You know it will be making its appearance on your "To Do" list any day now... The approach of the holiday season means it is time to start planning your company's holiday card campaign. This post, "Your Business Holiday Card Campaign Checklist," is the first in a series of blogs designed to help you develop a holiday communications campaign that will dazzle your customers and prospects. The obligatory corporate holiday card mailing is often an afterthought. The whole process is usually pulled together quickly, without any planning, sometimes gathering all available personal and an already-overworked admin in a mad dash to get it stamped, wrapped, sent and received before the actual holiday. Once it is sent, everyone heaves a sigh of relief, and back to work they go. Don't let this annual opportunity slip past you this year. With a little preplanning, you can make your holiday cards work for you. It is your chance to:

- Build loyalty with your existing customers

- Nurture your prospects

- Reinforce your brand.

With that motivation, here is our holiday card campaign checklist to help you get started.

The Groundwork

- What are your goals?

1. Building loyalty?

2. Nurturing leads?

3. Brand building?

4. What is your budget?

5. What is your timeline?

What channels will you use to deliver your holiday message?

- Email?
- Mail?
- Mobile?
- Social Media?

- How will your sales force be involved?

Makin' a List and Checkin' it Twice

- Who will you contact?

1. Existing customers?
2. Prospects?

- Do you have a clean list?

The Business Holiday Card Message

- How will the message align with your brand?

- Who will write the message?

- What images will you use?

- Will the message be personalized?

- Will each recipient receive the same message?

… Or will messages differ based on:

1. Customer spending?
2. Position in the sales funnel?
3. Geographic Location?
4. Demographics?

- Who will the message be from?

1. Your company?
2. Your field or branch office or distributor?
3. An individual?
4. Various individuals depending upon the recipient?

- Whose approvals do you need?

The Gift

- Will you provide a gift?
- Will the recipient be able to choose a gift, if so, how?

1. Scan a QR Code?
2. Visit a Personal URL?

The Payoff!

- How will you measure success?

So, hopefully that holiday card task on your "To Do" list is not quite as dreadful as you once thought. We'll be back with more help in our next post, giving you ideas about how to personalize your campaign. We will continue this series into mid-November and want to make sure we are addressing your needs. What is the biggest challenge you will be facing with your holiday card campaign this year?