UK Buyers Guide

What to look for when buying products and services. A UK consumer guide .

Business Gifts Buyers Guide

 

Incentives and premiums, business gifts and promotional merchandise are very powerful products. They can say a lot about you and help bond relationships with not only clients but staff too. Sourcing the right gift and targeting it to your audience could be a problem within itself simply because the gift is a message from you and it is important to get the right message across.

If the promotional merchandise is destined for a drawer, or worse still the bin, the campaign loses its oomph - and maybe a client. Some clients and staff may deserve something very exclusive, a bottle of fine Champagne or rare malt whiskey (maybe with your own label), an excellent choice but how long will it last? - add some nice etched crystal glasses, tastefully engraved and you extend the life of your gift.

Clearly not everybody will receive such a gift and quality branded give-aways are the best choice. Consider what most companies give-away and look again for something a little different. I often receive a credit card sales pitch, as part of a bulk mail campaign, there is always a pen in the envelope. I don't even open the letter but pierce the envelope and keep the pen.

Branded give-aways may at first appear to hold more retention value than unbranded items, but it is your brand you need to emphasize not the manufacturer. To avoid being upstaged by a manufacturer's brand names look for merchandise that will display your name or brand prominently. Having said that, you may not wish to hide an exclusive brand name but it is still ultimately important to remind the recipient of you.

Corporate gifts are a great way of saying 'Thank You' and certainly not just for Christmas. Often traditional methods such as a letter of introduction and cold calling don't have the same impact as a small token business gift. We need to think 'out of the box' and not focus upon an office environment - unless you are promoting a business service for example. If you are launching a website, your promotional merchandise would be useful in an around a workstation at home or in the office depending on the type of product.

If you are selling a product, think about the buyer's profile. If it were a female, would you give a beer tankard or an engraved glass Latte cup? Confectionery also is worth looking at. Because nothing-in life is so simple, and it is almost impossible to pin down one particular profile unless the product is marketed purely and exclusively to a specific profile, it is worth discussing your campaign with a promotional merchandising company.

A professional supplier cannot advertise every single product in one catalogue and their expertise is worth tapping. Talk about your ideas with a dedicated account project manager.

If your company has a special occasion coming up - share it! It adds weight to reasons why clients should deal with you, stability and reputation for example. Launching a new product can be that much more successful with cost effective incentives and gifts. Personnel are motivated by rewards; nice premiums and incentives will help boost your sales figures.

Training courses, Conferences, Meetings, Exhibitions, AGM and any event, which is a meeting of minds, should always be backed up with promotional material to help remind delegates of the occasion.