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good ideas

• good ideas

  Business Etiquette Tips for Sending Holiday Cards

  11.16.09 | This post was written by: admin | Permalink | Comment?

  There’s no question that using appropriate business etiquette in your company communications can produce a great marketing advantage. Beyond the common courtesies of “please” and “thank you,” exercising good manners in your marketing efforts gives your message a better chance of being heard. During the hectic holiday season, those etiquette skills can be seen most vividly in how you approach sending holiday cards. Whether you’re making a first impression or offering a seasoned thank you for continued business, consider these tips for minding your holiday manners.

  Acknowledge the season. With the plethora of card options out there and the crazy lines at the post office, it’s tempting to simply opt out of the holiday card-sending game. Don’t do it! In this day and age, acknowledging the holiday season is a staunch expectation even in the business world. Even if you’ve chosen to shift your mailing to Thanksgiving or New Years to avoid the rush, it is still important to send a December holiday message of some kind–even if it is a simple emailing.

  Fine-tune your message. Much debate exists around whether to use the phrases “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hannukah,” or “Happy Holidays.” Only you can decide which is most appropriate for your business and clientele. Err on the side of caution when writing your specific holiday verbiage. Reflect your own company’s “culture,” but avoid terminology that may be offensive to your broader audience. Also, be sure to communicate gratitude for continued business where appropriate and well-wishes for the coming year. Overselling in your holiday cards can be off-putting. Avoid overt marketing terminology and opt for a subtle presentation of your logo with a tag line of services.

  Make sure your mailing list is up to date. It can be an arduous task, but be sure your names and addresses are correct. Sending holiday wishes to a contact who’s moved on from your business client simply highlights your lack of attention and undermines your efforts at “personal” service. It’s easiest to maintain your mailing list throughout the year, but at the least, devote staff time to verifying information before holiday cards are mailed.

  Add titles to your recipient names. The added formality of a “Mr.” or “Ms.” in your address block creates a festive appeal during the holiday season.These titles offer a show of respect to your individual client contacts that won’t be missed. Be safe with your women clients and use the “Ms.” prefix rather than risk offense with a “Miss” or “Mrs.” used incorrectly.

  Personalize. Personal details always carry more power than “form” communications. Address your cards to actual people in addition to whole businesses or organizations. Write a personal note on your cards, if possible, making reference to individual relationships. Acknowledge specific projects on which you’ve worked, recognize specific accomplishments or extend greetings to family members. One sentence will suffice, but make it a personal one. Oh, and use your best penmanship!

  Consider your envelope. Don’t forget that the envelope is the first thing your card recipient sees. You can make your holiday cards more special simply by printing the return address on the flap rather than the front of the envelope. Also, actual stamps make a more personal impression than printed bulk mail insignia and offer extra holiday cheer. In addition, hand-written addresses are another way to add personal detail to your cards–even if it’s not your own handwriting. Many direct mail vendors offer hand-addressing services.

  Sending corporate or organizational Christmas cards can be an overwhelming task. Make sure you get the most marketing return from the process by using these mild-mannered tips.

  Need help getting your “dux” in a row? Give us a call! We’ll help you craft your message, design a unique card presentation and handle your mailing–all in plenty of time for Santa’s milk and cookies!

  There’s no question that using appropriate business etiquette in your company communications can produce a great marketing advantage. Beyond the common courtesies of “please” and “thank you,” exercising good manners in your marketing efforts gives your message a better chance of being heard. During the hectic holiday season, those etiquette skills can be seen most vividly in how you approach sending holiday cards. Whether you’re making a first impression or offering a seasoned thank you for continued business, consider these tips for minding your holiday manners.

  Acknowledge the season. With the plethora of card options out there and the crazy lines at the post office, it’s tempting to simply opt out of the holiday card-sending game. Don’t do it! In this day and age, acknowledging the holiday season is a staunch expectation even in the business world. Even if you’ve chosen to shift your mailing to Thanksgiving or New Years to avoid the rush, it is still important to send a December holiday message of some kind–even if it is a simple emailing.

