Posts Tagged ‘corporate gift’
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Here in Britain we are slowly returning to work after the extended weekend that comes around every August. The Bank Holiday gives everyone a chance to enjoy a bit of extra time in the summer sun which should get us all ready for the build up to the next break we’ll get at Christmas. In Britain we face the very unusual situation of offices being either depleted or completely empty for much of August and the week over Christmas, but do our holidays make us more motivated at work?
An interesting article on the BBC website explores the freedoms we have with our holidays in Britain compared with the much shorter, and in some cases non existent holidays employees are granted in the USA. It would appear from reading the article that the US is the only country out of the top 21 richest in the world not to impose a legal mandate on employers granting time off. But what does this do to employee motivation? Do us Brits find ourselves more motivated as a result of our holidays or does the time they take up interfere with overall productivity?
There will be many views from many quarters arguing the merits or otherwise of employee holidays, but their effect on motivation should not be ignored. The idea of holiday allowance being awarded on merit or as a result of long service is one that may appeal to some companies as a way of offering an incentive to workers. But rather than motivating junior employees, could this approach just lead to staff resenting those co-workers who have holiday allowances that they don’t?
Burnout is also a factor in employees’ holiday as a well deserved break from work can ease stress levels and allow staff time away from the stresses and strains of work. Although work levels may be hit while employees take holiday, there is surely an argument that productivity levels out when compared with stressed, tired and unmotivated staff who have not been granted holiday.
There is no doubt that employees in Britain are lucky when it comes to their holiday allowance, and changes in the law over the years have made it a much fairer working environment for employees with rights and privileges that have never been seen before.
Employee motivation is now key, with bosses realising that they will get more out of a happy and rewarded workforce than by cracking the whip. Indeed, employee motivation is now big business, with strategies and award schemes being established to offer employees incentives and rewards for improving their work.
This British approach to working practices has done well to survive given the increasing use of American corporate motivation practices by UK firms. It would appear that whatever practices are adopted over here, there’s nothing that will ever stop us from enjoying our holiday.
Tags: Corporate Awards, corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in Corporate Gift Awards | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Corporate gifts are an effective business tool for marketing, motivation and as a reward for achievement. As we emerge from the back end of summer, many businesses will be turning their attentions towards Christmas, but can corporate gifts be just as effective the rest of the year round?
It is a slightly depressing thought but in the world of business, Christmas is just around the corner. With the nights getting darker and the mornings getting chillier, autumn announces itself just in time for businesses to start concentrating on Christmas. For corporate gifts it is the busiest time of year, with companies looking to celebrate with their staff and reward clients whilst getting the word out about their brand. But can corporate gifts be used throughout the rest of the year to achieve the same results?
The answer is of course yes. Motivation and rewards don’t begin and end with the Christmas festivities and corporate gifts can play an important role within marketing and staff incentives.
Branded corporate gifts are the best way to spread the word about a company as the gift can embody the spirit of the brand. They can be used to spread the word not only about the company but deliver it’s brand values to the end user. If a company are promoting their futuristic ideas and want to be seen as looking forward, this message can be transmitted by giving carbon fibre gifts, for example.
As well as marketing and brand awareness, corporate gifts also play a year round role in boosting motivation. Staff who are rewarded for their efforts will be more enthusiastic about their work, and this can only help productivity. Nothing replicates that feeling of receiving a gift whatever time of the year it is, and if that gift is given as a result of the work somebody has done it can have a profound affect.
In these times of austerity, where achievement cannot always be rewarded with a cash bonus, corporate gifts are a more affordable way for businesses to recognise the hard work of their employees. For companies who have been forced to make cut backs, they can give staff a welcome reminder that their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
With the attention of businesses starting to shift towards Christmas, don’t forget the benefits that giving corporate gifts can provide all year round.
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in Corporate Gift Range | No Comments »
Friday, August 20th, 2010
The amusing story this week of the English Professor who claims she was thrown out of Starbucks for refusing to use their corporate language has been one of those stories that everyone feels strongly about. The professor’s apparent distaste for corporate language seems to have resonated with many of us who object to being told how to use language by a company.
