The holidays are a vital time for everybody — including small businesses. For many businesses, this is the last best chance to end the year with strong sales, so connecting with customers and clients this time of year is critical. Luckily, the vacations have a built-in way to engage directly with the things that matter most: the cards.
Holiday cards are an inexpensive and effective way to reach the people most vital to business success: customers, clients, investors, partners, employees and other stakeholders. However, before you buy and send out the first vacation card you can find, you should review the following do’s and don’ts, which will ensure your card is well received:
DON’T: Give Everyone the Same General Message
Cards that simply say “Season Greetings from Acme Inc” go instantly to the recycling bin. While not every business sends out vacation cards to its employees and customers, you want to stand out from the few businesses that do message that makes each recipient feel special. If you have a brief list of recipients, you should consider handwriting a personal note on each card. Otherwise, you may choose to provide some details about how the recipient has helped your organization over the last year or specific goals you have for the coming months. If you need help with what to write on vacation cards for clients and employeesYou can find tips and tricks online.
DO: Consider Inclusive Holiday Greetings
Christmas is the most popular winter vacation, but not the only one. Hanukkah, Rohatsu, Solstice, Yule, Kwanza and too many other religious holidays to mention occurred around the same period. Even setting aside the vacations celebrated by adherents of other religions, Christians not only celebrate Christmas but numerous other holy and holy holidays in addition to the New Year. So, instead of selecting just one vacation, it is quicker and easier to extend a season-long greeting with an inclusive vacation greeting, such as:
- Happy holidays
- Season Greetings
- Warmest wishes
- joy
- Be Merry
DON’T: Use Incorrect Spelling or Grammar
Whenever you send out any kind of marketing, you should double and triple check it for typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Unfortunately, vacation cards can be quite tricky on the punctuation front, with some hard place for commas and apostrophes. Here are some hard and fast rules for keeping your vacation cards error-free:
- Names hardly ever need an apostrophe. Neither plural surnames, such as Bashir, nor surnames ending with an “s”, such as The Joneses, may have an apostrophe (unless the family has something, such as Bashir’s cat or the Joneses’ house).
- Seasonal and New Year greetings require an apostrophe.
- Signatures require commas, but greetings don’t. You do not separate the greeting with commas, but you can end the phrase with one: “Dear Keiko,” that’s correct. However, you separate your signature with a comma: “Sincerely yours, Benjamin.”
- “This,” with an apostrophe, means “that.” Conversely, “its” is the possessive form of the pronoun. Every time you see the apostrophe, translate “it” silently to yourself.
DO: Invest in Unique Card Designs
While it is tempting to pick up a pack of standard vacation cards from Target—or order the most popular designs you see online—you should try to be a little more distinctive with your vacation card designs. If you do not want to commission a graphic designer to make your vacation card truly unique, you can at least include a special photo of your executive staff or employees onto a pre-designed card online. It shows that you put more than the minimum thought and effort into your card, which the recipient will appreciate.
DON’T: Forget Your Audience
Every action a business takes should be purpose-driven — so what’s your goal in sending vacation cards? For many businesses, vacation cards are supposed to build brand loyalty and trust with their most vital stakeholders. However, irrespective of what your goal is, you must ensure that your card includes the mandatory elements to accomplish it. This may mean you need to include company swag with cards, attach vacation bonuses, advertise vacation promotions, or do something else.
DO: Be Sincere
The last thing you want to do during the vacation season is spread cynicism. Your excellent news and good wishes must be genuine and genuine — otherwise your recipient will be capable to tell, and your card and company credibility will go straight to the trash. Sincerity is difficult to fake, so you must bring up your true feelings when making vacation cards.
Like everybody else, businesses need to celebrate the winter holidays. Cards are an incredible way to keep your company in the minds of important stakeholders like clients, partners, employees, and more — but you need to ensure your cards stand out for the best reason each vacation season.