  Fine-tune your message. Much debate exists around whether to use the phrases “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hannukah,” or “Happy Holidays.” Only you can decide which is most appropriate for your business and clientele. Err on the side of caution when writing your specific holiday verbiage. Reflect your own company’s “culture,” but avoid terminology that may be offensive to your broader audience. Also, be sure to communicate gratitude for continued business where appropriate and well-wishes for the coming year. Overselling in your holiday cards can be off-putting. Avoid overt marketing terminology and opt for a subtle presentation of your logo with a tag line of services.

  Make sure your mailing list is up to date. It can be an arduous task, but be sure your names and addresses are correct. Sending holiday wishes to a contact who’s moved on from your business client simply highlights your lack of attention and undermines your efforts at “personal” service. It’s easiest to maintain your mailing list throughout the year, but at the least, devote staff time to verifying information before holiday cards are mailed.

  Add titles to your recipient names. The added formality of a “Mr.” or “Ms.” in your address block creates a festive appeal during the holiday season.These titles offer a show of respect to your individual client contacts that won’t be missed. Be safe with your women clients and use the “Ms.” prefix rather than risk offense with a “Miss” or “Mrs.” used incorrectly.

  Personalize. Personal details always carry more power than “form” communications. Address your cards to actual people in addition to whole businesses or organizations. Write a personal note on your cards, if possible, making reference to individual relationships. Acknowledge specific projects on which you’ve worked, recognize specific accomplishments or extend greetings to family members. One sentence will suffice, but make it a personal one. Oh, and use your best penmanship!

  Consider your envelope. Don’t forget that the envelope is the first thing your card recipient sees. You can make your holiday cards more special simply by printing the return address on the flap rather than the front of the envelope. Also, actual stamps make a more personal impression than printed bulk mail insignia and offer extra holiday cheer. In addition, hand-written addresses are another way to add personal detail to your cards–even if it’s not your own handwriting. Many direct mail vendors offer hand-addressing services.

  Sending corporate or organizational Christmas cards can be an overwhelming task. Make sure you get the most marketing return from the process by using these mild-mannered tips.

  Need help getting your “dux” in a row? Give us a call! We’ll help you craft your message, design a unique card presentation and handle your mailing–all in plenty of time for Santa’s milk and cookies!

• good ideas, marketing, promotional products

  It’s Time to Start Thinking “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

  10.12.09 | This post was written by: Haley Montgomery | Permalink | Comment?

  In Starkville, we’ve just now started getting some crisp, cooler days, and stores and houses are sporting pumpkins, scarecrows and orange. But, if you look a little closer, you’ll still find some red and green peeking through in preparation for the Holiday season.

  That’s right. It’s only October, but it’s time to begin thinking about how your business or organization will offer well-wishes to customers this Christmas season. It pays to plan ahead for your corporate holiday gifting to take advantage of early specials and avoid the last minute production and shipping rush.

  Acknowledging the holiday season with client cards or gifts is a great way to show gratitude for the blessings of the year, reward customer loyalty and remind your clients of your offerings in the coming new year. However, with the abundance of mail and office gifts that filter through during the season, you want to be sure yours will stand out.  Consider these creative ideas for choosing promotional items and holiday cards that will make an impression this season.

  1. When choosing client holiday gifts, get long-term promotional impact with items that are useful beyond the Christmas season. Gifts like customized desktop calendars, planners or note-taking journals give your company regular exposure all year long. For years, Dux D’Lux provided our clients with slim month-at-a-glance desktop planners as Christmas gifts. They were wildly popular because they offered just enough space for writing events and could easily be slipped into a portfolio pocket for meetings.

  One of the favorite items we received from one of our vendors was custom printed legal pads that included the coming year’s calendar in the margin — very helpful for planning meetings and creative brainstorming! Regardless of the season, practical promotional items put your brand front and center well beyond the delivery date.

