The Psychology Of Appropriate Corporate Gift-giving
The history of American retailing is wrought with genius and idiocy. We are all capable of both.
One example is Starbucks or any other national coffee chain. I happen to be a fan of Starbucks, but I do not visit it as often as many of my peers for several reasons.
The coffees at these national chains tend to taste a little better than mediocre. If a blindfold test were done, I doubt seriously most would know the difference between grocery coffee and a chain serving. But the chain serving averages $6 a visit (we often get a snack too) and that adds up over a year. Big time.
But I am but one small fish in a large world of caffeine servers.
I did quite a bit of research before launching my own private label coffee gift baskets. I found out what truly is the best and what stays freshest. I found out the benefits of packaging it appropriately to make it the ideal corporate gift. A gift that people not only remember, but see, first thing in the morning, with a funny picture, and your name and URL, and you’ve saved them $6 every time they see it.
As good as they are, I believe it was a big error to print provocative philosophical text on their cups. I do not want to talk about deep subjects first thing in the morning. My newspaper editor and probably yours too knows what we like best. We like to laugh. He/she has devoted an entire non revenue-producing page just for us called the comics page. The editor is fully-aware we are going to be reading some “pretty nasty stuff” before we wade through to the comics.
So why not offer simply comics and your name and URL with your coffee?
It was not rocket science, but I figured out how to do it.
Late last year, I launched the world’s first cartoon gourmet coffee gift basket (with whole fresh beans from 5 different countries, some flavored, some not). I included a set of four cartoon coasters, both the oversize cup and the coasters have the cartoon of the customer’s choice. I put it on my website. I posted it at Shop.com, Amazon.com, Ebay.com, and a bunch of others. And guess what. I was right. People enjoy the coffee and laughter, not coffee and Emanuel Kant or coffee and today’s crime du jour. And no charge for the gourmet biscotti.
Where am I going with all this? I decided to not only discount the coffee gift boxes but offer engraving of one’s company name and URL for only $2. Do I take a loss on that? Sure do. I make up for it with a decent markup, however. I am not becoming Bill Gates, but the marketing concepts works for some reason.
And the reason is psychological. Think about it. There are a million ways to advertise you and your business. But there is only one way to advertise your name and business to your client or potential client in which he/she, first thing in the morning, sees not only your name and URL, but a very funny cartoon that immediately puts them in a good mood. As time goes by, when they think of you or your company, they think positive thoughts.
Now I’ve added everything from collectible desk and wall clocks to desk pen holders, and all can be engraved for only $2 for the perfect corporate gift. It is win-win and everyone seems to love it.
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