How to Be Memorable to Clients and Colleagues

In 2011, I wrote about how well it works for me to send "Happy New Year" greeting cards each year to my clients. The cards remind my clients that they've enjoyed working with me in the past and often make them think about sending more assignments my way.

It's all the better if the cards that you send to your clients and colleagues are memorable. I recently received a great New Year's postcard from Paula Gordon, a translator and editor who is a colleague of mine from the Editorial Freelancers Association and who subscribes to some of the same profession-related e-mail lists that I do. It's a gorgeous collage created by Paula's sister Zelda Leah Gatuskin, and it carries the caption "Wishing You Continued Strength and Wisdom." Zelda created the collage in 1994 for her book Ancestral Notes.

I like the postcard so much for several reasons:

• It's a lot more fun than the bland cards that office-supply stores sell to business owners.

• It doesn't focus on any religious holiday themes and so won't be offensive to anyone.

• Who wouldn't want continued strength and wisdom?

Paula explained to me how she produced the postcard:

I used an already published collage, and worked with Zelda to turn it into a postcard with a captioned image. She prepared the file for printing and consulted on the text and layout of the reverse side. (I wanted less space so I wouldn't feel like I had to write a lot—that's my obstacle to sending cards—but she convinced me to leave a little more room.) I also like that I had it printed locally by an independent print shop. All in all, it was a fun and satisfying project.

The card is memorable enough that I have propped it up on my desk, beside my computer monitor, to cheer me up on those occasional days when I need extra strength and wisdom. I told Paula that, and she replied:

I was shooting for something that people would be happy to pin on their bulletin boards and not toss away at the end of the season. I find the image inspiring, and apt for my circle of editor, translator, and writer friends and colleagues.

If we solopreneurs follow Paula's example in choosing and/or creating greeting cards and postcards, our clients will remember us when they need our services and our colleagues will think of us when they need to refer clients to fellow professionals.

See this page, this page, this page, and this page for more of Zelda's fascinating collages, along with the stories they illustrate.

marketing clients colleagues referrals greeting cards freelancing copyeditor copyediting editor editing publishing EditorMom