Get On the Fridge This Holiday Season

Around this time every year, your mail becomes a sanctuary for holiday greetings. You learn how your cousins from out of state are doing. Perhaps a friend from college sends a photo with her beautiful yellow lab every year. Maybe your family sends one of these cards out too. Many of these mementos end up on the fridge. Wouldn't it be nice if your club was on that fridge too? Through November, our friends at Staples are offering a cost-effective solution to adding a personal touch to your club's holiday greetings. When sending greeting cards, CBS News offers five rules to keep in mind.

1. Look at holiday cards as an investment.

End-of-year budgets can sometimes be tight, but when your club views sending holiday greetings as an investment, the results can become rewarding. Etiquette expert and The Protocol School of Texas owner, Diane Gottsman, solidifies this sentiment, "People want to do business with people that value them and make them feel important during the holidays and throughout the year."

2. Use snail mail if possible.

If your club can afford to send these greeting cards in the mail, do so. Jacqueline Whitmore, author of the book, "Poised for Success: Mastering the Four Qualities That Distinguish Outstanding Individuals," concludes that sending paper cards "leave a lasting impression and let others know you're thinking of them."

3. Apply a personal touch.

"A pre-printed card that is not signed by the sender is so impersonal," says Whitmore. Thank the receiver for something specific. These could include a member's continued effort to make your club a special place, their participation in a specific successful tournament, or perhaps something as simple as taking their family to Sunday brunch. These thank-yous can remind members why they joined your club in the first place.

4. Avoid offending the recipient.

Thomas Farley, manners and etiquette expert who runs the website "What Matters Most" urges businesses to "Opt for a secular design as opposed to a religious one. Avoid anything with humor that you believe has the potential to be misconstrued. And please, nothing cheesy."

5. Send them sooner, rather than later

Farley also believes these cards should be sent by the second week of December. This ensures delivery before the holiday, and perhaps before some of your members leave for vacation. Finally, resist placing any marketing pieces, business cards, or other pieces into the holiday greeting. Gottsman believes this can help your business miss the mark on your intentions, "It sends the message that the holiday card is just another form of marketing instead of a friendly holiday gesture." Take the opportunity this season to get on the fridge, and genuinely show your membership how appreciative you are of their patronage.

For more information on how VGM Club and Staples can help spread your season's greetings this holiday, contact your VGM Club rep.