How Corporate Gifts Can Help You Improve Sales

Building excellent relationships with clients is important to ensuring a steady stream of sales. There are many ways you can build good relationships, but perhaps the most important is showing your appreciation. There are many ways you can do this, whether it’s regularly keeping in touch to get feedback, or inviting them to your workplace, but one thing that works well is corporate gifts. They can be given on special occasions, when large orders are placed, or whenever you want to improve goodwill between companies. If you’re thinking of using corporate gifts in your business, here are some things you’ll need to consider.

How can corporate gifts be used?

Corporate gifts aren’t just for exhibitions or meetings. They have many uses in the corporate world, and can be given for loads of different occasions. Most corporate gifts are given to clients, which is a great way to build relationships, ensuring your company won’t be forgotten when your meeting ends. For example, you can arrange for t-shirt printing in Sydney next time you have a special event, and hand them out to attendees, giving them something more memorable than a business card.

Employees can also be incentivised by corporate gifts. With employee retention more difficult than ever, creating long service awards with prizes can show that you value your staff, and employees who are values are more likely to perform better. Branded items can also be sold directly to customers. If you have the sort of brand that has loyal customers and that people love, then it makes sense to let consumers show their appreciation by wearing a hoodie with your logo, or carrying something around with one of your designs.

Choosing corporate gifts

It’s important to think about what corporate gifts you want to give, as they say a lot about your brand. Are you budget or luxury? Practical or fashionable? Some popular corporate gifts include:

• T-shirts and hoodies
• Phone chargers and USB sticks
• Drink bottles, hats, and other accessories
• Umbrellas
• Sweets or chocolates
• Torches, tape measures and practical items
• Bags and document holders

Corporate gifts no longer consist of just office supplies such as pens and notebooks. Recipients want gifts that are fun and practical, and if you choose something they’ll use regularly, then you can ensure brand exposure in the long term.

Setting a budget

It’s important to not only decide what you can afford for your corporate gifts, but also what that amount says about your company. Gifts that are too expensive and lavish may make clients think you’re careless with the cash, while cheaply made products will give the impression that your products or services are inferior.

It’s worth investing in decent, well-made corporate gifts because of the potential return on invest (ROI) in the future. Not only are they good for above the line marketing, a general awareness of your brand, but also more specific below the line marketing, where you can target specific markets.

Business size

When choosing a corporate gift, think about the size of your business and how that affects your brand. Smaller businesses can certainly benefit from the use of corporate gifts, but the kind of gifts you give out are obviously going to be different to those created for larger corporations. This is why it’s important to use a company who understand the importance of branding, and can create a gift that’s suitable.

Getting the right design

For corporate gifts to be successful, you need to ensure they have the right design, and are made to a high standard. Using a local supplier allows you to go back and forth, working together on a design that’ll wow the recipient. Companies that are well-established are more likely to have the right tools and experience to create high-quality gifts.

If you are designing a corporate gift, it’s important to give some sort of information about your business, so you could include:

• Logo or business name
• Website address
• E-mail or Facebook page details
• Phone number

Determining ROI

You’ll often get feedback on corporate gifts as soon as you hand them over, and can often tell straight away whether they were a success. In smaller firms, where you know your clients personally, you’ll know straightaway when a gift has triggered an order. However, it can be trickier with larger firms. Think about the metrics you use to measure marketing in general. Corporate gifts are a very good way to raise your brand’s profile in general, and can be considered alongside more general marketing such as online advertising.

When to give gifts

There are lots of occasions where corporate gifts can be given. They’re great for conferences, where people will be getting loads of business cards, so they can help you stand out from the crowd. Around times such as Christmas or the major holidays, they can help you show appreciation, and you can even send them for business anniversaries, such as commemorating your first year of trading.

Raising sales

Corporate gifts not only raise brand awareness, but can encourage people to get in touch and enquire about your products. Whether it’s your website address or your phone number, having your details to hand means people are much more likely to make that enquiry, bringing you one step closer to another sale.

If you have a client who hasn’t ordered in a while, and you suspect they may have gone to another vendor, then it can be worth sending a corporate gift. It’s an excellent excuse to get back in touch, and can restart the conversation with them, helping you avoid losing valuable business.

Corporate gifts are a great way of building business relationships, helping to improve brand awareness and show clients that you appreciate their business. By keeping your business fresh in their mind, you can help increase sales, and encourage them to keep working with you in the long term. Corporate gifts don’t have to be expensive, but they can be a cost-effective way to target marketing to the right people.