And the rebranding process continues this week with a look at communication.

You may be sitting at your kitchen table with a reheated cup of coffee and feeling comfortably private in your yoga pants and scrolling through your DMs, wondering how this might apply to you. But even if the office and traditional corporate world has stopped being a part of your workday, you still have the opportunity to make a big impression as a digital entrepreneur through your correspondence suite.

I’m going to walk you through the elements we cover in the Brand Identity package so you can consider how your communication can do the heavy lifting for you.

Side-note: As a reminder, this quarter, I’m walking you step-by-step through a studio refresh so you can get a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to go through the branding process. I hope that it takes the guesswork out of the branding experience and helps you decide whether or not you can do it yourself.

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The Business Card

It’s the age-old way of introducing yourself to someone you want to do business with, but it doesn’t have to be dry or boring.

Business cards are actually a great way to leave a first impression, and unlike the old days of physical addresses and landlines, you don’t just have to give your contact info. There are so many different ways to say “hey, I’d like to stay in touch” and you’re in charge of that interaction with the information you decide to share.

For the longest time, I just had a website address. Then I didn’t use business cards at all. But I started going back to them when I realized that it’s just like anything else – a chance to leave a great impression and a bit of beauty in the world, and to do it my way.

Here are a few of my favorite business card designs on the internet to get your creative wheels turning.

For the Drop Cap Design business cards, I decided to incorporate the illustrations that I often use for my blog posts.

I have used Moo.com for years when printing my business cards because it’s such an easy service to use and the quality is amazing. Another reason I love to get my cards from Moo is because they have a feature that allows me to upload as many different illustrations as I want to the back of the card.

I’ve been a long-time reader of The New Yorker, and have always found editorial cartoons to be an amazing way to drive a point home. I thought it would be a fun challenge to create scenes on the back of my card that would showcase my lean towards storytelling and the world of publishing, while also incorporating an interactive moment of seeing which card you received.

I plan to order my first batch of cards with ten new editorial illustrations. I can’t wait to start passing them out again when things are less weird and socially distanced.

The Thank You Note

There’s nothing classier than remembering to send a thank you note.

And a handwritten note goes a long way in communicating sincere gratitude. I use to think it was my southern roots that made me inclined to pull out the thank you stationery, but I also think it was reading the book Rebecca at such a young age and having this vivid idea of her sitting at a writing desk in front of a coastal picture window and writing her letters every morning.

You don’t have to have anything fancy or embossed. Remember, the way you communicate says a lot about who you are, so do it in your own style. If you’re more digitally inclined, maybe it’s a fun graphic in a heartfelt email, or a video you record to tell them just how much their business means to you.

For those in the wedding industry, it can also be really common to send gifts to couples who hire you to be a part of their big day. The thank you does not have to be extravagant, it just need to be sincere.

For my thank you stationery, I’m once again using Moo to make it special and unique.

The most important thing here is to keep all of these styles aligned with my brand’s look and feel. You want every interaction to reinforce the storyline, so I intentionally design them together so that when seen from a client or customer’s point-of-view, everything has a place and feel intentional.

The Email Signature

Oh the often forgotten email signature. Did you know that in 2019, an average of 293.6 billion emails were sent every single day? Each time you press ‘send,’ you have the opportunity to leave a brand impression.

You could direct someone to your email opt-in or social media channels, share a favorite quote, or even tease your latest launch or workshop. An email signature is a very overlooked opportunity to continue the relationship and invite an extra call to action. What is your email signature saying about you?

Now, I know what you’re about to say. Figuring out how to rig a signature isn’t the easiest thing to do. I agree, I’ve been trying to design them for years too. Here is a link to my favorite tutorial for Gmail accounts.

As always, I like to keep things clean, simple, and editorial for the Drop Cap brand, so my signature isn’t unexpected.

So there you have it, a refreshed correspondence suite that will pack a punch as I continue to work on my website. Stay tuned as we go over email list building and lead magnets next week!