As Q3 comes to a close, companies should look towards the future, the all-out sprint that is Q4. This quarter is notorious for being one of the busiest times of the year. Organizations must not only optimize their processes for the influx of purchasing activity during this time but also take inventory of their current business relationships, both inside and outside the office.
Companies should audit and improve internal sentiment and employee satisfaction as well as their external relationships with vendors and customers during this time.
Corporate Gifting is one marketing strategy that if implemented correctly can foster human connection and in turn, drive significant returns.
Why Is Corporate Gifting Important?
Corporate gifting creates a personal touchpoint with an employee, customer, prospect, or client. In practice, it can boost a brand’s reputation and productivity while building lasting relationships.
Corporate gifts may be intended to strengthen client relationships, reward employees, or drive a specific response: such as a sale or recommendation.
Strategic corporate gifting involves developing a deliberate plan for the budget, selection, and timing of your corporate gifting. Overlooking the specifics of your corporate gifting strategy can lead to financial losses, missed engagement opportunities, and ineffective gifts.
Corporate Gifting For Employees
Many organizations want to show their employees support and compassion during the holidays. You may plan to conduct yearly reviews, give raises and promotions, treat your team to a holiday party, or show employees gratitude through corporate gifting.
Seasoned organizations know the value of retaining their employees. High employee turnover can cost your business money and hurt your company’s culture.
Corporate gifting is proven to improve employee engagement and satisfaction. Ambitious organizations should move beyond the standard fruit basket approach, and move towards a strategic gifting approach. Some strategic recommendations for giving corporate gifts to employees include:
Make Gifts Personal
Remember that your employees are all individuals, each with differing interests, hobbies, and personalities. Corporate gifting isn’t always a one-size-fits-all practice. Consider giving employees gifts tailored to their interests.
If you have a large number of employees. you can also personalize an aspect of the gift, such as incorporating their name or department. These small details can differentiate a thoughtful gift from an afterthought.
Give the Gift of Choice
Consider creating a small catalog of gifts your employees can choose from. This gives employees a sense of personalization and allows them to select a gift that resonates with them, rather than wasting corporate resources on gifts that are likely to be forgotten.
External Corporate Gifting
Everybody loves free stuff. Your business contacts are no different. Whether your goal is to retain current customers, convert prospects, or increase sentiment with clients, corporate gifts are proven to increase your brand’s reputation and strengthen your relationships.
When implementing a strategic plan for external corporate gifting, consider the following recipients:
Corporate Gifts For Prospects
Corporate gifting can be the catalyst to finally closing a lengthy deal, but the gift should always fit the relationship. If you haven’t had considerable contact with your prospect, or your relationship has just begun, consider giving a smaller, more generic gift. For long-standing relationships, you can select something more personalized and elaborate.
You can also use a tiered gifting strategy to ensure maximum return on investment. Consider allocating gift budgets based on account values. For high-level prospects consider spending a few extra dollars, while smaller accounts may not require as much capital.
Corporate Gifts for Customers
Customers engage with brands they feel emotionally connected to and customer lifetime value is one of the most important metrics for profitability. In a report from Motista, researchers found that emotionally connected customers have a 306% higher CLV, and were more likely 26% more likely to recommend a brand.
Just as you walk with your customers from awareness to engagement, you should continue to connect with them post-purchase. Nurture your customers even after conversion through strategic gift-giving. Consider sending personalized gifts to your customers to celebrate birthdays and holidays, and thank them for their continued business.
Corporate Gifts for Clients
In business, relationships are everything. Strengthen your client relationships by sending gifts to celebrate all you’ve achieved together. You can recognize noteworthy achievements, kick off a new client relationship, or simply celebrate a work anniversary.
Remember, always consider the gift policies of the receiving company. You should always take cultural considerations and preferences into account when making strategic gifting ideas.
Corporate gift Ideas
We work with clients across industries who have some pretty great products. We’d like to showcase some of our favorite products that can meet your corporate gifting needs this year. These gifts are unique, quirky, and delicious.
Audit Your Order FulFillment Processes
Beyond the initial gifting strategy, you should always ensure your order fulfillment processes are in place before sending out your corporate gifts. Keep your contacts in segmented lists in your preferred CRM. This way you can have up-to-date contact information for reference, to ensure your orders are delivered to the right person, at the right place.
If you are ordering your corporate gifts through BigCommerce this year, check out our Offline Order Importer App. It streamlines the order fulfillment process by automatically uploading hundreds of form fields into BigCommerce, and we’ve just introduced innovative new features. You can upload hundreds of different shipping addresses into the prebuilt template, even when they all have the same payment method. Reduce resources spent on manual BigCommerce uploads with the Offline Order Importer App.
We know generating a successful gifting strategy may seem laborious, but the benefits can really outweigh the costs. Reach out to our full-service digital agency for insights on other unique marketing channels. From web development to UX design, we’ve got you covered. Happy Gifting!