Your customers and employees play a vital role in your company's success. Caring for those relationships is as essential as caring for the other assets in your business. Just like you have strategies to maintain and make the most of your company’s finances, operations, or infrastructure, you can have a strategy to take care of your customers and internal teams, too.
At Spoonful of Comfort, we love helping companies build these relationships through impactful and meaningful corporate gift-giving. Gifts are one of many ways to help recipients feel like they’re part of something bigger.
What Is a Gifting Strategy?
Corporate giving strategies outline how companies create touchpoints with customers and employees through gifts. Receiving a gift creates a feeling of connection. Recent studies show that customers with emotional connections to a business have a higher lifetime value of 306%. Keeping this in mind can help your business create meaningful and impactful corporate gift-giving policies to move your company forward.
5 Corporate Gift-Giving Ideas
When considering corporate gifting ideas and best practices, pay attention to relevant laws or policies. For example, government employees must follow specific regulations regarding the cost of gifts, while private companies typically have more flexibility. Regardless of what you decide to give, use these ideas to help your corporate gifts stand out.
1. Personalize Gifts
Be sure every recipient knows your gift is specifically for them. Include a card or gift tag with their name and why they received the gift. You may also express your appreciation for their business or hard work. An important part of our gift offerings is the ability to include a personal note on an actual note card (no generic, receipt-like greetings here). A well thought out message gives meaning to any gift.
2. Plan Ahead
Gifts planned ahead of time are more memorable and well-received than gifts quickly purchased at the last minute. You want to truly consider the gift and message you wish to send rather than just grabbing a cheap or generic gift because you’re running out of time. Planning ahead can ensure the recipient feels appreciated while avoiding stressful last-minute shopping.
Create a plan for gifting that shows how much you value your business relationships and team members. Similar to a business plan, a corporate giving strategy is a statement about gifting goals and how to achieve them.
3. Think Beyond Holidays
Of course, reaching out to people around the holiday season is important, but you don’t want your customers and employees to think they matter only once a year. Consider gifts to commemorate other meaningful days when planning your corporate giving strategies. You might send something for national holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, special events, or customer or employee appreciation days. Pay attention to individual life events your colleagues experience. Sending a gift to congratulate them on a new home or a new baby shows you value someone as a person and that you really care.
4. Tell a Story
Standard, generic gifts don’t make much of an impact. Instead, use gifts that tell a story, connecting what you’re sending with the occasion, the recipient, company, or brand. Your gift-giving story could be simple, like sending a bottle of sunscreen, a beach blanket, or a branded water bottle ahead of Independence Day, along with a message about enjoying the summer holiday.
5. Be Thoughtful
Consider gifts that mean something to the recipient. Ask for thoughts or suggestions from the employee’s manager, colleague, or someone who truly knows them and their interests. The same goes for customers; you could send surveys to learn about interests and hobbies, using the responses to send a personalized and meaningful gift.
Popular Gifts
If you plan, personalize the gift with a thoughtful note, and consider the recipient’s interests, you can’t lose. Here are some more ideas to get you thinking about unique ways your gift can convey meaning and leave the person feeling valued.
- A branded water bottle for workout enthusiasts, yogis, or busy parents
- Tickets to a favorite musical act or the show of a popular comedian in their area
- A self-care kit that includes bath salts, artisan soaps, eye masks, or spa passes for busy employees
- A stress relief package with a meditation guide, stress-relief ball, Play-Doh, or a journal for those under a lot of stress
- Tools, seeds, branded gloves, and a visor for gardening enthusiasts
- Baskets filled with coffee or tea for caffeine lovers
- A selection of books or a gift card to a local bookstore, along with bookmarks and comfy socks for avid readers
- Wine baskets packed with bottles of vino, cheese, crackers, olives, and dark chocolate treats for wine aficionados
- Movie gift packages that include popcorn, candy, and cozy blankets for fans of staying home and watching the latest flicks
How to Get Started
A corporate gift-giving strategy is like any other business initiative: it requires setting goals, measuring progress, and analyzing outcomes. When you connect with employees and customers through gifts, you can show how much you care. Your strategy lets your customers and employees know your brand has loftier aims than just profits—it’s about creating happier teams and forming long-lasting connections.
Give back to your employees and customers with Spoonful of Comfort’s corporate gift ideas today! We offer customized and unique gift options sure to delight all who receive them.
