The purpose of corporate gifting is to make an impression and create a connection with your recipient. As you already know, it is easier to attract clients and customers and to retain employees and partners with gifts, especially when the gifts are personalized.
In this article, we will go over what corporate gifting is and why it is important. Then we will dive into different types of corporate gifting and show you how to make them effective.
What Is Corporate Gifting?
Corporate gifting is the practice of engaging with a customer, employee, prospective client, or partner through a gift to express gratitude and appreciation, or to create an incentive. There are countless gifts including gift cards, swag products, experience vouchers, premium items, and luxuries depending on the occasion and job title of the recipient.
Wooden Notebook And Pen Set Custom Engraved Logo and Message Corporate Gift For HSBC
When it comes to sending a gift to maintain a good business relationship, there are a number of things that you MUST pay attention to:
- Who are you sending the gifts to?
- What is your goal in sending gifts?
- What is your budget for each recipient?
- What are the rules that you have to follow?
- What gifts are the most suitable for the occasion?
- What information will you need?
- How can you personalize the gifts?
- When should you begin the gifting process?
- What delivery service should you choose?
After you think about the questions above, next comes the execution. Imagine how much time you will need to spend. Corporate gifting is not rocket science, but it is also not as easy as buying someone a gift either! There are many challenges that gifters face, number one being the abundant amount of time that one must spend to prepare the gifts. There are also budgeting difficulties, delivery issues, and more.
Take a look at our How To Choose The Perfect Corporate Gift that will help you resolve all these challenges.
Why Is Corporate Gifting Important?
In business, it’s about people. It’s about relationships. — Kathy Ireland, American author and Founder of Kathy Ireland Worldwide.
A popular saying within the business industry is “People do business with people they know, like, and trust.” Yes, that is the nature of business doing. People have the tendency to buy from companies they’ve heard of and develop trust over time from the first point of contact. When delivered authentically, gifts can accomplish several different outcomes for a business. This is primarily why corporate gifting is important.
1. Corporate Gifting Improves Client Relationships
While you may be content to get by on your reputation, including corporate gifts is a great way to strengthen your existing client bonds. Giving existing clients corporate gifts throughout the fiscal year helps to remind them of your presence.
It can improve their opinion of your company in their minds. They will feel more valued, with 80% of individuals surveyed stating that corporate gifting had improved client relations. This leads to increased client retention using your brand or service long-term.
The gift does not have to be a large, lavish, or expensive item. A simple remembrance included with a quarterly shipment can keep your clients happy. It may even lead to referrals to other clients.
2. Corporate Gifting Improves Employee Relationships
As established during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and their employees were pushed to the limits with stay-at-home orders requiring most employees to work from home. The increased stress on employees caused an increase in many quitting their jobs.
Corporate gifts make your employees feel more connected to your brand and the company, helping maintain employee satisfaction and retention. Receiving thoughtful gifts from a place of work improves employee motivation and loyalty.
Sending out gifts on important dates such as a work anniversary or an employee’s birthday establishes your brand as one that cares about its employees. It can also help to improve employee productivity.
3. Corporate Gifts Promote Your Business Brand
Custom Engraved Logo and Message Wooden Wall Clock Corporate Gift For Roever Education
Corporate gifts serve a larger purpose outside of the workplace, too. Items that an employee or client may frequently use, like a branded water bottle or a tote bag, serve another purpose. It gets your company’s name out to the general public.
Those in the public eye will see your company’s logo on corporate gifts. Each view of these items generates a brand impression that can help cement your name in the minds of consumers. It creates a favorable view of your business to potential customers.
4. Corporate Gifts Help Attract Prospective Clients
Corporate gifts may help you seal the deal for businesses that are not yet your clients. Sending a corporate gift can put you on their radar and increase awareness of your brand.
For example, if one business is looking to connect with another for a possible partnership, they’ll likely consider several options before making a final decision. When decision time comes, your branded corporate gift will be front and center and tip the scales in your favor.
Corporate gifting promotes a more personal connection versus a cold-call client pitch. You can achieve a higher chance of client acquisition by demonstrating your commitment to them. You’re also showing that you value them even before a decision is made otherwise.
5. Corporate Gifts Establish a Lasting Presence
Corporate gifts are tangible items with the ability to produce a lasting brand presence. Frequently used promotional items like branded stationery, custom journals, and pens have staying power amongst clients and employees alike.
