Take a stand: Printed card or E-Card

October is the time to plan for your holiday greeting card mailing.

It’s that time of year and you must make a choice: printed card, as you probably have done in years past, or e-card.

I am sticking with my annual e-card greeting; here’s why I hope you will join me.

Address: You already have the recipient’s email address. With contacts working from home or even undetermined remote locations, you may have to ask them outright for their mailing address to ensure the card is sent to the correct location. That might be an awkward conversation you’d rather avoid.

Share-ability: The person working away from their office will not post the card on their door, nor display it on their credenza, where other colleagues and visitors might see it. An e-card is easily forwarded to other team members.

Budget: The cost of an e-card is minimal to free. Find an appropriate photo or image on one of the many websites where photographers and artists make their work available for free. Compose some heartfelt greetings acknowledging your valued relationship with those on your list. You might even lightly commiserate that you’ve missed them and look forward to seeing them in person soon.

Assemble the image and holiday text in an email newsletter, compile the email addresses, and you’re good to go. Total out-of-pocket cost: $0. Only your time, or that of your staff.

Savings: Think of how you can better spend your time and money without:

• Directing a graphic designer or purchasing a card from a catalogue;
• Printing mailing labels;
• Stuffing the envelopes, applying the address labels, adding postage stamps and hauling the whole pile to the post office; and
• Bemoaning the waste of paper that has a shelf life of less than 30 days.

As a subscriber, you may recall I sent an e-card with a Holiday Haiku. This poem is consistent with my services as a writer who tackles the challenge of a 17-syllable verse with a change of mood and reference to nature.

Because no one sends a similar card, it attracts attention and prompts appreciative replies.

Those may be some of your objectives, too.

This Month’s Tip

Refer to the holiday season without specifying the observance of a specific faith. In America’s culturally diverse society, you can not assume that others celebrate the same holiday as you, whether Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa or Diwali. Popular images include candles, which brighten the darkest months of the year and are prominent in each holiday. Photos of winter scenes are also appropriate.

Contact

Especially now, due to the pandemic, everyone has missed close contact with the members of their circles. Re-connect with as many people as you can. A simple e-card will start the conversation.

Let’s brainstorm some ideas for an image and a warm greeting that align with your business and will resonate with your connections. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com , set an appointment here or call me at 212.677.5770. Together we’ll greet your contacts, cheer the holiday season and celebrate the promise of the New Year. 

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