What is Corporate Gifting?

Let’s face it, everyone loves receiving a gift. Gifting is an experience that creates good emotions and positively affects both the giver and receiver. Studies have found that “gifts can elicit feelings of gratitude, which is integral to happiness, health, and social bonds.” It seems that gift-giving can go a long way to improve not only personal relationships but business relationships as well. 

That’s not all, the impact of gift giving is quantifiable as well. According to Forbes.com, “Over 80% of people said gifts have improved relationships with employees and/or clients, with 48% saying gifting delivered a substantial benefit.” 

Whether you are looking to build relationships or brand loyalty with employees, customers, or prospects, corporate gifting is worth incorporating into your HR strategy. 

What is Corporate Gifting? 

Corporate gifting is the act of giving a gift from your company to an employee, customer, or prospect. The intent of corporate gifting is usually to build relationships and build brand recognition, whether internally or externally. 

Corporate gifting has a track record of success. According to Instapage, 80% of people surveyed said they are more likely to do business with a company when they provide a personalized experience, such as a gift. Simply put, corporate gifting cannot be ignored. 

There are many types of corporate gifts. There are physical gifts like gift baskets or swag. There are also non-physical gifts such as digital gift cards and experiences. There is no right choice when it comes to corporate gifting, but there is a great meaningful gift for any different occasion. 

Why is Corporate Gifting Important?

There are 3 main reasons to develop a corporate gifting strategy at your company. 

• Corporate gifting helps your employees feel seen and appreciated
• Corporate gifting builds relationships with prospects 
• Corporate gifting shows existing clients your gratitude 

Let’s look at these 3 reasons in-depth. 

Employee Appreciation

Giving your employees a gift is a great way to help them feel seen and appreciated. Just a small token of gratitude can go further than you’d think in the workplace.

There has been a significant shift in the corporate world in recent years. Employee appreciation and perks have been prioritized much higher in HR agendas. Employees are looking for more perks and are more discerning when it comes to choosing where they work. They are prioritizing their happiness in the workplace, and unfortunately, this has led to increased turnover. Employees are very important to a company and it is time to let them know how important they are to your company and how much you value them. 

Corporate gifting is perfect to recognize their accomplishments at work, such as a work anniversary or reaching goals. You can also make sure they know you see them personally as well. Celebrate special occasions with a corporate gift, like employee’s birthdays or personal milestones such as weddings and new babies. Corporate gifting is a way to create a work-family culture and will go a long way toward keeping your employees motivated and inspired. 

Prospect Marketing 

Corporate gifting is a great way to prospect for clients and increase your market share. When used with sales outreach, it can be very effective in closing deals. 

Prospecting is an important part of any company’s success. Most companies cannot be successful without a healthy client base. Corporate gifting is a great way to encourage prospects to do business with you, as well as create brand awareness. 

When it comes to corporate gifting to prospects, it is best practice to follow up on your first meeting or phone call with a corporate gift. This will help you stand out in their mind and show that you are serious. Branded items are a great option to send to keep your company’s name at the top of their mind as well. 

Client Appreciation 

Corporate gifting is a great way to make every client feel like a VIP customer at your company. Even if your corporate gift is small or a standardized item for all, this white glove treatment reminds them that you care about their business—and them personally.

Sometimes, in the course of conducting business day-to-day, existing clients can be forgotten in terms of appreciation. They are the heart of any business and it is important to let them know continually that you appreciate the relationship. It is imperative to build long-lasting relationships with your customers. 

Help your clients know that they are more than a number to your company by adding corporate gifts to your customer service program. You can create an entire experience for your customers through corporate gifting or just simply send a note of appreciation. Some great occasions to send corporate gifts are their anniversary of when they started doing business with you, when their company wins awards or reaches milestones, and even for personal events in their lives. 

When Is It Appropriate to Give a Corporate Gift? 

Corporate gifting is appropriate for many occasions, and you don’t really need a specific reason for a corporate gift. You can always send a thoughtful gift, just because!

To make corporate gifting easier for your organization or human resources team, we’ve created a short list to help you:

Work Anniversaries

Work anniversaries are when an employee has been with a company for a certain amount of time. It is important to celebrate this occasion as it rewards and encourages loyalty to the company. Employee turnover is costly in both financial ways and inconvenience. It is much better to encourage employees to stay with your company. 

Corporate gifts are very appropriate to celebrate work milestones. The best practice would be to set standard years that you gift each employee when they get to that point. You can give a corporate gift incrementally, like at 5 years and 10 years, but consider the 1st anniversary as well. Build that company loyalty and dedication early in an employee’s career with you. 

