Business care packages ideas
As the sun cast a golden glow over the Alaskan waters, cruise passengers wrapped themselves in a plush blanket bearing a familiar logo. It’s the mark of the passengers’ alma mater, Harding University, a liberal arts college in Searcy, Arkansas. The blankets were the university’s way of welcoming guests to its alumni cruise.
“We thought about what items our guests might need that would specifically be useful for the cruise, or that they might forget to pack,” said Teresa Castleman, meeting and tour planner. “The weather was going to be chilly, so I thought they would appreciate a warm blanket for sitting on their balconies and enjoying the scenery.”
While blankets awaited passengers when they arrived in their cruise ship cabins, the university’s welcome began the moment guests boarded the ship. Upon check-in, Harding University greeted each alumnus with a seasonally appropriate welcome gift—an umbrella.
42″ Folding Umbrella with Auto Open
“The coast of Alaska can be rainy during the time of year we were there, and I didn’t think people would think to bring an umbrella,” Castleman continued. “It was fun to see all of our guests with their matching umbrellas at the pier and on excursion tours.”
Care packages to surprise and delight
When Harding University tour planners brainstormed business care package ideas, they tapped into the powerful combination of surprise and delight. They recognized cruise passengers would be surprised to receive umbrellas on arrival and find blankets in their cabins. And they correctly anticipated passengers’ delight at receiving gifts that would make their trip even more enjoyable.
Harding University is not alone. Organizations that personalize experiences enjoy 40% more revenue than those that do not. Personalization demonstrates caring about customers’ unique wants, needs and preferences. Promotional products help ensure recipients remember their experience each time they use them.
“To me, the real value of promotional products is in how they connect guests to the event. They are something to take home and remind them of the warm feelings they had while they enjoyed their time here,” Castleman continued. “We want to spark and maintain a connection from an emotional place. It’s important to engage with people through their feelings.”
Care packages to save lives
Major Health Partners is another organization that goes above and beyond by using care packages. This healthcare system in Shelby County, Indiana, knows colon cancer screenings can be intimidating and overwhelming for some patients.
Gena Linville, director of marketing; Kelli Burnett, RN and surgical navigator; and Darlene Wilson, MSN, MBA, director of quality management, are using that insight to spearhead an attention-getting colonoscopy campaign. The campaign provides a practical reward to patients who schedule a colonoscopy: a Koozie® Rolling Cooler or Flex Cooler containing everything for the procedure’s prep, including medications, clear liquids and broth.
“Our patients really appreciate the prep and being rewarded for putting their health first,” Linville shared. “It’s so convenient for them to have everything they need to prep for their colon screening in the cooler; otherwise, they would have to go out and get these items on their own.”
Linville, Burnett and Wilson rely heavily on primary care providers to help champion the cause. To get the word out, they deliver rack cards advertising the free cooler promo to 26 doctors’ offices so physicians can distribute the rack cards to patients during wellness visits and encourage them to schedule their colonoscopies.
A public-facing campaign further amplifies the message, directing people to a landing page where they can learn more and schedule their screening.
“The first year we started this program, we completed 363 more colonoscopies than we did the year before,” Burnett said.
Even more importantly, organizers say that without the campaign, some patients may not have discovered they have colon cancer. “Part of our goal for this promo was to catch more cancer cases at stages one and two versus three and four, which is much easier to do when patients consistently get screened,” Wilson said. “We’re so pleased we’ve accomplished that goal and moved the needle back.”
Business care package ideas connect with needs
As both Harding University and Major Health Partners learned, the key to successful business care packages is understanding both what recipients require and when they must have it. By anticipating their needs and timing care package ideas to meet those, recipients feel the organization’s care. That feeling is likely to stick with them each time they use their promotional products.
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