Did you know that the world's very first Christmas card was sent by the director of an art museum? Henry Cole, the Founding Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum
sent the first Christmas card in 1843
This post covers two topics
- the Christmas e-card sent as part of your marketing communications plan for your business as an artist
- the Christmas e-card you might need to send to friends and family - because you've not got round to posting them all in time!
The Christmas e-card - for your art business
Did you create a Christmas e-card for your art business this year?
This year Corporate Christmas e-cards seem to have hit the big time - I've been absolutely inundated with them in the past few days.
There are absolutely masses of ecard companies targeting businesses and their prices are not cheap. The major thing to be concerned about with ecards is
whether any company you use is safe - or whether it might create problems for the people you are sending it to.
You also have to decide whether you want:
- static or animated cards
- facility to customise the message
- mobile compatibility
- use of your business logo
- a link to your website or social media site embedded in the image
- to test and track your business ecards (eg do they actually get opened?)
The safest and cheapest way to send a business ecard is to:
- create your own STATIC image (do people have the time for animation?)
- create an email to send to all those you wish to send an ecard to as an artist
- include the image embedded in the email. That way nobody needs to open a link.
- send via your normal email distribution list - that way nobody receives a strange link or gets an email from an address they don't recognise. Plus it includes all the normal required recognition stuff at the bottom of the email for people to check out - and then feel more comfortable.
Museums and Galleries - Christmas e-cards
I've written about
Christmas e-cards by art museums in previous years - usually round about the point where it starts to be too late to post an ordinary card and ensure it gets there on time!
Here's my round up for 2015. I'm always amazed more museums and art galleries don't do this as it must generate a lot of extra traffic for the website!
Don't forget - when it comes to e-cards it really does not matter where you live because
anybody can send them to anybody living anywhere in the world!
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| The Geffrye Christmas e-card selection |
Below the museums are listed alphabetically by country. Those which provide a good selection have their names in bold.
UK
The Geffrey Museum of the Home in Shoreditch continues - as it does every year - to provide a nice (and different) range of
Christmas ecards of the British Home at Christmas in the past and traditional Christmas cards from the past.
This is the best collection I know online
Two collections are available and each has a wide selection to choose from as well as a range of styles.
- Fine Art Christmas cards - features paintings and sculpture from the Walker Art Gallery, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley House, plus works exhibited in John Moores Painting Prize exhibitions
- Vintage Christmas cards - includes Christmas cards from two different collections:
The ecard allows you to add your own message and to send the same card to up to 10 people if you don't want to personalise by name. Once sent the next screen gives you the option to send another ecard. The email arrives as a "you have been sent an ecard" and inviting you to click a link - and they, of course, manage to insert a nice display advert for finding out their activities at Christmas! When clicked you get a nice large image plus the message underneath.
