Take your business to the next level with 17 gifting ideas for marketing strategies to foster lasting professional relationships.
Your business can have all the goals it wants planned for the year, but without a strategy in place; these are just hopeful wishes. One challenge that often presents itself to marketing teams is the difficulty of understanding and winning over their client’s. Yet, a sure way to win both hearts (and likes) is with corporate gifting.
Believe it or not, there are many different ways to use gifts in a marketing strategy. In this blog, we’ll give you 17 gifting ideas for marketing strategies your team can adopt and use to evolve your brand. Let’s get the show started, shall we?
Top Gifting Ideas for Marketing Strategies
- Brand Promotion
- Client Appreciation
- Lead Generation
- Referral Marketing
- Event Sponsorship
- Product Launches
- Customer Retention
- Social Media Engagement
- Influencer Partnerships
- Feedback Collection
- Customer Onboarding
- Customer Surveys
- Cause Marketing
- VIP Customer Programs
- Partnership Building
- Product Education
- Customer Loyalty Programs
Brand Promotion
Every business wants to be known. But to be known, or more importantly seen by your targeted demographic, your brand has to be “out there”. Establishing and maintaining a company’s identity ought to be a persistent effort and it is vital to create a trustworthy brand image that resonates with clients and customers. Moreover, brand promotion often differentiates a business from its competitors and helps it stand out from the corporate crowd. Using gifts can reinforce a brand’s presence and drive long-term profitability.
How to use this idea: As part of a brand strategy to boost brand awareness, you can incorporate your logo on SWAG items, such as t-shirts and mugs, and gift these to customers and prospective clients.
Client Appreciation
Taking your valuable clients for granted can be dangerous, especially in a competitive industry. When you have an esteemed client, it’s important to show them that their patronage is appreciated in order to foster loyalty and minimize client churn. Using various gifting ideas for marketing strategies, such as to appreciate clients, can be a key differentiator in showcasing your brand’s commitment to quality and exceptional service.
How to use this idea: Appreciate your client with a thoughtful gift on meaningful days, such as the commencement date of your partnership, their birthday or other special milestones.
Lead Generation
As mentioned earlier, a business without a lead generation strategy is a sitting duck. Lead generation helps a business support sustainable growth by ensuring there is a consistent pipeline of prospective clients thus ultimately giving the company the opportunity to maintain a steady flow of new opportunities.
How to use this idea: Send a coffee voucher gift link to prospective clients to entice them to do business with you. Adding this as part of your cold calling campaign will set your brand apart from the competition.
Referral Marketing
Referral marketing can help a business grow in leaps and bounds as the power of word-of-mouth is one of the most trusted forms of advertising. When a trusted friend, family member or colleague has a good experience with a particular brand and in turn, refers to that brand – the image of the company gains credibility. This is a sure way to gain the loyalty of customers and to increase your customer base by way of recommendations.
How to use this idea: Reward a customer for successfully referring a friend, family member or anyone they might know with a gift. Sending a gift email invite with the option to choose a gift/reward will motivate customers to bring in new business and make them loyal to your brand.
Event Sponsorship
The main idea behind event sponsorship is brand visibility. Using events to get your company logo and name before a target audience is an ideal way to connect with customers. In addition, this will also increase your brand’s visibility to other organizations and open the door to potentially strategic collaborations and partnerships.
How to use this idea: Give a branded swag item like a hoodie, tech gadget or stationary to those customers/leads who engage with your brand at events. This will be a display of the values and qualities associated with your business.
Product Launches
A product launch is crucial for any business who wants to stir excitement and anticipation in order to capture the attention of new customers. When establishing momentum and buzz around a particular product, a company can differentiate themselves from the competition, retain existing customers, attract new customers and exude a finesse for innovation.
How to use this idea: Appreciate customers who attend a product launch with a meaningful gift that is associated with the new product to be launched. This can create a buzz around the launch and help gain attention for your brand.
Customer Retention
Retaining customers is more cost effective than acquiring new ones. As they spend more time in contact with your brand; these loyal customers will provide a steady stream of revenue and foster sustainable growth. Also, a high retention is indicative of positive brand loyalty and customer satisfaction, which is a sign your business is doing something right.
How to use this idea: Send a gift link to customers as an incentive for making a specific purchase or after they reach a customer anniversary that shows their loyalty. This will entice them to make further purchases and remain with your brand for longer.
