Top 3 Corporate Gifts for Doctors

Whether private practice, pediatrician or neurosurgeon, being a doctor requires a lot of dedication: the hours are long and the job is demanding. Doctor’s can’t do it all on their own, and so, we offer you a guide to the top 3 gifts for doctors, which will hopefully prove helpful to the doctors out there.

1) Pens- I know, cliché, but have you ever noticed how doctors always carry pens with them? How they’re always writing—filling out a chart, writing notes, filling a prescription. To further help doctors keep their charts and notes organized, consider a promotional syringe highlighter! Pens make a great promotional gift for doctors. And who knows, perhaps a nice custom pen might inspire a few MDs to improve their John Hancock’s.

2) Hand Sanitizer- Cleanliness is next to godliness, is the old saying. In the medical world cleanliness and sterility are very important. Hospitals and doctors offices are teaming with communicable diseases, so imprinted hand sanitizer is a great idea. Both doctors and patients can utilize promotional hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of germs.

3) Bandages- Often when a young child makes it through a doctor’s appointment, shots and all, doctors might give them a small trinket or gift. This promotional bandage dispenser, which comes with animal bandages, is a great parting gift as children are prone to cuts and scrapes.

2008 Corporate Gift Trend: 3 Reasons Re-usable Tote Bags Make Great Gifts

From college campuses to Hollywood to the streets of New York City – you can’t go anywhere nowadays without seeing a lot of tote bags. As the weather gets progressively warmer, the layers of clothing come off, and the outdoors become replete with activities, tote bags will continue to grow in popularity as a fashionable and practical corporate gift for all ages.

Here are the top 3 reasons why reusable tote bags make great gifts:

1. Eco-friendly: Tote bags are a simple way to live a sustainable, environmentally-friendly life. Some totes are made from materials like recycled plastic and canvas which reduce waste and are biodegradable.

2. Fashionable: Totes are completely customizable and come in different shapes, sizes, and colors to fit all different styles and personalities. Big tote bags are truly a complete, multi-purpose accessory and fit a casual or dressy look with ease.

3. Usability: Tote bags have many different pockets that allow for storage of various materials and items. The versatility of the bags also allows them to cater to many different lifestyles and activities. This means that the bags can be used (and re-used) for everything from carrying groceries to lugging clothes for the gym to books and towels for the beach.

Corporate Gift Tip: How Much To Spend?

This week's corporate gift tip is response to a frequent question in our mailbag: Just how much should you spend on corporate gifts? As with all business decisions, it always comes down to what your budget can afford. However, one should emphasize quality over quantity within the constraints of the budget whenever possible, since maintaining a good image should be a high priority for any company -- giving out many flimsy gifts will not do anything to help your brand.

Companies looking for more stringent guidelines should consider a metric system for determining the amount spent. From our past experience, most companies average about $15 for each year of employment. For example, under those guidelines, a $120 employee gift would be appropriate for an employee with 8 years of service. This system can have the added benefit of reducing claims of unequal treatment in gift giving, while still allowing employees to reward those with more years of dedicated service.

Gifts to clients are usually considered with more gravity, with average amounts ranging from $20 to $30. This should really be determined by the nature of your business relationship with the client. The more long standing contracts and major accounts should be rewarded appropriately...it makes sense, after all, to pay more attention to the businesses that provide the foundations of yours.

Direct Mail Tip: How to Avoid the Perception of Being Junk Mail

This weekend will see the 30th anniversary of e-mal spam and it got us thinking about how similar traditional untargeted mass mailing campaigns is to the highly annoying electronic version. So many marketers give in the to lure of untargeted mass mailings, which is quite unfortunate because most of today's consumers have neither the time or the inclination to sift through all the content to find a few pieces that might be relevant to them.

Today's consumers are already swimming in a sea of messages from a plethora of media sources...constantly hounded and pursued by countless brands. To even get noticed and to avoid wasting valuable advertising dollars, it's crucial to consider the demographics of your audience. It would not help you, for example, to advertise mortgage loans to a community dominated by senior citizens -- the majority of which would have likely paid off such expenses long ago.

But, beyond that, there is still the difficulty of making your direct mailing campaign avoid the stigma of junk mail. Including a relevant promotional gift can going a long way towards removing that negative association. With the inclusion of a promotional giveaway, you're offering something of value right from the start -- something that they may enjoy, in exchange for their time and consideration on whatever offer you may be making. Such a crucial distinction can make the difference between your message getting through or simply being discarded unread.