Corporate image, always one of the most important facets of a business, hinges on two factors: How you appear to your client base (external appeal), and how your company appears to employees (internal appeal). Often, relationships with both have been cordial and professional. Corporate gifting intends to change that. “The trend from the past seven years is that not that many people were thanking clients in a personalized way, but now the industry is going into more personalization than ever,” says Debra Simonette, president of Creative Gifting, a Triangle-based firm.
Filling A Need
Corporate gifting gives businesses the ability to show affection, creating a human relationship that improves client and employee relations in an innovative way. “It’s all in the products and gifts we offer,” says Deborah Miller, marketing and communications director for A Southern Season, Chapel Hill. “They tell a story.” This storytelling is akin to putting your company’s foot in the door in a way people often find irresistible. When choosing companies, the one that remembers to say “Happy Birthday” with a basket of treats or gifts often is the company people choose.
Corporate gifting also can help companies earn a client’s forgiveness, including their trust. “[One of our functions is] a mail-order catalog for holidays, thank yous, birthdays and sorrys,” says Gary H. Smith, president of Carolina Cookie Company, which is based in Greensboro. If the cost of a basket of goodies is what returns an important client back into the company fold, then corporate gifting companies agree that it’s worth it.
Employee relations are another important function of corporate gifting. They remind employees that their years of service are remembered on more than the years that end in five or zero. “I was doing a retirement party where the retiree received a personalized piece of art glass I had made for him as a memento for years of service,” says Simonette, whose company specializes in custom mementos and art specifically tailored for the recipient.
These gifts also benefit North Carolina industries as a whole. “We’ve kept stores regional to try and help promote North Carolina and its agriculture,” says Carol Monahan, co-owner of The Peanut Roaster, which sells a variety of nuts cultivated from throughout the state. This love of local products need not remain local. “Once someone has come to the store and gotten used to shopping here, they find it hard to go somewhere else and not have us,” Miller says. “A lot of our customers are those that have moved far away.”
Adding Value
As Miller shows, corporate gifting not only is a service but also a literal business. Having a storefront allows customers to hold and customize a product, and the storefront itself will stick out in their memory the next time they consider their corporate gifting needs. But in today’s digital age, a company’s survival also lies in close relationship with its Web site and the options it offers potential clients.
“In the transition from one company to a new one, people want to be able to order online, to not have to call or come to the store,” says Elizabeth Mills, owner of Gingham & Posh, a gift-basket company based in Raleigh. Web sites must be an extension of the type of service and quality of a company. The same can be said for any business. “You have to make sure the client is getting what they need,” says Lewis Sheats, founder of A Sweet Reminder, a Raleigh-based provider of gifts, specifically cookies. “It’s important to be flexible, even with late orders.”
For some, corporate gifting might seem unnecessary and that their business should speak for itself. But a business is just that — a business — and people do not always see the human side. “Simply because what we do is so much fun, people have a tendency to think it’s also easy,” Smith notes. “When you’re making a fresh-baked product that you’re trying to serve everyone every single day, that’s a tough business.”