Is your enterprise B2B tech company still leveraging corporate gifting platforms?
The COVID-19 pandemic is mostly behind us and physical events are back and more popular than ever. But, most enterprise B2B demand gen marketers learned a thing or two about the category of corporate gifting during lockdown. It can assist your sales and customer success teams to stay close to clients and assist with the sales cycle, all with a few clicks from your desk. At CTG, we’ve seen these software platforms to be integral for our enterprise B2B tech clients in connecting with prospects and customers even with physical events making a comeback.
The software category of corporate gifting can have many names. For example, on the software and services review site, G2, we found several different categories such as Account-based Direct Mail Software, Rewards and Incentive Software, and Direct Mail Automation Software.
There are several platforms to assist your B2B tech company with making a long-lasting connection with your top clients and prospects.
Here are just a few of the platforms that we’ve seen in the enterprise B2B tech space:
Surprising your lead with a tangible item to show your appreciation and gratitude can go a long way.
According to Patricia DuChene, the Senior Vice President of Revenue at Postal, a leading Offline Marketing Automation Platform, “83% of Americans have a positive response to receiving packages and 90% of prospects say they’d be willing to engage with salespeople early in the buyer’s journey.”
Pros of Having a Gifting Platform
Gifting platforms allow varying gifts across all interests and price ranges. Your target audience will likely vary in hobbies, taste, and style, and these platforms allow you (or even the recipient) to customize their gift!
This feature allows the marketer to build a menu of options for the recipient. For example an outdoorsy gift basket, a bottle of alcohol, an amazon gift card, or a charity donation. The recipient will receive an email or be directed to a landing page where they fill in their shipping information and select their preferred gift.
No more ‘one gift fits all.’
Many of these platforms only take out the credit if the gift is redeemed. So if the recipient doesn’t want a gift or forgets to redeem it, your company saves a little money.
And yes, they do typically integrate with your marketing automation (eg. Marketo) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools (eg. Salesforce).
Cons of Having a Gifting Platform
Yet another tool for your team, how many is too many? Having the platform isn’t all you need to make an impact, you also need a strategy.
Plus, getting launched with some of these platforms can be a lengthy process, especially if you want to build customized branded items. This can take up to 6 weeks! So be sure to plan ahead.
Gifting platforms tend to have several warehouses to serve different geographical locations, which is a great convenience, except when you don’t have the inventory you need in the particular warehouse. This will delay the gifting for processing time.
Should You Invest in Corporate Gifting?
Overall, offline marketing tends to leave a greater impression on your audience.
DuChene also noted the #1 reason customers switch brands is from lack of appreciation. What better way to appreciate your customers, prospects, and partners than with a gift?
If you have an employee who can organize and plan for your gifting plan, it will be worth it. The drawbacks can be avoided with proper inventory management and gifting timing.
There are many ways to customize the gifting to fit your needs. Varying gift values are available to keep your brand top of mind for your audience.
To develop your gifting strategy check out this Forbes article that breaks down 4 Corporate Gifting Strategies That Will Elevate Your Sales!
At CTG we have helped our enterprise tech B2B demand gen marketing clients with a handful of these platforms and helped in the coordination of account-based direct mailing. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help your team, please visit our Demand Generation Program Management services page.