Corporate Gift Giving for a Small Business Budget - A.k.a. Do-it-yourself Gift Giving

by Sophie Charalambous

You are familiar with the Tiffany Watches, the Golf Weekend Gataways, the Private Chef dinners among other rewards that Fortune 1000 companies can afford to giveaway to their sales teams, clients and employees.

Now become familiar with the luxury items you can provide your associates and customers on a budget and with the same return on your investment. The BargainPrinting.com team recently participated in the New York Incentive Show, and collected a long list of wonderful ideas that inspired us so that you can implement on any company size that provide the most perceived value and return on the investment for the least cost. up

1. Forget about impersonal gift cards and gift certificates, and start issuing your own personal gift card that can be redeemd on hundreds of stores nationwide. Using the web to purchase giftcards, you will be provided a unique giftcard code that is needed for purchases. Include the code on custom card and give them away. Print your own cards - a 4 x 6 double sided colorful card would do, include your message, your logo, your pitch, and send it as a reward. This card is cash, and it is certainly not going to be thrown away.
2. Create your own mini catalog, and establish a simple points program, to encourage employees to participate in meetings, reward them for exceptional performance and show a high degree of professionalism to prospect associates. Add services from local businesses that might be willing to offer you a discount and add them as rewards for your catalog. A 6 x 6 � 8 page booklet could work miracles. For example, local spas might be only charging you $75 for a $120 facial if taken between Monday-Thursday. Reward an employee with a 9am-4pm workday, followed by an hour of facial. The perceived value will be much higher than the actual cost and the productivity levels of the rewarded employees for the weeks and months to come are priceless.
3. Come up with your own �Travel Retreats� concept and prolong the effectiveness of your reward. If for example you cannot afford to reward your sales force with expensive week long, all inclusive trips to Hawaii , you might choose to offer a romantic weekend gateaway. Contact hotels in your area for offers, and present it in a grand way that will be for ever memorable. Send a car for pick up, and orchestrate a romantic picnic instead of an expensive dinner. A picnic basket can be sent to the hotel in advance and the rewarded recipient gets to keep it as a souvenir.
4. Offering an experience instead of simply giving a single gift item is always very welcome and more memorable. You can accomplish that with our breaking the bank.With the help of local vendors, you can orchestrate wonderful events such as wine tastings at local wineries, beer tastings in nearby microbreweries, personal shopping experience with local department stores, cooking lessons with a nearby pastry shop or restaurant, etc. Make sure you ask some lifestyle questions and match activities accordingly. Contact local companies with your budget considerations and see who will provide you the most service with the least money. A 4 x 9 rack card questionnaire, might be kept in the office at all times, it will create excitement filling out, before they even receive their reward.

The best of all is that you can do your homework online before contacting the local vendors to negotiate. Once you come up with the ideal program for your company, you can use it over and over again. There is no need to dedicate more of your precious time.

About the Author:

Sophie Charalambous is a Marketing Director at BargainPrinting.com (http://www.bargainprinting.com). BargainPrinting.com (http://www.bargainprinting.com) uses state-of-the-art equipment and an all digital workflow to provide professional quality printing, mailing and design solutions. Located in New York City, BargainPrinting.com (http://www.bargainprinting.com) offers print buyers nationwide competitive prices, fast turnaround and above all Fanatical Customer Service. The proprietary tools and technology on the web store makes ordering easy, fast and rewarding for all customers.