Are you planning on sending holiday greetings to your clients and colleagues? Here are some thoughts to keep in mind:

Plan ahead. “Ahead” as in right now.

It takes time to prepare and send a holiday greeting, and the deadlines are drawing nigh. You’ve got to:

• Make a list and check it twice (because you might want to differentiate who-gets-what).
• Write a suitable message (or more than one message).
• Choose stationary if your plan to use postal mail.
• Choose a suitable email template if you plan to email.
• Allow time to format your message, including sending yourself a  test message to make sure it looks spruce.

Pick a “send” date

The final fortnight of December is the most popular time to send greetings. It’s also the time when Inboxes and Mailboxes are stuffed with such greetings. If you want  to stand out from that crowd, send a greeting for Thanksgiving (”grateful for …”) or wait until January 1 (”This year ….”).

Or march to a very different beat: Send your annual greeting on 4th of July, or your birthday.

Be brief

What’s your point to sending out this greeting? Maybe you want to say Thanks, maybe you want to wish people well, maybe you email every month to bring your business name to people’s attention, so an email with pine-tree-in-snow artwork is a good way to do so in December. All valid reasons.  Tailor your message to your reason. A few sentences is all that’s needed. Two short paragraphs, tops.

Being clear and to the point, which can be done with warmth and good cheer, is especially important if you are mailing in December, when we all receive many similar cards and emails. Your reader is going to take a very few seconds to look at your greeting. Start it strong. Don’t linger.

You’re sending a business communication, not a gossipy holiday letter. A touch of the personal is nice, but don’t go overboard. And don’t brag about yourself. That’s not a holiday message.

Be sincere

If you believe in something, go ahead and believe!

Yes, yes, I know it is ever so correct to call this time of year “The Holidays” lest by drawing attention to a particular holiday we imply a slight to others. But don’t be bullied into avoiding a sincere “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah,” if that’s what you mean. You know that your clients might not subscribe to your beliefs, and you know that flat-out proselytizing in unwise in business. But that’s not sufficient reason to send a “holiday greeting” of such blandness that the message is stripped of any meaning, warmth or conviction. Your clients and associates are surely not so small minded as to suspect, or reject, a heartfelt “God bless you,” if it is, indeed, heartfelt.