Small businesses are the heartbeat of every industry. The contribution to the countries revenue and the effect on employment is significant. Today, we have no shortage of unique, talented, and creative entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur myself, I love everything this amazing life has to offer, but most of all, I love getting the opportunity to help another company look its best. We often get questions about client gifting and how that looks for a company. I’ll share with you how I can help answer questions like:  

What should go in our company gifts? 

When is the best time to send gifts?

Is sending out gifts going to cost me a lot?

Having Second Thoughts About Gifting?

Hesitant about adding gifting to your company’s relationship marketing? Trust me when I say I understand. But think about it this way, clients don’t usually expect to receive a gift from you; they only want a good product and outstanding customer service. So when you do go above and beyond with gifting, you make a BIG impression. When corporate gifting is done right, the client experience is taken to the next level with thought and creativity!

Why Add Gifting?

I am sure many other companies do what you do, yet your clients have chosen to work with you. Maybe it was your connection at a networking event, or perhaps they loved your company’s brand. Clients are constantly bombarded with perfect product images, enticing blog posts, and seemingly perfect people. But once the smoke clears and they commit, they not only become part of your team, you’re now on theirs as well. Gifting is an effective way to connect further, deepen the relationship and build trust and commitment to your brand.

The Goal of Gifting to Clients

When I meet with potential clients for the first time, I want to know their goals for adding gifting as part of their relationship marketing. Here are a couple of common responses to my question.

They want to give an experience

The goal for any company is to stand out among the sea of competitors. To help in that process, creating a memorable client experience is a top priority. Creating this experience can look many ways depending on what type of company you have. A few examples would be sending a thank you/onboarding gift when they choose your company or sending a gift for their anniversary with your company.

They are looking to introducing the company/rebranding

Coming up with unique and memorable ways to introduce or reintroduce your company can be a tedious process. This is the perfect time to create a new gifting program to help elevate brand awareness, stay top-of-mind, and generate buzz. 

Helpful Tips

No matter how you choose to accomplish the goal of adding gifting to your relationship marketing program. Whether you hire a gift service like The Personal Gift Basket Co. or you do it all in-house, here are a few tips that can help you along the way:

• Don’t Over-Brand Your Company

Share your brand but don’t over-brand. When giving a gift, try not to overwhelm the client with branded products. Have a healthy balance of branded and non-branded items. 

• The Gift Should Reflect Your Brand Image

When you think of your company, think of 2 to 3 words that describe your brand. When creating a gift design, make sure you use those elements. The gift needs to make sense and elicit the same meaning and feelings your brand does.

• Your gifts should be duplicatable

When you can find the perfect items that reflect your brand, you want to duplicate the process. You want to be able to create the same gift each time a gift is needed. Do you really have the time to be in stores shopping for gift items when you bring on a new client? You will spend a lot of time and eat away at efficiencies and profit by doing this. A smart way around this is to offer different gifting levels. For example, if a client spends a certain amount with your company, they get a gift (you can have different levels of this as well), or if a client refers someone, they get a “thank you for the referral” gift. Doing this will keep the process uniform. 

• Create a manageable gifting budget 

I called this “gifting smart.” Choose a budget that you feel comfortable with, even if things get tight. I say that because I believe that even in tough economic times, corporate gifting is still a vital marketing process. 

• Include your branding elements in your gifts 

Visual elements that tie in your branding are key. The client will recognize things like your brand colors and logo. Adding features of your brand keep things cohesive and shows thought and creativity.

• Your gift should make sense 

The items in your gift should complement each other. Don’t add a branded flashlight in a charcuterie gift. Or add a delicious gourmet cheese to an office essentials gift. You get the point. Thoughtful gifts can have a more significant impact and create a loyal connection with your brand than adding random items without any thought.

I’m always sharing some of my favorite client gifts on our Instagram page, so please go follow us. Also stay tune to next month’s blog where I will be sharing Holiday gifting made easy (is that even possible?).