Our Blog: where do you stand?

It's October 1, do you know where your holiday card is?

By: Tammy Stankey | 10/01/2008

It's that time of year again, and no, I don't mean "Black Friday" (a reference to the major stock market crashes that tend to occur in October), but something less sinister - time to start work on the holiday greeting card. At Standing, we rotate this chore honor, and this year the opportunity falls to me. While some companies may suggest in economic times such as these a holiday card is an expendible expense, at Standing we disagree. Here's why.

Holiday well-wishes (online, in person, by mail) provide an opportunity to thank those that make your paycheck possible. Whether its clients, your leasing agent, prospects or your local community's mover and shakers, these people are important to you. Take time to get beyond the business speak and tell them you appreciate them.

Holiday wishes are an opportunity to reinforce your brand and identity. Lest you find this a direct contradiction with the above, consider this: Standing will re-launch its Web site in the coming weeks and in doing so we intend to give our friends, clients and colleagues a chance to get to know more about us. (I won't spoil the fun here.) As a follow up to our re-launch, we'll use our holiday card as an opportunity to reinforce who we are and as an opportunity to acknowledge what matters most to our clients and to our organization.

Finally, in times of uncertainty holiday cards are a way to communicate that despite any turmoil that can be brought on by elections, the stock market or war, relationships continue - and often thrive.

Don't leave those who are important to your organization wondering how you're doing by missing an opportunity to thank them for their past business, their present friendship and the promise of future opportunities.

Posted in Culture, Public Relations