Do you Buy corporate gifts for your Customers / Clients?

[MarkPearson]

I would be interested to know do any of you buy corporate gifts for your Customers / Clients?

If so what do you buy and how / when do you give them?

What price would you spend on promotional / customer gifts?

Are they good to get customers to remember you?

Some examples:

Pen's with your logo on?

Matches with your logo on?

A christmas card?

[William Wilson]

I occssionally run promotions with nice pens and other items for clients using me for their large format and gallery prints I think it's a nice touch.

[fastfences]

Hi there,

I'm doing personalised calendars for Christmas. To me they're good value because they're hanging around (so to speak) all year and they APPEAR to be worth more than they actually cost - which can be from under £1 including envelope! Generally a minimum order of 100, so if you're new in biz that may be a few too many.

However, no harm in doing a free handout down the local shops one morning!
Cheers, Nigel

[Jayne]

Hi,

I've never given them, but I do recieve them. I've had calenders, pens, keyrings, cherry wine, champagne, recipe cards in prescentation box, chocolates, biscuits in tins, diaries, teddy bears, mugs, personal organiser, calculator, printed note pads, address books, windscreen scraper and pastry cutters. Think that's everything. Let you know if i've forgot anything.

What can I say, these reps' just like to give me things :lol:

Jayne :D

[MarkPearson]

Hi Callum,

If you want to promote your wears on the post, you could at least give me some information on the questions I was asking.

I think special offers should normally be made in the UKBF offers section.

Have you ever received any promotional gifts?

What are your most popular products?

What's the average spend per item/sale?

[creative-keyrings]

Hey Mark,

Sorry to of posted an offer in the wrong section!

I have recieved only a couple of promotional items from companys the main ones have been pens and keyrings.

The most popular product i sell would be the small keyrings, i think this is because they are at a good price and people find it the best method to get their message across.

I cant really answer the last question because it depends on the customer, if they are just starting out they like to order 100 to start off with.

Hope thats answered your questions Mark :)

Regards,
Callum Slade

[stagetec]

We've tried a few things over the years - key rings, shirts, mouse mats and pens. I have just ordered some new pens in from China, 4-way pen with black pen, touch screen stylus, laser pointer and LED torch.

We sell computerised lighting control systems with touch screens, so the gift fits in well, cost around £5 each. We give one away free to each buyer of a system, but also when we do demos or trade shows.

People always like a free gift and I like something that is useful to our customers.

I have received all sorts in the past - mugs, loads of shirts, pens, LED torch/key rings, mouse mats - the most useful I ever had was a small cylinder on a key ring, if you unscrewed the top it had a flat and philips screwdriver in side, it was real useful, but unfortuantely it broke and I've never seen them anywhere.

Andy

[SillyJokes]

What I'd really like to give is something with Elvis on it but aside from that...

We do give away a sheet of fun stickers with each order which we hope will raise a smile and get stuck firmly to the side on the monitor or on the mouse.

We get approached a lot for unusual corporate gifts - chattering teeth, whoopee cushions and clapperboards are the most commonly used.

[JK_du_Toit]

We have found a brilliant promotional gifts business. These guys are really creative and can give you any kind of gift you can think of. Their biggest seller though is memory sticks (USB Memory sticks) with your company logo on it. The average price is around £5.00, depending on the size of your order.
You can visit their website at: www.babyusb.com

I really hope this helps you.

Kind regards

JK du Toit

[KateCB]

We tried this, we had pens with our name and number on; fridge magnets, mini karate suits and lastly we had the travel chess sets with our name and number engraved...engraving 5p market stall, travel chess sets - sale bin at Asda - 100 of them at 50p each!

Problem is that everybody gets pens, keyrings, magnets, calendars, diaries and you end up with tons of stuff you wouldn't/couldn't/ use - last christmas I received 25 dairies.....there are 9 of us who actually use a diary, and guess what? The other 9 received around 6 each......you have to tailor it to your customer and make sure you are not sending out the same thing as everyone else!

