HOW TO LEVERAGE CORPORATE GIFTING PROGRAMS IN 2020
FACT: Corporate Gift Programs are a great way to foster your customer, employee, and vendor relationships while increasing your brand exposure, brand affinity, and brand loyalty for long-term selling power.
It’s 2020. Your consumers, your vendors, and even your employees have been confronted with a normal that’s been spun on its head. The uncertainty, the chaos -- it’s led to needs and norms that are changing so fast, everyone’s left struggling to keep up. Even when the needs and norms in question are their own.
Everybody could use a break right about now. Everybody could use a show of support -- a show that tells them they’re seen, they’re heard, and they’re valued.
In a normal year, gifts are nice touches. They tell the people who get them that they’re thought-about, cared about, and appreciated. But in 2020, when the majority of people are having a tough time, and everyone is looking for a reason to feel good, gifts are more than that. Much more.
They remind people that they’re still part of the same community -- of the same normal. And they might just be the umph people need to keep buying from you, keep thinking positively about you, or keep working hard for you.
A positive brand impression, in times like these, is everything. It doesn’t just translate to higher brand exposure, a more defined brand identity, and better brand loyalty -- it actually translates into concrete sales. Now and down the road.
Here’s how you use Corporate Gift Programs to secure and solidify your brand, and relationships today.
What Are Corporate Gift Programs?
The sales strategy is just as simple as it sounds: an organization like yours sends gifts -- i.e. custom branded merchandise -- to the people who are integral to its functioning.
Here’s what that might look like:
Customer Gifts: Consumers now more than ever are looking for some semblance of normalcy. Gifts show them that the relationship they have with your brand -- whether from a one-off purchase six months ago or from a lifetime of positive buying experiences -- is still intact. And more than just intact, that it’s valued. At a time when their buying habits, buying needs, and buying abilities have gone through some major changes, that show of gratitude could be the difference between an apprehensive browser and a full-fledged buyer.
And it’s really as simple as sending a gift. Whether a ‘Happy Holidays’ bundle (featuring a branded pen, thermos, and hand-written card) for your most loyal customers or a simple branded hat for first-time purchasers, the gifts will convey appreciation more -- and more memorably -- than any email ever could. And that’ll boost brand affinity, enhance brand loyalty, and make them want to keep buying from you. Over and over again.
2. Employee Gifts: Your staff has been going through the weirdness of 2020 right there along with the rest of us -- so it’s fair to say that company morale, no matter what industry you’re in, could be feeling kind of meh. Employee gifts are a fantastic (and tactful) way to boost the energy of the office, even if the office in question is wholly virtual. Maybe you send a ‘Work From Home’ Kit, complete with branded comfort wear (like a cozy hoodie), branded headphones, and a branded desk calendar. Or maybe you send a seasonal “Make It Through Winter” Kit, that bundles a branded jacket with a branded mug and beanie.
Whatever gift you choose to send, it’ll work to show your employees that they’re valued. And that show will enhance brand impressions and ultimately lead to better workplace results. (It’s been proven that happy employees work harder, and better, than their less satisfied counterparts.)
3. Business Partner & Vendor Gifts: Having strong, sustainable, and fulfilling relationships with your business partners and vendors is crucial -- and in 2020, when just about every business is going through it, showing your contacts that you care has the power to make a real impact. Sending them unexpected gifts (that actually add value to their lives) conveys to them that they’re important, that they’re appreciated, and that the relationship you share with them is front of mind.
Whether it’s a seasonal gift of wine and chocolates tucked away in a branded lunchbox or a business anniversary gift of a leather-bound branded notebook and high-quality pen, the gift will work to make the vendor in question feel like part of your team -- and when they feel like part of the team, they’ll have all the more drive to achieve better results.
Of course, within those three categories of gift programs, there’s room for nuance: instead of a customer gift, it could be a gift for your donors, and instead of a vendor gift, it could be a gift for your property manager -- and on, and on. The point is that these categories should get you thinking about how you can foster your most important relationships in 2020.
Because, as we know, business comes down to people. And when you take care of your people, the results show it.
What’s the Corporate Gift Program Process?
When you decide you’d like to leverage the power of Corporate Gift Programs for your business, you might be caught up in the stress of: well, how much labor is required from my end, exactly?
We’re here to tell you that that stress? It’s unwarranted. It’s unneeded -- because, labor-wise, you’re just about off the hook. Here’s what the process will look like, so you can get a clear sense of exactly what we mean.
Step 1: Pick Your Target. Before we start developing your perfect gift program, we have to know who the recipient is. Is it all first-time customers? Vendors in a specific region? Employees who are hitting their 5 year anniversary milestone? Knowing who your audience is will help us curate the perfect selection of offerings for them, so that when they receive the gifts, they’re more than just surprised. They’re over-the-moon.
Step 2: Give Us the Details. Do you want the gifts delivered on a specific date, or just during the Holiday Season? Do you want the gifts delivered to the recipients’ homes, or to a more general workplace? What’s your budget? What type or category of gifts, like health/wellness or leisure or workplace productivity, is on your mind? The more you can flush out your vision for us at the start, the better equipped we’ll be to turn it into action quickly.
Step 3: Choose Your Goods. This is where the fun part begins -- once you’ve given us the details of your vision, we get to work curating product and bundle options. From custom branded apparel to custom promotional products, we make sure to cover our bases so you get to choose from the best of the best. Then, we send that carefully selected presentation over to you -- and you choose your favorites.
Step 4: Add On the Extras. Much like the last step when ordering your favorite dish at a restaurant, here’s where you add on the extras that truly make the products your own. If choosing environmentally-friendly apparel and products is important to you (and your recipients), or you’d like to go the Made In The USA route for all goods, here’s where you tell us. If you’d like to enhance the unboxing experience by throwing in creative and branded packaging, here’s where you let us know. And if you’d like your recipients to choose their own gifts (for sizing, color, or style) through an Online Store, that’s possible too. We’ll include a comprehensive list of add-on options with the presentation, so you can sort through what’s possible and pick the extras that jump out the most.
Step 5: Sit Back & Relax. That’s right -- once you’ve made your selections, we take care of the rest. As an end-to-end production & fulfillment service, we take pride in producing the custom goods, getting them packaged nicely, and distributing them -- right to your recipients’ front door. (Or wherever else you direct them to go.) If you chose the Online Store option, we’ll also set that up for you, showcasing the gift options for your recipients to choose from, select, and enter their own shipping information for. The bottom line is, we take care of it all -- so you can enjoy the process stress-free, and spend your time fielding the thank you’s that result.
Okay, you’ve sold me -- What’s Next?
So you’re ready to harness the power of Corporate Gift Programs, foster your most important relationships, and give your brand exposure, brand impression, and brand loyalty a boost.
Congratulations -- you’re taking a strange year, turning it into a positive and getting proactive. You’re showing your customers, your employees, and your vendors that things can be normal -- even when they’re not. And most importantly: you’re showcasing to your people, to your community, that they’re what matter most.
It’s a high-value, high-impact sales strategy that generates results because it comes from a genuine place. And we’re more than a little confident that you’ll be happy with your decision to get started.
Here’s how to get the ball rolling: give us a shout today. Let’s chat about what you’re thinking -- or if you’re not sure about the specifics yet, ask us for our suggestions. (We’ve been doing this for long enough that we have a few up our sleeve.)
Once you get in touch, we’ll give you all of the process details you need to figure out your next steps. But regardless of your needs, and regardless of how you choose to implement the strategy, this is what we can promise you: it’ll be smooth. It’ll be easy. And it’ll be 100% worth it.
Look forward to connecting,
RJ