The reason this blog has been so hard for me to write is because every time I think about it, I go to my favorite search engine and type in “the importance of saying thank you.” I get long lists of how we should say “thank you” in corporate America today, most giving some example of how to use SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!! (This article “Just Saying Thank You” isn’t pretty, but it has some good ideas you can steal.) I get sucked in, I know it is brilliant, the thankful one looks good, the thanked looks good, and it connects more viewers overall. Saying “thank you” has turned into a marketing scheme with major benefits.
IDEAS!
Many organizations mix their message with their corporate shout-outs through media campaigns. Be creative! A few years ago while at a Montana Food Bank Network banquet, they showed a really strong video sharing success stories of how each dollar was spent, thanking major sponsors and then breaking it down to how each of our dollars 
can make a real difference – $45 feeds one child for 6 weeks. Their video was then published on multiple social platforms. Effective, right?!?!? It can be as simple as posting their logo in as many places as you can and praising their good work – or writing a blog post like we did last week praising the Chateau on the Lake (Branson, MO) for their phenomenal service – giving us an experience we have never had in our “conference world”. This is great marketing for both your business and the people you are doing business with because if you tag things right, anytime someone sees the larger company’s name pop-up in social media, your name may be tied to it! Thanks – ahem. Brilliant marketing. BRILLANT!
But then the marketing brilliance of it all fades, the fog clears, and I remember back to what saying “thank you” really means to me (bring back the hand turkey window scene). As someone in a small business and someone who has grown up small business . . . we take pride in taking care of every single client. We often let our work speak for itself. The thank you comes when someone passes our name along because they trusted us and knew we would perform well for their colleague or friend. This type of thank you just warms you right up in your core (which in my opinion is what a thank you should do). You know you are doing something right because obviously you were gracious, respectful and thankful to the person who passed on your name. Meetings Northwest on occasion sends thank you gift baskets to clients from a local huckleberry shop . . . this delivers a special thanks on two levels: 1) support and publicity for a small local company, and 2) a generous treat for our client! What is tucked in with the package is what makes it personal (it is a homage to all of those sweet thank you notes you wrote to grandma for that awesome Christmas sweater and scrunchy socks – yes I grew up in the 90’s). This is what we do for every client– we send a personal note of thanks – deliberately and simply appreciating our clients and event sponsors for what they bring us and how they do it. Business is not just business, it is personal because you are working with people. Remember how it feels to be thanked and remember to thank others – it doesn’t have to be splashy and expensive, but it should be personal.
So yes, I agree that using social media to appreciate your clients and sponsors is fantastic and getting creative in doing so will enhance your message and your thankfulness, but don’t forget to be personal and sit down and write that good old-fashioned thank you out of the limelight of “everyone”. Sincerely appreciate people. It will go a long way and you may just make their day. In return, they’ll remember to say thank you to someone else – now that warms you to the core! We can and should be thankful all year long – not just at Thanksgiving and during the season of giving.
Thank you for reading!
Kasey B. Wright
This made me laugh, if you need help on how to say thank you here is the link for you: https://www.wikihow.com/Say-Thank-You
About the author:
Kasey B. Wright is a small town, small business kind of girl with nature in her heart. She grew-up working long hours at her parents general store in amazing Joseph, Oregon – Google it, oh wait, here’s a link – visit! Really- Arts, Camping, Resort on Wallowa Lake, Mountains, 52 high lakes, Gorgeous! Enough with the free advertisement, but truly it is amazing – Google it! Now days, if not twiddling away on her iMac, painting, or mentally re-designing pretty much everything, she is outside with her family enjoying all of the adventures that lay beyond her front door (which in Missoula are abundant and basically start within a five-minute radius of her house). Her family, a husband of whom she met as a freshman in college (architect – I know two designers and yes, nothing ever gets done), our dog (neurotic first child wire-haired pointing griffon), cat (shelter cat – maybe the most adjusted member of our family), and toddler twins (girl+boy) in chronological order, keep the adventure alive! Oh yah, fish too (rarely claimed).