Work Achievements

Many times in the corporate world, we hear loud and clear when we are not performing at our best. To build a positive corporate environment, it is so important to celebrate your employee’s wins. Set specific goals with your employees that are appropriate for their work function, whether it’s sales, customer service, etc, and reward them with a corporate gift when they reach those goals. It is also a fun idea to reward teams as a whole with gifts when they reach team goals. 

Welcome Gifts for New Clients or Employees

Whenever you onboard a new client or employee, it would be a great welcome to send them a corporate gift. This is a good time to send branded swag as it will help the new employee or client feel a part of the work family. It is always good to go with as high-end of a branded product as you can according to your budget. One nice gift is better than several cheap ones. 

Employee Birthdays

No matter how old we get, it always feels great to celebrate a birthday. Help your employees feel seen and special on their big day.

A group birthday e-card is a great way to recognize a member of your team’s birthday. You can create a card and invite your team members to contribute. Then you just send it to the birthday employee through email. The whole process takes just a few moments, and they have digital keepsake forever.

Personal Milestones

If you are looking to create a strong corporate culture with your employees or clients, it is a great idea to celebrate their personal milestones—just as you would a work milestone. Send a corporate gift for their personal occasions such as weddings or when they welcome new babies.

This helps them feel that they are a part of the team and cared about as an individual. Corporate gifting in this circumstance will go a long way to help your clients and employees feel that they are more than just a number.

Holidays

As a classic example, holidays are a great opportunity to send corporate gifts. Send your employees and customers gifts for any holiday to help them feel seen and appreciated.

Christmas or New Year is a great time to send corporate gifts. Everyone will love having a gift arriving at their home or office to celebrate those special times of the year. 

Sympathy

Whenever someone loses someone in their lives, it means so much to see the flowers and gifts that are sent to express sympathy for that loss. They truly stand out as a bright note in a dark time. 

Sending a corporate gift in sympathy or memorial like that will go so far as to let your employees and clients know you care about them. Flowers and gift baskets are great options for this circumstance.

Client Appreciation 

You can also use corporate gifts to let current customers know how much you appreciate your business. 

Although you can time these to milestones and events, it’s thoughtful to send client appreciation gifts at random times for no reason at all. This brightens their day and helps build customer loyalty to your company from the customer. 

Prospecting Gifts

Corporate gifting is a great marketing technique for prospects. Help your company stand out in the crowd by sending a corporate gift after your first contact or meeting. Include a thank you card thanking them for their time and for considering your company for their business needs. This will set you apart from other companies and keep you at the top of their minds when they are making a decision. 

What Should I Gift? 

There are many options for corporate gifts to send to employees, customers, and prospects. To get you started, here are some corporate gift ideas. 

Company Swag

Branded high-end gear is a great corporate gift for employees, customers, and prospects. Many corporate gifting companies make it easy to select and customize an item. It can be water bottles, clothing, electronics, blankets, etc. Branded swag is the best corporate gift to help employees and customers feel like they are part of the team while building brand awareness and loyalty. 

Gift Baskets

Gift baskets are another great option for a corporate gift. They allow you to look into your employees’ or customers’ interests and customize the perfect gift for them. If you have a chocolate-loving employee, send them a chocolate-themed gift basket. 

There is a gift basket for every occasion. Surprise and delight your employees or customers by sending them a personalized eco-friendly gift basket as a corporate gift and make a lasting impression. 

Gift Cards

Gift cards are a convenient corporate gift to get your customer or employee. 

You can go in several different directions with a gift card. You can get them:

• a gift card to their favorite restaurant for a fabulous dinner on the company. 
• a universal gift card to somewhere like Amazon or Target so they can pick what they want. 
• a gift card for an experience, such as a spa, bungee jumping, or a movie. 
• a physical gift card where you go to the store, purchase, and then physically gift it.
• a digital gift card that’s emailed to them.
  
  We recommend sending a group e-card and providing the option of sending a gift card along with it. The team can provide words of appreciation, personalize it with photos and gifs, and can contribute monetarily, if they choose.

Why Wait to Send Corporate Gifts? 

Get started today by creating a corporate gifting strategy at your office. Determine your budget for the year and create a calendar to help decide the occasions to send corporate gifts. This helps you schedule the gifts far in advance.Once it’s on the calendar, you’ll have plenty of time to order the perfect gift and have it customized if necessary. Then, you are ready to get corporate gift giving and watch the magic happen!