In this episode, Jamie Shibley, CEO of The Expressory joins host Jason Mudd to discuss how to strengthen relationships through thoughtful, strategic corporate gifting.
Tune in to learn more!
Short Guest Bio:
Our episode guest is Jamie Shibley, CEO of The Expressory, a strategic engagement agency helping businesses strengthen relationships through thoughtful, relationship-first strategies. She’s a best-selling author and recognized expert in strategic gifting and relationship marketing, with insights featured on “Entertainment Tonight” and Forbes.com.
Listen to the episode here:
5 things you’ll learn during the full episode:
- Strategic and themed gift giving for internal and external audiences
- How to redefine “gifting” beyond presents
- The three emotional pillars that build strong business relationships
- Ethical considerations and best practices for corporate gifting programs
- Why systems and consistency are essential to meaningful engagement
About Jamie Shibley
Jamie Shibley is the CEO of The Expressory, a strategic engagement agency that believes the key to accelerating business growth and profitability in the post-COVID era lies in your ability to maintain personal connections and build emotional loyalty in your relationships. Jamie is the best-selling author of “Relationship-First Strategic Engagement” and is widely respected as a market leader. Her work has been featured on “Entertainment Tonight” and Forbes.com.
Watch the episode here:
Quotables
- “To form a relationship with somebody, that person needs to feel three things. They need to feel that you understand them, they need to feel that you validate what's important in their world, and they need to feel that you care.” — Jamie Shibley
- “You recognize that it's not only the people that you already know and have some sort of relationship with. It's about nurturing the ones you want for the long term as well.” — Jamie Shibley
- “When your vendor partners feel valued and seen, they will work harder for you.” — Jamie Shibley
- “Sometimes a gift is your smarts. Sometimes a gift is just something that's simply helpful to someone so you don't have to spend. The budget does not matter.” — Jamie Shibley
- “We would be better off not sending a gift or not sending a note card to somebody if it has something that has a negative unintended consequence or ramifications.” — Jason Mudd
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Resources
Episode Resources:
Recorded: June 23, 2025
Our On Top of PR sponsors:
- Production sponsor: Axia Public Relations, one of America’s Best PR Agencies, according to Forbes Magazine
- Coffee sponsor: Fans like you fuel our efforts through Buy Me a Coffee.
About your host Jason Mudd
The World Communication Forum named Jason Mudd as North America’s top PR leader.
He is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist to some of America’s most admired and fastest-growing companies. His past PR clients include American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, General Electric, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon.
He’s the CEO and managing partner of Axia Public Relations. Forbes Magazine named Axia as one of America’s Best PR Agencies.
Jason is a professional public speaker, accredited public relations practitioner, published author, podcaster, and entrepreneur. CNN, Entrepreneur, Forbes, The New York Times, National Public Radio, PRWeek, and The Wall Street Journal have quoted Jason as an expert public relations strategist.
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Transcript
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;19;22
Jamie
When we design experiences, we bring in, social psychology and social psychology of relationships tells us that in order to form a relationship with somebody, that person needs to feel three things. They need to feel, that you understand them.
00;00;19;25 - 00;00;36;24
Jamie
They need to feel that you validate what's important in their world, and they need to feel that you care. Okay, so when we say think of a gift broadly, we we say think of things that make people feel one of those three ways.
00;00;36;24 - 00;00;46;23
Announcer
Welcome to On Top of PR with Jason Mudd.
00;00;46;23 - 00;00;49;00
Jason
Hello, and welcome to On Top of PR, I'm your host, Jason Mudd, with Axia Public Relations.
00;00;49;03 - 00;01;16;23
Jason
Today I'm joined by my friend and colleague Jamie Shipley. She is the CEO of the express RI, a strategic engagement agency that believes the key to accelerating business growth and profitability and the post-Covid era lies in your ability to maintain personal connections and build emotional loyalty in your relationships. Jamie is the bestselling author of Relationships First Strategic Engagement and is widely respected as a market leader.
00;01;16;28 - 00;01;27;19
Jason
Her work has been featured on Entertainment Tonight and Forbes.com. Today we're talking about corporate gifting done right, Jamie? Welcome to the show.
00;01;27;22 - 00;01;31;00
Jamie
Thank you for having me. This is great.
00;01;31;02 - 00;01;40;07
Jason
Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Glad that you're here. I know we've been talking about this for quite a while. And for full disclosure, we've been working with your company for probably almost five years now.
00;01;40;08 - 00;01;42;19
Jamie
Yes. Yes. Get in there.
00;01;42;21 - 00;02;05;17
Jason
Yeah. So, because my company, Axia, we use, Jamie's company for gift giving and including giving gifts to our podcast guest. It'll be a little weird to have you send a gift. So. But, But I guess we'll do that. And, But we're talking about corporate gifting done right, which I believe is a real struggle for a lot of companies and organizations.
