So, what is your business card doing for you?!

Things to Consider when Creating A Business Card CD

This section is intended to assist you with some of the decisions you need to make before creating a BusinessCard CD. Whether you create your own presentation or hire a team to do it for you, there is a planning phase which determines what your content is going to be.

You need to make decisions regarding your purpose, your target audience and what you want them to know. From this you can create a general outline. Then you need to review your budget and what graphics you may already have in your possession to use as content. You may be very surprised as to the amount of information and images you already own that can be used In the presentation.

If you are hiring a design team from outside your company, you should make sure there is someone who will manage the flow of information. Design projects flow smoother if someone within the company becomes a liaison to coordinate between the authoring team and decision makers within your organization.

Be sure to allocate enough time for each of the steps in planning, authoring and testing. The whole process can range from 6 weeks to 6 months, depending upon the project’s complexity and necessary preparation time. The questions below are designed to help you think through the process of planning, authoring and replicating a BusinessCard CD.

Planning The Project
Purpose
Target Audience
Budget
Content Resources
Authoring/Programming
Testing & Mastering
Duplication vs. Replication
Liabilities

Planning The Project
The BusinessCard CD is a very powerful marketing tool as its uses are so varied. The information on this site is designed to assist you in the planning process. It will give you the tools and information to be able to do it yourself or to hire a firm to create it for you.

All BusinessCard CDs can link to a website, so take advantage of its power to create traffic and make your website known. Don’t forget, it is also cross-platform compatible, meaning that it can work on both PCs and Macs.

Since a BusinessCard CD can contain the same information you enjoy on a full size CD, its capabilities are tremendous, limited only by your imagination. This information is organized through software known as “authoring programs.” When it is all combined, it is called a presentation or content.

Whatever authoring program you select, there are a variety of visual or aural enhancements which can be mixed into your presentation to bring it to life. You can use one, several or all of these options on your CD. From photography, to illustrations, to animations, to video, to sounds (special effects), to music — all are tools that are available to you. Surprisingly, not all has to be custom-created.

Through the use of the internet, you can find Stock Images available to you for reasonable costs for all of these tools.
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Purpose
What is the purpose of this CD?
Whether your CD is designed for entertainment, information or education, you need a focus or a goal. The purpose for creating a BusinessCard CD will vary according the needs of the company.

• Do you want to establish a market position?
  
• Is it a promotion piece for the company?
  
• Are you using this to introduce, sell or promote a product?
  
• Do you want it to link to your website?
  
• Is this a PR tool?
  
• Does it have a unique use?
  
• Do you want to entertain or inform your viewer?
  
• Do you want it to do both?

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Target Audience
Who is your specific target viewing audience and what is their level of sophistication?
It is important to know your audience and their potential expectations from this CD. This will also be determined by the goal of the CD.

• What is your main message to the viewer?
  
• What are the topics you will need to address in order to convey your main message?
  
• What other messages/ideas do you want your audience to receive?
  
• How much interactivity do you want to have?
  
• Do you want it to run on a PC, Mac or both?
  
• What type of equipment will your audience be using?
  
• Can they play sound and/or video?
  
• What is their computer's memory capability?
  
• Do they have the ability to connect to the web?
  

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Budget
Unless you have unlimited funds to throw at a project, you need to establish a budget — and this is probably one of the most difficult factors to calculate. This is controlled by your needs, both perceived and real. Also, how well organized you are before engaging an authoring team will have a direct impact on the cost of your project.

Your budget can determine how much “bang” you can get for your buck. You can either start with a set figure in mind and determine what you can get for that amount of money, or you can tell your authoring team all the elements you want in the project and let them give you an estimate of costs.

Get a written estimate and description of the work the authoring team is expected to produce to avoid conflicts in the end. Unforseen changes and requests on your part over and above the written estimate will result in additional charges. These are referred to as Author Alterations (AAs)
and can increase the cost of a project well beyond the anticipated budget.

Whatever the final estimate is, please consider adding 10-20% to the total to avoid any surprises in the end as you will inevitably make changes.

The Catch-22 of getting an estimate is that it can be almost impossible to establish costs until some sort of outline or storyboard has been drawn up. This can take many meetings that can last for hours or days, depending upon how well-prepared you are. You should prepare and outline or description of the project ahead of your first meeting if you want it to be productive. If you are not prepared, the authoring team you will get the impression that you are fishing for ideas. In the graphics arena, time is money, so don’t be surprised if an authoring companies seeks to charge you for the time to create an outline or storyboard so parameters can be created on which to base a quote.

There are many elements that can be included on a CD. (TIP: You do not have to use all of them!) All of these can be used alone or work within the same presentation. Since each element added to a presentation increases its cost It is important to identify what you want to include in the project in its early stages. Adding new elements later will cost you. What is perceived as a “small change” can ripple through a project very quickly and blow a big hole in your budget.
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Assistance
What outside assistance will you need?

• Database creation
  
• Data or video conversion
  
• Writing
  
• Editing
  
• Content development
  
• Graphics work
  
• Animation created
  
• PDF file creation
  

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Content Resources
Who will create the content?
All CDs must have content (see authoring). Whether you write, design and/or create the content yourself, or you decide to hire outside resources to do this for you, there are many questions that must be answered before starting the project. The better prepared you are when you begin the planning process the smoother the project will flow. Content includes graphics, text, animations, video, voice-overs, music, sound effects and other elements that are being created daily.

