Send holiday greetings that make sense--and cents!

Since this blog considers the culture of business, markets, customers, and marketing activity, what better time of the year to touch on all four--and provide you with a terrific idea to heighten your personal, professional, or commercial marketing impact and, in the process, do some practical "good."  

Since we're on the verge of another end-of-the-year "open season" for sending cards, gifts, and greetings, here's a plan that seems just right for the times:  When sending year-end greeting cards to customers, colleagues, business associates--even personal friends--why not send something that does double- or triple-duty?!!  

There's a great website that offers a place to order greeting cards which entirely, exclusively benefit the non-profit organization of your choice in the process.  Cardsthatgive.org is an online site that offers the opportunity to buy [and, thus, have delivered directly and conveniently to you] greeting cards sold by various charities.  This organization makes it easy for individuals and businesses to buy high-quality greeting cards from over 100 non-profit organizations.  

From a marketing perspective, when an individual orders these special cards they accomplish several objectives--all at the same time.  First, from the revenue that is generated, your greeting card sales directly benefit the non-profit that sells the cards to you in the first place.  With the profits from sales going directly to the charitable cause, your holiday greetings expenditures do "good" in the community in direct, obvious ways.  It is estimated that over $2B is spent annually on seasonal greeting cards in the U.S., so the potential impact of healthy profit margins should not be under-estimated.  This way you get to directly support your favorite charity, instead of simply Wal-Mart, Macy's, Hallmark, or Target!  

Second, cards sent by you that originate from a worthy non-profit distinguish your holiday communications in a favorable way; in an age of the ascendancy of "cause-related" communications and the high value placed on corporate social responsibility, you enhance your standing as well and likely send a special "signal" to recipients that you are not only thinking of them, but practically mindful of the need to give-back to and support the greater community or environment that we all live and operate.  

Finally, there's an added opportunity to solve some holiday "gift" problems by taking advantage of the "tribute card" section.  A "tribute card" is one that represents a contribution by you to a charity in honor of the card's recipient, typically in the range of $10 to $25 dollars--or more.  If you are so inclined, what a great way to "stand-out" in a thoughtful, meaningful, and positive way--all the while handling a potential gift-giving dilemma!!!

With cause-related greeting cards everybody wins:  the charitable organization from your support; your card recipient who takes note of your care and who becomes mindful of you and your thoughtfulness in a process that can be pretty mechanical, superficial; and you get to--conveniently and at fundamentally no extra cost--take rightful pride and "feel good" about the process for having been a thoughtful card giver as well as the supporter of worthy causes of your choosing.  

I'm not a big sender of greetings cards, but this might just get me to do something is this year.  Thought you'd like to know about this as well--it seems like an obvious, easy marketing decision to me!  

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Comments

[Amber]

Keith -
Another great article. Wish I had seen it a few days earlier! I do have another opportunity for what to do with your cards after Christmas instead of throwing them away with the same principles - I found this in my "It's Easy Being Green" book:
Send holiday cards to St. Jude's Ranch, a nonprofit home for youths that collects old holiday cards for reuse. Either cut off the backs of the cards or leave them intact. Children at St. Jude's earn money by creating new holiday cards from the old. Mail the cards UPS "ground" or "bound printed matter" to St. Jude's Card Recycling, 100 St. Jude Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89006.