Sure, it’s mid-September and I really should be back in school. Oh, sorry. I was having a Rod Stewart moment. I really should be starting to plan for client holiday gift giving. As it happens, that’s exactly what I, and my Odell cohorts, were doing this afternoon. The fourth quarter tends to get busy, so it’s important to plan in advance.

When you give yourself time to plan things out, it’s easier to use your gift as a marketing tool. That beats running out at the last minute to buy some “Yawn, I already got five of those,” kind of gift. Here are some ideas:

Design a handmade box, branded with your logo, that contains your gift item

Suitable for hanging prints of your noncommercial work

In our meeting today, we decided to give a nifty chocolate sampler produced by one of our clients. It features chocolate made from cacao from around the world. It’s an unusual package configuration and the client loves the design our Art Director, Dave Lear, created. The client seems rather fond of the copy I wrote for it, too [blush].

Lots of businesses send chocolates and such. To help ours work as a marketing tool, we’ll be adding some things. First, we’ll create a branded, holiday-themed sleeve that will slide over the package. Second, we’ll design and print a label to go over the barcode on the side of the package. It will say something along the lines of “Package design by Odell.”

This helps us accomplish a few things from a marketing point-of-view. First, the recipient will see two more examples of our work – the sleeve and the sampler package. For some clients who like to pigeonhole us, it helps to show another service we provide. Plus, package design is an area of focus for us now. Finally, our logo will help reinforce the Odell brand.

At the end of the holly day, everybody’s a happy camper. Our confectionary client gets a nice order. We get a good price and a great gift to send out. Our clients receive an unusual gift to pique their palates (or re-gift, as the case may be).

So, now’s the time to put on your thinking caps and come up with a gift idea that will make you stand apart from the pack. Have a ball!

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt