Look Inward, Brand Internally with Corporate Gifts

By: Wes Robertson - [advertising]
Make sure your it isn't just customers that "get" what your organization is all about. Corporate gifts compliment your promotional marketing efforts absolutely by including your employees in the loop. Give some gifts to your partners and preferred clients, while you're at it. Use of these gifts to ensure your employees and friends get as enthusiastic about your company as you want customers to be!

What promotional products will work for use as a corporate gift? That is really something decided by the approach you're going to take. The easiest way to go is to approach a corporate gift precisely as you would any other promotional giveaway, using them to market or brand internally. The same thought processes that would apply to something you'd be handing out at a trade show should be applied to the gifts in this case. Functional and something that will be used or be present on a daily basis in your employee's workspace. Calendars custom-made with your company logo, for example, would be a good idea. Assuming they won't already have one... some industries give calendars away like candy. Apply the brand you're presenting to the outside world in your internal gifting. Whether you are pushing your green business model or championing cancer awareness, promotional products are available to you! Name a topic and there'll be something there.

The more challenging alternative, but arguably more gratifying for both sides of the coin is to taking a more individualized approach. Even if your office has only a few employees, it'll have its own peculiar culture. Make your employees feel like they're appreciated by tapping into it! Give away a corporate gift that shows you're in the loop, perhaps referencing a common customer type or inside joke. Bigger offices should make separate gift decisions for each department in your office...a general office culture can still be distilled down into smaller niches. Make sure every "boss" is included in the purchase decision. The IT manager and the sales manager will both have different ideas for a good gift.

So what precisely goes making your corporate gifts more personal MEAN? More potential recognition for, of course, some additional risk if you don't do it right. Giving something generic and safe like a soft foam bat is one thing. A little more thoughtful gift like insulted wine bags are more personal and you run the risk of annoying people who don't drink wine. An employee in a winery is probably not going to have an issue, though, which illustrates how important knowing the office culture is. Every company has its own culture, so the most effective corporate gifting will be from someone who knows the shape of it. Its shape comes from the employees, managers and product or services involved. Unless you're confident that you really get how your employees think, it may be best to stick to the internal marketing approach.

These ideas go beyond the walls of your office. While you're busy making your employees happy with their rewards, go ahead and make your clients happy with smart corporate gifts. You'll have all your bases covered, then. Happy clients and happy employees will mean happiness for you all!

Many years of involving advertising specialties and promotional items in marketing campaigns has given Wes Robertson a degree of expertise most people don't have. His advice will guide you through the maze and pitfalls your own inexperience will leave you vulnerable to!

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