The Art of the Gift

A mint on your pillow. A smile and “welcome home” even though you are staying at Chicago’s downtown Embassy Suites. These are simple, but powerful gifts for the business traveler.

At the LL Bean campus in Maine this past weekend, I enjoyed a free concert. Joshua Radin and his band played a mini concert for about an hour. For me, these two brands are now inextricably linked to each other. Each time I hear a Radin song on the radio, I will think of LL Bean and vice versa. A simple gift in this case translates into continued brand recognition that many companies pay a lot of money to create. The concert was not free but the art of this gift will continue to pay dividends, some instantly as listeners became shoppers.

Gifts should provide value for your customers and community. Product samples, freebies, discounts, priority status, and product involvement (think legos) are a few customer examples. Community sponsorships, organized volunteer drives, donations, or hosting events are a few examples. These events can start small and then scale with time. The real art of the gift is getting maximum return with little to no cost — all that is required is a little creativity.