Whether you are the sole proprietorship or are the Chief Executive Officer of a Fortune 500 corporation, sending business Christmas cards can serve to boost your customer relations and greatly improve your bottom line. About half of all businesses send holiday cards - sometimes with unintentional negative consequences. Here are some tips to ensure that your caring gesture will be interpreted in the best possible light.
Choosing the Appropriate Card
All business has an image it portrays, whether through its logo, its branding efforts, or its marketing strategy. The design of business Christmas cards you chose should emphasize that image. If, for instance, you are a stockbroker, a Wall Street winter scene might be fitting. On the other hand, if you are a pediatric dentist, more fanciful greeting cards are in order. For most businesses, elegant and tasteful card is always suitable. When it comes to selecting a greeting card company, there are many online sources available for business Christmas cards. Make sure to select one that is well recognized and has a track record of satisfying customers. The best online greeting card companies will send you sample cards upon request, and even offers personalization, free coordinating foil-lined envelopes, and printed envelopes.
When ordering business holiday cards, bear in mind that not everyone celebrates Christmas. A card expressing "season's greetings" or "warm holiday wishes" will keep you from inadvertently offending those who aren't of the Christian faith.
Sending Your Business Christmas Cards
In business, timing is crucial. Although you have established a leeway in sending out your business holiday cards, the rule of thumb is to send them between December 1 and December 15. If you're a business-to-business company, bear in mind that many businesses close or have reduced working hours during the holiday season, so be certain that your card arrives in advance of the holidays. In order to send your holiday cards out in a timely manner, make sure to place an order early. Personalized business Christmas cards can take a few weeks to make, so make an effort and place your order by mid-October.
The Personalized Style
The principle of sending business greeting cards is to motivate warm feelings in the recipient. That won't surely happen if your Christmas cards have address labels and are run through a postage meter. Burn up some extra effort and have someone on your staff with a nice handwriting address the envelopes by hand. In addition, be sure to use a postage stamp instead of a meter when applying postage. In the same vein, although it is necessary to have your cards printed with the company's name, the cards should also be signed by hand. The best way is to have those who closely work with the recipient sign the card by hand. If you have a small enterprise, you may have a card signing party one afternoon, and have each person on your staff sign each card. This will go a long, long way, making a positive impression on the recipient.
Be a Courteous Recipient
There's little doubt that your company will also receive business holiday cards from your vendors and business associates. Be a courteous recipient and display the cards in your workplace. It will not only bring a bit of holiday optimism to your office, but it will also delight those who have sent a card to you and see it displayed.
Business Christmas Card Greetings
1. Determine how many Christmas cards you will need. Will they all need to be the same Christmas card with the same personalization or will some need to be different? Will you be buying just for your immediate office or are there other branches that you will need to buy for?
2. What kind of budget do you have to work with? Try to keep within that budget as you make your selections to consider.
3. Are you needing to order a large quantity (ie: several thousand)? Be sure to get a quote to see if you can get a better price than what is offered on the website.
4. What type of Christmas card does the boss want, generic, international, humorous, religious?
5. Determine how many people will be involved in the decision making process and who they are.
6. If the website you are researching has a “Favorites” folder, make your selections and add them to the folder then show them to those involved in the decision making process.
7. Once you have narrowed the selections down to around three choices, request samples to be sent to you so you can check out the quality of the cards before ordering and make your selection.
8. Will you be printing a logo or just printing your company name?
9. If a logo is to be included, is it a single color logo or more than one color? Be sure to get a price quote for whichever you need and be sure to get a high resolution image to submit when time to place your order. Usually whoever takes care of any printing or advertising for your company should have a copy of a high resolution logo for printing. At least 300 dpi is needed for sharp image and .eps files are best. Other acceptable formats usually include .tif, .bmp and .jpg if they have sufficient high resolution. If you can provide an .eps file, it will give the best result and is the easiest to work with for whoever does the layout and printing of your logo.
10. Will you be creating your own custom verse or selecting one of the generic verses offered? If you want to do a custom verse, but sure to check out what is involved - what is required on your end, what your options are concerning fonts, ink color selections, the cost, etc. Make sure that you get to see a proof before printing so that you have the opportunity to offer feedback for any changes you might want to make.
11. Be sure that the company you are considering is of good reputation. Are they a member of the BBB, do they have testimonials posted on their site. Do they have a privacy policy to protect your email? Do they have a strong guarantee? If you call with a question, do you feel that you are getting prompt, courteous service?
12. Start this process early, around the end of August through September is a good time. If you start too early, you will find that many dealers will not know if a card you select is going be returning from the previous year as they only get most of that information around the middle to the end of summer themselves. Stock is not available for samples or to print. But by doing your research in August or September, getting your samples and placing your order then, will entitle you to a discount or “early order incentives” offered by many online companies. You also avoid the stress of last minute decisions, out of stock items, or heaven forbid, something wrong happens with your order and it has to be reprinted. Also, keeping the bottom line in mind, when you order early, you can avoid higher shipping charges and just go with the least expensive method.
Both Melanie Smith & Debby Sibert are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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