  2. Consider customer holiday gifts that offer clients a sampling of your products and services. What better way to show them what you have to offer? Restaurant or retail businesses could offer gift baskets with favorite product samples. Clothing companies or screen printers like ourselves could give custom designed tee shirts.

  For several years, Dux D’Lux sent Christmas cards that included a custom-designed set of gift tag/enclosures. The to-from tags offered clients a way to spread their own holiday cheer as well as offered examples of our agency’s creativity and design prowess. Our favorite theme centered on “a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer” where each member of our staff produced their own portrait of one of Santa’s sleigh-pullers. “Vixen” was probably the funniest!

  3. For your best clients, make holiday gifts personal. Consider monogramming or having a client’s logo embroidered on an item. Personalization makes standard gifts like briefcases, computer cases or pad portfolios more special. Winter wearables are also great items that can be embroidered or screen printed with custom logos when you want to give to several people within the same office. With personalized items, sometimes your thoughtful consideration and attention to detail will make even more of an impression than something bearing YOUR business logo.

  4. When choosing holiday gifts for multiple customers within the same organization, consider a gift directed to the “office” as well as items for specific individuals with whom you’ve worked. Personal contact is such an important factor for clients making decisions about products and services–especially in a slower economy. When gifting for B2B clients, don’t overlook the personal relationships you and your staff have built with individuals. Office gifts are appropriate, but additional, more personalized gifts can show appreciation to individual decision-makers.

  And, don’t forget the administrative professionals! Make a lasting impression with the ones who take your phone messages or schedule your meetings with a small token of your appreciation. Gift cards to local restaurants, desktop items, or even flower deliveries are great choices.

  5. Use the season to give back–in your clients’ names. Nothing spreads holiday cheer like giving, especially to worthy causes. You can show your business’ corporate responsibility by sending gifts to charitable organizations in honor of your clients. If you client base is primarily local, why not choose a local organization where your donation can benefit your own community. In addition, non-profit groups that relate to your specific industry can also be worthy options.

  Be sure to choose reputable charities that have a verifiable record of how donations are used. And, send your own announcement to your clients. Although many charities send acknowledgements when receiving donations in honor of a third party, you can offer a customized message to your customers alerting them to the gift as well.

  If you would like more ideas for how you can creatively say “thank you” to your customers and associates during the holiday season, give Dux D’Lux a call. We can help you tailor a gift-giving message to your specific organization’s needs. We can even handle your direct-mail distribution if required.

  In Starkville, we’ve just now started getting some crisp, cooler days, and stores and houses are sporting pumpkins, scarecrows and orange. But, if you look a little closer, you’ll still find some red and green peeking through in preparation for the Holiday season.

  That’s right. It’s only October, but it’s time to begin thinking about how your business or organization will offer well-wishes to customers this Christmas season. It pays to plan ahead for your corporate holiday gifting to take advantage of early specials and avoid the last minute production and shipping rush.

  Acknowledging the holiday season with client cards or gifts is a great way to show gratitude for the blessings of the year, reward customer loyalty and remind your clients of your offerings in the coming new year. However, with the abundance of mail and office gifts that filter through during the season, you want to be sure yours will stand out.  Consider these creative ideas for choosing promotional items and holiday cards that will make an impression this season.

  1. When choosing client holiday gifts, get long-term promotional impact with items that are useful beyond the Christmas season. Gifts like customized desktop calendars, planners or note-taking journals give your company regular exposure all year long. For years, Dux D’Lux provided our clients with slim month-at-a-glance desktop planners as Christmas gifts. They were wildly popular because they offered just enough space for writing events and could easily be slipped into a portfolio pocket for meetings.

  One of the favorite items we received from one of our vendors was custom printed legal pads that included the coming year’s calendar in the margin — very helpful for planning meetings and creative brainstorming! Regardless of the season, practical promotional items put your brand front and center well beyond the delivery date.

  2. Consider customer holiday gifts that offer clients a sampling of your products and services. What better way to show them what you have to offer? Restaurant or retail businesses could offer gift baskets with favorite product samples. Clothing companies or screen printers like ourselves could give custom designed tee shirts.

