I’ve been pondering mail a lot this holiday season, mostly due to visits with relatives who know very peripherally what it is that I do and what exactly a mailhouse is, and I came back to work with a bit more of an inspired view of what some want to dismiss as having long past its heyday.

Take cards for instance – we celebrate Christmas at the Killian household and one of the things I enjoy most about this holiday is receiving cards. Granted, I am of an age where I grew up having a pen pal from Korea I never met and a cousin who lived in Indiana that I exchanged letters back and forth with between our twice-yearly visits, so I have a pretty solid relationship with mail, but I love getting these holiday greetings and cannot imagine them being replaced by electronic media.

I think there are lessons to be learned from those cards that should be applied to mail generally for better effectiveness:

• Send to everyone who might have interest: I’ve been slow on the uptake with this one as I’ve always justified “only families with kids” do this (which I’ve just recently become), but I’ve been missing out on some key segments (in both the sending and receiving arena) by subscribing to this logic. Put yourself in your potential recipient’s shoes and consider whether they would appreciate you reaching out to them. Most often, they would rather get the message than potentially feel snubbed by being excluded.
• Make it interesting: A greeting store card is nice, but a photo montage card is even better! I enjoy seeing how my friends families are evolving and appreciate the “peek” into their world. Consider how you can share at that level with your customers and what they would find interesting to know about you or more importantly, how something about you reflects on (or effects) them.
• Make it personal: Without a doubt, my favorite cards include the “Year in Review” letter. I know they are often fodder for jokes and can certainly be done wrong (though I think it would be interesting for active Facebook or Twitter users to do a “Year In Review” using their status posts/tweets), but a well-written letter leaves you feeling like you’ve just gotten off the phone with your long-lost friend and have re-established that connection. Try to make your communication with your audience establish that connection: well-maintained data and targeted messaging will do a lot to get you there but don’t forget to leave the “real-ness” in your messaging. If the government says corporations are in fact people, then lets make messaging from them more personal.

Mail is still an amazing communication medium – and though we are facing another rate increase this month, it is still quite a value for its potential. As with every other advertising medium, it is evolving and what worked 10 years ago, 5 years ago or even last year, may not be what works today – but that speaks much more to the rate of change due to technology and information. Keep your messages personal, interesting and keep sending – and you will continue to see results!

I have a few more thoughts on holidays + mail that I’ll save for my next post… Happy 2012!