00;02;05;17 - 00;02;13;18
Jason
And I think we'll get into the details about that a little bit later. So, Jamie, anything else you want to add to introduce yourself to our audience?
00;02;13;20 - 00;02;15;17
Jamie
No, I think you got it. Thank you.
00;02;15;24 - 00;02;37;02
Jason
Okay. Excellent, excellent. So, as I said earlier, we have a business relationship together. And we are connected through mutual contacts, whereas, you know, we were thinking, okay, you know, the one thing we don't want falling between the cracks is recognizing our, our talented team and our employees, and to recognizing, our clients and those other individuals that we do business with in some way.
00;02;37;02 - 00;03;02;01
Jason
And so we want to be very intentional, strategic, but also have the ability to where we've got a partner like you that helps us own this. We tried over the years to do it in-house. And, you know, we could use the excuse that we're a small business and we're busy or whatever, but at the end of the day, you really need someone who I think you know, what is it they say and and, in traction, you know, you want somebody who wants it, who has the capacity to do it.
00;03;02;01 - 00;03;20;20
Jason
And and, and whatever the other qualifications are. But I can't think of, of, you know, I'm literally just hours back from vacation, so I'm still a little focused on personal stuff like life. Yeah. Like life. Exactly. But to that end, I mean, at the end of the day, you want somebody who loves it, wants it has the capacity to do it.
00;03;20;20 - 00;03;50;15
Jason
And we've tried with that and we've had different people, both, internally as W-2 employees and even just like, hiring, you know, an independent contractor, like, a stay at home mom that we knew that we just had a gift for gift giving. And she loved doing it, but it just it's it's a lot more work than people realize, because not only do you have to source it and figure it out and message it right, but then you start to, you know, package it and send it and track it and all this other, you know, crazy stuff that you've built a business around.
00;03;50;15 - 00;03;50;29
Jason
Right, Jamie?
00;03;51;06 - 00;04;12;21
Jamie
Yeah. Systems, I think. Right. Like to, to help you be consistent. And I think you, when you came to us, you had already just this fantastic idea of the experience you wanted. And it was, you know, we want to use a specific, you know, color, tissue paper. We want this kind of, branding or not branding. And you guys had it down.
00;04;12;21 - 00;04;35;25
Jamie
I think, again, it just comes back to that consistency of execution, that, you know, it becomes difficult for people to do. Think the other thing you were good at that you, you didn't mention, you part of what you guys do is you nurture your prospects as well. So you recognize that it's not only the people that you already know and have some sort of relationship with.
00;04;35;27 - 00;04;41;19
Jamie
It's about nurturing the ones you want for the long term as well.
00;04;41;21 - 00;05;03;11
Jason
You know, you make a good point. So I think that illustrates my example even more like we know what we want. Having somebody who owns it and is responsible for it is even more benefit because you're remembering things that that I forgotten. Just because, you know, as a as the owner of the company, just like you own your company, you know, I'm going a thousand miles an hour and, and, and casualties just happened along the way.
00;05;03;11 - 00;05;21;26
Jason
And so, you know, then I'll realize like, three weeks later, oh, we didn't give a gift for Sally's birthday, and. Right. And then I feel like a heel, because Sally knows that we do a good job of giving gifts. And so then Sally's wondering, well, are they mad at me? You know, whatever. But just things happen, you know, and so, you kind of forget.
00;05;21;26 - 00;05;52;12
Jason
But I don't want to be forgetful. I want to be intentional. And that's why your, system and service is very helpful. So let's talk about this for a minute. So there's typically at least two primary audiences. And that would be strategic theme gift giving for internal meaning employees. That could also be me maybe depending on the company shareholders and leadership team investors and then external audiences, which, you know, just scratching the surface would be clients and customers.
00;05;52;14 - 00;06;10;12
Jason
And then maybe even more than that, and some of our audience is going to have, you know, their initial reaction is going to be, well, gosh, we have thousands of employees and thousands of shareholders and maybe millions of customers. Yeah. How could we possibly, you know, manage something like that? But to your point, I think it's systems. But I'm going to lean into you as the expert.
00;06;10;15 - 00;06;34;20
Jamie
Yeah, yeah. One, one group that, we could add to that is like your vendor partners as well, because when your vendor partners feel valued and seen, they will work harder for you, right? You want those relationships to thrive as well? So I think when you're talking about, like, large groups, I think it's very common for people to get hung up on budget.
00;06;34;20 - 00;06;57;04
Jamie
And oh my gosh, that's overwhelming. What are we going to do? How do we manage this? But the one thing I want to invite people to think about is, when we hear gift, we naturally go to that place of like, a wrapped present and holidays and birthday. Right? But in our world, gift is broader than that.
00;06;57;11 - 00;07;24;24
Jamie
If you look up the definition of a gift, gift is to give something and we say to give something with no expectation of return. But but it doesn't mean it has to be present. Sometimes a gift is your smarts. Sometimes a gift is just something that's simply helpful to someone so you don't have to spend. The budget does not matter.