  For several years, Dux D’Lux sent Christmas cards that included a custom-designed set of gift tag/enclosures. The to-from tags offered clients a way to spread their own holiday cheer as well as offered examples of our agency’s creativity and design prowess. Our favorite theme centered on “a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer” where each member of our staff produced their own portrait of one of Santa’s sleigh-pullers. “Vixen” was probably the funniest!

  3. For your best clients, make holiday gifts personal. Consider monogramming or having a client’s logo embroidered on an item. Personalization makes standard gifts like briefcases, computer cases or pad portfolios more special. Winter wearables are also great items that can be embroidered or screen printed with custom logos when you want to give to several people within the same office. With personalized items, sometimes your thoughtful consideration and attention to detail will make even more of an impression than something bearing YOUR business logo.

  4. When choosing holiday gifts for multiple customers within the same organization, consider a gift directed to the “office” as well as items for specific individuals with whom you’ve worked. Personal contact is such an important factor for clients making decisions about products and services–especially in a slower economy. When gifting for B2B clients, don’t overlook the personal relationships you and your staff have built with individuals. Office gifts are appropriate, but additional, more personalized gifts can show appreciation to individual decision-makers.

  And, don’t forget the administrative professionals! Make a lasting impression with the ones who take your phone messages or schedule your meetings with a small token of your appreciation. Gift cards to local restaurants, desktop items, or even flower deliveries are great choices.

  5. Use the season to give back–in your clients’ names. Nothing spreads holiday cheer like giving, especially to worthy causes. You can show your business’ corporate responsibility by sending gifts to charitable organizations in honor of your clients. If you client base is primarily local, why not choose a local organization where your donation can benefit your own community. In addition, non-profit groups that relate to your specific industry can also be worthy options.

  Be sure to choose reputable charities that have a verifiable record of how donations are used. And, send your own announcement to your clients. Although many charities send acknowledgements when receiving donations in honor of a third party, you can offer a customized message to your customers alerting them to the gift as well.

  If you would like more ideas for how you can creatively say “thank you” to your customers and associates during the holiday season, give Dux D’Lux a call. We can help you tailor a gift-giving message to your specific organization’s needs. We can even handle your direct-mail distribution if required.

• good ideas, marketing

  The Dux Daily on Facebook

  10.05.09 | This post was written by: Haley Montgomery | Permalink | Comment?

  Good afternoon, Quacksters! We are so thankful to all our Facebook fans for the great support during Tailgating Week last week. We are delighted to donate 100 free “spirit” cups to the West Point, MS Parents in Public School organization for  mobilizing the Green Wave fans to support their team on our fan page. You guys are outstanding, and we appreciate the work you do on behalf of the public schools in your area.

  I wanted to do a quick post to let our blog readers know about something new we’re beginning on the Fan page. I’ve been participating in various social media Twitter “chats” getting ideas on how we can use Facebook and Twitter to serve and promote our clients better. We really want to provide more value for the followers and fans who’ve invited us into their cyber space.

  As a way of sharing some of the expertise we’ve gleaned in our 30-year marketing adventures, we’ve decided to add a daily marketing tip to our social media offerings. In addition to our great specials, client happenings and general Dux mayhem, we’ll be posting what we call THE DUX DAILY each day on our Facebook page. (You Twitter followers will find it in your stream as well!)

  Our goal is for each week’s Dux Daily postings to center around a theme that we’ll expand on in one of our blog posts or Quick Quack ezines as well. We’ll share specific tips you can use as you plan your marketing efforts, whether through design projects, website development, screen printed wearables or promotional products.  We’ll also include links to valuable research that will help you know your audience and focus your marketing energies.

