The holiday season is fast approaching and with it comes the decade old question, at least the biggest question around our boardroom table: Should business’ send out traditional paper or digital holiday cards? Believe it or not, it has been a decade (at least!) since digital greeting cards first made their debut.
Over the last three years, at approximately the same time every year, I have written a post about digital holiday cards. It’s a hot topic for me. There is much debate in our office about which direction to take. After all, we are a full service agency with high involvement in both the traditional and digital space.
Digital holiday cards aren’t really new, so does that take the heat off of businesses having to go that route? There was a time when it was perceived that businesses sending traditional paper cards through snail mail was not keeping in step with the changing times. But now, is that still the case? Like everything that goes up, it must come down. And everything new, becomes normal – if not old. Digital used to be called new media and now it’s not new. It’s just another media channel.
So does that open things up for businesses to embrace the traditional holiday greeting card? Will the old paper card have a come back in 2014? Can businesses go retro this holiday season? At 3H Communications, we have always sent out paper holiday cards. We design our own and it’s a project of love. Over the last decade, our cards have been one of the only ones at the table, or more accurately, on our clients’ desks. We have enjoyed this space and the exposure and hope that we will continue to enjoy such vast, open spaces!
That doesn’t mean, for one minute that we don’t embrace the digital – far from it. We have always had a digital component to our paper greeting cards. We ask our clients to go online with a QR code (when they were launched) or a web address prompting engagement to participate in a contest or charity fund raising initiative. This year will be no different.
By combining traditional with digital, we have demonstrated through the years that we are strategic thinkers. We embrace the new yet understand when and when not to use it. We also know what will resonate with our clients. This has shown our clients that we are indeed in step with trends and slightly ahead of the curve. Being a leader means knowing when not to jump on the band wagon when everyone else has. And, knowing to take advantage of the quiet space they’ve left behind.
Over the last three years, email communications have reached an all time high in quantity. I believe the last thing a client wants is to receive another email, even if it’s jam-packed with well wishes. I’m sorry to say that I don’t usually open digital holiday cards sent to me – I am too swamped with other emails. But I do open my paper mail during the holiday season. I love traditional holiday greeting cards and during the month of December, I take the time to open them. There are so few of them now, so each one gets my undivided attention.
So this holiday season are you going traditional or digital? Let me know!