00;07;24;27 - 00;07;48;01
Jamie
It may be a company is, launching something new, right? And, they want they know that whatever they're launching, the employees would love it, you know, to buy this thing eventually, as well. So maybe they put all of that item in people's hands. But it's more importantly, it's about the message of why you're doing it.
00;07;48;03 - 00;07;54;14
Jamie
And the whole point is to make people feel seen and understood.
00;07;54;14 - 00;08;14;08
Jamie
when we design experiences, we bring in, social psychology and social psychology of relationships tells us that in order to form a relationship with somebody, that person needs to feel three things. They need to feel, that you understand them.
00;08;14;11 - 00;08;37;03
Jamie
They need to feel that you validate what's important in their world, and they need to feel that you care. Okay, so when we say think of a gift broadly, we we say think of things that make people feel one of those three ways. What do you know about these people's world? And how can you show them you care?
00;08;37;06 - 00;08;40;03
Jamie
Because at the end of the day, that is all that matters.
00;08;40;03 - 00;09;10;24
Jason
So, Jamie, what I'm hearing you say is the word feeling multiple times. And for someone like myself who is very analytical and logical and systems and process driven, you know, sometimes I can miss that, in the experience. But as you know, from our interactions, I knew that was important for us, in our company to be able to capture that and, you know, and, and is, you know, sometimes I can be very particular or picky about the gifts that I want to give to people because there's so much to consider.
00;09;10;26 - 00;09;33;06
Jason
And, you know, if you want to have, you know, in an ideal world, you could be like, you know, I really know Jamie. I like her or, you know, and and I've gotten to know her. So I know these are 3 to 5 things she really appreciates, but some people aren't as, transparent or, as open about their personal life, where you can really capture those things.
00;09;33;06 - 00;10;03;16
Jason
So there's, you know, we have a, like a, an inventory with you at your warehouse of, you know, gifts that we frequently give. And sometimes those gifts just aren't appropriate for certain people based on, you know, their personality. So you may know. Yeah. Yeah. And so, for example, as you know, we found, you know, I found that it's hard to give gifts of food and drink because people have dietary restrictions or allergies or maybe they, you know, maybe they have loved ones that struggle with, you know, alcohol.
00;10;03;16 - 00;10;20;20
Jason
So sending alcohol would seem inappropriate unless you know that person, you've been around that person in social settings to understand that. So, what and so what are kind of some of your thoughts or guidelines or guardrails when it comes to, you know, corporate gift giving and making sure that you're on the mark?
00;10;20;23 - 00;10;48;16
Jamie
Yeah. So again, if we go back to kind of that feeling, right. Those three things people need to know, you really want to think about it when it's hard to do individually. Right. At that level, not everybody can get to that level. There are some companies where you may not have a very big recipient list, and you can think about what you know about each individual person and, and kind of, customize it from there.
00;10;48;18 - 00;11;14;18
Jamie
But, more often what you do is you want to, categorize or tier the, the different groups of people that you're giving to and then step back and think about what you know about their world. If it's your vendors, is there a collective of, understanding of, wow, they're all really struggling right now? Let's let's think about the current environment.
00;11;14;18 - 00;11;41;29
Jamie
Right. Tariffs. It's a struggle to, right now for, for vendors trying to figure out how to navigate all of this. Is there something I could give them that acknowledges, hey, I know it's a crazy time. Just want to say I see you, right? And what could reflect that? It doesn't have to be expensive. It's just the fact that you're taking a moment and and the recipient looks at it and goes, wow,
00;11;42;01 - 00;12;04;01
Jamie
That thank you. Thank you for saying that. And and understanding where I'm at. Right? Right. You know, maybe it's your employees and and you're moving through, season of, a lot of hours, a lot of work. And the message is something like, you know, man, we've had a lot going on. It's been a great, quarter for us.
00;12;04;01 - 00;12;26;04
Jamie
We know you're working hard. Here is a gift card. Go take your family or friends out for some ice cream or whatever it may be, right? Like, again, doesn't have to be expensive. But you're showing an understanding of their world they've put in all this time with you. They just want a little time for themselves. You know, things like that.
00;12;26;04 - 00;12;49;29
Jamie
Relaxation. How can you show that someone has gone above and beyond? Or maybe you've all just gone through and achieved something remarkable together. Give them something that reflects that storyline because, hey, we all did this together and look at what we did. And here's this thing that is going to reflect something I'm really proud of.
00;12;50;02 - 00;13;14;03
Jason
Yeah. That's good, that's good. I like that you said it doesn't have to be expensive. And that reminds me of of a struggle. I hear that I'm sure you can address, although it may still seem like a difficult question, which is. Yeah. You know, you know, the example, the common example is like holiday parties or, you know, gifts that people receive for their employer.
