Across both personal and business sectors, greeting cards and calendars have become staples of everyday life. Whether for seasonal celebrations, birthdays, special events, or simply to stay organized, people use greeting cards and calendars throughout the year. At Plumb Marketing, our digital printing and direct mail services make it easy to create personalized, customized greeting cards and calendars tailored to your needs.
Haven’t used greeting cards and calendars in your direct mail campaigns before? Let us share some benefits and ideas for getting better engagement and return on investment.
The Benefits of Business Greeting Cards
First, is there any reason to send business holiday cards? Yes, we do believe they offer some great benefits.
Demonstrating Care for Your Customer
Business greeting cards in a direct mail campaign is one way to show your customer that you care about them, without giving them a pitch. It allows you to simply create a touchpoint with them, but in a special way.
We continually stress the importance of direct mail being personalized to have the biggest impact, and there isn’t anything more personalized than sending someone a birthday card. If you keep other special information about your clients, such as an anniversary, you can also use that information to send a unique, personalized card. Don’t just think wedding anniversary either (unless you were part of the wedding). An anniversary can be a pet’s adoption date, a work anniversary, or the date they closed on their home.
Holiday greeting cards don’t need to fall on traditional holidays either. Get creative and stand out! There are celebration days that fall on just about every calendar date. Find the ones that relate to your industry or your customer’s demographic and consider a mail piece on that day.
The point is to make the customer have a positive emotional response to your business, and in general.
Build Customer Delight & Loyalty
Does anyone open a card and not smile? When someone receives a greeting card they weren’t expecting, they are appreciative. It boosts loyalty, by giving them a fun connection with your company. These types of connections are what turn customers into lifelong customers.
Having a personalized reason to send a card is always great, and you can be thoughtful and creative with it. Send a card to someone who might need a boost, or a sympathy card to someone who has lost a loved one. A get well card shows that you care and offer support. And cards just for fun can bring happiness and laughter, or reflective and inspirational messages.
Stands Out & Remembered
The emotional response to greeting cards has been shown in studies to be greater than emails or digital messages, even with the same words. When a card is sent in the mail, it has a different look and feel than other mail, making it stand out while also building anticipation. Even when the recipient is expecting a birthday card, it isn’t until it is opened that they get to be surprised by who sent it. And, when a card is pleasing to the eye, or offers a laugh or even brings someone to tears, it feels like receiving a gift.
The tangible nature of a card gives them more value than a digital message. This has never been truer in the digital overwhelm of today. This makes them engaging and memorable.
Using Greeting Cards and Calendars in Your Direct Mail Campaigns
Now that you know some benefits, let’s talk about the deliverables. Our digital printing services allow for very customized greeting cards. We can use photos and original artwork, business logos and a variety of paper and envelope types to create your final product.
Business Holiday Cards
Holiday cards can be sent for any holiday, whether widely recognized or barely known. The key here is to segment your audiences with care to reach different demographics with a relevant message for them. This does mean that data will need to be collected in order for these lists to be the most effective. To increase your conversion rate, use personalized relevant messages to subgroups. This segmentation and customization has been proven to increase ROI.
As an example, consider a client list who uses a specific service, such as clients who come in for pedicures. A card that reads, “Sarah, is your pedicure sandal ready?” will resonate with this customer named Sarah much more than a card that reads, “Buy One Get One Free on Face Cream”. Now, that’s not to say cards can’t be used to cross sell, but the point of the greeting card is connection and should demonstrate that you know your individual customer.
Business Christmas Cards
Christmas and the winter holiday season in general is a high season for sending cards. Participating in sending greeting cards at this time means they should be unique in texture, design and feel in order to stand out.
This is a great time to send cards to stay top of mind and create another touchpoint. However, consider sending Thanksgiving cards or New Year’s cards to add variety. If Christmas is a primary holiday related to your business, or the time you have designated to show customer appreciation, make it memorable (we can help with that).
New Year Calendars
Calendars are a way to offer a gift that literally hangs around all year. Send them before the new year and customize them to your heart’s desire. Consider what matters to your customer and use that in the design. Consider dates that may be important to them to offer some customization.
Calendars are memorable in nature, especially if the recipient feels a connection. This is a great place to use humor (such as silly pet pictures), or offer inspiration (such as a calendar of business quotes). Calendars can feature recipes, service dates, cultural holidays, and any other personalization you desire.
Feeling inspired? Feel excited but don’t know where to start? Plumb Marketing is here to help with all aspects of your direct mail campaign. We can curate a list or use yours. We can print on a variety of paper types and even do custom folds and envelopes. We design direct mail pieces, affix postage, stuff and send. We are your one stop shop for all your direct mail needs, including calendars and business greeting cards.
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