If you\’re a marketer, you understand why corporate gifts are a good marketing idea, you understand that each time you give them, you reinforce the value of your brand while connecting with your customers. If you\’re like most marketers, you find the choosing of corporate gifts to be daunting. But it doesn\’t have to be, if you keep a few tips in mind.

1. You\’ve got to know your customer inside out.

Personalized pens are very popular, but will the people on your corporate gifts list find them useful? Will it be appropriate? By that I mean, will they perceive it as you being cheap?

Personalized golf balls are a lot less popular than personalized pens, but if your intended recipients are avid golfers, they\’d like them more than they would personalized pens.

Of course, knowing your customers also means that you can match gift with occasion and recipient. Sometimes, it might be company policies at the recipients\’ place of work that you have to take into account, sometimes their age, sometimes their religion or traditions.

You will not make everyone on your lists happy all the time but you should please the vast majority. You can do that only if you have a good idea of who gets your gift.

2. Go for quality and usefulness over novelty.

Novelty wears off. Useful items remain useful. Besides, traditional items have a higher acceptance rate. Just because it\’s what people expect.

So, a wine or chocolate basket or coffee mugs, all nicely personalized are better than, say, edible white chocolate roses. Unless, of course, you know that the people you\’re giving them to are nuts about white chocolate roses. Or, at least, white chocolate.

If your budget objects to you spending $x per gift, give up number of gifts or size of gift, but not quality.

3. Include a quality gift card.

Quality, for the same reason you\’re giving a quality gift. A card because you get yet another chance to make a lasting impression. If you\’ve personalized the wine labels, your recipients will be aware of your company, or more so, if there\’s a gift card. Besides, many, I\’ve done it too, pin the cards they receive somewhere where others can see it.

So, don\’t include just any gift card.

Of course, before you even think of what gift you want to give, you should take into account feasibility. By which I mean, you can give gifts to current customers, to likely prospects, prospects who have requested information about your product or service, to former customers, or to anyone within x miles of your place of business. But you get the best ROI only from current customers and prospects who have requested information.

In other words, when you\’re dealing with corporate gifts, you do what you always do, segment and make sure the person you target is still at the same address, still in the same position (still the person who decides to buy or not, still the person who has influence over the person who makes the buying decision).

Author Bio: Now that you have a better idea of how to choose corporate gifts, you need to buy them. Clearly, quality promotional products are good. According to Dan M. Kennedy, you also need timely delivery. Because your heart doesn\’t deserve the stress of late delivery. Because corporate gifts received at the right.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: corporate gifts,promotional gifts,corporate gift,executive gifts,corporate gift ideas