It’s easy to feel slightly stupid ordering coffee from an American store in Italian, then there is the added confusion of just what the names of those coffees actually mean. It’s not only this particular chain of coffee establishments that practice this form of marketing speak however, and now you feel like you should go armed with a phrase book whenever you enter a different coffee chain. Evolution takes place in every language, but have we seen the dawn of linguistic evolution started by corporations?
With stories like this it is easy to have a short memory and think that only modern companies are trying to get us to talk their language. There’s no doubt that it has become a legitimate marketing technique to use specific words, phrases and music to remind us of an individual brand. Starbucks use the terms tall, grande and venti to sell their different sizes of coffee, a practice that riles many people. There is an argument however that given the aura of exclusivity that goes with coffee drinkers in Britain and the US that pretentious language is part and parcel of the experience. After all, Starbucks haven’t done too badly at all out of the practice.
As I mentioned it would be misleading to believe that marketing terms entering everyday language is a new thing. How many people continue to “Hoover” the carpet, even though that particular term refers to a manufacturer and not a practice. We also make announcements over a “Tannoy” and “Google” a query online, yet these do not appear to provoke the same ire as the language used by a coffee establishment.
The real issue would appear to be the motives used by companies when this marketing terminology becomes part of language. The more accepted marketing and brand terms that are used appear to have naturally entered modern language without an obvious attempt by a marketing department to force feed us their language. In places where you are forced to order a product in the language given to you by a company, resentment can happen (has anyone else been tempted to tell the staff of a popular fast food chain to Mc off?!).
So what can the world of marketing and corporate gifts learn from this? Well, that there is no doubt associating language with your company is an effective way of promoting your business, but it’s the way you do it that counts. Come up with something snappy and inventive and if you’re lucky it might go viral. But don’t force people into accepting your brand language as you could very soon see people starting to avoid your company as a result.
And if you get lucky with your slogan and people love it, visit The Corporate Gifts Company and get it engraved on your next set of corporate gifts!
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in About The Corporate Gifts Company | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
There are many benefits to having a strong brand in business, and more than ever brand values are being used as a way for customers to find their way around an increasingly saturated marketplace.
Whether you’re an online business, a high street retailer, even a political party, brand identity is becoming an important way of getting a company noticed and enabling it to speak with one clear voice.
Once a business has decided to enhance their brand it can be difficult to know how to use it to their advantage. Companies may have invested a great deal of time and money into developing their brand, only for it to stagnate as they have difficulty in realising it’s potential.
The Corporate Gifts Company have come up with a guide to getting the most out of your brand to make sure a company’s efforts don’t go to waste.
1. Make sure it gets noticed
Many businesses choose to rebrand in order to better communicate their brand values and create an identity in the market place. In order to do this, your brand needs to be thrust under the noses of the people who will take notice, whether that’s potential customers, existing customers, suppliers or shareholders.
Promotional products can help to do this. Promotional stationery and promotional items can help with this, as it puts your brand in a prominent position in the workplace or the home. Whether it’s promotional pens, promotional t-shirts or promotional calendars, items such as these can help companies spread the word about their brand, their business and their product, getting themselves noticed by the people that matter.
2. Use your brand to motivate staff
The right brand used correctly has the ability to inspire and galvanise a workforce. It can be used to transmit the core message of the business throughout the company, ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction. It is important that everyone working for the company is made aware of the brand and taught how to use it correctly to make sure the message is kept consistent.
Use a brand launch to make a special event out of the occasion. Rather than just replace old stationery and logos with new ones, give the event a real sense of occasion to get staff excited about the brand and it’s message. This will not only encourage staff to accept it but also provide an important occasion to educate them on the message and how to use it correctly. Promotional banners and branded corporate gifts can be used to give the event a special feel, as well as corporate awards to encourage staff to be an ambassador for the brand and raise awareness.
3. Be Prepared
The strongest brands are those that have prepared in advance. Before launching your brand, consider what message you want to portray and what voice you want to transmit. It can be easy to get carried away with colour schemes and logo designs, so think carefully about what you want your company to say before deciding on a brand image. This is especially important if you are a charity or an organisation that gives opinion and advice. If there are tricky or controversial issues that your company gives advice on, it is important to decide on your position before your brand launches. This can save answering tricky questions when it’s too late to change.
