Business Gift Basket Ideas
By Kathy Burns-Millyard

Selecting appropriate business gifts is often more challenging than selecting gifts for family and friends. There are more forces at work and the stakes are usually higher. Etiquette, corporate policies, and leaving a positive lasting impression are all key considerations. Before sending a gift to a business associate or a client, it's important to follow all corporate guidelines and to find out what the restrictions are on the recipient's side. Some companies have strict policies concerning gift giving. For instance, gifts that surpass a certain monetary value may be restricted. Companies also place restrictions on situations in which gifts can be exchanged or accepted. Ask your clients directly or contact their personnel department to find out what limitations and guidelines are in effect.

Once the boundaries are determined, keep in mind that corporate gifts need to be memorable in order to generate goodwill and foster word-of-mouth referrals. Look for items that are unique, distinctive, and convey a professional image. Etiquette is essential. For example, it wouldn't be appropriate to give a female client clothing or jewelry. This may be construed as too intimate. On the same note, it would be disastrous to give a business partner a vintage bottle of wine without realizing first that he or she is a recovering alcoholic. Don't send a personal gift unless you know the person's interests, likes and dislikes.

To keep things safe and professional, gift baskets make a wonderful corporate gift idea. Opt for generic baskets that do not tie in with a certain theme, hobby or interest. For instance, gourmet gift baskets are a one-size-fits-all solution for corporate gifting. They typically contain a selection of savory foods such as crackers, cheeses and nuts, as well as an assortment of sweets and candies. Other alternatives to the gourmet food basket are fruit baskets, cookie baskets and organic baskets containing dried fruits, nuts and different types of granola mixes.

For a unique idea, try a state inspired basket. Some suggestions are a Blueberry Basket from Maine, a Northwest Gift Basket made in the State of Washington or a Wisconsin Cheese Basket. For the holidays, many Canadian nurseries will wrap up a fresh wreath with a basket full of goodies. Whatever type of basket you decided on, don't take a do-it-yourself approach. This is not like painting the walls in your hallway. In the corporate world, its better to let a professional handle what they're good at - especially gift baskets!

Business gift baskets are an ideal way to say "thank you", "your business is appreciated" or "happy holidays." Your clients and business associates will remember your professionalism and generosity. And your bottom line will appreciate it, too!

© 2005, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Need more great gift ideas for a variety of people and occasions? Visit The Home Gift Shopper at http://www.homegiftshopper.com

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One of the biggest myths as it relates to business comes from one of my favorite movies of all time, 'Field of Dreams'. In the movie, Ray Kinsella, is inspired by a mysterious voice telling him to follow his dreams. The voice says, 'If you build it, they will come'. True to Hollywood storytelling, Ray does build 'it' and 'they' do indeed come.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work the same in business. Many business owners have the false idea that if they have the very best product or service, they are guaranteed instant success. In essence, 'if [they] build 'it', 'they' will come.

An incredible, 'knock your socks off' product or service does not guarantee success.

If you're like most small business owners, you've doing everything you know how to do, but you're still not attracting enough new customers. You've tweaked your website. You've increased the size of your yellow pages ad. You've even sent out direct mail pieces designed to generate some quick holiday business, but none of it seems to be working.

What most small business owners fail to realize is that there is a very specific process for creating demand for your 'it' so that in turn 'they' will come. Just as they miraculously did for Ray Kinsella. This process is called the Sales and Marketing Cycle.

By understanding each step in the Sales and Marketing Cycle, you will have the knowledge necessary to create a marketing 'system' that will allow you to build your very own 'Field of Dreams'.

Step 1. Create a Marketing Plan

This step is undoubtedly the most important step in the cycle. You must clearly define where you want to go and how you plan to get there. As Steven Covey says, 'begin with the end in mind.'

To create a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, you must define your target market, determine your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), write out your goals, and finally establish a marketing budget. Without each of these ingredients clearly defined, your vision will be murky and you won't know when it's time to make course corrections.

Step 2. Get the Attention of Your Target Market

If you've done your homework in Step 1, you're well on your way to capturing your prospects attention because you already know who your ideal customers are and what problems they're trying to solve. Now it's just a matter of finding the proper medium to convey these benefits to your target prospects.

If you're an offline business, a sequence of mailings to a targested list, lead generation advertising, television or radio spots, joint ventures, and even leaving flyers on car windows are ways to let your target prospects know that you have the answer they seek. For online businesses there is 'Pay Per Click' advertising such as Google AdWords, ezine advertising, joint ventures, or writing and submitting articles to online publishers.

