How to Turn Your Customer’s Holiday Gifts Into a Marketing Tool

Sending out gifts to customers are a great way to recognize and retain clients. It’s also a great opportunity to market to people who have shown an interest in your goods or services in the past.

The SBA recently suggested some easy and low cost festive ideas on how to turn your holiday customer gifts into a marketing opportunity.

A few of the ideas listed are:

Remind them of you. The simplest way to make your holiday gift a marketing tool is to choose a promotional product with your company’s name and/or logo on it. But for best results, make sure it’s something your client will actually use–ideally, in a setting when they’ll be thinking about buying what you sell. Also, make sure it matches your brand and is relevant to your business. For example, if you sell accounting services to businesses, a high-quality pen set, sophisticated note pad or travel coffee mug is likely to be used at or on the way to work when the client is thinking business, while a logo baseball cap will probably get stuck in the back of the drawer. On the other hand, if your clients are owners of landscape businesses who buy your company’s mulch, that logo baseball cap might get tons of use when they’re out on the job in the hot sun.

Personalize it. A promotional product with your logo isn’t the only way to put your personal touch on a corporate gift. For instance, if you own a graphic design business, you could design your own wrapping paper or gift boxes for your gifts (be sure to add a label that says you designed it!). This way, you’re subtly reminding clients of your talents while they open your gift. If you own an interior design firm, you could make gift wrap or ribbons out of leftover fabric swatches. You get the idea.

Rieva Lesonsky,  CEO and President of GrowBiz Media, a media company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses has several more ideas listed in her guest blog for the SBA.