It's that time of year, when cheese and sausage logs, popcorn tins and thank-you cards of all shapes and sizes start invading your mailroom. For every fruitcake that arrives in your inbox, there are a dozen gourmet chocolate boxes on its way to you from vendors, business partners and other associates, ready to be eaten—or left to clutter the office kitchen.
Sure, letting customers know how much you appreciate their business is great, if not expected, during the holiday season. But the art of giving customer gifts is tricky, as this New York Times article shows. The dregs of your gifts might end up in the conference room, with employees
wondering who gave the gift. Your budget may only allow for top customers to get gifts, which means your middle and bottom-tier clients get short shrift. Or your gift might just be something that your client downright hates. Who really eats those fruitcakes, anyway?
But gift giving is done not only to show appreciation, it's also to do some branding in the name of holiday spirit. Here are some tips to guide your corporate gifting this season, culled from the article and from the personal experiences of the S&MM staff:
* Clearly brand your gift, preferably with more than just a loose tag that can fall off. Customized wine labels or imprinted gift boxes should do the trick.
* Try to match the gift to the corporate culture. For instance, an Internet firm will probably appreciate something more trendy or unusual, while a more conservative old-economy company might appreciate the more traditional wine box or gift basket.
* Cull your employees for ideas. They might have some insight into good gifts and how to stay in budget. And take into consideration an employee’s personality, too. For instance, if they are athletic, they might know what to best give a sporty client.
* If you’re donating to a charity, don’t pick a cause that may not reflect your client’s political or social views. Try to choose a neutral charity or one that directly benefits the recipient’s community.
* If you have a massive list of recipients, check to see if any of them work in the same company. It’s better to make sure those folks get gifts on par with one another—or you might have one recipient envying the other’s gift.
For more ideas, check out our story on employee and customer gift-giving this month, Present Perfection.
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