Holiday Cards Unlimited Blog

Photo credit: Paul Gabriel Pasztor

Did you celebrate Bastille Day? Or are you just counting down the hours to the weekend? Here is our weekly round-up of posts we found interesting and useful this week:

Your website is good enough, right?

Are you a purple squirrel?

If you’re ever in charge of putting out fires at work, here are some tips to help.

How are small businesses performing in 2011? Here’s an infographic to explain based on aggregate QuickBooks data.

Interactive graphics more your style? Here’s one showing statistics of employment over the last two years.

Everyone is still new to Google+ and here are two articles about why we want to join and how to use Google+ for business.

Are you the office designated “shopper?” If you’re out of an office supply item, do you raise your hand and say, “I’ll run out and get some”?

Photo credit: Lindsey T

Well then, you should become the official business greeting card buyer, too. But even if you’re head buyer, you’ll need input from co-workers to help guide your selections.

Budget Considerations

Before you go crazy with your card order, find out what kind of budget you’ll have. Competitive pricing makes ordering in larger quantities an attractive option. That could be a selling point for you to make with the money folks. Placing a large order for cards to be used throughout the year will also save you on shipping.

Who Wants What?

Different people in the company will have various needs for business greeting cards. Sales, for example, will be using cards mostly for clients. The boss will need an assortment to send to his staff and upper management, if applicable. And there should be an “all purpose” box of cards for the office to use as needed.

Place Your Order, Please

You may want to plan on placing your holiday card order separately. But do it well in advance of the holidays! But here’s a good breakdown to consider when you place your order for an assortment:

Thank You
• An assortment of traditional and casual designs with standard verses
• Add some with blanks for a personal message
Congratulations
• Do both a contemporary and more formal style
• Standard verses on some and blanks, too
Birthday
• Same as above, only add some really fun ones for co-workers to give each other
Get Well and Sympathy
• Probably best to go with a more traditional design for both of these
• Pick a tasteful standard verse for sympathy. A get well card can have more variety in verse choice.

Start shopping!

Photo credit: Kelly Hofer

Happy Canada Day to our customers and friends “up north!”

While they’re off relaxing (nice, eh?), here’s some reading to get you through your Friday to the long weekend.

If you’re a freelancer or independent contractor these are blogs you want to read.

The customer isn’t always right, but sometimes they’re just not the right customer.

Don’t make the 5 copywriting errors that can ruin your website.

What’s your response to, “OK, now what?”

The search for professional significance.

Leave yourself some white space.

Have a great holiday weekend no matter which side of the border you’re on!

It’s tempting in this age of social media to just pop a message to a business colleague on Facebook or reach out to a client in a similar format. In business, it’s important to respect some of the rules of business etiquette. Remember, too, that not everyone is adept at using social media, or they consider it more of a personal venue rather than a business tool.

Be Different; Send Snail Mail

Contrary to popular belief, most people still love to receive snail mail (if it isn’t bills!). It’s especially nice to get “real” mail at the workplace. Stand out by sending business greeting cards. Tailor them to the recipient and a particular event or special occasion. You can also send cards to keep a business relationship current.

Play Off the Social Media Theme

If have a more casual business relationship, your greeting card can be a bit more casual. Why not have some fun with a social media reference? Let’s say you are sending a card to acknowledge a colleague’s birthday. Maybe you want to congratulate a client on a new milestone or achievement. Here some ideas below:

• Happy Birthday – “I tried to Tweet you a happy birthday message, but with that 140-character limit, I couldn’t say it all!”
• Congratulations – “I wanted to post your recent accomplishment on my Facebook page, but didn’t want to steal YOUR thunder!”

Have some fun with the tie-in to social media, but also remember to fit the card to the recipient. If the person isn’t a big fan of technology, a traditional verse is perfect. The thoughtfulness of your gesture will come through.

Photo credit: Sean MacEntee

Photo credit: Charity Kennedy

It’s Friday! Here is some reading to get you to the weekend.

Hopeless idealism or authentic prosperity?

Interesting observations on how women and men respond differently to marketing.

All small businesses could us 10 tips for finding new clients.

Traveling this summer? Whether for business or leisure, remember your tipping etiquette.

How to optimize your landing pages .

Viral marketing tips for B2B bloggers.

How are you spending the first full weekend of summer?

We send business greeting cards for two main reasons. We want to acknowledge a colleague or client’s efforts or a special event in their lives. The other reason, especially with a client, is to stay on their radar. And that’s not just motivated by potential new business; we want them to know that we value our business relationship.

Acknowledge Outstanding Effort

Let’s say a co-worker has really come through for the company this quarter. His efforts have been fairly amazing. Sure, he’s received all kinds of “atta-boys!” comments from the team and his boss. But what would ensure that he knows how much you all really appreciate his work?

