5 tips for segmenting the recipients of your corporate gifts
Yes, it’s absolutely too early to start the holiday frenzy. But! It isn’t too early to start wrapping those numerous presents you’ll be sending out to your people in the company. Production times get bottled up in December. Starting today saves your time and budget, and lets you enjoy your team’s Christmas dinner fully! There’s so much on your plate as is, so getting help with your New Year’s gifts to employees and business partners on time is essential.
If you’re the person responsible for your company’s gifting program, we’re sure you’ve been in the situation, where there’s nothing interesting that comes across your desk and the time is always running out. The more you understand who the gifts are for, the easier it is to come up with great ideas for branded products your people will love to use and wear. Here’s how you can get ahead for this year’s corporate gifts:
1. Who do you want to send a big Thank You this year?
Create a complete list of all your company’s clients, customers, business and sourcing partners. Ask your colleagues who they’d want on that list. Add everyone that has made this business year so much more special for you and your team. It’s a great way to be intentional about who you’re going to be gifting. A good rule of thumb is to identify key changemakers that have brought your company more business, better business, or an improved way of doing business. Don’t forget your potential clients, too!
2. Group your contacts according to the type of relationship you have.
We are big proponents of personalisation. Essentially, segmenting your contacts works in corporate gifting, too. Once you have clarity of who your people are, it’s easier to create gifts that fit their personality, the nature of your business relationship, and symbolically honour that successful project that you made happen together. Creating groups, labels, lists or mind maps - is the best way to find commonalities between different stakeholders. This method serves as a platform upon which you’ll be building ideas for the actual gifts.
3. Who are the people behind your labels?
Look at the groups you’ve identified. What are their common traits? What would fit their lifestyle? Who are the people behind those names and where can you bring joy to their work? What kinds of products would align with your company’s brand and story well?
Example: Let’s say you’re an IT company, providing solutions for e-commerce clients. For your employees, you might go with a product they can enjoy in line with your new corporate policy of working from home. Why not create a care package that goes well with their morning coffee? For your clients, you may find a common denominator that all e-comm companies you serve find in their line of work. Who’s the client’s key contact for your company? Procurement? Their developers? Get in their shoes and think about a trinket that would light up their daily work (that goes well with your awesome software solution). How about your sourcing partners? They’ve helped your company run smoothly, so how can that be memorialised in a physical object?
4. Faux pas and how not to make one.
The appropriate gift is relative. It depends on your business relationship, on the intensity of work done together, on you and your company’s brand - and budget. If you’re gifting someone in a culture you’re unfamiliar with, do research on said culture’s customs, habits - and tax legislation. Great humour may be appreciated by many, but is the tone of voice on your t-shirt suitable to the message you are sending? Is it in line with your company’s values? How important is hierarchy in your recipient’s corporate culture? Do your clients have any restrictions in terms of the value of the gifts? How about taxation of gifts? The internet is your best friend.
5. Be known as a company that delights.
Fast and cheap solutions rarely work well. Yet, they still work up your budget but leave your recipients lukewarm at best. Remember that cheap promo USB stick that was broken the second time you used it? Finding a solution within your budget and keeping quality in-check is easier than you think. People would rather receive one quality item than three poorly executed ideas. Studies show that we memorise the quality of a promotional product and associate it with the quality of the brand that gave it to us. Make sure to give your stakeholders the best darn USB stick they have ever encountered in their life and know that they will always remember your software company as an innovator that wowed them at every point of contact.
When you’ve 5k stakeholders on your list, it’s no longer just another item on your to-do list. Creating a gift that serves your recipients well can easily become a project on its own. If you need some help, we’re here for you. Drop us a note and we’ll take care of the rest.
If this information is helpful, we’d love to know. Share it with your colleagues and help us grow. Leave any additional ideas in the comments below. We’re ever curious and love to expand our knowledge. We’re working on content that helps you navigate production of merch and promo items that are on-brand. Your brand. Subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll be serving you seasonal content on employer branding, corporate gifting and corporate fashion production.