The Ultimate Corporate Gifting Guide For Businesses

As a company, you should always be looking for ways to improve and stay ahead. In your efforts, you're probably doing market research, budgeting for advertising, and improving your products and services. Throughout all of this, you might be missing out on a huge opportunity that not many companies utilize.

Corporate gifting is a great way to take the next step in your business. Gift giving is like sticking out your hand, meeting others halfway, and receiving a closer relationship in return. As a result, your business can reap the rewards.

To learn more about what corporate gift-giving can do for you, read this comprehensive guide!

What is Corporate Gifting?

Corporate gifting is simply the act of a corporation buying and giving a gift to someone. In general, gifting is a gesture either in response to an action or done in the hopes of causing a positive reaction. It is a great way to create a touchpoint with a benefactor and build a relationship.

There are several different types of corporate gifting.

Employee Gifts

The first type of corporate gifting is for employees. OGO put out a survey and found that 82% of American employees felt they aren't appropriately recognized by their company. These high numbers can fuel turnover and cause decreased productivity.

By regularly going out of your way to recognize your employees, you can increase morale and therefore improve motivation to work. Your production numbers will be much higher and you won't lose employees to other companies. 

In addition, the onset of sudden increased remote work has left new and old employees feeling disconnected from their company. Without the physical presence in the office and face-to-face meetings with coworkers and management, employees lack connection with the company.

Corporate gifting can help employees feel welcome and recognized in a remote environment. It will help the company make a connection with the employee and build a relationship that will improve morale and retention.

Often, companies give out awards that sit on a shelf and collect dust. While these gestures are nice, nothing will make an employee feel more appreciated than a quality gift they can use. Corporations should consider genuine gifts like leather travel bags for work-related travel.

Customer and Client Gifts

You might already have loyal and happy clients, but that can lead you to get a bit lazy with recognizing their relationship with your brand. Corporate gift giving can help keep in touch with loyal clients so that they feel special and valued.

Buying client gifts for new clients can also be a great way to improve your business. You'll add an extra special touch to the client onboarding process that increases chances of retention and loyalty.

You can also choose to send gifts to customers based on their purchases. For instance, if they've spent a certain amount on your products or services, you can send a complimentary leather wallet. 

Gift-giving like this can help improve your base of clients and customers so that your business can confidently grow.

Prospect Gifts

You might be wondering, "Do prospects deserve gifts if they haven't committed to buying yet?" If that's the case, you'll want to take a look at these numbers.

Without something to set you apart from the competition, you won't be reaching your revenue goals. Hubspot found that 72% of companies didn't achieve their revenue goals if they were only pulling in 50 or fewer new sales opportunities per month. 

Corporate gifting can be a great way to increase these opportunities and nurture the prospects into converting. Dedicating your time and money to providing quality gifts to prospects shows them that you care about their decision to buy from you.

You can try sending a gift as a thoughtful thank you for spending time speaking on the phone or following up. You can also try offering "swag" as a way to increase brand awareness, build brand identity, and thank the prospect for considering your businesses.

How to Do Corporate Gifting Well

Corporate gifting should fit into a set strategy for your marketing and sales teams. The gift should promote of sense of appreciation, whether that's the employee's dedication, a customer's loyalty, or a prospect's time.

There are several best practices you should follow when building your corporate gifting plan. If you follow these rules, your gifts will be received the way they are intended and lead to desirable results.

Set Goals That Would Trigger The Gift

When you're looking to give out gifts but want to stay within your budget, you can't just decide on the spot whether to give a gift. Successful corporate gifting relies on a strategy with set goals and results.

For example, you should have a plan for which actions will trigger a gift. For employees, this could mean that employees receive a gift for a certain amount of years working at the company. They could also receive a gift for a special sales accomplishment.

For customers and clients, you could send out a gift every time a customer makes a purchase over a certain dollar amount. You could also send out a gift for customers that have helped promote your brand in some way.

For prospects, you could decide to send gifts to prospects who agreed to meet for a fifteen-minute discovery call or receive follow-up materials about a product.

By knowing which actions trigger gifts, you can predict how many gifts you'll be sending out and budget accordingly. As gifting works its magic, you'll see an increased amount of these goals achieved and can adjust your budget and goals.

Make Gifts Worth Receiving

Companies have created and given out a lot of free merchandise over the years. Employees, clients, and prospects have gotten very used to receiving branded pens, for example, and might not see value in these gifts anymore. Any gifts that can be seen as gimmicky and overly branded can be perceived as cheap and worthless.

When clients, prospects, and employees receive gifts, they should get the feeling that the company put thought into them. This shows that the company sees them as people worth investing in.

Therefore, for corporate gifts, think more about gifts of value. Your planning should have allowed you to budget better for giving more quality gifts. Gift items that people can appreciate like gift cards or weekend bags.

Start Corporate Gifting Now

It's settled. Corporate gifting is one of the best ways to improve employee morale, increase conversions, and improve customer loyalty. Never underestimate what giving a quality gift will do for your business.

Lederhaus is a premium producer of handcrafted leather goods. Nothing says appreciation more than a beautiful leather corporate gift! Browse our store for everything from luxe leather travel bags to wallets.