Spending your money on corporate gifts can be a complete waste of money. If you do it wrong and for the wrong reasons. Trust me, I have been in the marketing communication industry for the past 30 years and I have seen it all.
When should you not spend money on corporate gifts?
I am a marketing coach and consultant first and foremost. My number one goal is to ensure that every cent that my clients spend is returned tenfold in business growth value. You should not buy corporate or promotional gifts, just because everyone else is doing it. You should ideally not buy corporate or promotional gifts if you are not sure what the message is that you want to portray through the gifts.
And you should definitely not just buy gifts if your only purpose is to get brownie points from your client.
Buying Brownie Points from Your Client
Let’s face it. We all need those brownie points at some point in time. Especially if we have stuffed up somewhere on a service agreement and you are throwing everything at the wall to see if it sticks.
And the reality is that sometimes we just buy corporate gifts because we think it is cool and we might just want one for ourselves. No matter how enticing this might sound, you have a responsibility to your marketing budget to get value from every cent you spend.
Why would giving corporate gifts be a way to grow your business?
Corporate gifts are expensive. Aren’t they unnecessary expenses when I should focus on cutting expenses and boosting my revenue? You’ve got it wrong. Or at least if you bypass the warnings above.
Gifting is a great way to grow your business. Everybody lights up when they receive gift boxes. The same thing happens to clients and employees when they receive corporate gifts from your company.
Your business can also benefit from corporate gifts
Companies have been giving out gifts since the beginning of time when humans started trading with each other. Businesses run on relationships. The gifting process is a good way to appreciate your clients for the sales they’ve brought your way. Giving a custom gift helps to solidify the business relationship with the clients.
Most corporate gifting occurs at the end of the business year, usually in December. But it can also mark special milestones in the business world. These could be after a business arrangement, contract, or expansion into new territories. It also happens during the launch of new products or services, business events, and exhibitions.
It’s also a way to market your company and attract new clients from prospects. This strategy is also a way to reward employees in the company. The reasons include recording a milestone, rewarding productivity, or celebrating a special occasion. And yes, corporate gifting requires following proper ethics and procedures to distinguish it from bribery.
Why do we need a Corporate Gifting Strategy?
Corporate gifting is much more than dashing to a gift shop, selecting some items, and shipping them off to the recipients in personalized gift boxes.
- Set up a corporate gifting strategy with a well-laid plan.
- Start with actionable procedures for gifting your clients, employees, and prospects.
- This strategy should include the gifting budget, gifting needs sourcing, and the gifts to give out.
- Other considerations include the criteria for gift recipients and the logistics of sending them out.
- Identify what qualifies clients and employees for certain gifts, including custom or personalized ones, among others.
- And, consider whether the gifts will be branded with your business logo. If yes, write down your procedures for such branding.
Timing of giving out Corporate Gifts
The timing of the gifting process is another essential factor that you have to clarify.
For clients, you should investigate their corporate gift-taking culture. Some companies discourage receiving gifts. For those who do, get to know your client’s personal preferences. This information will enable you to give gifts that resonate with them.
The gifts ought to reflect the amount of business and value they provide. If possible, get a concierge service to customize the gifts for your high-value clients. This service involves personalization and custom corporate gifts for your gifting needs.
How Corporate Gifting Can Grow Your Company
There are various ways that gift-giving can aid your business growth. These include:
- Boosting customer relationships
- Increasing productivity
- Enhancing brand reputation
- Promoting the business
- Let’s see how each of the above factors can boost your corporate growth.
Boosting Customer Relationships
63% of companies credited gift giving as a factor in their improved customer relationships with their clients. Many companies are increasingly using gift-giving as part of their relationship marketing strategy.
Its effectiveness lies in the fact that most gifts are not expected. When you send a gift to your recipients, it tells them you value their relationships. It’s also a way of expressing gratitude to both your customers and employees.
The gifting experience is further heightened when you customize the gift. Receiving a personalized gift shows the recipients that some effort went into it. A custom card thanking them for their patronage puts the icing on this gesture.
Many recipients appreciate the gifts they receive. This action engenders trust and an unconscious need to reciprocate the gesture. A recent survey reported that 94% of top business executives believe that gifting can impact a business relationship
There’s a saying that once you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers and your business. Recognizing your employees’ efforts through internal gift-giving can boost productivity in your business.
Employees feel appreciated when given personalized gifts for performing their job. This gesture, especially when accompanied by public recognition, helps engage them. It sends a message to the workforce that productivity will be rewarded by the business.
There is a feeling of being highly valued and connected when employees get their gift boxes. It also engenders a sense of belonging and strengthens the workplace bond.
Giving gifts to your employees is also likely to spur them to work better at serving customers. This action is bound to increase productivity in your business.
Ultimately giving gifts to your customers generates good feelings. These feelings engender an image of your business as being kind and caring.
This positive reputation can help your business attract more sales from customer referrals. Referrals are one way to increase sales without increasing your marketing budget.
