It’s standard policy to gift your customers during the end of year season. As such gift basket purchases, hampers, branded key tags and calendar prints are on the rise at this time of year. The point being that you don’t always need to resort to the obvious when rewarding or gifting your customers.
Sometimes a gift with relevance to your brand or even in direct relation to your product or service makes much more sense. If you are a home-made wine manufacturer for instance, why not give away branded cork screws or wine glasses, for instance? While customers most certainly look forward to your free gifts and other rewards, they will remember your brand far better if the gift comes with a little more thought put into it. Something that they would use time and again in relation to your product or service that will make them remember you all the more. What’s more, you are not the only one mass purchasing corporate gifts making all the more difficult for your generic one to make an impact over all the others your consumers will be receiving this season.
Just like how other marketing strategies focus on personalization, this aspect should also follow suit. While it is not possible to give each customer a gold pen with their initials carved into it, there are other ways in which you could get personal. For one, you don’t always have to gift each of your customers the same thing. Categorize your customers into segments based on what you know of them and look into purchasing a few types of gifts that you could give out based on their needs and wants.
Another thing to note is attention to detail. Getting them the perfect gift is one thing. How you give it to them and how it is presented are just as important. Are you making personal deliveries or are you posting the gifts? Have you created a branded, seasonal wrapping paper design? While these things may seem trivial, they do go a long way into how your customer perceives you and it could positively affect your long term relationship if you’ve got the mix just right.
The bigger point of gifting and surprising your customers is all about being able to create and maintain relationships that continue to delight them. If this is your primary goal, chances are, you can’t go wrong. Understanding this is how you really add value to your business during the season and right throughout the year!
