The first party is for some of the most important people in our professional lives – our partners. These are the folks behind the scenes who make us look so darned good. People like our designers, web developers, photographers, videographers, representatives from printing companies and other close friends and colleagues. The talents of these wonderful professionals make it possible for us to do good work and have happy clients.

We hold this celebration after work at the Raleigh Times over delicious bar snacks and beer and wine. The other great thing about our partners is that they’re all good folks with whom we’re happy to lift a glass (or two… or three… or four) with.

Tonight is our smaller company celebration. With spouses in tow, we’ll enjoy a delicious dinner at a local restaurant, then retire to Karen Sinclair’s house for dessert and a dirty Santa gift exchange. And laughing. Lots of laughing. Some years the gift exchange is dirtier than others – we’ll get back to you Friday about how this year’s goes.

Some of us stay here for the holidays. Others travel to hometowns. Our office will be closed Dec. 24th – 26th. We’ll re-open on the 27th to close out 2012.

1. Spread cheer!

Share good wishes for your clients to enjoy the holiday season. Keep it general enough that no matter what your customer’s religious or cultural practices, your message will apply and not accidentally offend.

2. Show your personality.

This is a great opportunity to be creative, light-hearted and fun. But that’s not to say that I’m not advocating dancing elves a la Jib-Jab for every company.

Pretty photos or images are a nice way to convey a personality or feeling. One way we’ve done this is sharing images of how our client companies’ hometowns celebrate and bedeck themselves for the holidays.

For Metrics, located in Greenville, NC, we shared a photo and information about how many White House Christmas trees have come from North Carolina. (This year’s is the twelfth.)

For OsoBio, located in Albuquerque, NM, we included photos of the nearby Sandia Mountains and talked about the winter recreation OsoBio employees enjoy there.

These personal touches make a connection with your readers.

3. Thank your customers and look forward to another good year ahead.

It’s a simple formula, really, for what should be a simple message. I just have one don’t, and will hope that common sense and the do’s above will lead you down the right path.

Don’t make a sales pitch.

Don’t talk about your business. Don’t make it educational or informative. Don’t talk about your products or services. The only time this is ok is if you are offering customers a discount or gift of products or services. Otherwise, just don’t go there.

I do think that it’s okay to give folks a reminder of office closures or special holiday hours you’ll be keeping. Otherwise, this email has one purpose: spread holiday cheer and show your gratitude.

Here’s a recipe for my favorite Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich.

2 slices of artisan bread
2 t. dijon mustard
2 t. cranberry sauce
thinly sliced tart apple or pear
thinly sliced red onion
thinly sliced brie
thinly sliced turkey

Lightly butter outside of bread slices.

Spread mustard on inside of one slice, cranberry sauce on the other. Layer other ingredients as high as you’d like.

Toast in a sandwich press or weighted in a nonstick skillet over a medium-low flame until the bread is toasted and the brie is melted.

Best served with a side of North Carolina mountain.

If you look at the date of this blog post and the previous blog post, you’ll see that somewhere along the way, we lost some of our Sinclairity. So when we caution our clients that a blog is big commitment, we say so while shamefully remembering our neglected blog.

When the going gets tough due to busy schedules, unexpected changes or a lack of focus, a blog is one of the easiest things to let slide. So how do you regain that focus? Here’s what we’ve done.

1. Review where you were.

Read your previous posts and see what you think of them. Use the distance and perspective to think about what you’d like to do differently.

2. Document where you want to be.

The big takeaway from our blog review is that we didn’t always focus on our four core competencies: marketing strategy, creative, digital and PR. We meandered a bit from our strengths and how we execute on them on a weekly basis. So our plan is to take a more introspective approach to future blog posts and share our perspectives on these areas.

Another idea that we’ve helped our clients with is to brainstorm a list of potential topics and put them on paper. These could be evergreen topics that you can pull from any time to quickly write on a topic you know well. These are good supplemental materials to the day-to-day work you’re doing or current events in your outside world – from your local community to your industry.

3. Repurpose!

The time it takes to put together a blog post seems like a better use of time when you’re using that content multiple ways. We will strive to integrate our Pinterest, Twitter, blog and our newly updated website to tell an ongoing story in a few different ways.

Since we last left our blog in 2010, a lot has changed in the social media world. Many of us at the agency are more involved in Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and LinkedIn for ourselves and our clients and have been integrating them in interesting ways. We’ll talk more about that in another post.

4. Don’t go it alone.

We are a team of authors who hold each other responsible for generating new content. That’ll help.

If your blog has a single author, then reach out to your network, audience or colleagues for inspiration. Sometimes blogging can seem like shouting into a black hole, but knowing that you have a support network that is listening to what you have to say can add purpose to your posts. And it’s never a bad idea to keep your audience in mind for anything you’re writing.

