Corporate Gifting: Your Go-To Guide

There’s no better time to go above and beyond for your clients and employees by giving them thoughtful and useful gifts. But before you go out and spend tons of money on random gifts, consider this complete guide to corporate gifting by BoxGenie. 

What Is Corporate Gifting?

Corporate gifting is the practice of sending gifts from your business to a number of different recipients. There are so many circumstances in which you may want to send a corporate gift, but some of the most popular occasions include birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, personal achievements, professional achievements, and welcomings. 

For example, you could send a gift to your employee to celebrate their birthday, work anniversary, or the birth of a new child. You could send a gift to your client to welcome them to the business, thank them for their business, or celebrate a new merger. 

The best thing about corporate gifts is that they don’t have to be extremely expensive or high-end in order to be effective. It’s truly the thought that counts. As a result, corporate gifting can and should be practiced by companies big and small, new and old. 

What Are the 3 Different Types of Corporate Gifting?

There are three distinct categories of corporate gifting that you need to understand to choose the best possible gifts for everyone on your list: 

1. Gifting for Prospects

Giving gifts to prospective clients can help you establish a good reputation with them right off the bat. Gifts can also act as an incentive to complete a specific action, for example, attending an informational meeting, signing a contract for services, or purchasing products. Statistics back up the effectiveness of gifting for prospects as 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with a company that offers them personalized experiences. 

2. Gifting for Clients

Giving gifts to current clients can help you build a strong and lasting relationship with them. It also helps you stay top of mind so that they’re more likely to purchase from you again. It shows that you go above and beyond with your customer service and truly value their business. That way, you can save money by keeping your existing clients instead of getting new ones. 

3. Gifting for Employees

Giving gifts to your employees can help you boost employee morale and loyalty. Your employees are your most valuable asset as a business, and corporate gift giving shows them that they matter to you. While gift-giving is no substitute for otherwise poor treatment of employees, it can go a long way toward establishing a positive and meaningful company culture. 

What Are the Benefits of Corporate Gifting?

We’ve already touched on some of the benefits of corporate gifting, but it’s important to discuss these benefits in greater detail to convince you of the importance of corporate gifting. 

1. Develop Relationships

Corporate gifts allow you to develop better and more meaningful relationships with prospects, clients, and employees alike. You simply cannot put a price tag on these relationships, so corporate gifting is well worth the investment. 

2. Build Brand Awareness

Corporate gifts also allow you to build brand awareness when given to prospects. Thoughtful gifts give prospects a great first impression of your company. From there, you can pretty much guarantee that they’ll spread the word about how amazing your company is. 

3. Boost Customer Loyalty

Corporate gifts do more than just win prospects over; they also help you maintain clients long-term. Clients will remember your generosity and thoughtfulness and will be more likely to purchase from your business again in the future. 

4. Improve Employee Morale

Corporate gifts can help improve employee morale, especially when times are tough. Even when things are going great, corporate gifts can help establish an incredible and appreciative company culture that helps you retain your best employees. 

5. Effective Advertising

Corporate gifts also act as effective advertising through word of mouth. Plus, by putting your brand name on products that you then distribute, you increase the chances that someone outside your current network will see them and want to learn more about your company. 

How to Find the Perfect Corporate Gift?

Finding the perfect corporate gift can be challenging due to the sheer amount of options available. Follow these three steps to find the perfect corporate gift for anyone and everyone on your list: 

Step 1: Think About the Recipient

For starters, it helps to think about the recipient. What do you know about them? What are their likes and dislikes? Use what you know to select a relevant gift that they’ll enjoy. If you don’t know them very well, make sure to choose an inclusive and widely-appealing gift. 

Step 2: Think About the Company

Next, you need to think about your company and what it represents. For example, are you a high-end and luxurious brand, or are you a low-key and casual brand? Your corporate gifts should reflect your brand personality. 

Step 3: Think About the Budget

Finally, you need to think about your budget. In most cases, corporate gifts don’t need to break the bank. However, if you’re trying to land a particularly valuable client, it may make sense to spend a bit more to really “wow” them with your gift.

10 Examples of Great Corporate Gifts

Now that we’ve covered the basics of corporate gifting, let’s go over ten examples of great corporate gifts you can give to prospects, clients, and employees alike: 

1. Snacks

Everyone loves food, which is why snacks make a great corporate gift! There are tons of snack gift baskets out there to choose from based on your company values and budget. For example, there are healthy snack boxes and junk food snack boxes. There are international snack boxes and domestic snack boxes. Some snack boxes even allow you to pick and choose which products to include so that you can tailor the products to fit your company. 