Social Media Engagement
Businesses can build a strong following and engagement with their audience through social media. Using practical gifting ideas for marketing strategies is also a great way to gather valuable feedback and insight to enhance a brand’s visibility and trustworthiness by developing a deep sense of trust and loyalty.
How to use this idea: Create a social media competition that will help customers engage with your brand by completing a specific task, such as liking an IG post. This prize can be sent using a giveaway link via your DMs.
Influencer Partnerships
An influencer partnership can expand a brand’s reach by leveraging the influencer’s established audience, providing access to prospective customers who might not be so easily reached through traditional marketing channels. These types of collaborations also allow for authentic content creation that engages more specifically with targeted audiences and lends more credibility to a brand.
How to use this idea: Appreciate an influencer for a specific collaboration with a meaningful gift that showcases your brand’s affinity for quality and gratitude and aligns with their values.
Feedback Collection
Collecting feedback provides insights into customer satisfaction and identifies areas for improvement; fostering a sense of involvement and loyalty. Feedback collection is also a key component in maintaining a responsive and customer-centric approach to business.
How to use this idea: send an e-gift card to a customer when feedback is collected, for example through a review. This can be automated by integrating Zapier with the Giftsenda platform and creating a triggered workflow.
Customer Onboarding
A well-structured onboarding process should make a customer feel fully supported as well as reduce the likelihood of churn.
How to use this idea: A new client can receive a gift when their onboarding is complete by creating a trigger workflow that streamlines the process. The gift can be a functional, branded product that makes their job simpler and more enjoyable.
Customer Surveys
Collecting feedback through a customer survey is essential in gaining insight into a customer’s mind with regard to their levels of satisfaction, preferences and needs. This is a targeted approach to identify areas that require attention and facilitate better decision making.
How to use this idea: Send a gift link when a customer survey response has been received. This can be automated by integrating Zapier with the Giftsenda platform and creating a triggered workflow.
Cause Marketing
By supporting meaningful causes, businesses can build stronger emotional connections with their audience, leading to increased customer engagement and trust. This is essentially because it aligns a company’s brand with social or environmental issues that resonate with its customers, enhancing the brand’s reputation.
How to use this idea: Report your support of a particular cause on social media and have your customers like the post (or do the same). You can send a coffee voucher gift link to appreciate the engagement and increase your following as such.
VIP Customer Programs
Every now and then you’re going to come across a customer that is simply more valuable than the rest. These are brand advocates and they deserve special attention for their patronage and support. A VIP customer program is a great way to foster long-term business relationships and dedication to your brand.
How to use this idea: Send a luxury gift to a customer when they have made a high-ticket purchase or if they’ve regularly supported your business for a long time. This will show your dedication to your customer base and make them feel especially important.
Partnership Building
Partners are a special collaboration that leverage complementary strengths and resources, leading to mutual growth and innovation. They can also open new markets and customer bases, enhancing the reach and impact of a brand through multiple channels and mutual alliances.
How to use this idea: Send your partner a gift as part of the onboarding experience. Include a branded message that shows your commitment to the collaboration and all the other onboarding materials that they might need.
Product Education
When customers are well-informed, they are more likely to use a product to its full potential. This can increase their overall value perception of your brand and reduce the likelihood of returns or dissatisfaction, which ultimately is a gain for your business. Furthermore, product education can differentiate a brand in a competitive market, positioning it as a knowledgeable and trustworthy leader in its field.
How to use this idea: Create a course or short education of your product and use a thoughtful reward to either entice a customer to sign up or as a thank you for having done so.
Customer Loyalty Programs
Customers who trust a brand are 88% more likely to make a repeat purchase and are likely to spend 3.8 times more. This is the reasoning behind customer loyalty programs and why they are so essential for your business’ longevity. Apart from clinching dedication from loyal supporters, a well-designed loyalty program can also differentiate a brand from its competitors, enhancing its appeal and competitive edge.
How to use this idea: Give your loyal customers a reward for their dedication to your brand. You can send a practical gift like branded merchandise, exclusive access to new products, or vouchers for future purchases.
Let Giftsenda Do the Gifting
For an easy, no fuss gifting campaign, let Giftsenda take the reigns. With seamless automated tools and efficient CRM integration for data sharing, there really is no other way to gift.
Choose from over 10 000 gifts, delivered to over 200 countries, to ensure your thoughtful gesture perfectly matches your marketing strategy and win customers with whom your brand will forge long-lasting business relationships.
