“I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. Christmas? Bah, Humbug!”

At present journalists, politicians and “those in the know” keep telling us in the newspapers, on TV and on the radio that recession looms and times are hard; so why don’t we all just pack it in and adopt the mantra of Ebenezer Scrooge? No doubt some will, reasoning that sending a company card is just a waste of money – and do you know what? I couldn’t agree more!

It’s my opinion that sending a plain, boring four-page A5 card to your customer achieves little in the way of spreading goodwill or saying anything positive about your company. Even if you push the boat out and spend a small fortune on a really posh card with a custom greeting inside, the likelihood is that it will just get hung on the office wall with all of the others. No, I agree – don’t waste your money on sending an ordinary card.

However, that’s not to say that you should waste the opportunity that sending a Christmas greeting can offer. What you should send is a real whiz-bang, super dooper effort that wipes the floor with all the other boring cards that your competitors have sent and spread the message that you really mean business no matter what the economic climate might bring. Of course, you will think that I’m only saying this because we can offer shed loads of alternatives and we want you to buy your Christmas greetings product from us. And you would be right - but it would mean that you can kill an extra bird with the one stone as you will be spreading a little happiness our way, as well!

So what am I going to suggest? Well, there are two cards in particular, both with interactive movement and both make an excellent choice for your company’s Christmas greetings as your customer will keep playing with the card rather than hanging it up with the rest of the “Seasons Greetings” brigade! The Flicker Card offers a really rapid movement which, with the right graphics, can create moving pictures. The Push’n’Pull features a really neat and sophisticated movement based on an internal conveyor belt!

And if you just want something cheap and cheerful, but you don’t want it hung over a ribbon on the wall then you could do worse than consider a custom shaped mini showcard. This has a stand-up strut at the back which means that it can’t straddle the ribbon. It won’t make as much of an impression on your customer but it will keep us happy!

So, don’t think like the original Scrooge – think about the reformed character who said, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” Hmmm. It’s a shame that we don’t sell sick bags as well.