2. Baked Goods

We think that baked goods warrant their own category of corporate gifts. You can choose from your favorite baked goods, including cupcakes, brownies, cookies, cheesecake, donuts, chocolates, candy, cake pops, pastries, and more. With tons of flavors to choose from, your options are truly limitless. Just make sure to provide gluten-free and dairy-free options in case any recipients have a gluten or dairy intolerance. 

3. Coffee

Coffee also makes another great corporate gift since most professional adults depend on the stuff to function and survive. It’s best to include a wide assortment of different types of coffee since everyone has their preferences. You may also want to include coffee accessories like coffee mugs, coffee grinders, and coffee creamers. 

4. Personal Care

Show your employees and clients that they deserve to be pampered with personal care-themed corporate gifts. Skincare, body care, and spa sets are always safe bets. For women, you can go with hair care or even make-up products. Consider a high-end fragrance set if you want to go the extra mile. 

5. Plants

Let your recipients show off their green thumbs with a plant-related gift. These days, succulents are all the rage and would make a beautiful corporate gift since they require little skill and care. You may want to consider a flower seed or bulb gift set in the springtime. If you’re hesitant to gift actual plants, go with a gardening gift set with gloves and gardening tools in a nice carrying bag. 

6. Office Supplies

You can never have enough office supplies, which is why they make a great corporate gift. You can easily customize office supplies for each recipient. For example, you could give a personalized stationery set. Other office-related gifts include business card holders, desk caddies, mousepads, and ergonomic keyboards. 

7. Travel Supplies

Now that people are traveling again, it’s the perfect time to give travel supplies corporate gifts. Some great examples of travel supply gifts include:

•  Personalized luggage tags
• Passport covers
• Travel mugs
• Travel carrying cases
• Portable travel chargers
• Carry-on toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash, lotion, and toothpaste 

8. Reading Materials

Take an educational route with your corporate gifts by gifting reading materials. For example, you could give a top book related to your industry. You could also give a relevant magazine subscription. Just make sure that these gifts are relevant to your business or the recipient’s business instead of being completely random and potentially irrelevant. 

9. Electronics

If you’re a tech-savvy company, gifting electronics is a great approach to corporate gifting. Electronic gifts don’t necessarily have to break the bank, contrary to popular belief. Depending on your budget, you may want to consider gifts like headphones, fitness trackers, smart home devices, portable speakers, smartwatches, and tablets. 

10. Gift Cards

If you’re still hesitant to gift actual products, then gift cards could be a solid alternative. Gift cards give recipients the flexibility to choose their own gifts. It also allows them to enjoy experiences. 

For example, you could give a restaurant gift card to cover a nice dinner. You could also give a hotel gift card to cover a night away. Or you could give a multi-store gift card to cover a nice shopping spree. 

Bonus: Your Own Products

Finally, you could give your own products as corporate gifts. After all, there’s no better way to promote your brand than with your own products. This option is best suited for prospects and current clients rather than employees. 

5 Tips to Select the Best Corporate Gifts

Based on everything we’ve discussed thus far, here are five final tips to help you select the best corporate gifts: 

1. Buy in Bulk

If you’re looking for cost-effective corporate gifts, it might make sense for you to purchase your gifts in bulk. Buying in bulk can help lower your price point per item and can help you build a corporate gifting strategy that won’t break the bank. 

2. Make It Personal

Even if you do buy in bulk, you should still take the time to provide some degree of personalization to your corporate gifts. Even if it’s hand-writing a card, recipients will feel extra special thanks to personal details. 

3. Focus on Presentation

While the gift itself is certainly important, so is the presentation. Consider customized boxes for your corporate gifts along with packaging extras like filler, ribbons, tissue paper, stickers, and more. 

4. Provide Options

It always helps to provide your recipients with a few different gift options, that way, they can choose something that they like and will use. However, try to limit the choices to two or three, so it’s not too involved or overwhelming. 

5. Be Inclusive

Finally, be as inclusive as possible with your corporate gifting. Choose universally appealing items so that everyone can use and enjoy them. However, it may also make sense to choose niche items relevant to your industry. 

Final Rundown on Corporate Gifting

Now that you have the perfect corporate gifts, you need the perfect packaging. In this case, look no further than BoxGenie. BoxGenie offers customized packaging solutions for all your corporate gifting needs. 

Check out our boxes, dividers, and inserts, or make your own in our Design Studio. And as always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions. 

Sources:

The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Gifting in 2021 | Hoppier

7 Benefits of Corporate Gifting | LinkedIn

30 Top Corporate Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List | Indeed.com