Branding is everything. It keeps customers coming back due to the association of a product with quality, quantity, price competitiveness, trust, or any other perceived virtue. Unfortunately, most people associate a brand with a tangible item?say a shoe with a swish on it or a restaurant with golden arches. In doing so, they are doing themselves and the individual businessman (or better yet, woman) a great disservice. Why? Because people are brands in and of themselves. When they do not properly build their brand and associate quality with it, they lose in many ways. Namely, in the world of commerce, they lose clients, customers, repeat business.
One way to effectively build one's brand is through timely and appropriate corporate gifting. A few brief examples?.
?Thank an employee for an outstanding job or a special event (birthday, baby, heck, one year of service will do it in this day and age). Result: you increase workplace satisfaction and build your company's brand ? or your brand as ?boss? - as one that treats its employees well. (After all, don't we all secretly want to be featured in one of those ?Top 10 Places to Work For? lists. Of course we do! Free PR.)
?Thank a client for choosing you, or better yet, switching over to you from a competitor. This applies to just about any business: banks, insurance, mortgage, finance, realty?the list goes on. Result: Positive reinforcement for the client = brand equity and great word of mouth. Real-life proof: At my ripe age of 30, I have been told I need braces (help me!). I am considering a few orthodontists. Surprisingly, even to myself, the one dental office that sent a flyer in mail advertising a free iPod for new Invisalign users is on my call list. Just like Pavlov's dog.
?Thank a friend, client, colleague for referring business your way. We've all heard it ? word of mouth can make or break your business. Let's go for the first option. Thank those who scratch your back. They'll scratch it more.
And for a tad lengthier real-life example:
My husband and I bought a lovely house with the help of a very lovely real-estate agent. We were happy (with the service she provided), she was happy (with the commission) and we were all happy ? well maybe just my husband and I - with the mention of a gift certificate for the store of our choice as thanks for our business. Realtor suggested we choose a store where we could purchase home furnishings or building material for the renovation we were about to do (purple walls, no thank you!), as Realtor would love to see her gift reflected in our beautiful new home. Lovely!
Considerate as always, Realtor wanted to drop the gift off to us personally rather than pop it in the mail. And so, husband and I moved in, unpacked, and started the renovations. Finished the renos, held a dozen dinner parties, repainted. Got pregnant, had baby, got pregnant again. Okay, slight exaggeration. After nearly four months of living in our new home and getting periodic emails from Realtor - ?I'll be stopping by soon with a little something :)? we were actually quite disappointed with the lack of sincerity and also with the fact that if ever said gift certificate did materialize, we never wanted to see a gallon of paint again, never mind park at the big-box store on a Sunday afternoon to retrieve it.
End result:
Finally, 6 months into our new home, the Realtor came by with a lovely bottle of wine and a hardware store gift certificate. A very kind gesture, but a bit untimely to say the least.
Moral of the Story:
The real?estate agent tarnished her brand (if she had ever bothered to build one). She would have been much better off using a pro for gift services for every house she sells. She could develop a number of gift options in varying prices ahead of time, and even have gift company include a small gift certificate. It would be stress free, done in the span of a phone call, and delivered the week the client moved in. And it would promote repeat business, not the opposite, as with us. We conveniently switched realtors when we sold said house. Not because of the gift or possible lack thereof, but because of the poor time management and lack of professionalism. If you can't deliver a promised gift to my door within a reasonable time frame, how can I rest assured you'll show up for the open house?
It comes back to the same old adage?quality branding equals business rewards. Make use of quality corporate gifting to reinforce and strengthen the brand you've worked so hard to develop. And while you think about that, I'm off to get my free iPod.
If you are in business, do you think that using corporate gift is a good way to increase the brand awareness of your company? Frankly speaking, corporate gift is an ideal marketing channel that all marketers should consider when it comes to planning their overall marketing plans. Whether you are giving them away at an major events or to your staffs, they can always promote feelings of goodwill between your company and the gift receivers.
When it comes to using corporate gift as a branding channel, one very important things to take note of is not to use too shabby gifts. Quality counts a lot if you want to create a positive and lasting impression in your receivers minds. Your gifts should appear perfect in appearance and useful when it comes to serving your receivers.
Although to have such good quality gifts, you will need to fork up a little bit more money to purchase them. What you can do here is to go to your most trusted suppliers and negotiate a long term supplying deal with him/her so that you will be able to get some discount along the way. As the supplier is someone that you trust, you will be ensured that you are getting top quality gifts with a very good pricing.
Now let us get back to the main question on whether is it useful to use corporate gifts to brand your company.
1.Maintaining a feeling of goodwill between your company and receivers. As I have mentioned earlier on, your receivers will be able to interact and relate back to your company more when he or she receives something tangible. With corporate gifts, you are giving them physical representation of your business, allowing them to touch and feel it. This will leave a deeper impression in their minds, thus resulting in a better overall branding purpose in the long run.
2.Showing the uniqueness of your company. As corporate gifts can be easily personalized, you will be able to match them according to your business's culture and personality. By doing this, you are presenting the right image of your business to your consumers, enabling them to remember your brand and products/services much better.
3.Able to associate with your brand. As marketing and branding is all about making association between a business and its customers, you can make use of corporate gifts to fulfill this purpose. By duplicating your brand logo or USP on gifts and distribute them to your potential customers, you will be able to link the gifts effectively with your company's brand or USP, creating a more lasting impression in their minds.
Lastly, do set your budget right before you set out to manufacture your gifts. Make sure that the designs are up to standard too!
Both Laura Jayne Mcdonald & Cheow Yu Yuan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Laura Jayne Mcdonald has sinced written about articles on various topics from Build Online Business, Marketing and Franchise. Laura Jayne McDonald is a young mompreneur and franchisor. Just shy of 30 years old, she is the proud mom of two beautiful girls and the co-founder and co-CEO of