Chapter 5
Continue The Conversation
The event is over, you breathe a sigh of relief and get ready to kick back and relax. We hate to be the ones to break it to you, but your work isn’t done yet!
There are so many ways to continue the conversation, even after the event ends. Doing so helps you build deeper bonds with prospects and customers. Post-event gifts can also be a great opportunity to surprise and delight.
Here are some unique ways to keep the convo going.
Drive More Engagement With Digital Experiences
QR Codes for the Win
Include a QR code in your gift, so you can connect with attendees digitally after the event ends. You can use a custom QR code to direct folks to a video or webpage with more content and goodies. Sabrina often uses a QR code to give attendees a custom Spotify playlist related to the event. We love this fun and unexpected idea!
You can also use a QR code to provide additional information. Maybe you’re launching a new product and hosting an internal company event, you could send out a gift with a QR code that leads to a video from the CEO sharing more details. Or, maybe you just held an event for prospects. Make it easy for them to continue learning more about your product or service by directing them to a relevant online resource.
Not only does a digital experience create a positive interaction, but it also enables more effective reporting and tracking. Driving people from an offline experience to an online one gives you more opportunities to gather additional information and follow the buyer’s journey. “Using a QR code helps you capture data and see how effective the activation was,” shares Sabrina.
You can also provide a special offer to people who attended the event and visited the related webpage. Engaged folks are more likely to want to learn more!
Spark a Conversation on Social
You can also use event gifts to start a conversation on social channels. Nick recently received a gift from Chili Piper before their customer advisory board event. The gift arrived with a note that explained if you shared a video of yourself opening the gift on LinkedIn, you’d get a second gift from the Chili Piper team.
This plan was genius. The Chili Piper team showed appreciation for the folks invited to the event and in return, received positive brand recognition on LinkedIn.
There are so many opportunities to get creative and build rapport with folks long after the event is over!
Keep the Gifts Coming
In addition to continuing the conversation digitally, you can send a physical gift to attendees post-event.
In chapter four , we shared details on an awesome Super Bowl event Corrina hosted at Gong. If you’re blanking, no worries! Here’s a refresher. When Corrina was working at Gong, she invited executives at target accounts to watch Gong’s Super Bowl ad ahead of the big game. Corrina gifted all invitees a bottle of wine before the event, and attendees received a personalized video from a former Super Bowl champ.
But that wasn’t all. After the event, Corrina continued the conversation by sending Gong merch to attendees. Through a prior a/b test, they learned execs preferred Gong merch over more traditional gifts. The Gong team knew folks would be excited to receive the gift, and many replied with positive feedback. Some were even interested in learning more about the Gong platform. Talk about a successful event!
Looking for help sending gifts after the event ends?
Gifting Portals makes it easy to let folks choose their gift and enter their shipping address of choice. We do the rest!
