Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love. It started out as being focused on romantic love. Now, it’s often seen as a time to celebrate love in all its forms. That means it’s an appropriate day for businesses to show their customers some love. Here is a quick guide to what you need to know.
Why Valentine’s day is the perfect time to show customers you care through personalised gifting
There are two main reasons why Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for business gifting. Probably the most obvious one is that Valentine’s Day is a time for gifting. This means that your gesture is in keeping with the holiday.
The second one is that Valentine’s Day is the start of the end of winter. As such, it’s the start of the end of the post-New-Year low season. It’s therefore the perfect time to reach out to your customers and remind them how much you’ve missed them. Essentially, Valentine’s Day is the time to brush the cobwebs off your relationships with your customers.
Why business gifting still matters
No matter what business you’re in, it almost certainly costs more to win new customers than to keep existing ones. It, therefore, makes sense to work, actively, on maintaining your relationships with your existing customers.
At a minimum, this will help to safeguard your position as their preferred choice of supplier. If all goes well, it may encourage them to become brand ambassadors for you. Organic, word-of-mouth recommendations are still the most valuable form of marketing there is.
Giving customers an occasional, appropriate gift is a simple and effective way to show your appreciation for them.
What are the best Valentine’s Day business gifts to offer?
The best corporate Valentine’s Day gifts to offer are usually chocolate followed by sweets. These are popular options all year round. They are particularly appropriate for Valentine’s Day, and here’s why.
It’s a classic seasonal gift
The classic Valentine’s Day gifts are chocolates, other sweets, bath and shower treats, flowers and alcohol. Of these, only chocolates and sweets are practical options for business gifting. Bath and shower treats are way too subject to individual preference. Flowers are highly perishable (and can trigger allergies). Alcohol can be very inappropriate.
It’s at a reasonable price point
Chocolate is a treat. It can even be a luxury. At the same time, it’s relatively inexpensive. There are two reasons why this matters. Firstly, it helps to make your marketing budget go further. Secondly, it means that your gift will probably be acceptable under business gifting policies.
It’s universally popular
The vast majority of people like chocolate (and sweets). They may not eat them regularly. Valentine’s Day, however, is a time for sweet treats. What’s more, these days there are options for all preferences. For example, you can now get diabetic and vegan options and fair trade and organic ones.
It creates an experience
One of the reasons why food is such a popular gift is because it delivers an experience the recipient will remember (and associate with you). This is often a much safer option than trying to pick reusable items that will appeal to a wide range of recipients.
The problem with reusable items is that niche item only appeals to a few people. More common items are unlikely to be as practical as they may, at first appear. For example, many people already have enough mugs, water bottles, and keyrings. Either way, there is a strong chance that your gift will end up being donated rather than used.
It taps into the senses
There is definitely a place for digital gifts. They can be a useful way to stretch tight marketing budgets. At the same time, however, no digital gift is ever going to appeal to the senses the way a real-world gift can.
By gifting chocolates (and/or sweets), you can connect your brand to the customer’s senses. That is a very strong connection, especially when it’s accompanied by positive emotions.
There are lots of different options
No matter your needs wants and budget, there are options to suit you. You can go as small or as big as you like. You also have the option to go custom. That’s particularly easy, and effective, with chocolate.
Chocolate is so easy to shape that it’s often used to create food sculptures. You don’t have to go anything that far. If your budget allows for it, however, customised chocolate gifts could be an excellent option.
Instead of, or as well as, customising the chocolate itself, you could also look at customising the wrapping. If, however, your budget isn’t up to either of these options, that’s fine. Chocolate is always appreciated. Even if the original recipient doesn’t want it (for whatever reason), they will usually regift it to someone they know.
It’s easy to store and/or deliver
Gifting itself may be all about the thought. In business, however, the practicalities matter too. Chocolate has a fairly long shelf life (as do most sweets). That means you can place your order early and organise the distribution at a more relaxed pace. Chocolate is also easy to deliver. In fact, some chocolate gifts are specifically designed to go through letterboxes.
How to get the best value from your Valentine’s Day business gift
It’s expected that gifts will be occasional, especially physical ones. Communication, however, should be regular. What’s more, each communication you send needs to add value to your customer’s life in some way.
This generally means that there should be a minimum of 80% appropriate, information-rich content. Advertorial content should be kept to a maximum of 20% of what you send out.
You can use social media to keep in touch with customers. In fact, there can be a lot of benefits to doing so. At the same time, it’s preferable to have an email list as well. In fact, if you have to choose between social media and email, email is usually the better option.
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, you own your email list in a way that you will (probably) never own a social media platform. Secondly, customers who give you their email tend to be highly engaged and, hence, particularly valuable.
