5 Tips for Maximizing Corporate Gift Giving

With Christmas cheers in the air and festive decorations everywhere, we have officially entered the holiday season, and similarly, corporate gifting season. Almost every business gives out corporate gifts around this time of the year along with holiday greetings.

If you work at an office in a business that has business relationships with other businesses, the chance is you have received one of these before, and, more likely than not, some of them didn’t even make it to your handbag nor office desk before being immediately forgotten in a dark corner somewhere, or even worse, in a trash can. Especially for a major business hub like Singapore, unique gifts are the only ones that really survive the holiday seasons and do its job, which is leaving an impression. However, having an unique gift is not the only thing that will help you reach this goal – Let’s look at a few tips we have for your corporate gift giving this year.

Customise your corporate gift

If your business is ordering hundreds of the same gift for all your customers and business associates, it is difficult to make each gift special or different from another to make the recipient feel special. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Have your sales force and liaison staff hand write a short greeting for each recipient, and only do it for the recipients they interact with throughout the year, let the recipients know that they ARE special and your business is taking time to appreciate the working or business relationship you share.

Either that, or you customise your corporate gift. The main idea is to make each recipient feel special.

Hand deliver it

Instead of sending out boxes of calendars, have your sales force – even yourself visit your clients’ office to hand deliver your corporate gifts. If you’re giving out a large number at one specific company, at least make the effort to see your main contact window at the company and give them a big smile when you hand over those boxes of gifts. Every business can spend money on gifts, but the ones that also spends time on it says a lot more about how you value the relationship between you.

‘Tis the season to smile

No matter how busy someone is, she or he will always have just one second to bare for a smile or even a good laugh. Incorporate something funny in your gift – perhaps a short joke, a funny picture of your own staff, or even a funny picture of yourself. If there is no way you can put that on your gift, make sure your gift comes with a card and aim for a smile when you put something in that card.

Related (The Art of Corporate Gift Giving)

Set the priority straight

While it is important to get your brand or business noticed with the gift, remember that a corporate gift in Singapore is meant to make the life of the recipient easier or make the recipient happy. So before you order a batch of low functionality gifts covered in your enlarged logo, ask yourself if you’d even take a second look at the gift if you were the recipient. And remember, a bad gift can always backfire. Just ask every woman and their boyfriend! (And my high school boyfriend would have a lot to say about that!)

Build anticipation

A business, generally, wants to let its customers and potential customers know that it is here to stay. If you’re tired of spending all your brain juice on coming up with a unique, personalized gifts every year, then sometimes being predictable is the best strategy.

Now, I know being predictable is often associated with boring, but it doesn’t have to. You know what else is predictable? A tradition. Pick something that is useful and stick to it every year – like a calendar, a champion of corporate gift every year around the world, but put a little twist on it.

For example, instead of pictures of random scenery, why not make it fun by coming up with your own corporate hotties calendars? The Mister or Miss September never gets old. Not your style? How about a funny graphic or cartoons about your company for each month? When all else fails, there’s also the good ole “year in review” or “this time last year” you can put on the calendar.

After all, if you give people something to talk about, they will be talking about it. Let your corporate gift be the talk of the town and get people excited about the next edition!