How about tying his accomplishment to a fun current event or a timely reference? The trick to doing that well is to pick the event that best suits the recipient. Is he a sports fan? Does he secretly watch a lot of bad reality TV shows? Don’t be afraid to have some fun with it!

Photo credit: Bob Jagendorf

Customize your card by being creative with the tie-in. What about the following?

• Congratulations – “We sure know how to pick a favorite!” You did your own ‘Run for the Roses’ on that deal!”
• Thank you – “Thanks for pulling through for us at the home stretch – impressive finish! We always knew you had it in you! Great job!”

Photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

Are you afraid to show vulnerability or admit mistakes at work?

How not to build Twitter relationships.

If you’re a freelancer, are your habits helping you or hurting you?

These are fun examples of guerilla marketing campaigns.

The economics of one of our favorite free tools, Dropbox.

And just for fun, a little background on DJ Dave, writer of the viral hit Whole Foods Parking Lot.

Is your business on Twitter? What’s your favorite Twitter chat? We’re digging #HBRchat, #b2bchat, and #kaizenblog these days. Hope to see you there!

One challenge here at the Holiday Cards Unlimited blog is how to be useful for you, our customers and readers. You are a diverse group representing grandparents, Fortune 500 companies, small independent medical practices, and large banks and universities, just to name a few.

However, we want to be a resource for all of you. Our Friday Favorites series will provide links to some of the content that we found interesting or useful this week, and we hope you agree. Please let us know in the comments if there is a topic you would like to see covered more; we’re happy to oblige!

This week’s roundup:

• An Email Checklist from Seth Godin (I might send this to my mother)
• Why Relationships Make Work More Enjoyable from David Nour
• How to Stay Motivated Through the Good and Bad Times from Monique Hayward at OPENForum
• Do You Think Your Customers Are Stupid? from Michael Schrage at Harvard Business Review
• Choosing Sustainability in an Uncertain Economy from Marcos Cordero at Intuit

What are you reading this week?

The detectives in Dragnet originated that phrase because they didn’t want to waste time. We don’t want to waste your valuable time and that’s why we’ve made our online card ordering process so user-friendly. But if you do have questions about the process. In anticipation of those questions, our helpful FAQ section usually provides a quick answer.

General FAQs

• Communication: If you’ve emailed us a question, we respond as quickly as possible. You should hear back within an hour, but at least within 2-3 hours.
• Feedback: We love to hear from our customers! Please tell us if there’s anything we can do to make your ordering process easier. Email any comments or suggestions to comments@holidaycardsunlimited.com
• Security: As we are an online retailer site, we provide the highest level of protection available for your credit card and other personal information. Click on the “Security” link in the FAQs for more information.
• What if you get my order wrong? If we made an error, we will correct it at no additional cost. But if the mistake is due to text that you entered, unfortunately we can’t refund your order. We will reprint your card order at a special rate because we want you to be satisfied.
• Can I cancel my order? We immediately begin to process your order once you have placed it. As it progresses, we can’t cancel it because it is custom printed. But if you notify us within 1 hour of placing your order, we can try to cancel it—no guarantees, though!
• What if my cards arrived damaged? We will replace all damaged items and file a claim with UPS, our shipper. We will try to reprint your order is a timely fashion, but can’t be responsible for delays caused by the shipper.

Hope that helps! But if you don’t find your answer, please email us at cs@holidaycardsunlimited.com or call (866) 388-0137. We’ll be on the case!

We all know that saying, “you get what you pay for.” Sometimes there’s a nice spin on that—you get a quality product or service at a reduced price. Win-win! Being able to take advantage of discounts, sales, and special offers and still walk away with the good stuff takes some savvy.

Our card pricing is a great example of that—quality at a discount. The following is information about our pricing.

• Discount Pricing: Often, when people see something at a reduced price they assume that a better product would be more expensive. But our pricing is very competitive and in most cases, is lower than most other online card companies.

But do some comparison shopping, and make sure you look at the fine print. You may see “Free Shipping” and think that automatically means a savings. In many cases, that just means the company will make up those costs in another area. Customers are smart and realize when something sounds too good to be true. We treat our customers with respect.

• Quantity Pricing: One way we can help you stick to a budget is by offering volume discounts. There are discounts built into various quantity bands starting at a 50-card order. The larger the order, the price per card drops.
• Sales Tax: Currently, only customers in Illinois are charged sales tax.
• Tax-Exempt Status: Illinois-based companies who are eligible for tax exempt (or re-sale) status must supply a copy of their tax exempt certificate in order to process their order. Email it to cs@holidaycardsunlimited.com or fax it to (312) 337-6722 with your order number.