For our packed travel blogging panel at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech conference in Austin, my co-presenter Pam Mandel and I put together a surprise for our attendees – a travel swag/gift bag.
We wanted to put some of our favorite goodies into the hands of our digitally-chatty attendees, so we included magazines that we’ve written for, information about books we like and products and services that we support (many of them based in Austin or Central Texas.)
So many companies were unfailingly gracious in response to our requests, and I’d like to show specifically why reaching out to online travel enthusiasts and travel bloggers is a good marketing and public relations move for a wide variety of businesses. Every link below is one more effort to land a roundhouse punch against “there’s not enough ROI (Return on Investment) in social media marketing.”
First, travel blogging panel attendees were enthused about getting an unexpected gift. From a SXSW overview blog post by content aggregators OneSpot:
“The travel blogging panel (#sxswtravel) had grab bags for each attendant ready on our chairs when we walked in. I felt like a Fashion Week attendee! The bag had better swag than the official Interactive [one] (did anyone else get the leather notepad [provided by Condé Nast Traveler.] How sweet was that!)”
Individuals at the panel reacted to the surprise bag on Twitter.
- Bill Hunt (a global marketing guy) liked it.
- Small business expert Becky McCray commented on it.
- Travel writer and Traveling Mama Shannon Hurst Lane talked about it.
Then, panel attendees tweeted about specific bag items.
- Many liked the sample pralines from local Austin company Lammes Candies – traveler CouchSurfingOri talked about the Lammes habanero praline, and so did hedge fund talent recruiter Kim Haynes and Download Squad tech writer CJClark.
- Krista Parry (Park City, Utah resorts PR and marketing) cheered the stickers provided by the Alltop.com Travel topic channel.
- Canadian travel internet marketing guru Todd Lucier was ready to cash in his bag’s Blue Bell Ice Cream free pint certificate, and he told his friends about it.
- The SXSWi Guide talked about Texas Highways magazine.
- And I talked about several of the companies – here’s my tweet on Austin SegCity Segway tours.
So what? What’s the reach?
Well, if you add up the Twitter follower numbers for each person that I’ve linked to above, that’s a total of 23,279 followers of just a few people tweeting about a tech conference giveaway bag.
The products and companies involved with this bag can also be searched and found on the the Flickr photo-sharing Web site, because I described the bag and linked to every contributor in:
- this photo of the contents (also seen at the top of this post.)
- this photo of Pam and I with the bags, recently also added to the City of Round Rock Flickr photo pool because their CVB provided the bags.
- this photo of the bags set out in chairs before the panel started, also now in the City of Round Rock pool.
(I threw in a Flickr photo of bag contributor Driskill Hotel’s historic bar, with a link to them, of course.)
Finally, this travel panel was not confined to listeners inside the Austin Convention Center; it had, and still has, a reach outside the room.
It was livestreamed to the Web via Qik on a cell phone. Travel enthusiasts around the world watched it as it happened (including my boss at the BootsnAll Travel Network, Sean Keener, who watched from New Zealand) and it’s now archived for anyone to see at any time:
- Part One of the panel video (119 views as of this date.)
- Part Two of the panel video (143 views as of this date.)
If a business is looking for a way to get eyes on their high-quality product or service AND take advantage of the power of Web and word-of-mouth marketing, I heartily recommend investigating how to connect with social media-savvy travelers.
Here are the Web sites of every company that contributed to the bag – smart marketing folks, every one of them.
*** Condé Nast Traveler
*** National Geographic Traveler
*** Texas Highways
*** Lammes Candies
*** Tesoros Trading Company
*** Blue Bell Creameries
*** BootsnAll Travel Network
*** Austin, Texas CVB
*** Round Rock, Texas CVB
*** SegCity Austin Segway Tours
*** Yapta ticket price tracking
*** Moo.com printing
*** Alltop.com
*** Driskill Hotel
*** Austin Museum of Art
*** “Historic Hotels of Texas” guidebook, by Liz Carmack
*** Office of the Governor, Texas Economic Development including Texas tourism
*** “Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune” guidebook, by Tim Leffel
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6 Responses
So much to take away from this post: always give your audience more than they expect, free stuff always appreciated, word-of-mouth wins, those companies that get social media have a true advantage. This post really got me thinking about out-of-the box marketing for my small travel publishing company. Any ideas appreciated and thanks for this great post!!
What Sheila graciously forgets to mention is that she did a mountain of work to pull these things together, seeing as how her partner in the talk was halfway across the country. You should TOTALLY do this for your event — when/if you’re having one, anyone –and you should give yourself truckloads of time to sort it out in advance.
Sheila,
This is a wonderfully educational post. I will be speaking at the BlogHer conference in Chicago on the Travel Blogging Panel, Saturday, July 25. As your co-presenter mentioned, getting the swag bag together takes time and effort, but the pay off is well worthwhile to all involved.
I’ll start the PR ball rolling now. If any travel-related companies, particularly Chicago-based, are interested in participating in my swag bag giveaway, I can be found on Twitter @Nancydbrown or you can click on my name above.
Nancy D. Brown’s last blog post..National Parks Best Value for Summer Travel
@pam: Believe me, I connected the dots! As an inherently lazy person, my first thought on reading this post was, “I bet organizing that sucker was a MOUNTAIN of work.”
I’m currently slogging my way through a video review of four pairs of Gore-tex boots that my family demo’ed on our recent trip to Costa Rica. Good product? Check. Relevant to my users? Check. Awesome giveaway to go with it? Check. Boat load of work? Check.
=)
jamie’s last blog post..Traveling solo…a Dad’s perspective
@Kathy – Hi, glad you liked the post. There are plenty of marketing ideas out there for the smallest business!
@Pam – Aww, you corralled a bunch of stuff, too! Thanks for everything….
@Nancy – Thanks, and I retweeted your request on Twitter ’cause that’s how this stuff works, right?
Wish I could be at BlogHer to get a bag.
@Carla – Oh, how much fun to have a panel attendee show up here! Glad you liked it.
@jamie – No, really, Pam did a LOT. And I hear you on video editing….
@Carrie – I think it worked well for everyone; thanks for stopping by UpTake.
Wow, you must have had pretty heavy duty bags to carry all that stuff! I’m glad our magazine and I Heart My City bookmarks arrived in time to be included. Thanks Sheila for all your hard work acquiring and organizing these goodies.
Marilyn Terrell’s last blog post..Obama Loosens Cuba Travel Restrictions