00;13;14;06 - 00;13;40;08
Jason
Sometimes people say, well, gosh, I just would have rather had the cash than this gift, right? But sometimes the gift, like you said, is something small, like a gift card to go get ice cream. And let's say that's a 20, 25, $50 gift card. You know, I, I just I guess my question is ultimately this, Jamie, is how do you best avoid a scenario where someone is cynical and you give them a gift and they just think, well, that's it.
00;13;40;10 - 00;13;41;28
Jason
You know, like, you know.
00;13;42;00 - 00;13;42;22
Jamie
Like I know.
00;13;42;23 - 00;14;00;14
Jason
That that's, you know, that's all you value me for. And, you know, or you, you, you do a holiday party and they're like, gosh, you spent way too much money. I would have rather just had the money. And the example I think of is like my friend and this is just a funny story. And I to this day, I still think something went wrong.
00;14;00;17 - 00;14;18;01
Jason
But, he went to the holiday party. He was about to leave, and he told his boss or leader or whatever that he was leaving, and they said, oh, hang around for ten, 15 more minutes. We're going to give out, you know, your gift, you know, as a Christmas party, we're going to give out gifts. So, you know, he was kind of like, I really need to get home babysitter, you know, whatever.
00;14;18;04 - 00;14;24;27
Jason
So he stuck around and then they handed out an envelope, just plain number, ten envelopes. Visa gift cards for everybody.
00;14;24;29 - 00;14;25;12
Jamie
Okay.
00;14;25;17 - 00;14;44;08
Jason
And when, you know, when he actually opened it and peel back the gift card or whatever it was, it come to find out, the gift card was a $10 visa gift card. And to make things worse, when he went to the store to use it, it actually came back and said, you know, declined or invalid whatever. So it didn't even work.
00;14;44;08 - 00;15;06;09
Jason
And so I asked him for like a year, like, did you ever say anything? Did you have like whatever? And he said, no, I just said, forget it. You know, I think he used a different word than forget. Yeah. You know, but I just thought that was hilarious. And just him telling me the story you could tell how defeated he felt about, you know, one, having to stick around to get a gift card that felt very, you know, meaningless.
00;15;06;11 - 00;15;25;19
Jason
And for context, you know, he, you know, he makes six figures working at this company. So, you know, to him, a $10 gift card felt very kind of insulting for sure. Now the back story is they gave gift cards, the same gift card allegedly to every single employee in the company. And you know, there's probably hundreds of employees.
00;15;25;21 - 00;15;32;24
Jason
And I think in the moment, it probably felt like a nice gesture. When you look at the grand total of the amount, right, that the company.
00;15;32;26 - 00;15;59;24
Jamie
Yeah. You know, that's really interesting because I have a story like a, a negative, don't do story. That is very similar with that same, value. So we had a client that was using us for a while, and she had an employee who went above and beyond while the owner was on vacation. And so she wanted to give the employee a thank you for covering everything.
00;15;59;24 - 00;16;23;29
Jamie
Right. And so it was this message of, boy, thanks for, you know, taking that on while I was away. And it was a $10 gift card. Right. And whatever, whatever. The message said, I just remember that even the team here writing it was kind of taken aback. Like, it it didn't match the sentiment. Right? Like, something was off.
00;16;23;29 - 00;16;56;13
Jamie
And I think we've all been in that place where we've received something where it's felt like, hey, yeah, you didn't mean that, and I so how do you correct for that? I genuinely go back to how you make someone feel. And I think in the case of of your friend, because it was probably thousands of employees, and I don't know how reasonable it is to pull this off, but if that truly is the only budget you have, I think you have to go deeper on your message.
00;16;56;16 - 00;17;23;29
Jamie
You have to make that message as powerful as it can be about them and the fact that, you know, what they did and you know how they showed up and acknowledge the true human receiving it, not just general, because at the end of the day, everyone wants to belong. We are living in a world that is, extremely tech heavy these days.
00;17;24;05 - 00;17;51;26
Jamie
The advancements come in left and right, and, it is notably documented just how isolated we are all becoming. And so in today's day and age, if you can take a moment to truly see a person and call out their personal good and make them feel they belong, I think you accomplish it. You know, your true intentions.
00;17;51;28 - 00;18;19;05
Jamie
Regardless of what you were able to give. We we did. We completed some market research this year. And, and, it included business leaders in the professional services industry. And one of the questions we asked is, have you ever felt irritated with a gift, kind of this same discussion, and no one wrote no. There were no yeses.
00;18;19;10 - 00;18;51;29
Jamie
But in the comments, the only time people had like a negative, sentiment, it was when something was branded, by the company giving it and nothing else. Right? So there was no usefulness and it reflected more about the giver than the recipient. Yeah. You know, so hopefully, hopefully that helps. Our guidance when you're creating experiences is it's all about what story do you want to sell.
00;18;51;29 - 00;19;25;21
Jamie
And you know, we talked about the book that or you touched on on that in the intro. One of the things I do in the book is go through these six storylines that we use when we're designing gifts, when possible. And if you can tap into things like does it acknowledge a goal or a milestone, either a future goal or, when they've already achieved if the gift and the message talk about yay, you did it, or can't wait until you do, that is a lasting gift.
