17 Last-Minute Gift Ideas for the Marketer in Your Life

The days remaining in 2017 are few, and 2018 is just around the corner — things you undoubtedly know already.

But here’s something you may have forgotten about: There’s not much time left to finish up your holiday shopping. (Gasp! We know.)

Maybe you’re a marketer looking to complete your wish list. Or, maybe you’ve got a team of marketers you want to make smile.

To help you out, I’ve searched the internet far and wide (it’s kind of what I do), and found you some of this year’s best gifts for marketers.

Without further ado …

17 Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Marketers

1) Send a Starbucks eGift Card

Once upon a time, Starbucks offered a Tweet a Coffee program, which was retired after testing it in beta. I tried it for the first time earlier this season when Emily Maxie, B2B tech marketer at Very said something nice about our social media tool. I was really thrilled and just wanted to do something nice in return. Tweeting a coffee was an easy, hassle-free way to surprise co-marketing partners, customers, or others. Plus, it was almost instantaneous, so it was a savior for last-minute shoppers.

@emilymaxie, @meghkeaney just tweeted you a coffee! Redeem it now. https://t.co/0X3XIAVK4E

— Tweetacoffee (@Tweetacoffee)
November 21, 2013

Although that program has been retired, there’s still a good alternative: Send a Starbucks eGift Card. Just add a personal message and the amount you’d like to give, enter an email address, and hit “send.”

Where to get it: Starbucks

Cost: Buyer’s choice

2) Blogging Fuel Mug

As comedic writer Dave Barry once explained, “It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.”

Not only is this mug a good way to keep your favorite marketer sufficiently caffeinated, but its message is also on point. Around here, at least, our marketers love creativity — but we also love precision. And, we love the written word. So when this mug came across our radar …

Source: Amazon

… we knew it had to make this list.

Where to get it: Amazon

Cost: $14.95 + $4.95 shipping

3) “Eat. Sleep. Blog.” T-Shirt

This is a pretty great gig we all have. Sure, there are seemingly unattainable lead goals and endless writing deadlines. But think about it for a moment: Every day, we get to get up and figure out how to capture people’s fascination. It’s an amazing job.

This shirt summarizes that sentiment nicely.

Source: Amazon

Oh, and it’s really comfortable for blogging.

Where to get it: Amazon

Cost: $17.39

4) HubSpot Fleece-Lined Winter Hat

We’re not sure how the weather looks in your neck of the woods, but around the holiday season, it starts to get cold where HubSpot is headquartered, in Boston.

It’s sweater weather. Hat weather. Fleece-lined hat weather, to be specific.

Luckily, HubSpot has a hat for that.

And while you’re at it, check out these other last-minute gifts from the HubSpot Shop:

Where to get it: HubSpot Shop

Cost: $15

5) “But First, Coffee.” T-Shirt

It’s best to wear your priorities on your sleeve … er … torso. This cozy T-shirt puts your working style out in the open. In fact, it may double as a signal for the best way to bribe you for extra work.

Don’t work in a jeans-friendly office? Nothing a blazer and nice pants can’t fix (she writes as if she has actual fashion sense.)

Where to get it: Skreened

Cost: $29.99

6) Mophie Smartphone Case

A few years ago, a group of HubSpotters got these cases while working long hours at the INBOUND. But they’re not just any cases — they’re Mophie smartphone cases.

Mophie is a smartphone cover that also doubles as extra battery life.

Source: Mophie

They’re a little clunkier than the standard phone case, but they can extend your phone’s life by 100% or more. If you know a marketer who is often working on the road.

Where to get it: Mophie

Cost: About $100, depending on variety

7) Book Cover Laptop Case

Rumor has it writer Jorge Louis Borges used to sleep surrounded by books. He’d crawl into bed with stacks of them on either side. His last scent before sleep would be that of open pages and intricately worded lines.

Source: Twelve South

This isn’t quite as poetic, but it’s close.

This laptop cover would be a good fit for the bookworm on your team.

Where to get it: TwelveSouth

Cost: About $80

8) Subscription to a Streaming Music Service

Okay, so music may not make you smarter, but it does make you happier. And isn’t delight what we’re really after here?

Many marketers already listen to streaming music while they work, but without a subscription, that streaming music is typically limited or interrupted by commercials.

Buying your marketing friend a subscription to a streaming music can get rid of all the commercial interruptions and just leave them with good working music. We’re inbound marketers — thus, we hate commercial interruptions.

Here are a few options:

Pandora: $54.89
Spotify: $9.99/month for Premium
Apple Music: Plans start at $4.99/month
Google Play Music: Plans start at $9.99/month

9) @TwitterName Necklace

It might be a bit excessive, but it’s also kind of awesome. Here’s a gift for the social media strategist who has single-handedly grown your company’s Twitter following from 15 to 500 and beyond.

