Are holiday cards part of your holiday marketing strategy? If not, you could be missing out on a powerful way to meaningfully engage customers, earn long-term customer loyalty, and increase sales. The following details why holiday cards are an untapped marketing opportunity you should consider printing this year.
Holiday cards are personalized
Holiday cards are personal in nature, which helps foster customer relationships. Keeping in mind that people buy from people, holiday cards are perfect vehicles for expressing customer appreciation and gratitude, not to mention well-wishes and season’s greetings.
Consider including handwritten notes in your holiday cards to make the experience more meaningful for your customers (if you have hundreds or thousands of customers, reserve this for your very best customers). This is an excellent opportunity to bring up past conversations, ask about family members, and inquire whether discussed goals have been met.
Holiday cards offer smart branding
Print custom holiday cards to feature your branding and relevant images and phrases that resonate with your customers. Let your holiday cards work to bridge positive associations between your brand and the things your customers appreciate, revere, and desire.
When you incorporate smart branding into your holiday card design, your customers will notice and they’ll remember you when it’s time to buy.
Holiday cards lend solidarity
Smart branding coupled with personalization lend a sense of solidarity between you and your customers. Tactile, glossy, beautiful holiday card printing is only part of the equation; your phrasing and personalized messaging do the rest. You can use holiday cards to show customers you’re one of them – a common strategy is to include a photo of your family – which helps establish trust and encourages future purchases.
Holiday cards present gift-giving opportunities
You should not use holiday cards to promote your Christmas specials or other deals. They’re part of your relationship-building strategy, not direct-sales vehicles. That said, you can still use holiday cards to deliver gifts, provided those gifts have value and meaning for your customers.
If you can offer a gift from your company, great – but you might be able to offer something more meaningful by recalling past conversations with individual customers. For example, you might find out one of your best customers has a passion for golf, so you include a gift certificate good for 18 holes at a popular course. Even though the gift is not produced or sold by your company, it will make a lasting impression on your customer and they’ll almost certainly be in touch when they’re ready to buy.
Holiday cards create follow-up opportunities
Finally, even though holiday cards shouldn’t be used as direct-sales pieces they can be used to motivate follow-ups. One example: let’s say you sell insurance, so you review some of your best customer accounts prior to the holidays.
For each customer, you include a handwritten note in their holiday cards expressing your gratitude for their business. Then, you include a P.S. that says you recently reviewed their account and found a way they could save some money, and politely ask them to give you a call in the new year if they’re interested.
Instead of being pushy, you’re able to subtly introduce a customer benefit and let them decide whether they want to follow up or not. Even if they don’t, when you call in January they’ll remember your holiday card, making it more likely they’ll be receptive to your offer.
If you want to boost sales beyond the holiday season, don’t let an untapped opportunity elude you this year. Print holiday cards to give your customers a personalized, memorable experience that will pay dividends next year.