Promotional items can have a huge impact on your customers.
In times when we are forced to scrutinize every penny we spend for the immediate return it can bring, it is hard not to groan at the upcoming season of gift-giving, holiday parties, and the promotional push that precedes our customers’ busiest shopping months. Some business owners look at diminished profits, throw up their hands, and decide to slash promotions, cancel get-togethers, and leave their employees entirely without reward.
We are here to tell you that there is a better way.
First, remember what you’re cutting. By not giving company gifts or recognition, you cut morale. What is more important than morale among your employees, especially if you have had to let someone go? By not giving promotional gifts to your best customers, you cut loyalty, mindspace, and recognition. What can be more important than cementing relationships with your best customers in a time when they become the backbone of your economic survival?
These self-destructive cuts stem from a problem of perception. You may feel that previous extravagance renders smaller gifts less palatable. You may think that your smaller budget makes it impossible to purchase a memorable and high-quality gift. You may simply be unaware of your gift options, believing that gifts don’t make much impact on their receivers or aren’t really easy to make identifiable with your company. In all of these cases, it is your perception that needs adjusting more than your budget. Smaller gifts need not lack quality and compared with giving nothing, a small gift becomes much more attractive. You can use this season to your advantage, no matter your budget. Remember that even in corporate gift giving, it’s often the thought that counts.
To that end, here are 5 ways to give gifts make an impression no matter your budget.
1. Put your logo on everything - This almost goes without saying. If you do this for your employees, it gives them a sense of belonging and builds company identity and pride. If you do this for your customers, it keeps your name current in their minds through the continued presence of the gift, especially if the gift is useful or novel. This doesn’t have to be expensive: there are logoed promotional items that are within almost any budget.
2. Tiered Gift Giving – arrange your best customers according to some useful metric for your company. You might arrange them by how much they spent with you for the year or how long they’ve been a customer. Then, set up a hierarchy of how much you will spend on each level, this way your top customers can be afforded a more extravagant gift with the savings on the smaller gifts afforded the lower tiers. If you are very restricted by your budget, make the bottom rung of this ladder a hand-written, logo-emblazoned thank you card.
3. Keep your gifts novel – Sometimes an inexpensive gift really makes an impression if it is fun, strange, or otherwise noteworthy. We once did a promotion about “building up business” for which we created a logoed construction-helmet stress ball. They were universally loved by the customers and, years later, those little helmets still grace many desks, silently keeping our logo and name in view.
4. When you give less, say more – The inclusion of a handwritten note that personally thanks a customer or employee by name and highlights their relationship to you will help any gift mean more. This is especially true in these times when we pull our companies and their supporters closer together to weather the financial storm. Select a gift that helps to convey this message, and it will become a symbol of that relationship.
5. See an expert - I’m sure you were waiting for the promotion for Black Duck, and here it is. We sell promotional items and make gifts for people all year round, and moreover, we’ve handled company parties and gifts for decades. We can help. Seeing someone who keeps themselves constantly aware of new items and methods of decoration means all you have to have is the desire and a budget in mind to end up with a great gift solution.
Whether you are looking to reward your employees or strengthen bonds with your customers, remember that even a small gift says a lot, especially in these tough times. Give quality even when you can’t give quantity, and give from the heart. You will find the reward is more than monetary.
If you are in or around the Albuquerque area, be sure to come to Black Duck’s open house on holiday gift giving this November 4th from 12 – 6PM. We’ll have samples of all the best promotional products, snacks, door prizes, and the most knowledgeable staff to help you choose the best gifts for your budget. Please call us at (505) 884-3656 to RSVP.
