Shutterstock SDRs plan winning gift ideas with Power Hour

Planning a winning send is both an art and a science. First, you need a strong B2B direct mailing marketing strategy to back up your plan. Secondly, to develop a creative campaign that drives action, you need to get inside your recipient’s head and understand what makes them tick.

Sendoso honors the most innovative and successful members of our community as SuperSenders: People who are masters of the art of sending. Keep reading to learn more about one of our SuperSenders, Natalie Brunini, and how she keeps the sending creative spark bright at her company.

Generate corporate gift ideas collaboratively

Natalie Brunini is a Marketing Specialist at Shutterstock, a leader in stock photography and video.

Based in Naples, Florida, she’s responsible for the strategy and deployment of customer engagement in 150 countries. In order to cover such a large area, Brunini turns to help from her sales team—and she has a fun way of fueling their creativity.

To generate fresh ideas for direct mail sends, Brunini developed and launched a sending Power Hour. Bringing all of the sales development representatives together biweekly over Slack. Brunini plays music and opens a conversation to encourage attendees to share creative ideas, marketing puns, and other relevant content for sends. Their goal is to surprise and delight recipients.

The Power Hours are a great way to bring people together and generate ideas for direct mail touches.

Getting festive with themed direct mail

Each Power Hour is themed around the season or a holiday.

“In September, our campaign was focused on National Coffee Day and going back to school; October was focused on Halloween and movies to tie in our Studios offering. And in November we focused on gratitude.”

Below is an example of what a monthly theme looks like, and how Brunini uses it to help the team generate creative ideas that support Shutterstock’s overall marketing strategy.

October Power Hour Send Ideas

World Smile Day

Oct. 7

World Mental Health Day

Oct. 10

National Popcorn Day

Oct. 24

Sending IdeaJournaling Letterbox Gift SetJournaling Letterbox Gift SetCookie Corn PopcornSourceSendoso DirectSendoso DirectSendoso DirectThemeWellness/MindfulnessWellness/MindfulnessTies in with promoting Shutterstock Studios and working on cinematic projectsTargetEuropeEuropeU.S.

Secret to a successful sending Power Hour

Brunini makes use of a recurring agenda to help everyone get on the same page before launching each Power Hour.

She starts with an introduction to how Sendoso’s automated gifting platform works. Brunini provides information on useful features, like Sendoso’s Amazon integration or how to do mass sends and improve response rates.

Then, she shares the current sends she has available by region and opens up the conversation for sales development reps to collaborate on creative ideas. Finally, she wraps up with some best practices on sourcing addresses for their mailing list, completing sends, and answers any outstanding questions from attendees.

“I focus on making the process as streamlined as possible for the sales team so it doesn’t feel like a tedious task,” Brunini says. “Whether that’s generating links, creating mock notes to help evoke ideas, or emphasizing certain sends—we always want this session to be something that excites our sales team!”

She also likes to play into the sales team’s competitive nature by highlighting the top sender of each Power Hour. This encourages SDRs to stretch their creativity to the limits.

Shutterstock’s current marketing campaigns

How have these Power Hours translated into real-world sends?

Brunini says Shutterstock is currently running a closed-lost campaign utilizing Sendoso eGifts. Their goal is to restart the conversation with those contacts.

Looking ahead, Brunini and her team plan to continue investing in branded merchandise to promote Shutterstock Studios, their end-to-end custom content creation solution. She sees B2B direct mail campaigns as a key part of her marketing strategy.

Creative inspiration for your own sends

There’s a lot to learn from Brunini’s work streamlining her direct mail efforts. You don’t have to call your regular sending bonanzas a “Power Hour,” but there are plenty of ways to bring your sales team together to incentivize sends.

Consider hosting a Taco Tuesday where your SDRs get together over lunch (in person or remote), or gamify each meeting with a prize for whoever wins at direct mail trivia.

Need creative ideas for upcoming sends?

Check out Sendoso’s monthly pun calendar full of themed ideas and the copy to go with them.

For even more creative inspiration, check out our Sendie Awards, highlighting some of the most effective, innovative campaigns in our community. Ready to empower your company’s SDRs with Sendoso eGifts and branded inventory? Get started with Sendoso today by requesting a demo.