How many cards did you get this year? How many e-cards did you get this year? How many general email wishes did you get?
Here are my thoughts: we’ve become sadly lazy with this whole holiday greeting process and this year, I am just as guilty as the next person. This is that one time in the year where we are supposed to reach out to family, friends and business colleagues to let them know that we appreciate them and that our lives are better because they are a part of it.
Holiday greetings are also an amazing time to let your personal brand shine. A card that is not handwritten with the recipients name on it and a personalized message (even a short one-liner) is a failure. A mass text email that is not personalized and reads like a signature file is not acceptable. An e-card that follows the same path as that mass text email but has some random animated cartoon is just as bad.
I’m not writing this to point fingers. The finger is squarely pointed back at me this year. I’m also not trying to be a Scrooge. This is just a thought because out of all the many cards, gifts, emails and e-cards I got this year, there are only two that stood out: they were both handwritten to me with a personalized message.
Isn’t it amazing what a handwritten note or a five minute phone call can do to heighten a personal brand at this time of year?