ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

New Year's Gift Advice for Your Business

Updated on February 15, 2019
heidithorne profile image

Heidi Thorne is the author of "SWAG: How to Choose and Use Promotional Products for Marketing Your Business."

An imprinted mini ice bucket filled with candy can make an ideal New Year's business gift.
An imprinted mini ice bucket filled with candy can make an ideal New Year's business gift. | Source

Don't worry if you missed giving out business gifts during the holidays. In fact, New Year's can even be a better time to give!

Why New Year's is a Better Time to Give Gifts

During late November and December, people get snowed with mail and email. Some are friendly holiday greetings. Others are advertising offers because businesses know that people are in a buying mood around the holidays, both at home and at work. At home, purchases are for gifts and celebrating. At work, companies are often scrambling to either spend up existing budgets or plan for the next year. On both fronts, people are so overwhelmed by January 1 that they're just interested in plopping in front of the TV to watch the Rose Bowl before they have to go back to work. Ugh! The party's over.

In many areas, January is a month of drab winter weather and few, if any, holidays. Add that to the back-to-work doldrums. It's a time a year that needs some excitement! Why not be the provider of some excitement with an unexpected New Year's gift?

One company found out how valuable January was for gift giving after their gift supplier messed up and sent the packages out after New Year's. The company's surprise gift was so well-received that calls of thanks and appreciation came flowing in. With it being the beginning of the year, those kinds of calls can provide a great opportunity to talk about doing business in the year ahead.

Types of Business Gifts that Work for New Year's

With the element of surprise that a New Year's gift provides, really any type of gift might work. But here are some ideas that could be winners for a business:

  • Fresh Fruit and Healthy Snacks. After indulging over the holidays, a healthy eating gift of fresh fruit, nuts or snacks could be welcome. Gift packaged fruit boxes are available from many online sources. Some even offer a "Gift of the Month" type program where a different fruit of food gift is sent to recipients once a month for the entire year. This is an effective way to keep in touch with mega or key clients.
  • New Year's Themed Gifts. New Year's might be over by the time they receive a gift, but any gift sent in January can feature the theme. Ice buckets and champagne bottles filled with candies or food fit right in.
  • Calendars. Surprisingly, paper calendars are still popular in the age of e-calendars on mobile devices and computers. They become changing works of art! So choosing themed calendars with beautiful photography and artwork get attention. Or choose a 3D calendar that can occupy a special place on a customer's desk. Giving calendars in January is best, but anytime through the first quarter of the year can still work.
  • Super Bowl Gifts. Got football fans as clients? No doubt that right after New Year's they're getting pumped up for the Super Bowl, especially if the local team is in the playoffs. Sending a food gift of snacks and cheeses the week before the big day can be quite a surprise and will definitely get used. Pizza gift certificates or certificates to restaurants that will be showing the big game can also work. Also use football theme promotional giveaways with the business name on them, but DON'T put the NFL team's name on them! Big licensing no-no.

Chinese New Year and Jewish New Year Gifts

For some businesses and communities, alternate "New Year's" celebrations are even more important than the end of the calendar year. Two of the most widely celebrated are Chinese New Year (usually occurring in late January through mid-February, depending on the year) and Jewish New Year (also known as Rosh Hashanah, which occurs in early September to early October, depending on the lunar cycle).

Each of the cultures has traditions that need to be observed so as not to offend recipients. If you are not well familiar with the traditions, consult a marketing consultant specializing in these markets before purchasing gifts.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

© 2013 Heidi Thorne

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)