00;19;25;23 - 00;19;50;11
Jamie
And people feel strongly and they connect you to that. If you touch on a transitional period, something in the person's world that they're working through, it can be transitional, like we think of covet moving in and out of Covid. That's a transitional time. So if your message reflects that, you. Yeah, we felt this that connects people.
00;19;50;14 - 00;19;58;18
Jamie
So it's things like that, that create the power in whatever it is you're giving to a person.
00;19;58;20 - 00;20;17;09
Jason
Yeah, I like that. And as you know, one of the things we like to do is, core value giving. So, you know, something related to our five core values. And when someone exemplifies that or has been recognized by others in that way, we want to, you know, give them a gift of appreciation for, you know, living and breathing our core values.
00;20;17;09 - 00;20;35;24
Jason
So. Right. Jamie, we're going to take a quick break. But when we come back, we're going to talk about, how how our audience can get a free copy of your book. We're also going to talk about ethical considerations and just some additional best practices for corporate gift programs. So stay with us and we'll be right back on the other side with more on top of PR.
00;20;35;24 - 00;20;45;02
Jason
This episode is brought to you by Audible. Enjoy 30 days free of Audible Premium Plus by going to ontopofpr.com/audible.
00;20;45;02 - 00;21;09;21
Announcer
You're listening to On Top of PR with your host, Jason Mudd. Jason is a trusted advisor to some of America's most admired and fastest growing brands. He is the managing partner at Axia Public Relations, a PR agency that guides news, social and web strategies for national companies. And now, back to the show.
00;21;09;21 - 00;21;24;10
Jason
Welcome back to on Top of PR I'm your host, Jason Mudd, with Axia Public Relations. And today I'm joined by Jamie. And we're talking about, corporate gift giving. And that's how Jamie and I met through a referral. And they've been our corporate gift giving agency for, the last five years.
00;21;24;10 - 00;21;40;04
Jason
So I'm honored to have her on our program and share some insights into what we do at Axi, as well as how she helps her clients. So, we want to jump in. And at the end, we're going to, tell our audience how they can get a free copy of your book, which I think they'll be excited to have.
00;21;40;07 - 00;22;03;08
Jason
But let's talk just a little bit more about ethical considerations. I'm sure you have your own ideas. Top of mind for me is always think about pricing. Like, you know, there's a price point where it probably becomes maybe unethical for you to gift to your clients, right? Especially if they work at a big company. And, you know, they don't want to sense that they're being influenced by gifting, and that kind of thing.
00;22;03;08 - 00;22;27;24
Jason
And then secondly, I think is, is we talked about earlier just being sensitive to, you know, dietary, religious or, you know, value based that you might offend in some way by sending a gift. So the last thing you want to do, and I talk about this all the time with my team is we don't we would be better off not sending a gift or not sending a note card to somebody if it has something that has a negative unintended consequence of ramifications.
00;22;27;24 - 00;22;35;23
Jason
So for example, if you send somebody a handwritten note and you accidentally misspell their name, you might have been better off not even sending the hammer, right?
00;22;35;26 - 00;22;37;03
Jamie
Yeah.
00;22;37;05 - 00;22;56;29
Jason
Or, you know, just like if you're, if I'm writing a letter to Jamie and I accidentally call her Stephanie at some point in the note, probably would have been better just to not even do it at all. So I think that's, you know, something that's kind of top of mind for me is making sure one you're accurate, you're considering your messaging and consider it in the gift itself, which we kind of explored some of that earlier.
00;22;56;29 - 00;23;02;23
Jason
But what what are some of your common thoughts or recommendations when it comes to ethics?
00;23;02;26 - 00;23;41;19
Jamie
Yeah, that's a great question. We actually work with, a number of financial advisor companies. Right. And they actually have legal limits for gifting. Because again, you can't appear to buy someone's business. I know in corporate world that's a very big thing. It's very common. So how we generally, work with that, if you're giving to companies where they may have, regulations around what they can receive, maybe you don't know what that is.
00;23;41;21 - 00;24;11;09
Jamie
We usually guide our clients to just assume it's a low bar because some of these companies have, you know, you can't accept anything more than $25. So how we get around that? Having worked in corporate, you can usually keep a gift if it's shareable and you just put it out in the break room and other people get to partake in that.
00;24;11;11 - 00;24;39;09
Jamie
You can keep something if it's educational. And again, could potentially be shared. So books, helpful material. So if you can, can structure whatever you're giving around that. So if it's, if you're thinking of giving, like a, an appreciation gift, you know, one is, it's, goodies that, that they can share. But it could also be.
