Promotional gift giving is the magic ingredient in any marketing mix and is a crucial part of customer relationship management.
However, care must be taken to choose the right gifts to suit the level of business contact. Spend too much and it could look a bribe; too little and it may appear that you don’t care enough. Categorising contacts will help you decide how to choose the appropriate level of promotional gifts:
Existing customers Existing customers are where the majority of your business comes from, with the least effort. Keeping these customers happy is of utmost importance so that the relationship can develop and you can make sure you don’t lose the customer to a competitor. Gift type: reward. Gift level: top range.Referrers Generally they won’t use your services but they are prolific recommendation makers. A referral is hundreds of times more effective than any advertisement. Referrers should therefore be rewarded every time they refer a good quality lead. Gift type: reward. Gift level: high.Prospective customers and referrers Not yet a part of your customer or referrer base, but you want them to be. You want to entice them to recommend or buy from you. If they are the type of prospect that would make a lucrative customer or referrer, then good quality, medium range promotional gifts should be chosen, although care should be taken to ensure it doesn’t appear you are bribing them to do business with you. Gift type: incentive. Gift level: medium.Using promotional gifts is an effective way to gain and maintain business contacts, develop and nurture relationships and encourage more business and referrals. However, care should be taken when choosing gifts so that they don’t over or understate your message.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 9:51 am and is filed under Promotional Gifts.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I know this is very fickle but it’s true; if a company gives you a one-off gift it’s great but if they give up after that you feel a bit neglected really. I think the best companies I’ve dealt with are the ones that have kept in touch just through little things like a keyring and card at Christmas. What I don’t get is why other companies don’t think to make the effort?
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
A little bit goes a long way is correct. Little things like gifts give the customer something to add in a conversation with friends, possibly impress those friends and in turn you get more customers. Also gifts helps keep a customer loyal to your product and helps remind customers about your product for purchases in the future.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I would feel the same way, Elijah, if a company initially gives you a gift and then stops giving. Not that it’s required or that we are gift-desperate, but as you said, once you feel neglected, you in turn start to lose interest in working with them because of that impression.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I found this blog on Google while searching for site:uk gift card. I found a great offer on the net which is very relevant to this post. Check it out, you might find it very interesting.
August 30th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I guess “level” usually means price and most of the time, a more expensive gift is given to more important customers rather than say prospects. But rememeber that there is sometimes price and perceived value are poles apart.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
This article really interested me. I am in almost the same situation right now. I need something to promote my company and i have to choose the right level of taking care of it.
September 7th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
If the company can start their affiliate program on net they will really prosper. The people are just willing to invest if their is an income in what they are investing so the degree of investment should be at the highest level the company can afford.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
This article give me new knowledge. I realize that existing customers are valuable but referrers and prospective customers important too. By choosing the right gifts to your customers, it will added your company value to others. It can be concluded that we must build a good relationship with all people which relates to our company.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:34 am
I agree with Daniel on this one, this article opened my eyes.
Unless if you spend the time to realize what your customers actually would find useful, your promotions will be much less effective.
It’s a very smart idea to judge what your market desires weighed before you purchase.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:09 am
I guess, most article in this blog really interesting. So far, promotional gift really a good idea to make your business become better. If your business leak something, its time for you to try new idea either to try new advertisement or what. I think you can try promotioanl gift to attract more new customer and make your service become better like always.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Interesting post on the subject matter! Thanks for sharing this information….
November 17th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I think the better gifts should always go to existing customers. It’s more profitable to keep a client for a long time then it is to find a new one to replace them. We need to show our customers they are appreciated, so a higher level of gift should be allocated to that purpose.
June 14th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Promotional items are always likely to be a popular choice with companies. Everyone loves to receive free gifts. It’s just that the industry is struggling right now because of the economy.