Blog
Notes on cards, and what to write in them
Forty-odd years of watching what works. Practical writing help, ideas for what to send and when, and the occasional argument for paper over email.
Be the Name on the Refrigerator When the Furnace Quits
Here is the arithmetic every HVAC, plumbing and roofing company lives inside, whether anybody in the office has written it down or not. The big job comes around rarely. The homeowner…
The Next Car Sale Is Won in the Service Drive
Your best salesperson closes the deal, shakes the hand and hands over the keys. Then the relationship moves to a different building, and in a lot of stores, nobody follows it there…
The Families You Served This Year Face Their First Holidays Without Someone
Every family you served this year is about to spend its first holiday season without someone. Most of them will not hear from you again unless they need you again. That is a long…
Holiday Cards to Patients: What HIPAA Says, and What It Does Not
I publish greeting cards. I am not a lawyer and not a privacy officer. What follows is the rule text with the citation attached, so you can take it to whoever handles HIPAA for your…
A Christmas Card Comes Down in January. A Calendar Hangs All Year.
A holiday card has a short working life. It goes up in December, does its job for a few weeks, and comes down in the first week of January with the rest of the decorations. A calendar…
Thank Your Donors Before GivingTuesday, Not With the Appeal
Your donors hear from you when you need something. That is the nature of the work, and nobody holds it against you. But it means the one piece of mail from you all year that does not…
Forty Years in the Card Trade: What Changed on the Production Floor, and What Didn't
The job was 20,000 cards, and it went out of here clean. The customer sent it on to their own mail house for sealing and mailing — not ours. Somebody there put too much water on…
The Christmas Card Deadline: Working Backwards From Christmas Day
Christmas falls on a Friday this year. Most business cards that miss it do not miss it by much. They miss it the same way Thanksgiving cards do: somebody counted back from the 25th to…
Your Clients Shop at Renewal. Be the Name They Remember.
Every year your book goes up for a vote. Most of the voters have not heard from you since the last one. That is not a figure of speech. The 2026 numbers on how often insurance…
Too Late for Thanksgiving? What Still Ships — and the December Pivot
Short answer, if you are reading this the day it goes up: no, you are not too late. You have about two weeks of comfortable runway left. Here is the arithmetic, and the date it stops…
Ordering 1,000 Holiday Cards or More: What Changes at Volume
Three things change when an order crosses 1,000 cards. The price per card keeps stepping down. Shipping barely moves. And at 1,000 and up, we will design a card that is yours alone…
Your Logo on a Holiday Card: What File to Send, and Why It's Two Setups
Two setups, $30 each: one for the card, one for the envelope. We keep the file, so next year costs nothing. Send a 300 dpi CMYK file at the size it will print, or larger. That is the…
How to Sign a Business Holiday Card: One Name, the Team, or Everybody
The rule first: the person the client knows signs the card. Not the managing partner because they are the managing partner. Not the whole office because it feels generous. The name the…
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings on a Business Card?
Short answer: for a client list you do not know well, "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays." For a list you know, "Merry Christmas" to the people who celebrate it. And if the…
Should We Address and Mail Your Holiday Cards? Split the List First
Most people ask this as one question: do I hand off the mailing or not? It is really two questions, and the right answer is usually yes for part of the list and no for the rest. Here…
What to Write in a Business Thanksgiving Card
Write one specific sentence about them, thank them for something you can name, and stop. Sign it by hand. Do not ask for anything. That is the whole answer, and if you leave now with…
Thanksgiving Cards and the Regulated Professions: It's the Ask, Not the Card
I publish greeting cards. I am not a lawyer and not a compliance officer. What follows is the rule text with the citation attached, so you can take it to someone who is. I am writing…
How Many Holiday Cards Should You Order?
Order what you need and not one card more. It sounds like discipline. On this particular purchase it is the most reliable way I know to overspend. I am not going to argue that from…
The Thanksgiving Card Deadline: Working Backwards From November 26
Thanksgiving 2026 falls on Thursday, November 26. Most people who miss it do not miss it by much, and they do not miss it because they forgot. They miss it because they worked…
What It Actually Costs to Send 250 Business Holiday Cards in 2026
Three numbers, up front. 250 business holiday cards, ordered this week: Plain, mailed by you — $675.73 , or $2.70 a card The usual upgrades, still mailed by you — $1,165.82…
What Separates a Card Publisher From a Printer
"Can't I just have my printer run these?" I get asked that most years, usually by somebody who already has a printer they like and sees no reason to add a vendor. It is a fair question…
Thanksgiving Instead of Christmas: Who It Works For and Who It Doesn't
In December, your card lands in a stack of forty. I have watched this from the printing side for a long time, and the arithmetic never changes: everybody sends in December, which means…
Half of B2B Buyers Would Switch Over One Unanswered Relationship
McKinsey’s B2B Pulse 2024 surveyed roughly 4,000 decision makers across 34 sectors and 13 countries. One finding should stop any consultant or firm owner in their tracks: 51%…
Two-Thirds of Law Firms Don’t Answer an Email. Here’s What That Costs.
In the summer of 2024, Clio ran a secret-shopper study on 500 law firms with the market research agency Lux. Real inquiries, sent to real firms, and then somebody counted what…
The Only Client-Retention Number the AICPA Actually Publishes
The draft of this article opened with a statistic: the AICPA estimates it costs 11 times more to bring in a new client than to keep one. It had a second AICPA figure too — 44% of…
Ninety-One Percent Would Use You Again. Eighteen Percent Did.
There is one pair of numbers in the National Association of Realtors’ annual survey that explains more about a real estate career than anything else I have read. Both halves come…
What It Costs an Advisor to Lose a Client — and Why They Actually Leave
Your business is unusual, and in a good way. A client can stay with you for twenty years. The relationship compounds, the assets compound, and the referrals compound on top of both…
Why Custom Greeting Cards Still Matter for Businesses
Everybody went digital at once. Email, ads, social, notifications — all of it competing for the same few inches of attention. And while that was happening, something quieter went…
How to Choose the Right Card for Any Occasion
The right card can turn a small moment into something memorable. A birthday, holiday, thank-you note, or business greeting all feel more thoughtful when the card fits the message. If…
Thoughtful Message Ideas That Don’t Feel Awkward
Missing a birthday can make you feel careless, even when you’re not. The good news is that belated birthday cards can still land well if your message sounds human, not panicked…
How Greeting Cards Keep Long-Distance Love Strong
Long-distance relationships come with their own set of challenges — loneliness, missed milestones, and the absence of physical touch. But even miles apart, small gestures mean…
How to Start a Monthly Snail Mail Challenge
Snail mail is making a real comeback, and it’s not just about nostalgia. In a world packed with fast, forgettable messages, a handwritten letter feels rare and special. It stands…
Creative Ways to Use Greeting Cards as Journaling Prompts
Journal prompt cards can be a powerful way to breathe new life into old greeting cards. If you’ve ever tucked an old card into a drawer, you already know their magic. Greeting…
Not sure where to start?
Tell us who you're sending to and roughly how many. We've been doing this since 2003 — we'll point you at the three or four designs that actually fit, and you can take it from there.