Although many of us still have a tan from our summer break, it is already time to start thinking about our Christmas plans. It’s a bit different when it comes to buying Christmas corporate gifts for a whole company so it pays to start thinking early about what the aims of your corporate gifts will be and how best to achieve them.
It’s often the case that there’s a motive behind every Christmas corporate gift, whether it’s marketing and promotions, staff incentives or corporate awards and so there will always be a preferred style of corporate gift to meet these specific requirements. So when you are planning this years Christmas corporate gifts, how do you go about getting the most out of them? Read on and find out how to reap the rewards from this years Christmas corporate gifts.
Marketing And Promotions
With the economy still pretty fragile, this year it’s all about value for money. Whereas in previous years companies have splashed out on business gifts for everyone they can think of this year it’s all about getting the right business gifts to the right people.
One of the drawbacks to the previous approach of sending Christmas corporate gifts out to the entire customer database is that the resulting gift was often a generic, cheap, branded promotional product that was easily forgettable and probably never seen again after the start of the New Year.
This year we are expecting the approach to be slightly different, with businesses choosing to be a little more selective with who receives a gift and ensuring that the item is a higher quality, personalised gift. It is all about saying thank you to your best customers and creating a lasting impression with those who you wish to do more business with in the future. In order to do this it is important to focus on quality over quantity and this applies to both the choice of gift and choice of recipient.
Think about who your company would benefit most from creating a lasting impression with. Often it is companies who you already do a lot of business with to show them that they are an important client but it can also be to businesses who you would like to introduce yourselves to or create closer ties with.
Personalisation is the key, so make sure you get something that is relevant to their industry, or have a more generic item engraved with their details to ensure that personal touch.
You can also go for the practical approach and buy a Christmas corporate gift that is useful and will be frequently used. These can be effective marketing gifts as an item branded with your logo that is frequently used means that your brand stands more of a chance of being visible to the company who you are trying to make an impression with. Items such as desk calendars can be effective at achieving this as they are guaranteed to be pointing your logo at the recipient for a whole year, a pretty effective reminder.
Staff Incentives And Staff Rewards
When Christmas comes around it is important to recognise the efforts and achievements of employees. Using corporate gifts as an incentive or as a staff reward can be an effective way of motivating a team and providing a way to focus a team’s efforts. Personalised Christmas corporate gifts also show that the individual’s efforts have been noticed and recognised. A box of chocolates or a bottle of wine is the tradition, but a personalised gift that is meaningful to the recipient will have a much greater effect on morale and motivation. Just this simple act will show an individual that they have been noticed.
Corporate Awards
One event that will motivate staff and provide something special to look forward to is a corporate awards evening. An end of year awards ceremony to mark the achievements of staff whilst throwing a party to remember is a way for everyone to unwind whilst recognising the efforts of the stars in a team.
There are two ways to go with what awards are given out. Companies can use bespoke corporate awards and trophies that have been branded and engraved to produce an awards evening, or use corporate gifts that can be awarded to more people and use it to recognise the work of everybody.
Which route you go down is completely dependant on the requirements of the company, so think about whether you want to acknowledge the efforts of individuals or reward the whole team.
Christmas is an important time for giving out corporate gifts, so think carefully about how you can use them to make the most of the occasion.
