Print vs. Digital: Is Christmas the last frontier?
We’ve reached that time of year again, and it feels like 2018 has flown by. I hope that for everyone reading this post, it’s been a successful one!
It’s a time of year when the Christmas wishes come thick and fast, and it makes me look at how we communicate, business to business, around Christmas. More specifically: Digital or Print?
Print in a digital world
As anyone who has read my posts in the past few years would understand, I’m a huge fan of digitisation and all the benefits that it brings. We see it time and time again with our clients, and even internally at Inland Digital, where digital processes bring huge efficiencies in the way we can transform business.
But when it comes to Christmas…for some reason, I still love a printed Christmas card!
We still send out handwritten cards every year. It’s something that we’ve stuck with, even though most other areas of our business have joined the digital era. In fact, I still like receiving a printed or handwritten card too.
Maybe it’s the ‘novelty factor’, given it’s so rare to receive something in the mail, that makes it feel different. There are plenty of reasons why old-fashioned mail still has a place, and maybe Christmas is one of those times.
Is a card even necessary?
In saying all that, I understand the huge benefits of a digital card, not least of which is the dramatically lower environmental impact. I still appreciate the sentiment and would honestly receive more digital cards now than ever before.
There are also companies out there that shun the card altogether. In talking to a partner of ours recently, he explained to me that a firm he works with has ditched both physical and digital cards at Christmas, and instead makes a donation to a charity they support, emailing those details to their clients. I think this is an incredibly good way of spreading the Christmas message and at the same time helping those less fortunate at a time of year when people often need it the most.
So, given it’s the festive time of year and a period to reflect on family, holidays, and the year that was, I thought I would put it out there for you all to comment: What do you prefer, printed or digital Christmas cards?