  We’re still brainstorming ideas for weekly topics, but here are a few of the Dux Daily themes you may see in the coming weeks:

  Writing effective press releases

  Choosing tee shirt ink colors

  Restaurant menu design

  Starting a safety program

  Writing content for websites

  Newspaper design tips

  Budget-conscious screen printing

  Using fonts wisely

  Benefits of blogging

  Getting started in social media

  Who’s on the internet

  Who’s on social media

  Effective logos

  Creating a logo standards package

  We’d love to hear your ideas! What types of Dux Daily tips would you like to see? Send us your comments! Please.

  Good afternoon, Quacksters! We are so thankful to all our Facebook fans for the great support during Tailgating Week last week. We are delighted to donate 100 free “spirit” cups to the West Point, MS Parents in Public School organization for  mobilizing the Green Wave fans to support their team on our fan page. You guys are outstanding, and we appreciate the work you do on behalf of the public schools in your area.

  I wanted to do a quick post to let our blog readers know about something new we’re beginning on the Fan page. I’ve been participating in various social media Twitter “chats,” getting ideas on how we can use Facebook and Twitter to serve and promote our clients better. We really want to provide more value for the followers and fans who’ve invited us into their cyber space.

  As a way of sharing some of the expertise we’ve gleaned in our 30-year marketing adventures, we’ve decided to add a daily marketing tip to our social media offerings. In addition to our great specials, client happenings and general Dux mayhem, we’ll be posting what we call THE DUX DAILY each day on our Facebook page. (You Twitter followers will find it in your stream as well!)

  Our goal is for each week’s Dux Daily postings to center around a theme that we’ll expand on in one of our blog posts or Quick Quack ezines as well. We’ll share specific tips you can use as you plan your marketing efforts, whether through design projects, website development, screen printed wearables or promotional products.  We’ll also include links to valuable research that will help you know your audience and focus your marketing energies.

  We’re still brainstorming ideas for weekly topics, but here are a few of the Dux Daily themes you may see in the coming weeks:

  Writing effective press releases

  Choosing tee shirt ink colors

  Restaurant menu design

  Starting a safety program

  Writing content for websites

  Newspaper design tips

  Budget-conscious screen printing

  Using fonts wisely

  Benefits of blogging

  Getting started in social media

  Who’s on the internet

  Who’s on social media

  Effective logos

  Creating a logo standards package

  We’d love to hear your ideas! What types of Dux Daily tips would you like to see? Send us your comments! Please.

• good ideas

  An A+ Direct Mail Marketing Idea

  08.10.09 | This post was written by: Haley Montgomery | Permalink | Comment?

  A postcard that adds up to promotional success!

  When you’re marketing to a busy group of folks like teachers, school administrators or even parents in a school system, a direct mail promotion can be a great option. To make your direct mail piece stand out from the pile of other paperwork on their desks or in their mailboxes, however, try a custom postcard and give-away all rolled into one.

  We suggested this approach to a textbook reseller client last year, and recommended a custom-printed postcard that included a full color business card magnet. This type of direct mail promotion gives you the opportunity to present your message in a fully customized way. Plus, it gives your target audience something to keep that they will use again and again, creating repeated top-of-mind exposure! The production for the piece we chose included full color printing on both sides with a sealed down full color detachable magnet. Mailing was executed from a customer Excel database file. No headaches and great impact! A+

  This postcard adds up to promotional success for back-to-school promotions!

  When you’re marketing to a busy group of folks like teachers, school administrators or even parents in a school system, a direct mail promotion can be a great option. Just check out some of the statistics on the effectiveness of traditional printed pieces. To make your direct mail piece stand out from the pile of other paperwork on their desks or in their mailboxes, however, try a custom postcard and give-away all rolled into one.

  

  We suggested this approach to a textbook reseller client last year, and recommended a custom-printed postcard that included a full color business card magnet. This type of direct mail promotion gives you the opportunity to present your message in a fully customized way. Plus, it gives your target audience something to keep that they will use again and again, creating repeated top-of-mind exposure! The production for the piece we chose included full color printing on both sides with a sealed down full color detachable magnet. Mailing was executed from a customer Excel database file. No headaches and great impact! A+