Corporate gifting is becoming a trend in the business world today. This practice is meant to create a touchpoint with employees, customers, and prospective clients by giving gifts. Corporate gifts can be physical items, such as branded T-shirts, or non-physical items, such as gift cards, experience, and vouchers.
Why is corporate gifting important?
Corporate gifting is a business practice that has been in place for ages. Today, the custom has spread with companies giving out corporate gifts worth billions of money.
There is no denying that any business depends on relationships with employees, customers, and prospects. With corporate gifts, companies can appreciate employees and customers for their continued engagement with the brand. This practice solidifies the business relationship with employees and clients.
In most cases, businesses issue corporate gifts at the end of the financial year. Accordingly, some companies gift their employees and customers to mark a milestone achieved during the year. This can be after a contract agreement, opening a new branch, or any business arrangement. Additionally, corporate gifting can happen when a company launches new products and services or during an exhibition.
Corporate gifting is vital because it is a way for the business to market itself and create brand awareness. Accordingly, this practice helps companies develop a positive relationship with various stakeholders, thereby increasing sales and productivity.
When a company decides to gifts its employees, the strategy helps improve engagement and productivity. Here are reasons why corporate gifting is crucial to business growth.
It Boosts Customer Relationships
According to a survey, 63% of businesses suggested using corporate gifting to improve customer relationships. This trend is currently growing, with many companies using corporate gifts to enhance their relationship marketing efforts.
The effectiveness of corporate gifting as a strategy to improve customer relationships lies in the fact that customers do not expect most gifts when interacting with various brands. When a company sends a gift to an unexpecting client, it shows how much the brand values the relationship with that particular customer.
This is a way to show gratitude to employees and customers for their continued support. This experience is made better with personalized gifts. Most employees and customers admit that receiving personalized gifts shows that the company put some effort into the process.
To attest to the effectiveness of this strategy, many recipients appreciate corporate gifts with the need to reciprocate. For clients, returning the gesture means coming back for more shopping, while employees put more effort into improving sales.
It Increases Sales
This should not be a surprise. When you create a positive relationship with customers, employees, and prospects through corporate gifts, you stand a good chance of increasing sales.
First, the employees become more motivated to work hard and offer better services that attract more customers. On the other hand, customers feel the need to reciprocate the love by staying loyal to the company and even referring others.
Customers who receive corporate gifts are most likely to invest in that brand since they feel appreciated and get value for money. The result is often more sales.
It Creates Brand Awareness
Corporate gifting is one of the most effective ways of creating brand awareness and building a solid reputation for the business. First of all, gifting your customers and prospects generates good feelings towards the company. Accordingly, it reflects how your business interacts with the community. A positive reputation can go a long way in helping your business attract more customers to increase sales.
Accordingly, using branded gifts is an excellent way to market your brand. For instance, branded t-shirts create awareness by getting the word on the streets about your company.
According to a recent survey, 27% of companies attested that corporate gifts improve referrals, thus creating brand awareness. As a result, more customers engage with the business.
On the other hand, internal gifting improves the brads reputation among industry leaders and professionals. For instance, potential employees would love working where they feel appreciated. This attracts the best talents in the market.
It Improves Competitiveness
Corporate gifting to employees, customers, and prospects is a great way to stand out in the saturated business world. Additionally, this strategy grabs attention, giving you a competitive edge when hiring or attracting new customers.
As far as employees are concerned, they appreciate that the company takes time to think about them and reward their efforts. This is not something all businesses do, so it means a lot, especially when personalized.
On the other hand, customers see you as a cut above the rest when you appreciate them with gifts. There are possibilities that your customers also buy from your competitors or compare your services before choosing where to buy. Giving them corporate gifts is a great way to show them that you are not a regular business but one that values them. This is how you get one over your competitors.
It Improves Loyalty and Commitment
Customers are not the only ones to consider when rolling out corporate gifts. As a business owner, your best asset is your workforce. This is a group that needs motivation and constant appreciations to boost its morale.
Corporate gifts for employees improve their feelings towards the company. This strategy is one of the most effective when it comes to spurring employees to do better. Accordingly, it enhances a sense of connection and belongingness to the company.
Corporate Gifting Best Practices
Corporate gifting offers plenty of opportunities, though it requires thoughtful consideration to ensure its success. For instance, you have to consider the type of personalized gifts to distribute. You can use Greetabl, a corporate gifting solution that makes sending unique and personalized gifts incredibly easy.
Additionally, there are ethical standards you should follow to ensure corporate gifting does not come out as bribery. Here are essential guidelines for choosing the best corporate gift ideas for employees, clients, and prospects.
Focus on your recipients
as much as it is tempting to go for branded mugs or t-shirts with your company logo, you should consider what works best for your recipients. You may need to check your customer profiles, analyze their purchasing trends, and use their comments and reviews to determine their likes.
This information will help you determine the best and most unique gifts.
Personalize
Corporate gifts are more effective when personalized. Adding a personal touch to gifts makes employees and customers appreciate that you invested time and effort in the process.
Accordingly, personalized gifts are more attractive. You can also send a thank you message with the gifts to communicate how high you hold your relationships.
And here at Greetabl, we have a personalized gift builder which can help with personalizing.
Play with emotions
The last thing you want is your employees and clients to think that the gifts come with strings attached. In that case, you should not include proposals with the gifts. The idea is for the recipients to know that you care.
You can achieve this by sending gifts at strategic times, for instance, during an anniversary or birthday. This way, you will be triggering their emotions by sending a message that you are more about them than the business.
Do it with limitations
You do not want your clients to become suspicious of your profits by gifting them more frequently. Here is the idea, when you gift at shorter intervals, the clients might start wondering about the profits you make to afford frequent gifts. Some may even think that you are charging them extra. Accordingly, other customers may question the value of your gifts.
Consider different groups
Some companies fall into the trap of gifting anyone the same thing without knowing that people have different needs. You have to consider every group and ensure you have a different set of gifts for each one of them.
Make a distinction that shows your level of engagement. For instance, corporate gifts for VIP customers should not be the same for regular clients. Factoring every group helps you achieve your intended goal.
Consult the experts
Do not be afraid to ask for expert opinions on the kind of gifts to use.
The Bottom Line
Corporate gifting is relatable across different industries. According to a recent survey, companies in the US spend more than $4 billion on corporate gifting and employee engagement. This is evidence that the strategy is a growing trend and for good reasons.
Corporate gifting is mainly aimed at improving customer relationships, promoting brand awareness, and motivating employees. The strategy improves harmonious relationships between the business, employees, customers, and prospects. The results are often improved sales and productivity that take the company to the next level.
However, businesses have to be cautious when gifting to ensure they achieve their goals. Additionally, you should ensure that your corporate gifts show appreciation rather than being sales-oriented.
Make your corporate gifting unique and easy with Greetabl.
About the author
Rithesh Raghavan is the Director at Acodez. Having a rich experience of 15+ years in Digital Marketing, Rithesh loves to write up his thoughts on the latest trends and developments in the world of IT and software development.