Finding the perfect holiday gift for your senior parents who seem to have everything, the aunt that you only see on holidays or the brother-in-law whose only wish is for things that come in 12 ounce brown bottles can challenge even those with the best of intentions. The only thing more challenging can be finding the perfect holiday gift for your company’s important customers, those sought after prospects and your valued employees. Here we share some tips for selecting the ideal business gifts. Also, be sure to check out the 101 Holiday Business Gift Ideas from the menu on the left for some specific holiday gift ideas for businesses.
Most businesses want to give a gift that will not only appeal to the broadest scope of their targeted recipients but which will stand-out as a positive reflection on the company giving the gift. Few companies have the time, resources or budget to choose gifts selected for each of the dozens, hundreds or even thousands of recipients that they want to show their appreciation to. As a result, they must choose a few gifts that will have the greatest potential of meeting these objectives with the broad spectrum of individuals on the gift list.
Companies should consider the following guidelines which choosing holiday gifts for their customers and employees:
- Reflect Your Values. Gifts are a reflection on the company and should be consistent with the values of the company. Companies encouraging a health conscious workforce might consider non-food gifts or healthy gift basket options for example.
- Foster Your Image. Gifts can help shape the image of a company. Company’s seeking to be perceived as state-of-the-art can help foster that image with innovative gifts.
- Remember the Individual. While gifts may be given to customers or employees, ultimately they are given to individuals – don’t lose sight of the personal nature of a gift. For example, while your largest customer may be a women’s cosmetic company, they will most likely employee many men in key positions.
- Be Inclusive. Every executive at your customer’s company has a support staff that enables them to be successful. Focusing on the executive alone and ignoring the staff may mean that you’re ignoring the gatekeeper who grants access to the executive throughout the year. Consider gifts to administrative assistants or even a gift tin of goodies for the office staff.
- Give What They Want. The gifts that are most appreciated by recipients are those that they will use and enjoy. An attractive or functional gift will always be viewed more favorably and have a longer life.
- Avoid the Vacuum Cleaner. Use caution when giving employees work-related gift for the holidays… it’s like your father giving your mother a vacuum cleaner, it may go over with a loud thud. If giving a work-related gift to employees, make sure it is something that they wouldn’t have ordered themselves through the company’s Office Depot contract.
- Leverage Branding Tastefully. As a business, it’s important to include your logo on gifts as a reminder to recipients so you realize the full value for your brand. Even a ham or turkey can be branded to include a cutting board featuring your company’s logo and, potentially, a holiday message. Be sure to include logos tastefully on products focusing more on branding than billboard marketing.
- Don’t Forget the Package. Consider utilizing customized boxes, gift wrap, tissue and ribbon tastefully presenting your logo or holiday message to further reinforce your brand on holiday gifts. Custom packaging is a great way to brand items that aren’t customizable.
- Go Ahead Show Off. Give gifts that the recipients will be proud to show off to further leverage the benefit of your branding. While this is especially valuable for customers, it is equally important for employees. Consider the message that a proud employee delivers when showing off their gift to friends and family… who may just be prospective employees or customers themselves!
A few tips for corporate holiday gift givers:
- This year it is more important than in recent years to consider ordering branded gifts early. Due to the recession, many suppliers have cut back on inventories. As the economy improves, suppliers are increasingly experiencing shortages on some of the most popular products. Ordering early will help to ensure the best selection of products and color options.
- While many products have faster production times than ever before, lead-times over the holidays can increase even for these rush and quick ship products. In general, it’s a good idea to finalize orders by Thanksgiving to ensure delivery for the holidays.
- Orders can be placed in advance and scheduled for later deliveries. Companies can place orders at any time and schedule delivery just before their holiday event or when they are ready to begin delivering the gifts to recipients.
- When ordering chocolates and other perishables, keep in mind that these products are typically shipped to avoid storage over weekends. This means that these orders will generally not be available for Monday deliveries. In warmer weather, expedited shipping may be required depending on delivery location.
- Some suppliers, especially suppliers of Gift baskets, Hams, Turkeys and perishable items, can ship direct to a list of individual recipients with pricing based on quantity and delivery locations.
For some specific Holiday Gift Ideas, check out our 101 Holiday Business Gift Ideas on the left menu to help your company BNoticed this holiday season!
Happy Holidays from your friends at BNoticed.