Once you have launched your brand effectively, don’t be shy about it! Use promotional gifts and promotional products to show off your brand to anyone who will listen!
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts, promotional gift, Promotional Gifts, promotional product, promotional products
Posted in Promotional Gifts | No Comments »
Monday, August 9th, 2010
Unlike other business sectors, charities depend on donations and hard, often unpaid work to raise the funds they need to be able to make a difference. Whether it’s voluntary workers in a charity shop, regular donors or someone with a high profile giving their time to increase the charity’s popularity, they often owe a great deal of gratitude to people making the effort on their behalf.
People often don’t expect to be rewarded or thanked for the work they do for charity as the effort they make is often for a cause that means a lot, so merely participating is enough. But charities, like every other business sector, need to maintain a motivated and inspired team in order to make sure their targets are met, and sometimes incentives and awards can help charities to improve even further.
Using corporate gifts and corporate awards to reward voluntary staff and principal donors can be an effective way of keeping charity supporters motivated and willing to continue to support the charity.
Corporate Gifts To Incentivise Staff
Whether staff are paid or voluntary they need to be motivated to perform to the best of their ability. When volunteering their time to help out charities they will often be driven by their support for the work the charity does, but once the reality of the work involved sets in it can be a challenge to maintain that level of motivation. By using corporate gifts to reward staff for their efforts it can help them to continue to feel motivated to work hard for the charity. Items such as branded
cufflinks and photo
frames can provide a wonderful keepsake that people will be proud to display, which will have the joint effect of motivating the staff and raising the profile of the charity. By rewarding volunteer staff with branded corporate gifts there will be more people showing off the logo of the charity and displaying their name, giving valuable visibility for the cause concerned.
Corporate Awards To Recognise Achievement
In every business sector there will always be individuals who exceed expectations. By hosting an awards ceremony or even handing out a trophy in the office, hard working individuals can be rewarded for their achievements. Corporate awards can be especially useful for charities as the amount of good work undertaken for the charity opens up a huge amount of possibilities for award categories, with staff, volunteers and even users of the charity eligible for a corporate award. An awards event can also bring with it much press interest, giving the charity concerned valuable exposure.
If you would like to use corporate gifts or corporate awards to reward your staff, visit http://www.corporate-gifts-co.com or http://www.corporate-awards.net for more information. If you are from a charity you can receive a 10% discount on your order.
Tags: Corporate Award, Corporate Awards, corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in Corporate Gift Range | No Comments »
Friday, August 6th, 2010
When shopping for anything, customers want to have choice. Whether it’s baked beans in a supermarket or a brand new car, consumers are increasingly facing an ever growing choice of products designed to appeal to their needs.
While this move towards consumer personalisation opens up a whole new world of choice, all these decisions can make life more complicated. When offered a whole world of choice, where do you even start knowing what you want?
When you are promoting your business through corporate jewellery it is important that your exact needs are met. That is why Corporate Jewellery offer a bespoke product service that will design corporate jewellery to your specific requirements. But this can open up the same consumer dilemmas that we face in everyday life. Once you’ve decided on which product to choose, you then need to think about size, shape, colour and a whole other range of decisions. When faced with so many options, it can be difficult to come to a decision.
That is why Corporate Jewellery will offer you a personal service that is designed to help you through every step of the process. Once you have requested a quote and mockup, you will receive a personal service from one of our experienced sales team who will talk you through your options to ensure you receive the corporate jewellery that meets your requirements.
Even if you aren’t sure exactly what you want, Contact Us to discuss your corporate jewellery needs.
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts, Corporate jewellery, corporate jewelry
Posted in Corporate Gift Range | No Comments »
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Despite an upturn in the economy, times are still tough for many businesses. As the economy slowly grinds back into recovery after one of the worst recessions in history, many companies have had to rethink the way they do business in the light of redundancies and financial worries.
Some businesses who were used to putting on conferences in glamorous locations around the world have had to take a step back in recent years, some restricted by a lack of cash and some not wanting to make the wrong impression after having to make redundancies.