One key to keep in mind, no matter the medium selected to convey your message, you always want to stress the BENEFITS. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

Step 3. Educate Your Prospect about Your Product or Service

This step is more often than not the most OVERLOOKED step in the cycle. This step is where you begin to actually convert your prospects into paying customers.

Each day consumers are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands of advertisements and offers for competing products and services. Often times the consumer is unsure of how to differentiate between competing solutions. By educating your customer about the benefits offered by your solution, you set yourself apart from your competition and it will go a long way towards gaining their trust and ultimately their business.

Some of the ways that you can educate your prospects include free reports via recorded messages, snail mail, or delivered via email spread out over several days. Tele-seminars are also popular these days and are an excellent way to educate your prospects about the benefits of using your product or service.

Step 4. The Sales Transaction Occurs

If you've been able to successfully educate your prospect and have shown how your solution can fill their 'need', a sales transaction should be the likely result. Keep in mind however, that this is not always the case. When possible, you want to try to find out what it was that kept your prospect from becoming a customer. Some of these reasons may include price, skepticism, they no longer have a need, or they weren't fully educated about the benefits your solution offered.

Once you're able to determine WHY they chose not to purchase and if you've seen a pattern with other customers, you should then work to improve your Step 3 in order to better educate them as to why you offer the ONLY possible solution to their problem.

Step 5. Deliver Exceptional Customer Service

I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but the meaning of the phrase 'Customer Service' has changed considerably over the years. No longer do you see 'Full Service' gas stations. Receptionists have been replaced by automated phone systems. Airlines no longer offer complimentary meals on flights. This decline gives you a significant opportunity to stand out from the crowd and create immediate loyalty by going above and beyond expectations.

'Thank You' notes, gift baskets, courtesy calls, or special discounts are a few examples of ways to provide service that goes 'above and beyond.'

Step 6. Encourage Your Customers to 'Spread the Word'

While Step 3 might be the most overlooked step in the cycle, this step is undoubtedly the most powerful step if done properly. If your customer has had a positive experience with your solution, it is possible to enlist this customer into your very own unpaid sales force.

There are many ways to create this army of marketers for you and here are two that I use quite frequently. The first is to simply ASK for referrals. If you don't ask, they may never know that you expect them to spread the word.

The second way is to ask for and use testimonials. A short, but concise testimonial from a satisfied customer is a very powerful tool for removing skepticism in other prospects considering your solution.

Step 7. Repeat Steps 3-6 with Your Existing Customer Base

After going through the effort and expense of identifying, educating, and ultimately selling to your customer, does that mean the relationship must end? Absolutely not! A sad but true fact is that the asset most often overlooked by businesses today is their existing customer base.

Once you have a customer that has purchased products or services from you, simply begin steps 3-6 again with bigger and better products. Marketing to your existing customer base is the cheapest marketing you can do and it has the potential for delivering the greatest returns.

What do you do if you don't have additional products or services to offer your existing customers? In two words, FIND SOME. Create an information product. Assemble smaller, related products into a 'package deal'. Become an affiliate or licensee of someone else's product or service. Whatever it takes, you MUST find more opportunities to sell more 'stuff' on a more frequent basis to your existing customers.

Understand These 7 Steps and You Will Be Able to 'Go The Distance'

As a small business owner, it's imperative that you understand this 7 step Sales and Marketing Cycle and how it relates to growing your business. Once you do, you will no longer wonder why even though you've built 'it', 'they' aren't coming. You will instead know the exact steps needed to not only fulfill the first prompting Ray Kinsella received, but you will also have the knowledge and understanding needed to fulfill the next prompting the mysterious voice whispered to Ray: 'Go the Distance.'

Chestin Salisbury is President of Lawn Care Marketing Magic, a direct response marketing consultancy located in Charlotte, NC that focuses on the lawncare and landscaping industry. He has been helping small businesses grow for 5+ years by creating marketing systems that use time-tested direct response marketing principles. Lawn Care Marketing Magic has access to 100+ years of experience and is capable of creating a marketing plan that grows YOUR business. Chestin is also the chief-editor of 'The Lawn Care Marketing Magic Minute', a weekly e-newsletter that focuses on helping your grow your business. To learn more about these lawn care direct marketing systems and to sign up for the weekly e-newsletter, visit http://www.LawnCareMarketingMagic.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chestin_Salisbury

In recent years gift baskets have become extremely popular, with an increasing number of options available, plus a number of speciality baskets, such as golf enthusiasts, new baby and gourmet baskets. Another type of basket in great demand is the corporate gift basket.

In choosing corporate gifts, a company has to decide what it is trying to achieve in giving the gift at all. Like any marketing decision (and let's be honest, this is marketing), the choice needs to take into account costs, purpose and likely benefits, as well as any possible adverse reaction if a bad choice is made. So, your corporate gift basket, if that is the general choice you make, should be appropriate not just to the recipient but the level and importance of the business relationship you have with them.

