Category Archives: Marketing

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The Benefits of Sending Personalised Christmas Cards in 2021

The tradition of sending Christmas cards to friends, family, employees, co-workers and customers is a long-established one. Christmas cards help spread joy and cheer during the season of goodwill; they’re perfect for sending well wishes to those you care about, especially after a tough year.

But did you know that you don’t have to shop for generic Christmas cards at a busy card shop or supermarket? You can order Christmas cards online, and have them delivered straight to your door – and not only that, but they’re fully customisable.
You can edit the text inside, or upload your own image (such as your company logo, or a family photo) to send a completely bespoke greeting to anyone you want to wish well this year. Write a funny Christmas joke, a classic greeting, or a completely personalised message to your recipients – the choice is up to you.

In this guide, we’ll explain how you can personalise your own Christmas cards, and how this simple gesture could benefit your small business. We’ll also describe the benefits of sharing bespoke cards with your friends and family for personal use.

Why Should I Send Personalised Christmas Cards This Year?

Now that you know what personalised Christmas cards are and the various ways you can customise them, why should you consider ordering them? Here are four great ways in which sending out corporate Christmas cards can really boost your business.
And if you don’t have a business, but are simply wanting to send custom Christmas cards to friends and family, skip ahead – we’ll explain why personalised cards are great for personal use, too, and where you can get them from.

1. Spread Brand Awareness and Recognition

A key marketing strategy that all businesses need to take seriously is building up brand recognition. By sending out Christmas cards to your clients and customers, you’re not aiming to get them to buy from you (immediately, at least). Rather, you’re simply keeping your company fresh in their minds. That way, you’ll pop into their head when they’re in need of whatever you sell.

This is especially important at the moment, when many businesses have been closed for a long time. You need to remind your past consumers that you exist, and you’re open!
Sending out Christmas cards brandishing your company’s logo is also a great way to spread the word to potential new customers. If you’re lucky, your recipient will display their card on their mantle or windowsill, and anyone who visits their home will see it.

2. Encourage Customer Loyalty

Marketing studies have shown time and time again that consumers are more likely to buy products or services from a company that has given them a gift or incentive. Whether that’s a promotional product like a mug, or something as simple as a Christmas card, it will cause them to think favourably about your company. Though it might not prompt them to shop with you straight away, they’ll be more likely to choose you over a competitor in the future.
Giving a gift or card to a client (or potential client in your target market) will create a ‘psychological debt’ – whether they realise it or not, they’ll feel on some level as though they owe you their business. Upload your company’s logo to the card and, if possible, sign it by hand – your recipients will appreciate the personal touch.

3. Show Clients that You Care

Christmas is the perfect time to show your clients and customers that you care about them and value them, and this year it’s more important than ever. The world has been through a terrific upheaval lately, and everyone has been affected by it in one way or another – whether it’s their health, work, mental wellbeing or social life (or any combination thereof).
Custom Christmas cards will demonstrate to your clients that you care enough about them to spend time, money and effort on them. When they’re looking for the services or products that you provide, they’ll remember that, and come to you.

4. Reveal the Human Side of Your Business

Consumers tend to think of companies, no matter how small or large, as just a name and logo. Simply put, they forget that there are real humans running the business. Sending out personalised Christmas cards can remind people that you’re not a company – you’re a person running a company. It’ll make your target audience more likely to support you if they see you as a human rather than a faceless entity.

The best way to get this message across is to handwrite a personal message to each of your clients. By all means, personalise the card with your business’s logo, but handwrite the greeting if you can. Try to include a private joke or mention something personal about each recipient, so they know you see them as a person, too (not just a name on a list).

Can You Get Custom Christmas Cards for Personal Use?

Personalised Christmas cards aren’t just for corporate use. If you’re looking for a special way to send festive greetings to your friends and family this year, customised Christmas cards are the perfect choice. There’s no better way of saying “Merry Christmas” in 2021.
Sending unique, custom cards to your loved ones is a brilliant way to add a personal touch to this year’s festivities – especially as we’ve all had a tough time recently. You can use personalised Christmas greetings cards to stay connected to the people that matter most to you, let them know you’re thinking of them and can’t wait to see them again soon. You’ll also help spread Christmas spirit and keep festive tradition alive!

Why not choose a photo upload Christmas card, such as this Christmas Frame design, to send a snapshot of your family on the front of your cards this year? If you’re the artistic type, you could even create your own piece of artwork and upload it to the front of your design.
Choose from a variety of greetings, or write your own personalised message on the inside of the card for a truly personal touch. You can also customise the font and colour to your liking.

Where Can I Buy Personalised Christmas Cards In the UK?

Whether you’re looking for customisable Christmas cards for personal use, or you need corporate Christmas cards to send to your business’s clients and employees, look no further than 123Print. We offer a fantastic range of designs for you to choose from and personalise according to your own tastes.

Select from hundreds of different Christmas cards, including funny Christmas cards, photographic designs, traditional and contemporary art. You’re sure to find a design that perfectly suits your needs. The process of customising your cards couldn’t be simpler with our easy editor, and we’ll show you a full preview of your design to approve before we print it.

At 123Print, we print our Christmas cards on the highest quality 330 gsm cardstock, and offer 2 day shipping with all orders. And with our 100% satisfaction guarantee, if you’re not completely happy with the quality of your Christmas cards, you can send them back to us for a full refund or exchange. Why wait? Visit 123Print today and start personalising!

Jon Snow What Do You Know?

