How to Pick Business Holiday Cards

Sending out holiday cards is a great way for business owners to show their appreciation to their clients and thereby strengthen professional relationships. It is a nice gesture of goodwill and a subtle way of promoting your business at the same time. That said, business owners need to pick the right card for their clients.

Pick high-quality cards printed on quality paper. If you pick a poorly crafted card, your clients will think you're nothing but a cheapskate who couldn't care less about creating a wrong impression. High-quality cards at competitive prices are available, so there's simply no excuse to send out shoddy holiday cards. Aside from the quality of the card itself, you need to make sure that the contents of the card are just as tasteful.

Keep in mind that you’re not sending a card to your old drinking buddy, so steer clear of crude humor. It's also important to be mindful of the recipient's religious beliefs or cultural background when picking the type of card. For example, if the recipient is Jewish, it may not be a good idea to send a Christmas card. A simple card that delivers a straightforward message, be it “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Holidays,” is preferable to avoid inadvertently offending anyone.

The Greeting Card Business: The Next Big Thing?

In-depth industry knowledge is necessary for anyone who's thinking about making and selling their own handmade greeting cards on a wholesale basis. Even someone who's interested in just selling a small number of cards to friends, family, and colleagues will benefit from basic knowledge of industry trends. After all, with the global greeting card business poised to exceed US$30.4 billion by 2015, serious competition awaits would-be greeting card makers.

Every year, about 7 billion greeting cards are purchased, with annual retail sales estimated at more than $7.5 billion. To break it down even further, analysts compute an average of about 30 greeting cards purchased yearly per household. Judging from these figures, the greeting card market certainly shows no signs of slowing down in the immediate future—a factor you can definitely take advantage of if you're really dead-set on starting your own greeting card empire.

If you truly plan to tap into this business opportunity, then you'll have to educate yourself first by loading up on all the necessaryfacts and figures as well as by conducting in-depth research about your target market. You might also want to learn about how established greeting card companies managed to grow and sustain their market share over the years.