Yep, Christmas is just around the corner.  I don't know about you but it seems a bit weird thinking about Christmas or doing much present shopping before 1^st December at least!

However, some things take a bit more planning (and no, I don't just mean the staff party….you are having a staff party aren't you?).

Right now, there is someone in your firm fighting with the "old enemy" (no, not the Scots) the Christmas card list.  I know what you're thinking, now we're living in the digital age surely that's easier, no more deciding who signs which cards, getting them printed in time, making sure there are enough stamps etc.  Surely it's just upload a list of email addresses and press send.

Well, that's partly true, but you still have to pick out the design of an e-card.  You still have to "get" the list of email addresses, and HOW complicated can that be.  Well in speaking with my clients recently, for some of them it's just as complicated as it's always been.  If you are lucky you have an Excel file,  if not then it's clients in your PMS, referrers in Excel and everyone else in Outlook address books.  We had a serious discussion with one firm back in the autumn about bringing in SugarCRM just to manage their Christmas card list….thank god it never happened.

However you do build your list, there are many more things you can do than just send an e-card.  Here are some ideas we are working on with our clients this year :-

• Christmasify your website - snow on your logo, icicles from your logo, Santa hats on staff, seasonal images in your banner.  There are loads of ideas that can be implemented with a bit of design flair.  We usually only do this in the last week before the 25^th and take it down as soon as everyone is back at work.
• Animated cards - becoming more popular even with conservative law firms
• Dancing scrooge - you know the one, where you upload someone's photo and send them a link.  Let's not get carried away, even if you did have the appetite for this, it's VERY expensive to create these kinds of animations.
• Personalised cards - check out what you can do at Moonpig.com
• Santa cartoons - made using Xtranormal, check out a work-in-progress at www.xtranormal.com/watch/12551518/suing-santa-2

Whatever you do, this is the one time of year where you can show the playful side of your firm….you do have one don't you?

For some visual samples of the ideas about, download the PDF linked from the Conscious website.

Yep, Christmas is just around the corner.  I don't know about you but it seems a bit weird thinking about Christmas or doing much present shopping before 1^st December at least!

However, some things take a bit more planning (and no, I don't just mean the staff party….you are having a staff party aren't you?).

Right now, there is someone in your firm fighting with the "old enemy" (no, not the Scots) the Christmas card list.  I know what you're thinking, now we're living in the digital age surely that's easier, no more deciding who signs which cards, getting them printed in time, making sure there are enough stamps etc.  Surely it's just upload a list of email addresses and press send.

Well, that's partly true, but you still have to pick out the design of an e-card.  You still have to "get" the list of email addresses, and HOW complicated can that be.  Well in speaking with my clients recently, for some of them it's just as complicated as it's always been.  If you are lucky you have an Excel file,  if not then it's clients in your PMS, referrers in Excel and everyone else in Outlook address books.  We had a serious discussion with one firm back in the autumn about bringing in SugarCRM just to manage their Christmas card list….thank god it never happened.

However you do build your list, there are many more things you can do than just send an e-card.  Here are some ideas we are working on with our clients this year :-

• Christmasify your website - snow on your logo, icicles from your logo, Santa hats on staff, seasonal images in your banner.  There are loads of ideas that can be implemented with a bit of design flair.  We usually only do this in the last week before the 25^th and take it down as soon as everyone is back at work.
• Animated cards - becoming more popular even with conservative law firms
• Dancing scrooge - you know the one, where you upload someone's photo and send them a link.  Let's not get carried away, even if you did have the appetite for this, it's VERY expensive to create these kinds of animations.
• Personalised cards - check out what you can do at Moonpig.com
• Santa cartoons - made using Xtranormal, check out a work-in-progress at www.xtranormal.com/watch/12551518/suing-santa-2

Whatever you do, this is the one time of year where you can show the playful side of your firm….you do have one don't you?

For some visual samples of the ideas about, download the PDF linked from the Conscious website.