In the world of public relations, our work is increasingly focusing on digital communications. Even newspapers are now read on the computer or tablet. The articles and their content dissipate as soon as they are read… and shared on Facebook.

Fortunately, at other times, personal and somewhat old-fashioned gestures bring us back to the organic and the sustainable. Gestures that remind us that writing should normally stay, and not dissolve in cyberspace.

Mia, one of our contributors, recently had a box of documents delivered in preparation for a conference we were giving the next day at a client’s office. When I opened the box, I discovered a small note written by hand: “Have a good presentation! This small, simple attention impressed me a lot and made me think of what entrepreneur, author and speaker Seth Godin called, in September 2012, “The simple power of one a day.” In this post, he makes a list of similar actions that make us better communicators.

We receive so many digital messages on Facebook, Twitter or email that a card containing a handwritten note becomes something precious. Is it not true that there is nothing more magical than a postcard that takes forever to get home but remains stuck on our fridge for months?

In 2012, the story of a bottle launched into the sea in the Gaspé Peninsula by two teenage girls, and which crossed the ocean to reach a beach in Ireland eight years later, moved us and went around the world.

When I signed my last contract, I was seduced by a similar gesture. I was feverishly waiting for the general manager in a large conference room and I could hear her asking in the distance, “Has anyone seen my nice pen”? Taking out your most beautiful pen to sign a contract to emphasize the importance of the moment. Who doesn’t like to feel special?

Very few of us still use beautiful pens or write carefully crafted notes. This means that in our digital era, old-fashioned gestures have more meaning and impact than ever. Rarity creates value.