Source: Etsy

If jewelry isn’t the right gift, there are also a range of social media coasters.

Where to get it: Etsy

Cost: $43.99

10) 1Password

Welcome to secure accounts on the internet. Your password must be 15 characters long with at least two capital letters, three symbols, two numbers, and at least one variation of the Jabberwocky poem.

Nope, that won’t work. And it can’t be the same as any password you’ve used since junior high school.

If you could spare the marketer in your life this frustration, wouldn’t it be a happier new year? Take a look at the 1Password app. It will create and store all of your passwords securely and enable you to log into your accounts with one click.

Where to get it: 1Password

Cost: Plans start at $2.99/month

11) 99U Essays: Manage Your Day-to-Day

One of my favorite books, this collection of essays from 99U, focuses on how to develop a habit of creativity in your work and personal life. It gives you tips on how to put your creative work first and fend off a stream of endless emails, texts, and other interruptions.

Source: 99U

With an average 4.4-star rating on Amazon, this book offers concrete ideas for getting more out of your daily routine and finding the right moments for creative, complex work.

Where to get it: Amazon

Cost: $10.99

12) Freelancer Tools From WriterAccess or Zerys

While they don’t do gift cards, you could help a freelancer’s life easier with tools from WriterAccess of Zerys. Create a gift certificate yourself and wrap it up in a bow: Good for one day of reprieve from creating content.

Where to get it: Zerys or Writer Access

Cost: Varies

13) Premium Versions of Productivity Apps

Marketers use all sorts of freemium tools to organize their time and plan campaigns. Find out what online apps your marketer uses to make his or her day-to-day easier with access to all the bells and whistles for a year.

Here’s a breakdown of some popular ones:

Evernote: Evernote is a repository for just about anything: ideas, articles, documents, photos, marketing examples. You can use the tool on your phone, desktop, and tablet, so it goes where you go. The big benefit of Evernote is how searchable it is. You can search documents or even the words in a picture to quickly retrieve your content again. The premium version gets you more storage, better search, and an interesting presentation mode. Cost: $69.99/year
Dropbox or Box: We all could use a little space. Help your marketer out by upgrading their Dropbox or Box accounts to a pro version. Cost: Varies
Feedly Pro: When Google Reader closed its doors, Feedly was widely adopted as the replacement RSS reader. Feedly Pro is a more powerful version of Feedly with one-click integrations, custom sharing URLs, and full support. Cost: Plans start at $5.41/month

14) Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Can you really put a price on peace and quiet? Turns out, Bose can: At a minimum, it’s about $180. Yikes.

But if you can get over the price, this is an amazing gift for anyone who needs to focus throughout the day. Noise-cancelling headphones put your marketers in their own cozy and uninterrupted lead-generating world.

Whether they listen to Mozart or Modest Mouse, these headphones give marketers a chance to block out everything but the work ahead of them.

Where to get them: Bose

Cost: Models start at $179.95

15) Class Reimbursement

For intellectually curious marketers, think about giving them the combo-gift of classes plus the time to learn a new skill.

There are a number of low-cost and free online classes and tutorials out there for people looking to code (Codecademy), design (Skillshare), or acquire other relevant skills. The trouble is finding the time.

If you really want to thrill a marketer on your team this season, give them the classes plus an approved block of time each week to dedicate to the lessons. Wrap it up in one package.

Where to get it: Check out Code Academy and Skillshare, plus your local continuing ed classes. Then, help your favorite marketer figure out how to make the class time possible.

Cost: Varies

16) INBOUND Tickets

Surprise! It’s not too early to buy tickets for INBOUND 2018.

INBOUND is an industry event like no other. Of course, I would say that, because as a HubSpotter, it is the center of my life in August and September. But as it turns out, others think so, too.

Darby Tinch of Mohawk Home said, “This was by far the best conference I’ve attended in a very long time. Not only was it the recharge I needed professionally but also on a personal level. It has been a long time since I’ve been this excited about my career. I cannot wait until [the next] INBOUND!”

Where to get it: INBOUND

Cost: Tickets will be available at a special early bird price in January.

17) Donation in the Marketer’s Name or Honor

If none of the above seems like a fit, consider a donation in your marketer’s name or honor. Donations are a personal thing, so be sure you have a sense of the issues your marketer cares about. But once you do, a gift in his or her honor can be really meaningful.

Where to get it: Because the donation should reflect the gift recipient and there are so many nonprofits we care about here at HubSpot, I’m going to leave the door open here and not make any specific suggestions. Talk to the gift recipient and see what they care most about.

Cost: Whatever amount you see fit.

There’s your starter list. There are dozens more ideas out there: subscriptions to magazines or journals, lunch from a local restaurant, or a plethora of other gift certificates anyone would love.