Awesome Example of Thank You Email

This is one of the best post-event thank you emails I've seen for some time.

Courtesy of my friends at Fraser & Hoyt (fraserhoyt.com), I joined thier foursome at the Labatt Charity Golf Classic in Toronto on June 20. The tournament raises money for Friends We Care, an organiztion that sends Easter Seals Kids to Camp. Fraser & Hoyt donates thier services to the charity. Labatt is the title sponsor and goes all out to make the day an unforgettable event.

Below is the post-event thank you email I received from Labatt. Here is why it is possibly the best post-event thank you email, period.

Timely - the email arrived 2 days after the event

Product Launch - on one of the holes they launched a new Alexander Keith's beer. Using the thank you email, they have reinforced the message.

Personalization - while visiting the hole, they took a foursome picture. The below email is custom tailored to me and my foursome photo. In addition, in the original email, I can easily download/save the just the photo - slick and user friendly.

Content - utilizing today's online best practices, the email is not all sell. They've included real content. In this case a recipe using the new product. BONUS POINTS - as part of thier hole sponsorship activation, they were serving the below recipe! Great tie in that takes you back to the experience at the hole.

Engagement - at the bottom of the email, they ask you to join thier Facebook page and explain the benefits for me to join. So in addition to making a great impression at the golf tournament, they have engaged me beyond the actual event.

This email has it all. Congratulations to Labatt for setting the bar really high.

Steve
thestevereport@gmail.com

Strategic R&D (“Rip-off & Duplicate”)

I’d argue that there is no difference between using an ‘industry’s best practices’ and applying a good old fashioned R&D strategy…”Rip-off and Duplicate”. If you agree with this hypothesis, then let’s have a look at some great ideas and how they can be applied to business events.

Ten things we know to be true - Personally, if I’m going to liberate an idea from an organization, I want to borrow from the biggest and the best. Take a look at Google’s corporate “Our Philosophy”. They wrote this several years ago and have applied these values on a day-to-day basis. What’s interesting is how applicable their Ten things we know to be true are for business events. I could write a whole blog on just these ten principles, but would rather challenge you to read & apply these principles to your events. You might suddenly find your events become very strategic…making the ROI even higher.

http://www.google.com/about/corporate/company/tenthings.html

Three for One – It’s no secret; I love technology and social media. It’s also not a secret I respect, follow and consider Gary Vaynerchuk a guru on both of these topics. So here’s a three-for-one strategy for you to consider:

1) Gary is a pioneer in video blogging and using online video to grow his now many business interests. The following link will take you to one of his recent video blogs; it will only take 3min to watch and should give you some strong ideas about how to use video to promote and market your business events year round.

2) In this video, Gary talks about “Smart Shopping” and how this new technology is going to revolutionize your wallet or purse. Think about how this will impact your conference or trade show’s registration process…the future is here.

3) When you follow the link below you can also see a great example of how to customize a YouTube channel for your event or brand. Look at the page construction, the many touch points you can have with your audience year round.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WatchTheDaily#p/u/5/Kq_QnsMQjv0

Innovation Starts with Disruptive Hypotheses – have you ever hit the ‘been there, done that’ wall? Maybe you’ve been asked to ‘re-invent the annual event’? Like many people, maybe you searched for an answer on the ceiling or the floor (and not found one). The below link will take you to an article posted on Fast Company’s website that provides you concrete techniques to be innovative. Warning: being innovative takes time and work, but the results can be outstanding.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663970/disruptive-hypothesis

So there you have it…by applying a little R&D you can find the answer to almost any challenge. If you have some R&D of your own that you would like to share please post it to the group!

Steve

thestevereport@gmail.com

PS: I apologize for being lapse in my blogging. The recent warm weather and new opportunities have consumed my time. My intent is to pick up the pace again in June. Thanks for following along.