Booze goes down well (yes, generally too!) and we sent out a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine to our top 20 customers - everyone else received a hand written christmas card.......we write these all year - everytime an order comes in a card is written, each customer on our database from the previous year is written a card too, so we cover new and old customers and they like the handwritten touch; it shows we care and don't go down the printed' with best wishes from all at....' route.

Just my thoughts!

Kate
http://www.martialdesign.co.uk (http://www.martialdesign.co.uk/)
The ORIGINAL online martial arts store

[Comspec]

One of our suppliers has just started giving out the USB Memory sticks with their logo on them. I was amazed at the response amongst our Sales Reps, etc. We have actually decided that we will now be getting these printed up for this XMas instead of giving out the usual booze, etc.

[Apple]

Our company will send some T-shirts to the clients or our workers for memorizing some important days....

[Sandy]

We've got a big show coming up so I too toyed with the idea of giving out promotional items. As we sell luxury villas worth ££££££££ it didn't seem appropriate giving a plastic pen! We felt we needed to offer something of quality. The dilema we had was that we couldn't afford it. So we made the decision that to offer a cheap gift was more damaging than not offering anything at all.

Sandy
Bulgaria next big thing
www.bnbt.co.uk (http://www.bnbt.co.uk)

[FunkyBears]

Our Teddy Bears make an ideal promotional tool as they are always enthusiastically received and are likely to remain 'On show' unlike many other promotional items.They create an emotional bond between a company and their customers. We did a major promotion at the Printwer and Promotion show along with our machine suppliers and people were queing to get them.

[BlackBerryUK]

Hiya,

i liked the site and was very interested - but there is no prices..and i really hate it when there isnt.. www.babyusb.com

thanks
T

[Sandy]

Our Teddy Bears make an ideal promotional tool as they are always enthusiastically received and are likely to remain 'On show' unlike many other promotional items.They create an emotional bond between a company and their customers. We did a major promotion at the Printwer and Promotion show along with our machine suppliers and people were queing to get them.

Hey...sounds good...could they wear a Bulgarian flag(white,green and red) and be personalised with website address? Tell me more, especially price, minimum order, time scale etc.
Sandy
Bulgaria ... next big thing
www.bnbt.co.uk

[FunkyBears]

Yes they could wear a Bulgarian Flag and be personalised with web address etc
The minimum order is only 6 pieces and priced at only 6 pounds plus delivery they represent extremly good value for money. They all come with their own passports and a small greetings card.
depending on availabity of colours (we do an extensive range of Hooded Tops and Jumpers) www.flyingbears.net
delivery is in a few days
best
Paul

[Sandy]

I've just been on your site. They are terrific! And a brilliant idea. I'm just left with persuading my business partner. If I win...I'll be in touch shortly!
Sandy
Bulgaria...next big thing
www.bnbt.co.uk (http://www.bnbt.co.uk)

[FunkyBears]

Glad you like them! Look forward to hearing from you and any other forum members.
best
Paul

[kairos]

I just saw an add for pedometers with your logo on them. It's different and they are inexpensive and I think you would be rememberd. They are mainly for trade shows. I agree that wine or candy is the best, but anything that conveys gratitude and recognition to your customer will go a long way in building stronger relationships. If its a really big account and you deal with the same person, ask some questions about their hobbies and make it really personal.

[LexyB]

Hi There, I think that if you are going to spend money in corporate gift it should be for an innovative product that stand out. How many calendars do you get for Christmas? I get at least 10.I don t use any, I have a calendar in my phone, computer... about the pens.. when was the last time you read teh brand that is written on the pen you are using. lets not forget that each day we are confronted to 1000 brands. it s everywhere.. A corporate gift will take you a long way as long as you gift stands out.
I like phone holders, and that something that you only get as a corporate gift.. but it's useful and people are using them on their desk at work.
My Bag Hanger offers handbag hooks as corpoarte gift. It s a fun accessory for women to hook they handbag to any table when they go out. everytime the hook is being used the brand is being shown, and since it is such an innovative accessory people are always curious about it so your brand does not go unnoticed and is associated this avant guard accessory. Brand such as l'Oreal, BCBG, Tony and Guy, Volkswagen, Nestle, have offered handbag hooks as corporate gifts