I am stating the obvious in saying that the corporate gift basket you send needs to both please the recipient, and further your business relationship with them. But it should also be kept in economic proportions. If you are sending to a customer who spends $50m a year with you, and you send them an obviously cheap $15 gift basket, the gift is likely to do your business relationship more harm than good. Send a luxury gift basket worth $990 to a customer who spends $100 a year with you, is not a sensible decision, unless they happen to be a great friend of yours; in which case, it is not really a corporate gift anyway.

When making your choice of gift basket, and what to include in it, then do think very carefully. The best marketing, the best customer relationships, are built on an individual basis. Ask yourself: do I not prefer to be treated as an individual, and receive gifts that are personalized? Of course you do; it shows the giver has thought about you and taken you into account as a person. Treat the corporate gift process like a mass mailing addressed "Dear Sir or Madam", and you will damage your customer relationships.

It follows, then, that your choice of corporate gift baskets should be well tailored for the recipients. An element of personalisation is very important, especially for large (spending) customers and their company executives. Just having something engraved can bring a touch of personalisation, even if all customers have exactly the same contents in their gift basket.

What To Put In A Corporate Gift Basket?

Deciding what to put in corporate gift baskets requires a bit of thought, which benefits from the "know your customer" rule. Once you have decided on the budget for each basket, and the type of gift that would be appropriate, it is then a matter of being selective within those criteria. For Christmas gift baskets, some advance planning is definitely needed so you can source the best value and quality of products.

You can find suppliers of corporate gift baskets online who appreciate the need for personalisation and will offer a range of options for you. So, if you choose appropriate quality products to fill the basket, and they are suitable for your gift "target", you can then have one or more items personalised.

Should you decide to have a basket with just one item personalised, then ensure that is placed strategically at the top of the basket, so the recipient sees quickly that you have thought about them as a person. The more individual touches you are able to add to the contents of the basket, the better for your customer relationships. But always remember, your choices must be appropriate.

The types of gifts you can put in the basket are really only limited by imagination. Engravable items can include wine boxes, golf flasks, cufflinks, business card cases. Really, just about anything you can engrave. If you have a gift in mind you cannot engrave, then a metal plaque added could be engraved, such as with a wooden pen box or executive filing case. The more you use your imagination, the more individual your corporate gift basket will be.

This corporate gift article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner/author of the Gifts For Xmas website, and the Xmas Ornament website.

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Corporate gifting is a big headache for most business owners; how much to spend, who to spend the money on, where to get the gifts, what to get and how to gauge the effect of that giving in terms of benefits for the company are all important questions. When a company decides to give gifts it needs to be planned out as part of doing business, not just a last minute impulse. The cost of gifting should be built in to the cost of your product and used when evaluating your break even point.

With a plan for gifting as part of the cost of the product you will never come up short in November or offend someone by getting a gift for one employee but not another. Gifting in terms of employees can be figured as a part of income, like a benefit. You can even state that to your employees if it traslates into giving bonuses or extra days off with pay. But not if you plan to give birhtday presents. The bottom line is; gifting needs to be planned, budgeted, and scheduled. When handled this way gift giving stress evaporates.

1. Why are you going to give gifts?

a.) to ensure customer loyalty

b.) to build relationships

c.) to create an image

d.) to reward important customers

e.) as a marketing strategy

f.) to reduce employee turnover

g.) to reward employee performance

h.) to say thank you

i.) insure good service by vendors

j.) congratulations

k.) to create goodwill

Establish what each of these areas might mean in terms of frequency. How often would you reward employees, how often would you give a gift to a vendor? What benefit are you specifically looking for? Giving a gift to a vendor because he is always on time will probably result in a continuation of that behaviour. If your employee has brought you customers and referrals what are those referrals worth, can you afford NOT to reward the employee for that kind of enthusiasm?

Do not confuse discounts with gifting. They are not the same thing! Unless you have a product that you know the recipient really wants, don't give your products as gifts. It is seen as advertising not as a gift!

Never use promotional products, with your company name and web adress on it as gifts! These are viewed on an even lower scale! People see them as leftovers from a trade show...that is NOT a good thing!

3 solid rules for gifts!

1. Do not give perishables without a including a non perishable item! Apples and popcorn will be gone and forgotten in a matter of days! A beautiful picture frame will be on someones desk for years to come, Reminding them of your thoughtfulness!

2. Think before you give... who are you giving to and what is their lifestyle. A bookstore gift card may wind up being sold at a discount on the internet or regifted if the person never reads.