00;24;39;09 - 00;25;11;18
Jamie
Hey, I know you're probably a person who likes continuous learning. Here's the latest, top ranking business book, you know, but again, it's in your language. Right? And so now a person feels or, hey, we're we're moving into the winter season and by us, it's in Wisconsin. It's usually cold and you don't like to go outside. So here's a good book, to get you through winter season so you can now I'm kind of using a transitional period in there as well for the story.
00;25;11;21 - 00;25;50;04
Jamie
Now you've mentioned, the, you know, the, the alcohol, that one comes up frequently. The unknown, or maybe the person, the giver has, preferences. They just don't like that. How we usually work around that is, we find there are a number of mixers, that can be used as nonalcoholic that way there's the recipient still has can partake in that taste, you know, and so if you send like a variety of, of mixed packs or, what do they usually call them now?
00;25;50;06 - 00;26;17;19
Jamie
I know they're usually packages or, but they don't call in marinades and forget what the drinks are called anyway, you mix these things in, that usually works. Allergies are a tough one. Because you can't it. So the best thing you can do there is scent. Send an assortment of things. So if there is one thing that's an allergy, it can be, given away right?
00;26;17;22 - 00;26;19;26
Jamie
Yeah. Well, I can help.
00;26;19;28 - 00;26;43;06
Jason
Yeah. I like your tip of making it shareable. I think that's important. What we do, just, you know, you mentioned earlier, we're very systemized, so on our onboarding form of a new client, we specifically ask them about restrictions. So do you have any dietary or, other restrictions or preferences in the event that we, you know, want to send a gift and if we want to send a gift or is there anything we need to know?
00;26;43;08 - 00;26;57;17
Jason
You know, as you were talking, I was just making some notes, you know, I, I don't have the exact number in front of me, but at one point, the IRS, you know, said that, you know, if you give a gift, if you give or receive a gift and it's less than, I don't know, I think it was 20, but it might have been $25.
00;26;57;19 - 00;27;11;06
Jason
Then, you know, you don't have to report it as taxable income or whatever. And so to us that was a good guideline. You know, the problem I have with the IRS is, you know, when they wrote that, you know, whether it was 20 or $25, you know, was that 30 years?
00;27;11;07 - 00;27;12;16
Jamie
Right, right.
00;27;12;17 - 00;27;27;12
Jason
And then the same thing with like, you know, whether or not you have to send somebody, a 1099 form, you know, each tax year, that number is $600. Well, it was $600 when I was a preteen know. And if you are looking at me on video, you can tell I haven't been a preteen in a long time.
00;27;27;17 - 00;28;00;15
Jason
So, you know, to me, I get frustrated with with those outdated numbers that they don't update. But, you know, the the other thing I think is, you know, worth mentioning here is just, you know, like, the other struggle is like, so many people work from home now. And so, you know, we had this this dates like 15 years ago, but we were sending this contact, a bunch of stuff at the office, you know, like, once a quarter, you know, trying to engage somebody we wanted to do business with as a, as a prospective client.
00;28;00;18 - 00;28;15;21
Jason
And then one day they're like, look, I just came to the office for the first time in two years, and there's, like, all these things you've sent me, and they're like, I appreciate it. You know, we sent books and articles and things like that. Yeah. You know, I don't come to the office at all. And I was and, you know, there's no way to really know that unless you have a conversation with.
00;28;15;21 - 00;28;16;19
Jamie
Right.
00;28;16;21 - 00;28;28;23
Jason
I imagine in the current era where, you know, ballpark, 40% of people are still working from home or do work from home, you know, that can be tough to you. You just have I think you just have to have these the conversation with them ahead of time.
00;28;28;25 - 00;28;48;23
Jamie
You do. And, you know, it's funny how many people will say, ooh, but how do I get the address? It's actually remarkably easy that like when you ask, you just, hey, would you mind sharing a, a mailing address I'd like to send you, you know, a thank you or something. From time to time, I like to send people.
00;28;48;23 - 00;28;50;29
Jamie
We'll do that. Yeah. So easily.
00;28;51;02 - 00;29;10;27
Jason
Yeah. And then I think also just people need to think all this goes back a little bit all the time about earlier about being strategic and intentional. But you know, like we talked about earlier, you know, giving a gift that really means something to that person. So, you know, it's like, you know, if you send a hat to someone who doesn't like the way they look in a hat, then you know, it's not going to go real far.
00;29;10;27 - 00;29;24;27
Jason
And if your logo is, you know, this huge logo on a hat, right? That's not necessarily going to be great either. But then, you know, I'm around people and they see me wearing something that has the Acsi logo on there, like, hey, what do I got to do to get a little Axia swag? And you're like, you want one?
00;29;24;27 - 00;29;50;15
Jason
Like, okay, you know, and and you know, you're sometimes surprised by it, but you know, like one thing we I've always said is like when I want to give a gift or a, what do they call them? Branded merchandise. Right? Yeah. I want it to be something that somebody is going to actually use. Yeah. And usually not only use it, but also use it in the action or activity relief to the services we provide.
