Q: Are holiday cards effective?
A: I think that they can be considered one more nice way to stay in touch, to send a friendly communication to a large number of clients and prospects all at once. Of course, I said that they can be effective, not that they typically are.
Holiday cards pose complex issues of database management and client ownership, combined with the logistical questions of who signs which card(s). Through hard work and discipline, these are mightily overcome — only to become one of a dozen bland, look-alike cards depicting politically correct images like pine trees, ice skaters, snow-covered skylines, ambiguously decorated snow men, or handicapped children’s artwork — which are then sent to dead former clients.
All in the name of strengthening client relationships?
Done well, the cards should reinforce your firm’s unique brand message, or at least stand out somehow, so they don’t get immediately discarded and forgotten.
When I was the marketing partner of a law firm, it wasn’t unusual for me to get as many as 25 generic holiday cards per day from vendors all wanting our business.
Glance, toss, forget.
Glance, toss, forget.
Glance, toss, forget.
It helps if you have a strong brand message to use, or at least an interesting design to leverage.
For example, a number of years ago we used an olive-based branding theme for Florida’s Bryant Miller Olive law firm. Here’s the cover of their olive-themed holiday card:
The point is — the card represents your firm and your practice.
Don’t rub clients’ noses in your firm’s lack of creativity by doing the same thing as everyone else. Find some way to do something different. Those that avoid the spam filters don’t generally create much goodwill.
On rare occasion, extra creativity causes one to stand above the pack and get a notice or a smile.
For example, Phoenix’s Engelman Berger law firm always goes the extra mile.
Every year they try something new, including lawyer baseball cards, comic books, TV Guides, and parodies of board games like Clue and Scrabble, Mad magazine, and a children’s book, “Are You My Lawyer?”
Finally, while I know this whole rant is making me sound like Scrooge, I’ve never been a big fan of cards that promise:
“In lieu of a personal gift to you, we’re making a donation
in your name to the following charity(ies).”
In my actual name?
Did they ask me whether I’d prefer receiving the gift? Or at least help select the charity? Do I get a tax deduction on that money? And because they never tell you how much they’re donating, everyone I’ve quizzed about this assumes that they’ve taken this approach because it was cheaper and easier. (And generally, from my experience, they’re right.)
At least that’s how I see it.
Season’s greetings.