Gone are the days when business is just about making products and placing them on the shelf. Nor is it as simple as giving a few customers the best service and wait for word-of-mouth to spread.

With the growing competition for better services and products, the only way small businesses can compete is in highlighting their selling point: “one-on-one personalized service” or products that specifically answers to very particular concerns.

Communicate Through Greeting Cards

Sending out greeting cards is a good way to cultivate a relationship with your client. It not only allows you to get the word out about your products, but it readily helps you send them out to the right people. Here are some of the reasons why greeting cards are the effective tool to do so:

1. Direct-mail-advertising has higher readability than other advertising strategy. When a sealed envelope falls into your clients' hand, it is more probable that people will open to see from whom the letter is from and what it is all about.

2. When you send a greeting card, it introduces or re-introduces your business. It tells them who you are and what you are about. Properly executed, the greeting card is your foot in the door.

3. Apart from the short greeting, you can direct your clients to your website, or let them know where they can request for further information. The beauty of this approach is that it relieves the greeting card from having to sell hard. It's easier to convince the customer to click on the internet and ask for information.

4. Getting them to view your website is already halfway to selling. This is where you can market to them. The website is a better medium because it has more room to deliver your sales pitch, and is a few clicks away from sending an order form.

5. Receiving a greeting card will make your client feel like the VIP they are. It tells them that their business is important to you, and that you will make tremendous effort to maintain continued patronage – which can only happen if they get full customer satisfaction.

When you decide to send greeting cards, remember to have them specially custom made for your company. What you want is to stand out and be remembered.

• Design a simple greeting card that will reflect your business identity.

• Create a color scheme that uses the colors of your logo as the primary color or colors.

• Write a short and simple copy that leaves out exaggerated language customers will find dubious. Try to sound as sincere and conversational as possible.

• Talk to them about the benefits your company is offering. They are only interested in “what's in it” for them.

• Include your contact information, your store information. Getting them excited about your business is the first step, getting them to respond to you is the next. Lead them to make the purchase.

Businesses might be profit driven, but all businesses must provide service to achieve profit. In this way, all businesses are service oriented. Sending a greeting card is creating goodwill. It lets your client know you are there ready to help when they need you. And among other things, a greeting card printing company is one of the partners you need.