Today we’d like to introduce you to Cathy Hogan-Smith.
Hi Cathy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Cachet Corporate Gift Services was started in 1997 when I was a real estate agent looking for creative closing gifts for my clients and couldn’t find anything that I thought was unique enough. I’ve always been a very creative person so I thought I could just design specialty gifts myself! Although my first attempts weren’t all that great, people seemed to really like them, and the builders that I was selling homes for noticed and decided that they also would like me to design gifts for their vendors, closing attorneys, and lenders throughout the year.
While I continued to do gifts only for my clients & builders, I discovered that there was a National gift convention that I wasn’t aware of, and immediately signed up for it! The convention had numerous classes on design, marketing, etc., and also a huge trade show with vendors specific to gift design. They also had a big design competition, with the most gorgeous, upscale designs that I had ever seen! I was inspired! By the time the next convention came around, I had decided that I would enter a few designs, and to my surprise, I actually won several awards and continued to win for many years!!
The gift magazine that sponsored the convention took notice of me and offered me a position as an instructor for the convention and also as a feature writer for the magazine! I continued to work the conventions for many years and was even picked up by another magazine to do feature writing!
Corporate Gifting is a $242 billion dollar industry, and we do very upscale custom designs for corporations all over the country! Some of the bigger companies that we have designed for are Home Depot, AutoTrader, Cox Communications, CNN, Black Arts on Tour, The Atlanta Braves, and Falcons, and numerous celebrities and professional athletes!
We work out of a studio (we don’t do a storefront) because all of our work starts from the first time we meet, or have a conversation with our clients, to help them incorporate their ideas, logos, personalized products, etc., into their design….that is what makes us unique in the gifting market—-total customization! I also give seminars for companies to teach them how important it is for them to express authentic gratitude to their customers, clients and employees, throughout the year. Not only is it a great tool to increase their ROI, but it helps them build better, all-around relationships with the recipients!
We call ourselves the “Happiness Ambassadors” because along with helping businesses build better communications with clients, we also share with them how we donate a percentage of sales to local charities, and they love being a part of that!
In 2022, we will also be starting our own Podcast, tentatively titled “Truly Gifted”.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The only struggles that I encountered originally were a couple of economic downturns over the last 25 years.
Obviously, the Covid Pandemic affected us at the beginning of 2020, but we pivoted very creatively and ended up having a pretty good 2020! At this time, the supply chain issues have caused a lack of product and the rising inflation has created a lot of extra fees and price increases across the board.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My clients have learned over the years that they can trust me to design a unique representation of their companies, packaged inside a gift, so they allow me a lot of creative freedom to design. They know that their gifts will show a lot of thought and creativity as we are known as a “custom only” gift company! We do higher end designs that you won’t find in retail stores and that helps the companies stand apart and stand out, showing their clients, customers, and employees, that they put extra thought into their gifting….it just makes people feel more special and appreciated. We are also a one-stop shop…the clients never have to step inside a store! We provide everything including delivery and shipping! All it takes is a phone call or email….it’s our business to make their businesses look GREAT!
How do you define success?
Success to me is when a client calls to tell me how much their recipients loved their gift/gifts! One client reached out to me just yesterday to tell me that their recipient called and cried because the gift touched them so!
Also, success is being able to contribute to my community and charity work through my business! We donate lots of designs per year to charity raffles to help them raise much-needed funds! We also sponsored a huge giveaway to an elementary school in an underprivileged area and made sure that all of the children had holiday gifts. We also work with the organization, Because One Matters, that helps foster children!
There is no greater reward to me than knowing in a small way that we helped!
Pricing:
- $50-10,000
Contact Info:
- Email: Cachetgiftsvc@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.cachetcorporategifts.com/
- Instagram: Cachetcorporategifts
- Facebook: Cachet corporate gift services