3. Always think quality rather than quantity. A single $25 classic pen is much better than a cheap $25 stationary set with a cheap diary, poor quality paper, pencil, eraser, and poorly printed folder and a pen if the pen never works and the paper is so cheap the person would be embarassed to use it.

Gift baskets are great, but once again remember that food is gone in a week...you want to gift gifts that keep on giving for months or even years. There are a few places such as Lasting Impressions 2 that provide custom gift baskets that include non perishable products selected especially for the recipent. For instance if you have a client that loves golf, has 3 kids, drinks Starbuck's coffee, and wears glasses a custom basket might include golf balls, a gift certificate for a family portrait from a local photo studio, a starbucks commuter cup, and a trendy glasses case. That kind of gift will be remembered for years to come. Instead of $150.00 of chocolates and coffee you have given a very special gift that says you are an important client.

Customize your gift giving but maintain a standard cost for gifting. For instance, maybe employee birthdays should be limited to $10-$20 dollars and client gifts 5% of their annual value in sales. Only you can decide the dollar limits...every business is different. If you own a 99 cent store you will not be giving your stock boys trips to the Bahamas. By the same token, if you are a sucessful doctor in Beverly Hills a $5.00 birthday gift for your nurse might seem inappropriate and downright rude!

If all of this seems a little overwhelming remember that once the plan is laid out and you have a vendor for your gifts, year after year you can use the same plan or fine tune it depending on how your business is doing. But one thing is for cetain people will see you in a positive light and the marketing power of good gift giving will traslate into low turn over, and client loyalty and referrals.

Meredith Gossland is owner of Lasting Impressions 2 a small business marketing service provider. She can be reached at info@lastingimpressions2.com or at http://www.lastingimpressions2.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meredith_Gossland

If you're trying to promote your store, but you don't have a big advertising budget, relax. There are lots of ways to get in front of the audience you want to reach by using free publicity. Here are tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed.

1. Tie your story ideas to the holidays. Here are some examples: Gourmet gift baskets that make the best Christmas gifts. Bookstores that are doing special programs that tie into Mother’s Day. Health food stores that can explain how to create a vegetarian meal for Thanksgiving.

2. Call the advertising department of every newspaper and magazine you want to get into and ask for a copy of their editorial calendar. It’s a free listing of all the special topics and special sections coming up during the calendar year. It will tip you off to sections where your story idea would be a good fit, so you can query the editor weeks and even months ahead.

3. Invite a reporter from your local newspaper or magazine for coffee or lunch. Instead of asking, “Will you write about me?” a better question is “How can I help you?” Offer yourself as a resource in your area of expertise. Talk about trends you are seeing in your store.

4. Consider starting your own television show on your cable TV station’s community access channel. A floral shop can do a program on how to create dried flower arrangements. The station can rent you the camera equipment for a nominal fee. Air time is free. Produce one show or an entire series of programs. Call your cable company for details.

5. Build a network of other retailers in your area. Agree informally that you will refer reporters to each other whenever they call and want your views on a topic on which you all could comment, such as a new sales tax increase.

6. Write how-to articles such as this one for newsletters published by groups in your community, or for newsletters read by audiences who buy your products or services. Be sure the last paragraph tells readers how to contact you.

7. Don’t forget newspaper and magazine columnists. They’re always hungry for fresh ideas. Keep in touch with them and feed them ideas regularly.

8. Get on your local TV news and the morning TV news feature shows. Tie your product, service, cause or issue to a breaking news event. Pitch yourself as the local angle to a national story. Or suggest a feature story with great visuals.

9. Write articles for electronic magazines and include a paragraph of information at the end that leads readers to your web site.

10. Contact your trade association and ask them to refer reporters to you. Many reporters who don’t know where to find sources on a particular topic start by calling trade associations.

11. Always refer to yourself as an “expert” in your marketing materials, at your web site, in information that explains your workshops, in your introductions during public speaking engagements, and in your media kit. The media always seek out experts and interview them.

12. Pitch stories about your product, service, cause or issue that tie into the weather. Weather stories are mandatory at most media outlets, and newspapers and TV stations, in particular, are always looking for fresh angles that tie into today's and tomorrow's forecast.

13. Pitch story ideas about your business to the reporter who covers the retail beat for your local business journal or business magazine.

Joan Stewart, a.k.a. The Publicity Hound, shows you how to use the media to establish your credibility, enhance your reputation, sell more products and services, promote a favorite cause or issue, and position yourself as an employer of choice. She publishes “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” a free ezine on how to generate thousands of dollars in free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.PublicityHound.com and receive by email the free checklist “89 Reasons to Send a News Release.”

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