Fall often signals the beginning of gifting season for many organizations looking to reach out to customers to express their gratitude. But what if small displays of thanks and gratitude was part of an ongoing campaign (or multiple campaigns!), offering additional opportunities for brands and customers to connect?
Here are just a few ideas and examples on how to incorporate affordable, everyday-use items like writing instrument gift sets year-round.
Recruitment & Onboarding
For years, universities and companies have been using welcome kits at orientation events to on-board new students and hires upon their arrival. Here’s an example of how an organization created a positive brand experience before new hires arrived to the workplace.
New hires were mailed a welcome letter and company branded gift set like the one featured here, before the new employee began their first day on the job. It provided a warm welcome to new employees, and left a great impression of the company culture.
Employee Engagement
From rolling out a new palette of brand colors to offering attendees a giveaway item at the next company town hall meeting, branded promotional products can be used to help build engagement in the workplace.
“As one client tells me, as soon as a new [promo] item is introduced, everyone in the office wants one,” said one distributor. “No matter how big or small the item is, it gets everyone interested.”
“I have a customer who is firm about their staff only using company branded notebooks when visiting clients,” said another marketing consultant. “They take their notebook to offsite meetings, to seminars… and they take their company logo along for the ride too.”
Outside of town hall meetings and other events, small branded items like gifts sets are a great items to include on a company’s internal web store, where accrued points for talent recognition are used to shop goods online.
Customer Loyalty
Outside of the holiday season, saying thank you to customers for their business loyalty is a great way to re-introduce a service or product to existing customers and initiate a conversation. Vertical markets that come to mind include professional services like real estate and architecture.
Here are two examples of nontraditional opportunities for customer outreach:
- Anniversaries: Thank customers on a business anniversary (i.e., 3 years of doing business together)
- Completion of a large project: Congratulate and thank customers at the end of an involved, time-intensive project such as a product launch
Volunteer Appreciation
Volunteers are active brand advocates. Recognizing and thanking them for their time and support on a regular basis is always a great idea. Examples of vertical markets where volunteer outreach opportunities exist include:
- Schools and nonprofits
- Police departments
- Hospitals and clinics
From new employees to community volunteers, brand advocates come in all forms. And no thank you or acknowledgment is too small to make a difference in a brand advocate’s day. Explore cost-effective gift sets that offer everyday use and value to recipients year-round at www.goldstarpens.com.