5. It happens.

I recently heard from one of my favorite blogger friends who had slowed the pace of posting to his own blog. He shared that he was taking some time to reassess his material. I liked hearing this for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s a great idea to proactively take a step back and review your content and see if it is speaking to your own perspective and adding to the conversation. How are people responding to your posts: which ones draw the most comments, which the least?

Second, it is comforting to know that even a very good blogger who is an author and has a strong, unique perspective struggles. It happens.

So I was happy to accept an invitation to their Grand Opening event last night to see the new store with a good friend and glass of wine in hand.  The store is marvelous, spacious, well organized and stocked with a much wider range of products than could fit in the smaller Crabtree location.

After making my big $5 purchase last night (a spider strainer) I was handed a gift in a small signature Crate and Barrel box on my way out of the store.  It contained a lovely Iitalia candle holder and this card.

We often talk with clients about their corporate giving philosophy and the benefits it brings to their brand. This is a very nicely executed example.  I like that it:

• Cleverly uses the Crate&Barrel brand to create the Crate&Durham image
• Shares that my purchase and those made through their first weekend will benefit the Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center.
• They made their grand opening about their community.
• They gave me a nice little gift.

Their gift and donation to Duke Children’s and the way it was executed made a retail store opening about more than retail sales, it become about me, my community and the hospital. Perhaps it was the Pinot, but the fun event, the gift, and the donation have strengthened my image of the Crate and Barrel brand.

So, if you are looking for an excuse to go this weekend, there you have it.

Since that conversation, I’ve been thinking about how some of my favorite movies from my teens would be different if social networking sites like FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube were part of the story.  With a nod to John Hughes:

Imagine getting a text message saying “Save Ferris! Donate $5 now by texting “Ferris” to 12345.”  Or consider how much more complicated Ferris’s cover-up would have to be if his Danke Schoen performance were a YouTube sensation?

It certainly would have been nice for Grandpa Howard to Tweet that Long Duk Dong was coming to Jenny’s wedding in Sixteen Candles so Sam could have been prepared.  Farmer Ted’s FaceBook page would have hundreds of out-of-focus pictures of the prom queen in a Rolls Royce.

If Clark W. Griswold had been following the Wally World Twitter feed, he would have known about their scheduled maintenance before hauling the family truckster across the country.

Besides being an entertaining thought, it’s made me see how much social media is changing the story of our lives.  It’s not about Farmville or tweeting which breakfast cereal you chose today.  It’s about sharing bits of ourselves to make connections to help each other out — and isn’t that what marketing is all about?

(The answer in the comments.)

Its use at a panel discussion on social media last week caught my attention.  In a response to a question about using social media outlets for consumer marketing, the panel urged transparency in social media campaigns.  They encourage you to be clear to the audience about who you are and your intentions.

Isn’t that the transparency we seek in all the other ways the term is currently being used?

I used Google’s Trends tool to see how the term’s search pattern in the United States has trended, which you can view here: http://www.google.com/trends?q=transparency&geo=usa&sa=N

Its search volume has increased slightly so far this year over last year.  But what I found most interesting is that occurrences of the word “transparency” in news articles for 2009 are up significantly and steadily over last year.

Google Trends is a tool that we use in our interactive planning. And it’s also cool to check out for cultural trends like this.

I’ve had several friends sell houses lately and move into new ones, and it made me think about how a Web site is online real estate.   And that your home page is like your front door: it’s the portal through which all your visitors pass and where they form their first impression.

A friend from Oklahoma says that she wants the front door of her home to say “Howdy! Come on in.”  as only an Oklahoman could.  That sentiment should apply just as much to your Web site’s home page.

So what will that mean for our home page?  I’ve outlined three criteria that our updated home page should meet:

1. At a glance, visitors will understand who we are and the services we provide.  More than just with the copy on the page, we have some ideas for how to showcase recent work that should give a strong first impression.  Not to mention flexing our Web design and development skills.
2. We’ll tell visitors what’s new with frequently updated copy, including links to this blog.
3. The “Howdy!” welcoming factor will be there through those cheery, brightly-colored dots.

I don’t want to give away all the features of the new design, so I’ll charge you with this:  Visit your Web site.  It seems silly to say, but honestly, how often do you objectively critique your company’s Web site?

Look for that warm welcome and clear explanation of what you do. And make sure that your Web site’s front door looks like an entry to where your customers want to be.

The recipients’ experience came to mind when I received an email notification that my auto insurance premium is due at the end of the month.  Here’s a screenshot so you can see what they sent:

My insurance carrier could make this notification a much more pleasant experience for me by moving away from a black and white email with a paragraph of all-caps.

I wish that I could have our designers create a nice branded email template they could use to remind me again who insures my car (something that’s too easy to forget).  I would include a prominent, stylish button that connects me to a login to my account to pay my bill.  The amount due would be in a nice font and a nice color that would make it stand out from the paragraphs of legalese.

Please, make it easier for me to see what matters most.

Every email is an opportunity to continue building your relationship with your audience.  Even the most routine message shouldn’t be overlooked.