It’s time to start deciding what corporate gifts are suitable for your customers to receive from you as their annual Christmas gift. Whether you are a large or small business, these are a great way of bringing more business over the coming winter months and reminding them that you still exist.
It’s always ‘nice’ to receive a gift from those companies that you have done business with. It shows that they are thinking of you and value your custom. So, have you considered what promotional gifts you are going to be sending this year?
Thinking about end of year promotional ideas may seem early, but by the time you have found the best prices, given them your logo, checked the set-up and had whatever printed, time has soon slipped by. And with items like diaries, it pays to be in there first. Once your customer has moved their contacts over to your diary, they are not likely to move them again to another diary this year.
So what sort of items should you be considering? Decide on a budget, work out how many you need to send and that tells you how much you can spend per item. Don’t forget that this is an important piece of marketing work for your company – you are reminding customers that you exist and tempting them to come back to you or maybe even refer you to their acquaintances.
Once you have your budget worked out then that will pretty much tell you what you can and can’t use. But also consider distribution. If you are sending Christmas cards this year then gifts that you can slip into the envelopes will be a bonus – especially if they don’t add much to the weight or size – they may cost nothing extra to send!
Pens and pocket diaries are, of course, the staple promotional product at the end of the year, each distributing well with the Christmas cards. But don’t forget those calendars as well – I refer almost daily to a calendar I was given as a gift last year. And the calendar idea can be used in combination with other gifts.
Regular customers of promotional items know that cheap mouse mats can be printed with a calendar. OK, a mouse mat isn’t going to fit into a Christmas Card, but the envelope doesn’t have to be much bigger. And along with the calendar you can fit in other useful information, or adverts for complimentary businesses – who could be paying you for the space they use on the mouse mat.
As long as your promotional gift is in some way useful many recipients are going to keep hold of it – and then for a long time they’ll remember your generosity and maybe place more regular orders!