Companies Cut Back on Corporate Gifting

According to a study by an American Express Open Small Business Holiday Monitor survey that came out on Monday, 1/3 of small business owners are going to give employee gifts this holiday season, in comparison to 46% in 2008. In addition, only 47% small business owners are anticipating giving corproate gifts to clients, down from 52% last year.

Entreprenurs may have been hit even harder by the economic downturn with nearly 60% saying the downturn has affected their corporate gift giving habits. It seems as if most companies, whether large or small are cutting back on corporate gifting this year.

Corporate gifting is a huge part of the holiday season for businesses, and beyond sharing holiday sentiment it is especially important for maintaining employee morale, and client relationships. So, with a smaller budget for corporate gifts this year, how can you have a big impact with a small budget?

Here are some Corporate Gift Ideas , that will get you the most for you buck:

1) Be thoughtful about the gift. Think like a marketer-- 80% of gifts are re-gifted, really spend some time thiking about what your client or employee would want. Make sure to take age, location, and interests into account. Are theya fan of a sports team? Certain part of the country?

2) What would be meaningful? This does not mean you have spend money, sometimes a hand-written note will do the trick.

3) What is the end goal of the gift? Do you want to build a relationship? Get more business? Show appreciation? Make someone laugh?

This is not an easy time to be in business. It's not time to stop giving corporate gifts, it's time to be smarter with your gifiting.