Although not as glamorous as European capital cities or other high profile venues across the world, UK locations can provide the perfect solution to companies looking to host a conference on a budget. The UK has the perfect infrastructure to host successful conferences, with beautiful locations and many corporate gifts companies available to make sure the conference goes with a bang. If companies are jetting people in from afar to attend the conference, they can be guaranteed an experience comparable to any European location, and is guaranteed to make for a memorable event.
If you are hosting your conference in the UK and need corporate gifts to create the right impression, visit The Corporate Gifts Company for premium corporate gift ideas.
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in About The Corporate Gifts Company, Corporate Gifts Business Opportunities | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
At The Corporate Gifts Company, we keep an eye out for stories of vintage promotional gifts and promotional products raising a fortune at auction, and the latest example comes from Michelin, as was reported on in this article from The Drum.
200,000 Euro was raised from the sale of classic promotional products, and for established names like Michelin, promotional items can be extremely collectible.
Michelin are not alone in producing much sought after promotional gifts. Brand names like Coca Cola and Guinness are world renowned for producing collectible promotional items, and both have made separate industries out of their promotional wares.
Although not every company can produce such collectible promotional items, it shows what can be achieved with relevant, high quality promotional products. By producing unique, brand consistent promotional gifts, you will not only enhance your reputation but you might well end up producing items that are sought after by staff and customers. Remember, the more people who want your promotional products, the more places you logo and brand will appear.
For more information and ideas on promotional gifts, visit http://www.corporate-gifts-co.com.
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts, promotional gift, Promotional Gifts
Posted in Promotional Gifts | No Comments »
Monday, July 19th, 2010
The benefits that corporate gifts can bring as a marketing tool have been discussed frequently on this blog. As well as rewarding customers and enhancing the company’s brand, they are an important way of spreading the word about a business.
One less talked about use for corporate gifts is in their application as a staff incentive. Corporate gifts can make staff feel valued and that their work is being appreciated which in turn will inspire them to maintain their efforts. In addition to this, corporate gifts can also be given for meeting sales targets, a method that will prove successful in driving industry.
As well as corporate gifts, corporate awards are also proving to be an effective way of maintaining staff motivation. Whether they are used for rewarding high achievers or presenting at an industry awards event, corporate awards can add a touch of Hollywood glamour to a work environment. Corporate awards come in all shapes and sizes, with trophies and plaques that can be made into a variety of bespoke shapes and sizes.
When used for rewarding special achievement, corporate awards can be effective in raising the morale of more people than just the recipient. If staff see their colleagues efforts being openly rewarded, it establishes a positive working atmosphere so people can see that their work does not go unnoticed.
Browse The Corporate Gifts Company range today and see how corporate gifts and corporate awards can help to motivate your team. We also have a sister site at http://www.corporate-awards.net where you can order bespoke corporate awards made to your own specifications.
Tags: Corporate Award, Corporate Awards, corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in About The Corporate Gifts Company, Corporate Gift Awards | No Comments »
Monday, July 12th, 2010
The Corporate Gifts Company have released their first new brochure for two years to mark an exciting period for the company. With the country emerging from the economic crisis, they felt that the time was right to venture into brochure production once more.
It will include new products and old favourites including the new Formula One inspired Carbon Fibre Range as well as a variety of golf themed gifts, clocks and key rings.
The Corporate Gifts Company brochure is highly regarded within the industry and many commented that they missed it last year. Web Marketing Assistant Alan Grainger explains:
“Last year, based on discussions with our customers, we decided that because of the economic climate we couldn’t justify producing a brochure at that time. I am happy to say that our new catalogue maintains our previous high standards and will be as stunning as ever.”
The brochure includes some new additions to The Corporate Gifts Company range which Alan believes are fun as well as functional:
“The new brochure gives our customers a great chance to see our new items, from our extremely popular Carbon Fibre range to some great new products with the “Fiddle Factor”. The sight of Company Directors playing desk golf with our golf club pen will show that office gifts can be fun as well as functional.”
The catalogue is available now and can be ordered for free through The Corporate Gifts Company website. (Click here to order your free copy.)
Tags: corporate gift, corporate gifts
Posted in About The Corporate Gifts Company | No Comments »
|
|
