Bonus: 🎁 Tips for Sending a Holiday Card on Behalf of Your Business 🎄

Ho ho ho. Happy holidays listeners. This episode, a bonus episode, is a departure from my weekly discussions about PR response messaging crisis. Let's put a pause on the heaviness of 2020 and celebrate the joy of the season. How? By offering you some help with something I know is one of those anxiety inducing tasks around the holidays. No, I'm not talking about making cookies at the last minute for that cookie party. Or is it just me on Pinterest at the last minute trying to find the perfect cookie that looks like you've planned it all week. But there is a silver lining I suppose. I don't have a last minute cookie push this year, sadly, due to the pandemic Burgermeister Cookiemeister canceling it. But next year, the other stress I'm talking about, the one that creeps up on everyone even though we know we have to do it every year, is the Hot Holiday Card. If you are someone debating on whether or not to send a holiday card, listen to this quick bonus episode. I'll tell you really how easy it is, some of the things to think about and to help you with this task. Now, it is a time consuming task and it does lead you down a path where in the end you need to decide do I send a card this year or not? And if so, who's in and who's out. It's especially tricky if your holiday list spans both personal and professional recipients. For this episode, I'm focusing on the business side. After all, this is a podcast under the business category. So if you need tips on that business holiday card, this is the bonus episode for you. This is your quick primer for the holiday card 2020 edition we're going to talk about. Do you even send it? Should it be a Christmas card, a holiday card, or an E card? And lastly, who to include on the list. And I'm going to end it with some easy to remember, easy to apply tips for getting through this task, this somewhat onerous task at times of writing holiday cards. All right, here we go. 1. Do you send a holiday card? Well, the holidays, it's a time of year to show gratitude. So why not share your gratitude with the people who who helped your business grow and prosper, hopefully. And if it didn't in the pandemic, my hand is up to the people who at least supported you or kept your business afloat. That means your colleagues, customers, consumers, employees, anyone you might look at who brought a little bit of help to you or support during this incredible challenging year. It is a nice gesture, but it also helps you Stay top of mind to perhaps customers who could help you get through a 2021. Bottom line, should you send a holiday card, it's up to you. Don't stress it. If it is a task that is just going to add more anxiety and stress onto you and the process is just going to be stressful and emotionally stressful because you have to regurgitate this entire rancid year, then don't do it. However, if you are a customer centric business, if you are a business where your employees really helped you out this year, they got you through 2020, well, at the very least, go ahead and send them a card. All right, next, should it be a Christmas card, a holiday card or an E card? Which one? Well, let's start with the last first. E cards. No, E cards only amplify that. You did not take the time to write an actual card. So writing a personalized, if that's all you have the time for, you only have the bandwidth to do it via email. Okay, but a letter is even better. The personalized message is fine. But if you send out one of those E card generators, I say don't even bother with it because it's not going to give you the right wrap that you want around the holidays. You want to show that you care. So the more personalized, the better. Now the question is, should it be a holiday card or is it okay to send a Christmas card? Christmas. Remember, it's a Christian holiday. And I think sometimes we forget that when we see a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree may seem universal, but it's actually based on a Christian holiday. So is Santa. So is Rudolph, for that matter. They're all based on Concepts from St. Nicholas. Now, is it the worst thing in the world to send a Christmas card with a Christmas tree? No, but just be mindful of it. So could you send a Christmas card? Well, if you work for a Christian organization or a church, then, you know, then the Christ motif is going to work. I mean, I personally celebrate Christmas. I'm, I'm Catholic. I commemorate the year, however, with non denominational, with secular cards. Because if you're like me, I have Jewish friends who celebrate the Festival of Light. They celebrate Hans. There's also Kwanzaa, the annual celebration of the African American culture. So many people celebrate the season. So the more the merrier, right? But make sure that you're celebrating everyone's season. Now, if that gets complicated for you, here is a tip that applies to 2020 and because if there's ever been a year or more, a more Universally awaited year. It's 20. So forego the holiday card and just send a Happy New Year card. I mean, this is the year to do that. Okay, finally, three, who to include on the list. Your customers, constituents, colleagues are all equally important, so make sure they're on the list. You can use your CRM, that's the customer relationship management software. If you run a business or if this is in an area of your business that you don't have access to, figure out who does and get that list. So make a list of all your employees. Make a list of the key employees, the people who did special things for your business. They could be in management, they could be staff. But make a point to try and personalize everything if you can. You want to ensure that your entire staff gets something from you. You don't want anyone to be left out. And the more personal, the better. All right, so lastly, I said I was going to provide you with some tips for sending that holiday card. So the holiday card is important, but keep the audience in mind. So it might serve you best to send separate cards with different messaging for each type of person who receives it. So a different message for your employees, a different message for your team, for your customers, so on and so forth. So if you work in a corporate environment, there's going to be corporate language as opposed to a cooperative environment or a nonprofit environment. And again, handwrite these cards. If possible, at least sign them yourself. The more hands on high touch the better because no one wants a card from a robot. All right, next, prep and send your cards early. So right now it's the weekend before the second weekend of December. This is the week that you want to get this up and running and out the door. The more preparation that you have, the less stressful it's going to be. Also, remember others at your customer's offices, so you know who I'm talking about. There could be an assistant there who's incredibly helpful, or another business person or business partner who's a part of the decision making process. But you might not be dealing with them one on one. You will gain big bonus points if you remember someone who is often forgotten at an organization. So look out for those people. And again, you don't have to do a Christmas card or a holiday card. You don't just have to show gratitude once a year. Celebrate year long with all these businesses if you can. Now, ideally, you want these cards to arrive early. December. I mean, that's ideal. That's where we are right now. Mid December is good, but just try to get them in on that last week before December 20th. Now I know that not all of us are always organized. I mean really is how many people out there are really super organized? My friend Julie always sends her holiday card in the days after Thanksgiving and I admire it greatly and I always admire people who are on the ball with that, but no one gets dinged for giving me a late card. Also, use your own penmanship wherever you can. I had mentioned that earlier about the handwritten card, but at least on the outside of the envelope, that's going to help a lot. Now if you're someone who writes like a serial killer, there are websites out there that do offer hand drawn holiday cards via tech. So it is a nice touch or at least, you know, a nicer one. Here's another tip. Include your return address on your card because some people do not have addresses at the ready, so it's incredibly helpful if that return address is on the card. When you're sending a holiday card to other business associates, send it to their office unless you know them socially. If you haven't been introduced to their families, keep the cards professional. Sign the cards with a note from you personally, but reserve your family photocards for just your friends and your relatives. When sending cards to co workers, mail the cards to their homes rather than handing them out in the office. It's more personal that way and it avoids conflict. Unless you don't have cards for everyone and it has a more traditional feel when the card arrives along with everyone else's holiday card in your mailbox. All right, that's my list and I've checked it twice. Hopefully it's helpful. Hopefully it's nice. And listeners, I have a holiday gift for you. How many times have you googled how to address a holiday card? Like 20 times every December. I have created a tip sheet to help you write these cards to address them properly to the Smiths and the Joneses in your life. You can print it out, stuff it in your holiday card box to use year after year. So just head on over to my website mollymcpherson.com holidaycard to get your download for how to write and address a holiday card. I'll include a link in the show notes everyone. I hope you and your loved ones have a safe and healthy holiday season. Signed with gratitude. Molly.