Although cooking and eating is my passion, my career is in marketing. So I thought I’d share a story with you. A little over a year ago my company was a corporate sponsor for a large, national conference. We’d been sponsors of this event in the past and last year decided to try a different level of sponsorship. At this new level, we were entitled to include something in the registration “goody bags” that all attendees receive. We spent some time reviewing our options. We passed over the idea of a brochure or pamphlet highlighting our work and projects. A pen seemed too boring. And then we hit upon the idea of a notebook. We found and ordered a great little notebook made out of recycled content with our logo printed on the front.
The feedback from the conference was great! Colleagues who attended commented that in every session, people were using our branded notebooks. They received tons of compliments on the notebook and it was a great conversation starter, allowing them to readily network and make lots of new connections. Afterwards people kept asking if we had extra notebooks as everyone seemed to want one.
That all happened last summer, life carried on, and the notebooks were mostly forgotten. Until recently when I heard the best story. The kind that makes a marketer kvell with pride and shows direct ROI for our marketing efforts.
We recently have begun a project with a new client, where we were selected from among 4 firms invited to participate in a design charrette (or competition) for their juicy project.
At one of the initial project meetings the client showed my colleague that he’s been using our branded notebook – that very same one from the conference last year! He said that he’d never heard of our company before, but liked the notebook. When he got back from the conference he looked us up and did some research on our firm (all inspired by this little notebook). This research led him to invite us to participate in the design competition. So there you have it, a direct project win that came from that initial conference sponsorship!
What this is leading me to think about is content and content marketing. You never know how what you produce will be received and how it may lead to serendipitous connections. I’ve withdrawn from sharing on this blog for some time. This past year has seen a total transformation in what I eat and how I care for myself through diet and nutrition. I felt that it would be boring and uninteresting for many of you. But then I thought that perhaps I’m ignoring an entirely different group of people. As my eating habits change, so should this blog. So instead of ignoring it or avoiding it, I should share this experience. If I can help or inspire anyone else going through some of the food challenges that I’ve been through this past year, then why should I be holding back? So with that out in the air, in upcoming posts I plan to share some of my experiences through this food journey. And although my diet may have changed, my taste-buds, heart and soul haven’t.