Why Corporate Gifting Is Important (and How To Do It Right)

When you’re trying to grow your business, corporate gifting might not be at the top of your list. After all, corporate gifting costs money. You may not initially see it as a worthwhile use of your revenue. 

But that’s a mistake, because corporate gifting comes with many benefits for your company, perhaps the most important of which is relationship building. Relationships lead to loyalty. They lead to sales and retention. And they lead to a more favorable reputation.

In this article, we’ll explore why corporate gifting is important for employees, shareholders, customers, and other partners — and how to do corporate gifting the right way. 

What is the purpose of corporate gifting?

The purpose of corporate gifting is to strengthen business relationships and enhance brand reputation by showing appreciation and commitment to key people who support your success. Your goal is to ensure the recipient understands how important their relationship with you is to your company. 

To clarify, corporate gifting is simply the practice of sending gifts from your company to a recipient. The basic strategy for corporate gifting involves selecting a gift that the recipient will find valuable and that would lead them to form a positive association with your company. 

As such, businesses use it to form and strengthen relationships with a host of people, including employees, clients and prospective clients, customers, shareholders, and partners. 

Ultimately, if they’re involved in your company’s success, they deserve a spot on your corporate gift list. 

Why is corporate gifting so important?

Corporate gifting is so important because you can’t have a successful business without successful business relationships. And gifting is a tangible way to strengthen these relationships. 

“It’s essential for organizations to establish strategic business relationships because no company will be able to get all their customer’s needs met alone in this era,” says Harbard’s Pamela Rucker. “As a company, you need partners to help you have elasticity in your capabilities and be able to respond to a fast-moving marketplace.”

Specifically, you can expect any (or all) of the following benefits from a strategic corporate gifting strategy. 

• Build your reputation: When recipients receive valuable, meaningful gifts, they'll naturally want to share the news with others. This builds your reputation not only with the recipient but also with the public in general. 
• Improve key relationships: You haven't built your company in a vacuum. Rather, you rely on your relationships with employees, customers, and other partners to stay afloat. Corporate gifting shows your appreciation and acknowledges the recipient's contribution to your company's success. 
• Bridge distance barriers: Sending corporate gifts to customers or employees who live far away can strengthen your relationship with them despite physical barriers. This makes them especially useful for hybrid and remote employees.
• Help your company stand out: Corporate gifts help you stand out from the competition. Sending meaningful corporate gifts gives your company a leg up in the minds of employees and customers. They'll be more likely to view your company positively and less likely to switch to a competitor. 
• Reinforce the value of partnerships: Employees, clients, customers, and other partners all want to feel like they provide value to your company. Sending corporate gifts reinforces their value, which may lead them to want to continue providing that value. 
• Strengthen relationships: All in all, corporate gifting strengthens relationships with your company. Strong relationships, whether employee or customer, are the foundation of your company's success. 
  
  

What about employee gifting?

Employee gifting is a crucial subset of corporate gifting that requires a different strategy than customer or client gifting. 

It’s important because it acknowledges and rewards your team for their contributions, in turn helping to boost morale, culture, job satisfaction, and loyalty. 

Remember, corporate gifting is all about enhancing important relationships. And who plays a more important role in your company’s growth, long-term success, and profitability than your employees?

💡Ready to start rewarding employees? See our Guide To Developing An Employee Rewards Program. 

Specifically, when you give your employees meaningful gifts and a great employee rewards catalog, you can expect to improve the following:

• Productivity: Employees will form a positive association with management and may be more inclined to boost productivity when necessary to meet steep production goals or carry the business through busy periods. 
• Retention: Corporate gifting can aid employee satisfaction, encouraging employees to stay with your company for longer. Employee retention in itself improves productivity, company culture, engagement, and performance, among other metrics. 
• Loyalty: After receiving a thoughtful gift, employees will know that you value them and their commitment to your company. They may then feel a stronger sense of loyalty, which positively influences their colleagues and the corporate culture as a whole. 
• Reputation: Satisfied employees share their satisfaction with friends and on job postings. You can improve your workplace reputation overall with strategic corporate gifting.