number of views on a photo, the country reach of
your articles, and how much time are spending
reading an article, for example. The statistics
behind my e-zine for example are brilliant – they
show me how many people have viewed the
publication, what countries they comes from, how
many unique reads, which issue has proved most
popular and what content created most interest.
READY FOR SOME HARD WORK?
So how do you share all your profound views, your
radical ideas, your beautiful imagery:
Videos, blogs, ebooks, printed books, talks,
coaching, social media, magazines, slide shows,
courses, white papers – and make that output
CONSISTENT. No point in being a one hit
wonder. It all boils down to DOING THE WORK.
Produce the content, paint your pictures, take
your photos, write your blogs and have a vision.
• In part 2 of this article I will continue with how
we can form our vision and how you can tailor
content to make it reality.

22. 22
l
Do you know your mission as a Card
publisher? For any card business to succeed
we have to be making something useful...
So how useful are your cards?
1) Do your cards
• Delight
• Invigorate
• Stimulate (through humour, touch, feel, colour,
finish) your customer
2) Are your cards a force for good?
As publishers we are in quite an enviable position
because we are influencers – we can affect
peoples’ lives through the words we print, the
images we design and how we make them feel.
Card publishers make an impact.
So why is this important?
Firstly you can inspire others through your witty
sense of humour, you can influence people through
your political leanings or satirical commentary.
You are barometres of the society you live in. You
can encourage people to be kind to each other,
or introduce a little bit of magic into their day. You
can also inspire people to take up environmental
or charitable causes via your cards – showing
how you’ve manufactured the cardstock in their
hands and explaining what they are composed
of. By providing information on the back you can
encourage others to contribute to the recycling
effort and champion lifesaving causes.
You take peoples’ minds off their daily grind, albeit
momentarily, for the few minutes they think about
the card they’ve received, or the card they are about
to purchase. They know they are not alone.
As a card sender you are building relationships
– showing humanity. You are encouraging
gratitude, helping others to celebrate success,
and maybe having a good laugh at someone’s
expense. You are restoring someone’s self worth
by reinforcing that they mean something. You are
incentivising lives by expressing appreciation,
saying thank you, sharing someone’s pain, and
breaking down barriers.
So continue to build “Brand You” - keep
designing cards that reflect the society we live
in, poke fun at peoples’ foibles, put into words
what everyone else is thinking. Above all keep
being useful.
ARE YOU
ON A
MISSION?

23. 23
To conclude this
edition of Gypsy
Chic here are
three quotes to
motivate and
inspire you in
the days ahead.
“Work hard in
silence and let
success make
the noise”
“Work hard in
silence and let
success make
the noise”
“Don’t call it
a Dream
Call it a Plan”
“Nothing
worth having
comes easy”

24. Gypsy Chic magazine
A window on the world of a greeting card publisher