Graphics
You may already have graphics available that can be included in your CD. You may belong to organizations which will provide you with photographs or images they keep on hand for their members. If you are in business, don’t overlook resources that can be recycled or those you can get from your vendors. You may have made an investment in materials that you have forgotten about. Check for images you may have used previously.

• Slide shows or presentations
  
• Brochures
  
• Videos (these will need to be digitized)
  
• Photographs
  

Next determine whether you need new graphics created?

• New video shoots
• Photography
• Custom screens
• Animations
• Illustrations

Text and the Script
Unless your Business Card CD is comprised of video that you have already shot and are using as is, you will need some sort of an outline or script. (If you can organize and write it yourself, then you have another career path that you could pursue.) Look again to previously published information about your company, product or service.

You need to evaluate:

• What text you already have available?
  
• What will need to be written?
  
• Can you write it yourself or will you need to hire a copywriter?
  
• Will you need to print out information contained on the CD?
  
• Will you need to have search capabilities?

Voice-Overs and Music
Some presentations work beautifully just using a combination of music, great screens and a good presentation. Others want more drama. When someone speaks during a presentation, it is called a voice-over. It requires finding someone with the vocal talent to deliver lines in a varied and professional voice. If you are looking to save money, keep in mind that your “Cousin Joe” may require hours and hours of studio time to finally deliver the line right, or close enough. An expert will deliver what you require of him or her with fewer “takes” at the mike. You are paying for the studio time either way, so you can make the decision.

Sound combined with corresponding graphics can drive a point home, whether it is voice-overs or special sound effects (used wisely). Don’t over look music. It doesn’t have to be expensive if you are resourceful.

If you want your viewer to sit-up and take notice of your message, you better make it interesting. You need to keep their minds busy and that requires movement and sound. There are decisions that should be decided during the budgeting process. If you change your mind later, it is OK, just realize that it will cost you more.

Points to consider

• Use voice overs?
  
• Use of music and changes between sections of the CD
  
• Use of sound effects

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Authoring/Programming
The authoring program utilized will dictate how much interactivity and platform compatibility can be included in the presentation.

Presentations can be linear or interactive, or somewhere in-between, depending on what software is used to create (or author) it. A linear program allows the viewer few choices. A video is linear. If you wanted to go back to a specific area on the video, you rewind. An interactive presentation gives the viewer a roadmap of the presentation and gives him/her the pilot’s stick to fly to pre-determined landing strips. If you keep the presentation interesting, they will stay and will become another member of the 85% club: 85% of those viewers who play your BusinessCard CD will click on the website contained on the CD.

Your authoring program can either restrict or expand the platforms your BusinessCard CD can play on. If your audience is only using PCs then your authoring program will only need to create a PC player. If your audience could possibly consist of people who use either a PC or a Mac, you need to be able to create players for both platforms.

Options for an interactive presentation can include:

• Interactivity
  
• Searching capabilities
  
• Quicktime movies
  
• Use of databases
  
• Links to websites

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Testing & Mastering
Testing takes place throughout the process, but the final tests begin when the player module is created. Before you started the project, you decided on the type of hardware and software with which it was to be compatible. Now you test. Don’t cut this time short or you may pay for it later in customer complaints. It should go through as much Alpha and Beta testing as time will allow before committing to the Gold Master (the final version that will be committed to the product). After a thorough testing, be sure to create two copies of the Gold Master so that you can retain one in your archives.

• Alpha testing: distribute 10-20 copies to various friends and relatives)
  
• Beta testing: distribute 10-20 copies to customers, if time will allow)
  

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Duplication vs. Replication
Many people are confused by the terms Duplication and Replication. In some cases, the duplication process can be more effective because it can be customized and distributed in short runs. If long runs are required, the replication process will be less expensive.

Duplication
Duplication creates CD-R copies from a master CD. This is process is used for small runs from 1 CD to 1,000 CDs.

This process allows the producer to print custom labels onto the CDs which can be batched by individual names or files. Although more costly on a per piece basis, they can very cost-effective and the turn-around time is measured in days.

When used to text new markets or marketing approaches, different versions of a presentation can be distributed to separate market areas before committing to a new campaign.

Replication
Replication requires the creation of a glass master which is used to “press” the contents directly onto CD. This process is used for larger runs of 1,000 CDs and up.

In addition to the costs of the glass master, the printing process requires negative film and color proof to accompany the file, a cost which is added to the replication price. (Hint: you can save in costs if you supply your own film, but pray that it fits their template or it will be returned to you.) Check with your replication house to see if your packaging design must arrive prior to the disc replication.

Although this process is more expensive in the set-up, once complete, the per piece replication costs are lower as there is one master program and label on all CDs, making it cost-effective for long-runs. The turn-around time, though, is very high, usually as much as 3-4 weeks for 1,000 CDs.

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Liabilities
The author of the presentation is liable only up to a certain point. That is what testing it is for. Both replication and duplication houses could require a waiver of responsibility for an error on the master or compatibility with platforms and systems. They are only responsible for making babies out of the original that you are giving them.

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Please contact sales@imagi-media.com to discuss how we can help you complete your Business Card CD-ROM for your organization.