Six out of ten people keep promotional branded items for at least two years. This means your corporate gifts have a huge potential to generate thousands of brand impressions over their product life and use.
This is not only a source of free ongoing marketing each time the item is used, but also offers a more significant potential return on investment over time.
Different Types of Corporate Giftings
Corporate gifting can actually be divided into different types. As mentioned earlier in this article, you must be aware of who you are sending the gifts to when you are preparing for your corporate gifting campaigns. Other than that, you will need to pay attention to the occasion. These two main points are the basic foundation of different types of corporate gifting.
1. Sales Prospect Gifting
The first personal connection with a potential client is essential for any healthy customer-centric relationship. However, sales prospecting and cold outreach aren’t easy, many sales and BD reps would agree that it’s one of the most challenging parts of their jobs – 40% of sales.
That is why help is necessary! And by help, we mean corporate gifting. Sending gifts to prospects is actually a common thing to do, whether it is a gift card, a promo code, or a handwritten thank-you note. It will help you close the gap between you and your potential clients.
2. Client Gifting
Maintaining great client relationships is unquestionably one of the most important things to keep a business alive. Your goal will be to make your clients like you even more, on top of the relationship that you’ve already established. There are many client relationship management tips, but you will notice that most of these tips can be covered by corporate gifting! In this case, client gifting.
Gifting for clients is different from gifting for prospects . For one main reason – they already know who you are. Whether your clients have already purchased your products (services) or not, you will need to continue nurturing them because it can lead to an increase in sales and retention.
3. Employee Gifting
Employees are the most important assets of an organization!
After all, they are the ones keeping the company running. The way you treat them will directly reflect on how well your business will do. Although most employers already know the importance of employee appreciation and recognition, they still have a hard time making their employees feel appreciated.
This is where corporate gifting can be a huge help! Employee gifting, when done correctly, can increase employee satisfaction, thus boosting productivity. In addition, you will be able to improve your employer branding through word of mouth, resulting in more talents joining your team.
4. Event Gifting
Whether you are a startup or SMB, being active in terms of attending events, is the quickest way to get brand exposure and connect with investors, potential clients, or partnerships. When you exchange business cards at an event, you would have already built an impression and started a relationship with them.
The key here is making an impression. But how? Corporate gifting. With the right gifts, you will be able to make anyone you have contact with remember you. Moreover, you will also be able to constantly remind them of your existence.
5. Promotional Gifting
Custom Engraved Wooden Keychain Corporate Gift For Promotional Gift
In order to reach sales targets, companies come up with the most creative promotion. It is part of marketing that cannot be ignored. But nowadays, creativity itself does not suffice. It is hard for a promotion to be attractive without an incentive.Corporate Gifting can serve as an incentive for any promotional campaign that you are running. It helps create a sense of fair trade – gaining something for doing another.
Trending on Corporate Gifting
Corporate gifting has many advantages. It has a wider reach than mailing the same message over and over. The receivers of any gifted merchandise are sure to feel great about receiving it. Corporate gifting can trigger a greater response along with opening some doors for your company.
Here are some important statistics:
- The US corporate gifting market is calculated to grow at a CAGR of 8.1% in 2024.
- 43% of people stated that improved relationships are the main advantage of corporate gifting (USA).
- 80% of corporate gift buyers stated gifts have improved relationships with clients and employees.
- 48% of the companies said corporate gifting had delivered a substantial benefit – made recipients feel valued, improved customer loyalty, and improved employee retention.
- 57% of employees stated that receiving gifts by mail makes them feel even more appreciated.
- 80% of customers stated that they will most likely do business with a company to receive a personalized gift.
From these numbers, you can see that there is an increasing trend in corporate gifting, and it is estimated to continue to grow.
There are certainly a lot of corporate gift ideas that different businesses can offer. What’s important is knowing which type is appropriate to give in a particular event and reason. Through this strategy, you will have the power to elevate your marketing campaign and appeal to your target audiences.
Knowing the types of corporate gifts will certainly exhibit your creative flair to the industry and will create better B2B and B2C engagements. If you are interested in sourcing unique corporate gift ideas, get in touch with our team.
The 194 Craft House offers customization and in-depth design modification for your brand to make them suitable for your marketing campaign. There are many customization options available, and we can include your brand’s name, logo, or message on each item. We will always be more than happy to assist you with all things about corporate gifts!
