Be Different: What to send at Christmas.

People tend to get a lot of cards at Christmas. They’re not likely to remember yours for more than five seconds after opening it — unless you make yours stand out from the crowd. Here are a few tips:

• Slip a small gift inside your Christmas card. This could be a Christmas gift certificate, a pre-Christmas shopping offer, or a voucher for an hour of your time. It could be a voucher for a free meal – what deals can you strike with local restaurants? Or be different… send something everybody needs – a pack of A4 batteries! Attach a humorous letter or card with something like ‘To add a charge to your life’ or ‘Extra energy for the holiday season’.
• Send help not a card! How can you send your customers something really useful at Christmas? Here are two suggestions. One, send them a brochure of helpful tips to make sure they have a prosperous new year. Two, send them a CD full of useful advice. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, your gift could go with a cover letter saying: ‘This Christmas, I’ve decided to do something different. Instead of sending everyone a Christmas card I’m forwarding this information on how to get the best possible price for your property.’
• Send a fax instead of a card. Getting a fax is so rare now it’ll probably break through the clutter. Beg, borrow or create some appealing art work first to catch their attention and get the team to add their best wishes. You could use the same art work on a poster with a pithy quotation; if it’s good they may put on the wall – and remember where it came from. Or, if you want to use cyberspace, have the art saved in a PDF to make it easy to send and open.
• Keep in mind society is multi-cultural. Although many people take holidays over the Christmas period some don’t celebrate Christmas or talk about Santa. This year, try sending out greeting cards that apply to everyone, based on the theme of ‘The Season of Goodwill’, ‘The Festive Season’ or ‘Happy Holidays’.