You’ve got your website. You’ve got your social media handles. But what other marketing supplies do you need to have when you’re starting a new business?

Business Cards

This may be a little obvious but you need to have business cards that tell prospective clients what you do, where to see your work, and how to contact you.

You never know when you’ll run into someone who needs your services. For example, I was photographing a senior this summer at a fairly remote area and I saw a mother and her two children playing. She commented that her family photographer had moved away…can you see where I’m going with this? If I hadn’t had my business card I wouldn’t have turned that totally random encounter into a client.

Not sure where to get your business cards? I love Moo and get all of my business cards, note cards, and other paper marketing supplies there. I exclusively order my business cards through Moo because they’re printed on high quality premium paper, I can have different images on each business card, and they’re reasonably priced.

Cohesive Branding

What the hell is cohesive branding? Let’s start by answering the question “what is branding?”

Branding involves choosing certain fonts, graphics, illustrations, logos, colors, and tone of voice. When you use those branding items consistently – on your website, social media, and marketing materials – that’s when you achieve cohesive branding.

If you don’t have any of these branding items, I suggest starting with a logo, brand colors, and your brand voice. Brand voice is a WHOLE topic so I won’t get into that here…if you want to learn more about brand voice, let’s set up an online coaching call and we can take a deep dive into it!

A Recent Headshot

Some might not consider a headshot to be a marketing supply but to them I say, does every business need one? Yes…the answer is yes.

You need a headshot to let people know who the face of your business is and to build client trust. You headshot should grace the pages of your website and be your profile photos on all of your social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.). There’s that brand cohesion idea again.

How often do you need to get new headshots? In my dancing days, the rule of thumb is that you needed to update your headshot whenever you changed your look or every 1 to 2 years if your look stayed the same.

The same theory applies to business. At a minimum, you should get updated headshots at least once every other year. If you’re a content creator you’d do well to get new photos taken at least once a year if not a couple times a year so you have new content to post.

If you’re in need of branding or headshot photos, I’ve got your back! Not in my area? No problem! I travel and can come to you!! Set up your portrait session here and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.

Are there other must have marketing supplies you think every business owner should have? Let me know in the comments!

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