Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Send Christmas Cards to Your Network
Many years ago (pre-Internet days), I used to send out Christmas cards, each written by hand, containing a personal note. At one point, I hand wrote and sent out about 300 cards. It took me the whole month of December to finish, and my wrist hurt after I finished.
Then email became popular. Instead of hand written cards, I wrote an email message briefly describing some highlights of my year, and wishing my recipients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I used an email merge program to personalized the greeting line, so each person received an email addressed to him or her.
Then electronic cards became popular. I went to several different websites offering free E-Cards and sent that out to my list.
This year, a good friend of mine sent me a postcard created by a company called AmazingMail. It was a glossy, heavy weight postcard, with a picture on one side, and a short letter on the other. This card also had a smaller picture (accent) on the second side. My wife and I decided to go with AmazingMail, since we wanted to use pictures of our young baby daughter.
We thought about using Snapfish, because we have most of our digital pictures uploaded there. However, we liked the fact that AmazingMail gives you the space to write a short letter, in addition to having a small picture on the second side. Plus, all you have to do is to load your recipients' contact info, and they print and mail the postcard directly to them. You can even customize the text of your message to address each person by name. It is a bit more expensive than Snapfish, but we think it's worth it.
Regardless of the type of card that you use, one of the best things you can do to improve your networking is to send out Christmas cards. If you can't send physical cards, then send out electronic ones. During this time of the year, people look forward to receiving cards (don't you?). You can send a card to someone that you used to keep in touch with, but haven't reach out to in a long time. Your card can be a good way to re-establish the relationship.
I even called a few of the people on my list to verify their mailing address. Again, this is a good opportunity to call someone you haven't called in a long time to catch up. This year, we only sent out cards to some personal friends. But in order to be a great networker, it is a good idea to send out cards to your business contacts as well.
Then email became popular. Instead of hand written cards, I wrote an email message briefly describing some highlights of my year, and wishing my recipients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I used an email merge program to personalized the greeting line, so each person received an email addressed to him or her.
Then electronic cards became popular. I went to several different websites offering free E-Cards and sent that out to my list.
This year, a good friend of mine sent me a postcard created by a company called AmazingMail. It was a glossy, heavy weight postcard, with a picture on one side, and a short letter on the other. This card also had a smaller picture (accent) on the second side. My wife and I decided to go with AmazingMail, since we wanted to use pictures of our young baby daughter.
We thought about using Snapfish, because we have most of our digital pictures uploaded there. However, we liked the fact that AmazingMail gives you the space to write a short letter, in addition to having a small picture on the second side. Plus, all you have to do is to load your recipients' contact info, and they print and mail the postcard directly to them. You can even customize the text of your message to address each person by name. It is a bit more expensive than Snapfish, but we think it's worth it.
Regardless of the type of card that you use, one of the best things you can do to improve your networking is to send out Christmas cards. If you can't send physical cards, then send out electronic ones. During this time of the year, people look forward to receiving cards (don't you?). You can send a card to someone that you used to keep in touch with, but haven't reach out to in a long time. Your card can be a good way to re-establish the relationship.
I even called a few of the people on my list to verify their mailing address. Again, this is a good opportunity to call someone you haven't called in a long time to catch up. This year, we only sent out cards to some personal friends. But in order to be a great networker, it is a good idea to send out cards to your business contacts as well.
