I never told this story
How small gestures can drive big business outcomes
👋 Hey, I’m George Chasiotis. Welcome to GrowthWaves, your weekly dose of B2B growth insights—featuring powerful case studies, emerging trends, and unconventional strategies you won’t find anywhere else.
The marketing world (and the B2B space in particular) often lacks authenticity and thoughtfulness.
Many interactions come with underlying expectations or are purely transactional, leaving little room for genuine exchanges.
Here’s how my team at Minuttia overcame this challenge with a relatively simple gesture.
What we did
We made a spreadsheet that included a total of 32 active clients, partners, and friends of our agency.
These were companies (and people) we enjoyed collaborating and connecting with the most over the past year.
By using an online swag store platform, we ordered carefully curated gift boxes to be shipped to each of these contacts. Yes, to their home addresses.
The gift boxes contained the following items:
A scented jar candle
An insulated water bottle
A ceramic mug
A bento box
A fleece blanket
A thank-you card
As you can see, the products were non-branded because we wanted our recipients to be able to use them anywhere. However, we did add Minuttia branding to the thank-you card.
We ran this campaign twice – at the end of 2022 and again at the end of 2023.
Why we did it
First and foremost, our intention behind the care packages wasn’t to receive something in return.
It was simply an act of recognition for these individuals and companies who contributed to the success of our agency and to making our work smoother and more enjoyable.
These were clients, partners, and friends that we were truly excited about and grateful for, and we wanted to express that.
A small token of our appreciation, if you will.
Results of our efforts
While we did not expect any direct or immediate results from these campaigns, the fact remains that gestures such as these strengthen relationships.
In the time period following our gift box shipping, we saw:
Heartwarming replies
Increased exposure on social media from organic mentions of our agency. (We did not, in any way, expect or ask our gift recipients to do this.)
An increase in referrals from the recipients.
Continuations of existing client contracts.
Keep in mind that we also saw contract cancellations from clients who received the gift as well.
That is to say, aside from the replies and mentions (and possibly referrals), our gifting campaign probably didn’t influence the overall trajectory of our contracts. Those who wished to extend their contracts probably would have done it anyway, and those who wished to cancel did it anyway.
Nevertheless, we consider these campaigns a raging success.
Why?
Because, through them, we expressed our core values, made people important to us happy, and invested in our professional relationships and, consequently, into our own future growth.
Do it yourself
Here are the simple steps to recreate our gifting campaign:
Make a list of companies and individuals you wish to strengthen relationships with or express gratitude to.
Ask for the home addresses & contact numbers of the recipients. (Specify the reason! Be polite and appreciative and inform them that you’d like to send them a gift box.)
Select a swag platform to buy and send the gifts through.
Make the order.
Wait for the reactions!
Would you consider this a worthwhile campaign for your business?
Thank you so much for joining me for the last Note of the year.
I wish you a relaxing time during the holiday season and can’t wait to share all the new things we have planned for GrowthWaves in 2025.
Happy holidays!