How to Build Brand Loyalty with Meaningful, Personalized Gifts

Jun. 29

Hello and welcome to another blog post from us at Outstanding Branding! In this post, we're going to share about how you can build brand loyalty through personalized gifts with your customers, employees, and even organization.

What is personalization?

Personalization is when someone gives you a custom fitted hockey jersey with your favourite team's logo on the front, and your name and favourite number screen printed on the back.

It feels great receiving a gift like this because it shows that the person giving you this has not only spent time thinking about what your favourite hockey team and number is, but that they've also gone to the effort of creating this special item just for you.

Imagine receiving this welcome gift set that has your name and initials on all the items. Wouldn’t it be such a lovely and thoughtful gift?

Non-personalization, on the other hand, is like when someone gives you a free-size hockey jersey that's too small for you AND has the logo of the team that you hate on the front.

There's no personalization. No names, no numbers, and you know where it’s going to end up: straight into the bottom of your drawer with the rest of the forgotten shirts. It's like they bought a bunch of leftover jerseys that were on sale and you were one of the "lucky" recipients.

This is one of the biggest defining factors between a gift and a giveaway when it comes to promotional products.

When you hand a thoughtful, custom personalized product to your customer, that’s a gift. When you hand out a piece that’s the same as everyone else’s, that’s a giveaway.

Next, let's delve a little deeper into the benefits of why you should personalize gifts to build loyalty with your customers, employees, and even organization.

Why personalize gifts?

1. People love their names

If you've ever been to a crowded party with several conversations ongoing around you, you'll probably find that you can easily tune out everyone else to focus on the conversation you're having.

But the moment you hear your name, even if it's far off in a corner, your ears will likely perk up and tune in to what's being said. This is the "cocktail party effect".

Our names are so personal to us, that according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Research, our brains light up when we hear our first name as compared to hearing other people's names.

When you personalize a gift with the recipient's name, it turns the product into something that's so much more meaningful for them.

“Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

— Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

2. Create a sense of ownership with personalized promo gifts

Personalizing gifts can also create a sense of ownership for the recipient. By imprinting their name onto the product, it now becomes an exclusive and unique gift that is personal to them.

According to a research study done by PPAI, 1 in 5 will trash an unwanted promo product. And when it comes down to it, would you rather use a generic promotional pen, or a personalized pen that has your name on it?

Custom Branded Pen with Personalized Name Katie on It

This sense of ownership is where companies can see their return of investment on their marketing budget over time. 89% of consumers own promotional writing instruments, and each pen generates approximately 3,000 impressions over its lifetime.

This means the longer your recipient keeps their personalized gift, the lower your cost per impression will be.

“According to a research study done by PPAI, 1 in 5 will trash an unwanted promo product. And when it comes down to it, would you rather use a generic promotional pen, or a personalized pen that has your name on it?”

3. Stand out from your competitors by offering something they're not

Personalization is not only a way to create a connection with your customers, it's also a growing trend. According to McKinsey, consumers want better personalization: approximately 80 percent of them say it’s important to them.

Another study by Deloitte also shows that the majority of consumers are not only willing to pay more for a customized product or service, they also want to be actively involved in the process and are willing to pay a 20% premium for it.

*Would you rather be a yellow tulip, or a red one?*

With the ever-increasing competition for consumers' attention, standing out from your competitors has become even more critical - and personalizing gifts is one way you can do that in a sea of giveaways.

Ideas for personalizing gifts

Now that we've shared about the "why" and the benefits of personalizing gifts, we'll share with you some ideas for how you can take your marketing campaign to the next level with personalization.

Conferences

With the current landscape as it is, conferences and events are likely to be a virtual mainstay for the next little while. People will still attend virtual events to deepen their knowledge or network virtually, and notebooks are still a functional and practical gift.

One way you can create a memorable impression on your audience is to personalize their names or initials on a custom branded notebook, and surprise them by mailing the personalized notebook before the virtual event begins.

This notebook has a brand patch on the front, and a laser engraved name in the centre front.

If you do it well, your personalized notebook now becomes a memorable surprise that they'll share on social media - which extends your marketing spend and further brings down your cost per impression.

Customized gift sets

There are many moments in life where you have only one try to make an impression. Some of these moments can be when you've graduated from high school or university, or when you've finally retired. This is where custom gift sets can come in to help make the moment extra special.

You can give custom gift bundles to new employees as part of their onboarding experience, or to new graduates as part of their school graduations.

This is a personalized graduation gift set with the recipient’s name on the pen, and the school’s custom branding on the gift box. It’s a meaningful and practical pen that they’ll always cherish, even in the years to come.

If your customers are now largely working from home, how about sending them a personalised work from home gift set to make their working from home office experience so much better?

Another way to create a special experience with personalized corporate gifts is to send a thank you package to your long-time customers at the end of the year. It not only shows your gratitude to your customers for being with you through the year, it also cements a positive impression of your brand and helps with bringing in new clients through referrals.

“According to a PPAI study, promotional products draw as many as 500% more referrals from satisfied customers than an appeal letter alone.”

Building up a group order

Personalizing gifts is not limited to the names of your customers only. One of the ways you can use personalization with us is to build up a group order with custom branded products that are then personalized with individual names.

If you're a real estate agent, this is a great way to get personalized products that not only has your agency's corporate branding, but your personal contact information as well. As an individual, you may not have the marketing budget for a thousand pens; but together with your fellow colleagues, you can meet the minimum quantity order.

Another way to personalize products is to do so by department. Corporate shirts can be embroidered with the company's logo, and personalized with the department name on the side of the sleeve or the back of the shirt.

What can you personalize?

Now that we've given you some ideas on how to create meaningful brand connections through personalized gifts, let's look at what you can personalize.

When it comes to personalization, the first thought that comes to mind may be custom team jerseys or branded writing instruments. The exciting news is that personalization is no longer limited to these categories.

Nowadays, you can personalize a wide range of items such as travel accessories like luggage tags or the luggage itself, to laser engraved names on tumblers for the office. Be it shirts (like we mentioned above) or domed earbuds.

No matter what you need, the possibilities are endless when it comes to personalizing promotional products.

If you have a custom project in mind, feel free to reach out to us and let us know how we can help you with your marketing needs!

If this article has inspired you, please share it with a friend who’ll find it useful or let us know what other ideas we can add in!