Get a Head Start on Your Corporate Gift Planning!

Although the holiday season may still be a few months away, it's a smart idea to get started on planning your holiday gift campaign now if you want to beat the rush and guarantee the availability of the products you want. Not only can starting early save you time and money, but it also ensures peace of mind by eliminating the unnecessary stress and pressure of fast-approaching deadlines.

This is a pretty hectic time for a lot of companies, so besides the helpful service of a personal Promotional Products expert to walk you through the process, we put together some helpful steps to give you an idea how long the process typically takes. Your situation may be slightly different, but it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to giving great gifts to your clients and employees.

Step 1: Gather the facts
Average Time: At least one week

The first step of a successful gift program is to gather specific information that will guide you through your planning process. Who are your recipients? If you want to give client gifts, will you be giving them to individual contacts, or will you be sending something for the whole office to share - remember that there may be multiple gift recipients at the same company, so make sure you account for this. If you're considering apparel or other gender-specific gifts, come up with a rough tally of men versus women. What is your budget? If you've already set a budget, make sure it accounts for fulfillment shipping costs. It's also a good idea to leave some room to accommodate any last minute changes made to your recipient list. How do you plan to distribute gifts? Your method of choice will help you determine the date the gifts should be in your hands. These are all questions you should consider during the first phase of planning. After about a week, you should have a basic blueprint that will make the rest of the process smooth and easy.

Step 2: Brainstorm product and imprint ideas
Average Time: Varies depending on the number of people involved - 1 week per decision maker

Once you have your blueprint in hand, start throwing in potential gift items into a wishlist - a great feature on our site. A wishlist keeps track of all the products that might be a good fit for your needs. To make things easier, any good promotional product site has filters that you can use to find products that match your criteria.

Choosing an appropriate gift may be the most important part of the whole process, so allocate a decent amount of time to making the correct decision. Look for gifts that are both useful for employees and relevant to your business. Lean towards gifts with high-perceived values that will "wow" your recipients but also be light on your budget. It's also important to consider various imprint options you have at your disposal. Your service rep can help you with this step to see which printing method works with your budget and logo. Depending upon how many people are involved in your brainstorming session, this step can take anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks.

Step 3: Gift selection and approval
Average Time: Varies depending on decision-makers - 1 week per decision maker

Once you have your list of potential gifts, it's time to start narrowing down the group to finding the perfect item. Start by requesting samples and submitting your artwork to have our art team create digital mockups of your favorites. This will give you a hands-on view of the product so you can get a better idea of how the final product will look. Having a physical spec sample is a great way to speed up the approval process, as decision-makers can think quickly when the actual item is in their hands.

It is a good idea to budget 1 week for each decision-maker that needs to approve the gifts.

Step 4: Order placement and production time
Average Time: Placing the order: 1 day; Production time: 5-10 business days (Note: Late in the holiday season, production times often increase, even doubling in some cases. Plan accordingly and place your order early to beat the rush).

Placing an order with ePromos is a quick and easy process, but it still makes sense to consider the limitations of the holiday season. If you order early, you can avoid the common stock issues and production delays that start to appear towards the end of November. Keep in mind that different products may have different production times. We can help guide you through the order process and keep you informed of any details that may affect your order.

Step 5: Shipping from factory
Average Time: 1 week

At this point, your order is rolling out of the factory and onto the shipping truck. Depending on your needs, the finished gifts can be shipped however you'd like. If you want to avoid distributing the gifts on your own, the order can be drop-shipped from the factory directly to your recipients' doorsteps. If you want the products shipped to your location first, you can expect them to be firmly in your hands within about 5 business days - shipping times are heavily influenced by the distance between your business and the supplier. Things can get hectic as we move deeper into the holiday season, but if you started the process in August or September, you shouldn't experience any delays. Ordering early gives you extra time to prepare for distribution and minimizes the chance of delays affecting your schedule.

Step 6: Giving the gifts
Average Time: 1-4 weeks

The final step of the gift process is getting the items into the hands of your recipients. Many variables can affect the length of time required for this step. Here are some examples:

International Clients
If you are shipping the gifts to international clients, it will take a few days more than domestic shipping depending on the destination and shipping method you have chosen.

Deliver in Person
Maybe you'd like your sales team to deliver the gifts in person. If this is the case, determine how long it will take to make all of the necessary stops.

Doing It Yourself
Most businesses pack up the gifts themselves then ship them via UPS or USPS. It takes a lot of time and resources to pack and ship gifts so make sure you put aside a couple days for this step.

Let Us Do It
If you'd like to avoid getting your hands dirty with this step, we offer gift fulfillment services that will take care of all of the assembling, packaging, and shipping your gifts. Just ask a rep for details if you'd like to take advantage of this time-saving service.

What are you waiting for? Beat the rush, ensure product availability, and minimize your margin for error by getting started on your corporate gift planning as soon as possible. While everyone else is struggling to find great products on time late in the holiday season, you can sit back, relax, and pat yourself on the back!