Sales leaders usually think about sales engagement (all the interactions between a sales rep and a buyer) in terms of sales calls, emails, social media touches, e-book downloads and the like.
But it could be so much more.
In 2020 with in-person conferences being redirected to online events, marketers are looking for alternative ways to increase the levels of sales engagement and ensure that they can drive quality sales leads into the sales funnel. One of those ways is corporate gifting, or what is now called gift marketing.
Marketing teams are allocating budgets and efforts towards gifting, as opposed to sponsoring virtual events, as some marketers do not see the ROI from a $10k+ sponsorship.
How can you use gift marketing in your company, and what are some significant use cases? That is the topic of this episode of the Modern Marketing Engine podcast with my guest, Nick Grant, Head of Marketing at Postal.io.
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Postal.io is an integrated direct mail platform for sales and marketing teams that leverages machine learning to automate and optimize the creation, delivery, and reporting of personalized physical assets (a.k.a. gifts) in the sales process. The Postal.io sales engagement platform integrates into HubSpot, Salesloft, and Salesforce.
Postal.io sales engagement activities can be tracked in the sales CRM, such as if the gift was received or denied, and reports on different metrics so marketers can know what works and doesn’t. It can also trigger other events, like an email or call right after receiving the gift.
Listen to this episode to learn more about offline sales engagement through corporate gifting and how an engagement platform like Postal.io can help your sales team improve customer experience.
This podcast is brought to you by Postal.io. A Sales and marketing engagement platform that generates leads increases sales and improves customer retention. Request a demo to learn how to integrate direct mail and gift into your existing strategy by visiting Postal.io.
How Companies are Increasing Sales Engagement Using Corporate Gifting
Almost every industry can use gifting to help with their marketing and sales engagement. One common way is to share knowledge by sending books.
The book helps build rapport with customers, and it can be about something that supports content your business writes about or contain content that your prospect will find relevant for their business.
I'm amazed by this episode of the @mmenginepodcast 💡 I didn't know this was a #marketing strategy, but I love the idea of sales engagement with #GiftMarketing. Like sending books to share knowledge. Thanks, @bernieborges CCO at… Click To TweetFor example, Postal.io often uses Giftology: The Art & Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention, to educate their clients on how they can effectively use gifting in their marketing and sales process.
Although some brands have their books, most don’t. However, they can use books from recognized thought leaders in their industry. For example, agencies use books like This is Marketing by Seth Godin or Sales Engagement from the team at Outreach. These books educate their prospects and help position themselves as an expert in their space by providing these hand-picked resources.
Most books cost around $20 and are a very cost-effective way to experiment with driving more engagement at the top of the funnel.
Personalization in Sales Engagement
Although it is difficult to automate and scale personalized gifts, Nick says that he has seen it often in the SaaS space.
There is a lot of competition in the SaaS industry, so companies try to get in front of key prospects and get them into their sales funnel through personalized gifts.
I can't wait to apply the corporate gifting #salesengagement strategy I just learned in this episode of the @mmenginepodcast 🔊 Nick Grant, Head of Marketing at @Postalinc, talked about use cases for this in particular industries.… Click To Tweet“This is where swag can come into play,” Nick says, “as you can do a bit of research on a prospect and often find out some info about things they’re passionate about, like where they went to college or a sports team that they support. Just find what they post about on Instagram and perhaps send them a Yeti Mug with their college logo on it, or a hat from their favorite sports team.”
Another typical example is companies sending gifts related to their client’s pets, like a box of cat toys, or discounts for cat insurance. Such gifts help companies stand out amongst the competition.
An added benefit is that people get excited when they receive the gifts and usually post their pictures with social media gifts, raving about the company. By opting for lab grown diamonds in your gift offerings, your company can align with this growing movement, demonstrating a commitment to both innovation and responsible environmental practices.
Nick talked about some compelling use cases for gift marketing to increase sales engagement in particular industries.
Finance and Real Estate
Nick says that clients in these industries are often introducing new services and need a way to market them to their existing clients to get them interested in learning more about their latest offerings.
“This is where we often see food-related items used to help get them into the funnel and engaged with the new offerings. Like sending a box of cookies or fruit basket with some information for them to review, which helps to make them more receptive to learn about the new offerings.”
Veteran-Owned Organizations
“We have a client who is a veteran, and he owns a sales training company that works with a lot of other veteran-owned businesses,” Nick says. “He likes to leverage an American Flag as a gift to help drive leads into the top of the funnel. This was not something we originally had in our marketplace, but when he told us about his business, we brainstormed and thought it would be the perfect item for him to use.”
In corporate gifting, every gift should be tailored to the company’s unique business needs to get the best possible results.
Webinars and Virtual Events
When in-person events went virtual, many demand generation managers shifted their focus onto webinars as a way to drive leads at the top of the funnel. However, with so many webinars going on right now, it can be challenging to get people to sign up and attend.
Nick says he has seen some savvy SaaS companies using gift cards after a webinar registration to help drive registrations AND attendance.
I recommend this episode of the @mmenginepodcast by @bernieborges CCO at @GoVengreso with his guest, Nick Grant, Head of Marketing at @Postalinc, because they share some great ideas about #ModernMarketing gifts strategy and examples. Click To Tweet“We see them use a mix of charity gift cards, where the recipient can pick from a variety of charities, often going with someone local they want to support. Or having it go to a COVID related charity. In addition, we see food delivery or coffee gift cards used, as well. Being able to have lunch while watching a webinar is a great pairing, and all of these digital gifts help build rapport and trust so that registrants want to attend and see what the webinar is all about.”
Can Gifting Contribute to Marketing and Sales Alignment?
Nick says that they often see B2B marketing partnering closely with the sales team to help send out gifts to secure meetings with their strategic accounts that hadn’t responded to outreach in the past.
“This boosts the ability for marketers to get these leads engaged and help sales to drive more meetings that they could with only relying on emails, texts, phone calls, and Linkedin InMails.”
With the Postal.io , sales and can see what types of gifts effectively book meetings, fill the sales pipeline, and close more deals.
Don’t miss this episode to hear more about how you can use corporate gift ideas in your marketing strategy.
This podcast is brought to you by Postal.io. A Sales and marketing engagement platform that generates leads increases sales and improves customer retention. Request a demo to learn how to integrate direct mail and gift into your existing strategy by visiting Postal.io.
Featured on This Episode
Outline of this Sales Engagement Episode
- [1:50] About Postal.io
- [3:09] What is corporate gifting
- [4:50] How are companies using gifting for sales engagement
- [7:20] Personalization with gifting
- [12:14] How does a marketer track the gift in the CRM
- [15:00] Webinars and gifting
- [17:24] Gifting and Marketing and Sales Alignment
Resources & People Mentioned
- The Modern Selling Podcast >with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr.