00;29;50;15 - 00;30;07;11
Jason
Right. Okay. So you know, and that's a high bar, you know, when you're doing some be considered a little invisible or obscure like public relations. Right. And so we've toyed around with all kinds of things. But you know, like, as you know, one of the gifts we give is a door hanger. And the door hanger says interview in progress.
00;30;07;11 - 00;30;26;14
Jason
Right? Right. And so that can be used related to doing interviews and podcast sessions just like this could also be used, you know, if they're doing an employment interview kind of thing or they just want to be in their office and not be disturbed. Right, right. So, you know, we give those out. In fact, I've got one on the office door right now because I'm recording.
00;30;26;14 - 00;30;42;02
Jason
So, you know, I find that to be a helpful gift. It's not expensive. No one's going to, you know, go to compliance and say, I got this door hanger. It was ethical for me to use it. Right? And, you know, I don't even know if our I know our names on it, but I don't know. Yeah, our logo somewhere on it.
00;30;42;02 - 00;30;53;14
Jason
But the point is, is it? You know, we designed it intentionally so it was useful and and offered some value or assistance as opposed to being, you know, self-promoting.
00;30;53;17 - 00;31;05;25
Jamie
Sure. And that's a fantastic way to look at those things. And by the way, I think that's a marketing expense, right? That's not a gift. Yeah. Because it's got your logo on it.
00;31;05;27 - 00;31;20;03
Jason
Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Do you have any other examples of really good, tie ins or alliances between what a company's giving and, and how they position themselves?
00;31;20;05 - 00;31;47;19
Jamie
Here's a fun one. And you did this with your clients. So one of the storylines we use is called, relationship related. And that is, if you can give a gift that reflects, you know, something about the community itself or you tell the story, about, something that is maybe a tradition in your world.
00;31;47;21 - 00;32;20;17
Jamie
So if you are maybe the CEO and you are the one giving, gifts to the employees, if you gave a gift at, let's say you're usually a, traditional holiday season, November, December giver. Perhaps the gift is something related to a tradition in your family. Hey, in my family every year. Yeah. I don't know, maybe it's, you know, we all buy, matching socks.
00;32;20;20 - 00;32;49;21
Jamie
And we spend the morning, whatever it is. Right. But you're sharing a tradition. Or every year. This is a recipe that my mother used to make. And the gift includes the recipe, but it includes the story of your world. Now, the recipients start to feel like they kind of know you personally. And that bit of a glimpse into Wow, it makes you feel closer to the person.
00;32;49;24 - 00;33;16;04
Jamie
You did this with your, a summer gift one year, and it was related to your annual cabin vacation growing up. Right? So the gift was a yard game, and you talked about, hey, this time of year, you know, we grew up and we went to the lake. So it's it shares a little bit about you, your your community, your relationship with, you know, the family.
00;33;16;07 - 00;33;35;07
Jamie
But it also makes the recipient feel like we have an experience like that. We used to go to cabins to and now it's encouraging some additional dialog and engagement, which is, you know, something that that we all want coming out of this. So that's some thoughts on how to be creative.
00;33;35;10 - 00;33;49;24
Jason
Yeah. You make a good point. And you remind me of things that, candidly, I've just forgotten over the years. But yeah, the nice thing about that is I got a lot of engagement from people where they said, oh yeah, I'm going to take this to our lake cabin and install it or whatever, because it was a little like the ring thing where.
00;33;49;24 - 00;34;07;04
Jason
Yeah, like the ring. And it tries to hook up, which is a very challenging game, but it's something anybody of all ages can participate in. And, yeah, I remember now that you mentioned it. You know, I even had people be like, hey, my coworker is going, you know, on a vacation and they took it with them or something like that.
00;34;07;04 - 00;34;25;10
Jason
So yeah. Yeah. That's right. It makes a lot of sense. And I love that idea. In fact, you reminded me one year, Jamie, you don't know this, but, we did, we we hired one of our employees was, you know, a larger guy. And so we dressed him up like Santa Claus, and he delivered, figgy pudding.
00;34;25;12 - 00;34;40;02
Jason
So, you know, we we did, like, 75 recipients. I think. And and, Yeah, it was crazy when I look back, but, you know, And my poor wife, she made all the figgy pudding. You know, we, you know, you hear about figgy pudding, but nobody really knows.
00;34;40;05 - 00;34;41;26
Jamie
What. No. Right.
00;34;41;28 - 00;34;59;04
Jason
Yeah. So she she baked it and made it, and we packaged it and we delivered it. And I mean, I, I the reason I bring this up because I, you know, we were doing some spring cleaning and I stumbled upon, like, we had collected all the note cards that people sent, all the emails we would send. And people were just like, I never knew what figgy pudding was.
00;34;59;04 - 00;35;22;15
Jason
It was actually delicious. And thank you. And by the way, Santa was the cherry on top. You know, having it delivered by Santa and, you know, being in PR, we had it, dropped off at some newsrooms and the newsrooms took pictures and posted on social and, or, you know, on their, on their website. And so, what I found was actually, you know, we had won an award for, you know, the creativity of that campaign.
