Expert's Guide to Corporate Gifts and Planning Your Company’s Corporate Gift Program

By Jane Moritz, Expert, Corporate Gifts, Kosher Gift Baskets, Owner, Challah Connection and Kosher Gift Box

Our years in the gift basket and food gift business have taught us volumes about corporate gift giving. We are pleased to share this experience and provide guidance in selecting corporate gifts that will enhance your company’s image and make your customers happy.

A thoughtfully considered corporate gift-giving program is important for all companies, large or small. Gifts can be sent to clients, prospective clients and employees and are generally used to enhance a company relationship. There are many types of gifts to give and are most often given at holiday time (sympathy gift baskets are also often given when there is a death in the family of a client or employee). The most frequently given gifts are gourmet gift baskets filled with a variety of gourmet foods, logo-bearing merchandise, and gift certificates. However, most people agree that a unique and high quality food gift is more meaningful than a t-shirt or mug with your company’s logo. Remember, great food touches people in a way that a logo coffee mug will not!

Follow these simple steps and your corporate gifts will be a success:

Step 1: Determine Objectives of your Gift Program

Looking to strengthen the relationship with existing clients? Looking to get your foot in the door with prospective clients? Or, perhaps you’d like to thank employees for their hard work. Awareness of these objectives will lead you to the right corporate gift solution.

Step 2: Establish Recipient List

Depending on the purpose of your gift, you may have several recipient types within your list. Key questions to consider:

-What are their ages and genders?

-What are their interests (if you know them)? Any special needs or interests? Special diets?

-What is their relationship to your company (employee? customer?)

-Shipping to home or office? If home, will family members be sharing the gift? Are there young children? Are there family members with health issues? If office, how many office mates will be sharing the gift?

Recommendation: If the gift is going to be shared with family or office mates, be sure the gift has widespread appeal. However, truly targeting your gift is the “home run.” For example, if you know that children will be sharing the gift, be sure there is something in the basket they will love. Thoughtfulness helps!

Recommendation: If you are sending gifts to several/many individuals at one address, save shipping costs by bulk shipping all of the gifts to a designated person who will distribute the gifts or put them into the internal mail stream. Be sure to give that person a special thanks!

Step 3: Create a budget

How much do you have to spend? How much can you afford per recipient? Do not forget to check for company gift-giving policies that may limit each gift’s dollar value. If you are giving gifts to just a few clients, your gifts can be larger and more expensive, especially if they are “high worth” clients/employees. However if your budget needs to cover gifts for many recipients, you will need to spend less on each. For a quality food gift, you can expect to spend a minimum of $20 per recipient, plus shipping (ground shipping anywhere in the US is approximately $8-$10). Tins of rugelach, cookies or pastries are appropriate gifts in this price range.

If your recipient list is large (more than 25), you have leverage to negotiate volume pricing. Don’t forget to budget for shipping!

Recommendation: Ship early so you can use Ground shipping; the least expensive option. Coast-to-coast shipping takes 1 week. If you ship too late, you will have to pay for more expensive, expedited shipping. Be sure also to double-check each address on the list you are giving to a vendor. While the address may seem basic, it is the most common reason for late or missed deliveries.

Logo Merchandise vs Generic: Tins filled with baked goods or candy, make great gifts. Should you print your logo on them or not? The benefit of logo tins are that people like to use empty tins for storage; paperclips, supplies, etc. So, long after the contents are eaten, the recipient will be remembering you and your company. If you want the extra mileage, go for the logo, however it isn’t necessary as long as the gift is nicely packaged, high quality and delicious.

Step 4: Determine Type of Gift—Food Gifts Recommended at Holiday Time!

Hands down, around holiday time, food gift baskets are most appropriate. When choosing holiday gift baskets, it is important to know your recipients and consider their dietary requirements. Some popular diets include kosher, fat free, gluten free, sugar free, and vegan. Of these, kosher is the most common and for this reason, we recommend kosher gift baskets.

Why choose kosher gift baskets? A kosher diet is widespread, and is often chosen by people who feel that kosher is of a higher quality. According to statistics from Integrated Marketing Communications, Inc., in New York City, 7 million consumers purchased kosher goods in 1997, and that market has now more than tripled. Of those 7 million consumers, only 2 million (about 28 percent) were Jews. A little more than 16 percent of those consumers were vegetarians and lactose-intolerant. More than 19 percent were Muslims, Seventh Day Adventists and other religious groups. Most notable, however, were the more than 35 percent of those consumers who simply preferred kosher foods.

Recommendation: If you are sending a food gift to a group of people, select a kosher food gift. Think of it this way; if you go on a job interview, you select the right clothes, brush your hair and look good! Think of kosher as looking good and putting your best foot forward…kosher food means high quality to many people and for many other people, their food must be kosher. When you select kosher, you are showing good taste as well as consideration for our diverse population.

Kosher food is of the best quality and most importantly, healthy. By sending a kosher gift, you are considering more than one type of diet, and customers will appreciate that you took the time to find a gift that is both delicious and good for them.

Importantly, kosher foods do not look any different from non-kosher food. You will not be offending those who do not want kosher food, but your thoughtfulness will be appreciated by those that prefer or require it. Kosher is a win/win choice!

Recommended Gift Card Text: Corporate gift cards should be succinct and to the point. Some acceptable phrases include:

-Happy Holidays, The XYZ Team

-Your Loyalty is Greatly Appreciated, Joe Smith, XYZ Company

-We appreciate your business and look forward to another great year working together, J. Smith, XYZ Company

For more information on writing gift card text, click here.

Additional consideration should also be given to diseases like diabetes, which is unfortunately on the rise and making sugar-free diets more popular. Also increasing are gluten-free diets, as gluten has been targeted as a cause of celiac disease. Challah Connection, the online kosher gift basket store, specializes in kosher gifts, with some vegan, gluten free and sugar free products that are also kosher.

Step 5: Find a gift vendor

Now that you’ve considered your gift-giving purpose, recipient list, budget, and the types of gifts available, you are ready to find a gift vendor who can accommodate your gift program. It is important that the vendor be well equipped to handle large orders. The company should have access to high quality products and packaging, ability to accurately ship to recipients, an attentive customer service department including providing shipping recommendations and tracking information and finally, a service guarantee should there be any issues at all with the gifts.

Follow this corporate gift-giving guide and you’ll be sure to send thoughtful gifts that will be appreciated by all who receive them.

Challah Connection is a leader in Kosher Gifts and Kosher Gift Baskets for corporations and consumers. With a focus on the highest quality products and service, Challah Connection stands apart from its competitors. Challah Connection is located in Westport, CT, 866-CHALLAH, www.challahconnection.com.

©2011, Challah Connection