What is Corporate Gifting?

Corporate gifting means the practice of creating a point of interaction between your business and stakeholders of your business by sending them gifts- either tangible such as physical products or intangible such as tickets to concerts. The stakeholders could be your clients, employees, suppliers, or prospects. You could also send corporate gifts to your client’s family too. (Why would you do that? Keep reading to find out!)

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FThe purpose of the corporate gift could be different things, from welcoming someone to your business to honoring someone for certain desirable behaviors such as making a purchase. Almost everyone is familiar with ABC gifting, that is, gifting on anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas. But did you know engaging in generic ABC gifting may not be as fruitful as you thought? For your corporate gifts to bear the results you want them to, there are some elements that they must possess, which we talk about later on in this article.

Why Is Corporate Gifting Important?

57 percent of gift recipients say that corporate gifts can affect their impression of a business in both positive and negative ways. Corporate gifts help you celebrate the people who make your brand the way it is today. If strategized correctly, they can help you gain a myriad of benefits.

Corporate gifts help your company foster relationships with clients by showing them just how much you value their support. They can also help you empower your employees and convey a sense of gratitude for their contribution to your company. They also go a long way in converting leads to clients. 

Personalized gifts show clients and leads that you spent time getting to know them, which they appreciate. Moreover, rewarding employees for special occasions of good work or company milestones help them feel like a significant part of your company’s journey, which can enhance their loyalty.

Gifts with an emotional element can also make the stakeholders’ experience with your company a memorable one, as supported by studies.

A Sea of Sameness

It’s said that on average, a person becomes a client after 7 touch points with your company.  But think about how these touch points happen with most companies.

There can be some sort of direct mail piece, either a letter that screams junk mail or a postcard that gets thrown away.  Or maybe there is some sort of email campaign and you’re one of the 200 unread emails in a person’s inbox.  Or maybe the person sees your ad, one of 5,000 ads that they’ve been exposed to that day.

And let’s say your marketing campaign combines each of these strategies.  The problem is, everyone is running this exact same playbook.  Not to mention your campaign is going to go completely unnoticed by high value prospects.

Do you really think that your junk mail or your email is going to get past your prospect’s assistant?

Standing Out

So, how do you get their attention?

The answer:  a solid corporate gifting strategy.

Instead of wasting 10’s of thousands of dollars spamming the market with ads that will get ignored, junk mail that will get trashed, and emails that will never be opened, do this instead.

Identify 100 high value clients.  CEO’s of companies who you dream to work with and have the potential to double your business.  Instead of sending them an email or a snail mail, consider sending them a luggage set instead.

First, you can send them the carry-on bag.  Then you can send them the stow away bag.  And finally, you can send them the bag that gets checked at the gate.

And with each piece of luggage you send, let them know, with a handwritten note how you can help their business.

Think you’ll get their attention then?  Think you’ll get past their assistant with a beautifully designed luggage set?  Of course it will.

One quick note. 

GIFT·OLOGY rule #1: Corporate gifting is not bribary.  Every gift must be with no strings attached.  No asks.  No quid-quo-pros.

Types of Corporate Gifting

Corporate gifts can have different purposes and applications. Below we tell you about 4 of those. 

Marketing Gifts

Marketing gifts are way more effective at building relationships than emails. Just like you, your competitors are also trying their best to establish relationships. Sending marketing gifts is a great way to separate your brand from the crowd. Marketing gifts can be anything, from E-gifts that allow access to certain content, referral awards for recommending your product, to cool earphones your clients can use daily. Think about the industry you are in and the type of client you are trying to attract before deciding on marketing gifts.  

Sales Prospecting Gifts

Using corporate gifts to convert leads to customers can have an immense impact on your effectiveness. You could give small gifts after a meeting or demonstration has ended to make the leads’ experience with you memorable. Gifts like that can act as your brand ambassador even after the meeting has ended and influence the leads’ decision-making.

If the gift is personalized, even better! The lead will appreciate the effort you have clearly put into learning about them.

Customer Gifts for Clients

Sending corporate gifts to your existing clients can go a long way in improving the durability of the relationships you share with them. Customer retention is easier and cheaper than customer acquisition. The costs needed to acquire a new customer take a long time to pay off. Loyal, satisfied customers are willing to spend more at businesses. Thus, you should take customer retention very seriously.

While deciding gifts for clients, keep in mind the 7 ingredients we talked about in the earlier section. A good gift can meet and exceed your expectations about ROI from the gifts you sent, whereas the best a bad gift can achieve is nothing.

Corporate Gifts for Employees

You have probably heard “happy employees lead to happy customers” a million times by now. That is because it is very true. In a 2006 study, every 1 percent increment in ACSI customer satisfaction led to a 4.6 percent improvement in the company’s overall stock market value. So, this is not an area anyone should ignore.

Sending employees personalized corporate gifts is a wonderful way to make their experience working for you a pleasant one and assure them that their contributions are being valued at an individual level. Satisfied employees will be motivated to bring their level best to work and help your company achieve its goals.

How Can I Make Sure That My Corporate Gifting Strategy Is Successful?

As we have seen earlier in this article, corporate gifts can make or break your brand’s impression in front of your stakeholders. Whether you want to leverage this touchpoint and achieve something truly beautiful is up to you.

If you decide to utilize this point of interaction to the fullest, as our clients, including The New York Times, Forbes, Inc., have, GIFT·OLOGY is here to help you. We’re a gifting company that will come up with a gifting strategy that is not only perfect for your brand but will also help you achieve 10X ROI. Yes, that is how rewarding a well-thought-out gifting strategy can be. We make sure our gifts tick all the checkboxes of a great strategic corporate gift. All you would have to do is invest  5 to 15 percent of your net income.

Not sure yet? No problem. Feel free to try our free 30-minute strategy session with us that is guaranteed to enhance your loyalty program and experience the magic of Gift·ology yourself.