00;35;22;17 - 00;35;43;06
Jason
And so, you know, again, you talk about the idea of, you know, taking something, unusual or unexpected or traditional and trying to make that emotional, like we talked about earlier, connection, with the recipient. But I guarantee you, there's probably you know, 40 people to this day that probably when they hear figgy pudding, probably still think of us or at least.
00;35;43;08 - 00;36;10;00
Jamie
Talk about it, you know, I every year when holiday passes, we look back at all the client gifting and we do some analysis of like, what was the top, theme, all that kind of stuff. And, the very first year we did it, the top, the top gift was this package called Baker's Going to Bake, and it was, sugar cookie recipe with a bunch of, like, cutouts and sprinkles and things like that.
00;36;10;00 - 00;36;34;09
Jamie
And by far, I mean, we are talking, you know, I it was the most ordered gift. And when we looked at what is that about? It goes back to shared experiences as the giver. It made that the reason it was so quickly chosen is because we all grew up baking cookies, right? Or we had them growing up at some point.
00;36;34;11 - 00;36;35;07
Jason
And cookies growing.
00;36;35;07 - 00;36;58;21
Jamie
Up. Right. So you, like the Giver was like, oh my God, yes, probably a reminder to them of something. And the recipient felt the same way. It's it's the same reason, the thing about selling homes, right? You bake some cookies, that fondness we all have. And that was, such a big gift. The last two years, if anybody's interested.
00;36;58;23 - 00;37;06;29
Jamie
The last two years, wellness gifts have been, the top, 1%. So the top theme.
00;37;07;02 - 00;37;07;18
Jason
Okay. That's good.
00;37;07;18 - 00;37;13;01
Jamie
That makes sense, right? I mean, I would imagine this year's going to be another one just like that, right?
00;37;13;01 - 00;37;21;22
Jason
Right, right. Well, Jamie, as we're wrapping up, I, you're offering to send, free copy of your book to our audience. Tell us more about that.
00;37;21;25 - 00;37;44;02
Jamie
Yes. So thank you. Just launched the book, this year, and, you know, completely free will ship you a hard copy, and you can in there you will find these, story lines that I keep referencing, along with some of the strategy, and how to, to nurture relationships. So it's on our website at the express.
00;37;44;02 - 00;38;04;09
Jamie
Sorry.com. So the express or Wycombe's agency book and we'll also have a link in the show notes as well. So I hope you'll take me up on that and then, you know, as usual, feel free to reach out with any stories, love stories. And, if you have any questions.
00;38;04;12 - 00;38;19;09
Jason
Perfect. So, real quick, I want you to tell our audience what's the best way to reach you? Whether that's LinkedIn or email, if they have questions for you or want to want to talk to you about what we talked about today. And then secondly, just in a couple of sentences, how did you get into this business?
00;38;19;09 - 00;38;22;07
Jason
What was your passion behind it?
00;38;22;09 - 00;38;45;21
Jamie
Well, my passion, I've always been a maker and I have always heard why you're really good at this when, you know, giving, and I'm e-commerce it background. It was time for change, and it all just kind of came together, so, it's. Yeah, I never imagined, you know, a business like this, so it was. It's great how it all worked out.
00;38;45;23 - 00;38;59;25
Jamie
You can reach me if you put my, name together. It's Jay Shibley at the express or Ecom. I'm on LinkedIn as well. I can easily grab a message there, so.
00;38;59;28 - 00;39;16;21
Jason
Okay. Well, Jamie, thank you so much for sharing your smarts with our audience today. Thank you for the offer for the book. And, with that, I will I will wrap us up here and say thank you to our audience for tuning in to On Top of PRX. As always, it's my pleasure to help you stay on top of PR.
00;39;16;26 - 00;39;36;09
Jason
I hope whether you do it internally or externally, that the advice Jamie shared today was helpful to you and your organization, so that you can become more of a thoughtful gift giver and more of an intentional gift giver within your organization, and do so within the ethical and preferential guidelines of both you, your brand, and ultimately the recipient that's receiving it.
00;39;36;11 - 00;39;53;12
Jason
If you found this episode helpful, please take a minute to share it with a friend or colleague who you think would benefit from it. And if you really enjoyed this episode, please take a minute to leave us an online review on your preferred platform. We would really appreciate that too. That would be a great way to give us a gift in return for the hard work we put into this podcast.
00;39;53;12 - 00;39;53;27
Jason
So with that, this is Jason Mudd from Axia Public Relations, signing off and wishing something great happening to you today.
00;39;53;27 - 00;40;49;17
Announcer
This has been On Top of PR with Jason Mudd presented by ReviewMaxer. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and check out past episodes at ontopofpr.com.
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Topics: corporate communications, strategy, On Top of PR
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