Design Crafters

Personalizing Christmas greeting cards is a trend I just love to see.  Not that there is anything wrong with receiving cards that have lovely reproductions of wintertime scenes or christmas lights on the front of them, but there’s just something really wonderful about seeing our friends and families and their smiling faces on the front of the cards we receive.

This is just one of the many beauties of photo Christmas cards. You can add any picture and any phrase you’d like, with just about any sort of theme you could imagine.  It means a lot more to have a personalized card like that. Think about it…When you receive Christmas cards in the mail, which ones do you notice? Which ones mean more? A certain family member of mine saw me writing this blog post and answered “the ones with the money in them.” That’s not quite what I meant, but had to laugh anyhow. Somebody’s getting a lump of coal in their stocking!

I’m sure I’m not alone in that when I receive Christmas cards with pictures and/or a personal note, those mean so much more to me than a pre-printed impersonal message.  I can also put the photo greeting cards in a photo album.  The recipients of your Christmas cards are likely to enjoy such cards from you, too.

More and more businesses are composing their own custom verse inside their Christmas cards. The trend is to be as personal as possible. After all, this may be, in fact, probably will be the only time this year you may be touching base with some of your clients.

You want to remind them about who you are and hopefully by remembering your name, they will remember what kind of product or service you represent in case they may need your services over the next year.

Many companys who have a logo, will include that for brand recognition and it adds a certain classy element to the card. If you can spare the time, putting a short personal note and signature, will go a long way as everyone knows that is a special touch that takes thought, care and time to do.

Don’t settle for a simple "Happy Holidays" but say something like, "Hope 2007 is the best year for you and your family Joe", or "your business." you get the drift. That’s only one line, but can mean a lot.

That is all you need to do. Please resist including a business card. That would be considered advertising and this is supposed to be simply an expression of good will. If they send you Christmas card, you can respond to that with a "Thank You" card expressing your appreciation for thinking of them and in that it would be accceptable to include a business card.

We already discussed how important it is to send only
tasteful Christmas cards for Business. A naked Santa might be funny, but really
is not appropriate coming from a business. You may think a humorous Christmas card is
hilarious, but this is not the time to test to see if your clients have a good
sense of humor.

Your best bet is to stick with traditional themes and messages to make the best
impression. Create a custom verse to thoughtfully express your appreciation for
the relationship you have with your clients and for their patronage.

Also handmade Christmas cards may show a lot of care because of the time
involved in making them, but if you are not an artist or professional, they are
not going to be the kind of quality you can get with professionally designed
and manufactured cards.

You really should buy the best Christmas cards you can afford. If you settle
for cheap Christmas cards, you are going to look cheap. There is no tactful way
to say it. If you are cheap, it will show.

Also, be aware of your clients’ religious beliefs. Not everyone celebrates
Christmas, so may decide in your case that you might be better off to send a
card that expresses a generic "Season’s Greetings," or "Happy
Holidays." We have hundreds of Christmas cards that were created just for
that reason. Check them out on this Christmas card site.