Well, Game of Thrones fever has well and truly set in, with one question on everyone’s lips – is Jon Snow dead? Officially he is “as dead as dead” or “dead, dead, dead!”. One thing we do know however is that Jon Snow knows nothing – but to what extent does his lack of knowledge stretch? One thing he does know – is how to get good volume into those dark Stark locks of his. We found some examples that you might find interesting.

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The Ultimate Guide to Using Instagram as a Business: Advanced Edition

On the 9th April 2012, the then 13 person startup Instagram was sold to Facebook for a whopping 1 billion dollars (well, $300 million in cash, the rest in Facebook shares!). Since then the world’s most popular photo sharing app has gone from strength to strength, with over 100 million people actively using Instagram in the present day.

New to Instagram? Head over to our Ultimate Guide to Using Instagram as a Business: Beginner’s Edition for some tips for new Insta users!

Instagram Statistics

Instagram is used all over the world for both personal and business use. Here are the best times to post to Instagram if you want to get the maximum amount of engagement for your photograph:

Instagram when to post

Apps to help you get the most out of Instagram

Although Instagram is a fantastic app to use just on its own, there are a variety of different apps that you can use to help you to get the most out of your Instagram experience. Whether you want to edit your photos in a different way, or simply want to jazz up your Insta Feed, there is an app (or several) that can help!

Instapad

If you are looking for a relatively simple extension for your Instagram app then Instapad is a brilliant place to start.

Instapad

Not only does it provide you with larger versions of your images but it also gives you the rather unique option to send your photos to other people in the form of a postcard.; a great way to keep in contact with your customers and provide that personal touch that so many brands lack these days.

Pic Joiner

In the world of Instagram, there are few things more annoying than a brand that posts more than a couple of photos at once, especially if they are of similar things such as product colour variations. This is where Pic Joiner really comes into its own!

Pic Jointer

It is very simple to use and gives you a range of different pic-joining options, so you can even pull off joining an odd number of photographs without having the dreaded gap! A must have for those who just can’t get enough of posting new products on Instagram.

Padgram

If you are looking for a slightly more organised way of browsing Instagram then Padgram is just the app for you!

Padgram

This app gives you the option to browse photographs by different categories as well as allowing you to keep up with photographs that you have ‘liked’. Padgram is especially useful for brands looking for some Insta inspiration!

Afterlight

Afterlight is a fantastic little photo editing app that allows you to give your photos a little bit more of an edge than the basic Instagram filters.

Afterlight

It’s a great app if you are quite new to editing photographs and allows you to have a play around with things like the saturation, exposure and contrast of your photograph, to name a few!

Lensflare

This handy photo editing app focuses mainly on light manipulation so you can make you images look even more professional.

Lensflare

You can also add multiple effects to your photograph along with various light filters, meaning that you can really tweak your image until it is just right!

Dealing with negative comments on Instagram

As a brand on Instagram, or any social media platform actually, you will more than likely at some point come across a customer who is less than happy with either the photograph you have posted or a product or service that you have provided to them. How you respond and deal with the situation is paramount to how your brand is viewed, not only by the customer in question, but by other Instagram users that can see the comments being made. Here are three things that you should not do:

Ignore them: Ignoring a negative comment, regardless of its accuracy, is one of the worst things that you can do in this type of situation. Ignoring the post not only lets the angry customer think that you simply don’t care about their issue, but also lets other potential customers draw their own conclusions about the situation without the added knowledge that you have rectified the problem. Here is an example of one well known car brand ignoring a host of negative comments about their recent photo uploads:

Audi

Delete them: The only thing worse that ignoring the negative comment is to delete it. Yes, doing this might provide a quick and pain-free relief from the negativity impacting your Instagram page. However, you are running two pretty serious risks: 1) the author of the negative post could see that you have deleted it which will probably only serve to make them more determined to spread the word about their negative experience with your brand and 2) other Instagram users could have already seen the post, which would allow them to draw their own conclusions about the kind of company that treats its customers with an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality. A popular cosmetics company had an issue with its website security. However, instead of responding to the Instagram complaints that followed, they simply proceeded to blame other companies and then delete the comments. Customers soon took to discussion boards to complain. This was one of the responses on popular website Reddit.

Complaint

Retaliate in the same fashion: Never under any circumstances, even if the customer’s comment is uncalled for and inaccurate, retaliate in an angry manner. Posting a response that lets them have it with both barrels will simply make you look unprofessional and downright unhinged, as well as serving to alienate existing and potential customers. Just don’t do it.

So… that’s the bad stuff out of the way, but what should you actually do if you come across a negative Instagram comment (Or a bunch of them)? Well, the answer to this actually depends entirely on the nature of the comment.

If the customer is angry due to being offended by the photograph that you have posted for whatever reason, my advice to you would be to remove it as soon as possible. If it offends one person, chances are it will/already has offended many more.

If the customer is complaining about a product or service that you have (or perhaps haven’t) provided to them, then you need to respond promptly with an apology and a solution that will benefit the customer in this particular situation. Don’t just respond with a message that sounds automated. For example, if the customer posts a comment that details their annoyance with your main website being slow, a discount code probably won’t really help them!

The 7 deadly sins of Instagram

Want a quick rundown on what not to do if you’re running an Instagram account for your brand? Here are the 7 deadly sins of Instagram:

7 deadly sins of instagram

Do you have any more tips for using Instagram as a business? Spread the word in the comments section!

 

 

123Print Releases Two Free Fonts

Here at 123Print UK, we like to give back to our loyal customers and so we have released two fonts in to the public domain. Use these fonts however you’d like but if they are used for any commercial purpose please credit http://www.123print.co.uk

Debbie

 

Click here to download the ‘Debbie’ font

 

Marie

 

Click here to download the ‘Marie’ font