2021-10-18

Creative goodie bag ideas for virtual events

Online goodie bags are a great way to promote your event. Whether you're hosting a webinar, or just doing an online marketing campaign, goodie bags will help you increase the number of people who sign up for your event. In this blog post, we'll give you some good tips on how to make goodie bag ideas that will work well for virtual events.

What is a goodie bag?

A goodie bag is a physical good, usually in the form of a gift bag. It can be given to anyone coming to your event or opening certain items at the event (like raffle tickets). The goodie bags are meant to promote and market your company brand or logo while also promoting other products you sell. It's sometimes called a "swag box" as well.

Why should you give goodie bags on your virtual events?

The goodie bag is a good way to promote your company or brand, but it can also be used for several other purposes. It's an excellent idea if you're trying to get more customers and drive up sales. The goodie bags are typically given out at events so they'll have something to remember your event by even after the show is over.

What goodie bag items are good for virtual events?

The good item you put in your goodie bags depends on the type of event it is, and who you're trying to target with it. For example, if you have an educational webinar intended for marketers, giving out promotional products may work well for this purpose.

A good idea for virtual events is to give away promotional products that are related in some way to your industry or event topic.

What goodie bag items are not good for virtual events?

You don't want to include anything that's very bulky or heavy, as this will just create more waste and increase your packaging costs. You also need to be careful about giving out things that people who aren't attending the event might take advantage of (like product samples).

As with goodie bags for physical events, you want to give out things that your audience will actually use. A good rule of thumb is to think about what they'll be doing at the event and go from there. 

Goodie bag ideas for virtual events

Since many events moved totally online, goodie bag ideas had to rearrange almost completely. Now goodie bags are usually virtual goodie bag ideas. The main difference is that you don't give out physical goods for free, but rather some online content, resources, etc. Find out our online goodie bad ideas!

#1 A list of best resources to help your audience learn about your topic

Goodie bag ideas for online events can take a lot of forms. The good news is that you're not limited by the number of goodie bag ideas to create, either! You may not be able to give them in person, but you still can surprise your audience.

You can give them a lot of resources to access straight after your event. This may include:

  • recordings
  • links to your previous events/webinars
  • a list of articles to read
  • takeaways from your event

#2 Coupons or discount codes for future purchases (make sure this is allowed)

Since goodie bags are meant to promote your business, you can also include virtual coupons or discounts. These may be for an event that's coming up soon, too.

If the goodie bag includes anything like this, make sure it has enough time left on it before they need to use it! You don't want people forgetting about their goodie bag good, and then never being able to use it.

It's also good for you to pre-promote the event so more people sign up! You can tell them about your goodie bag on social media or email before they even see what's inside. Ideally, if you give enough notice, this will help increase attendance numbers.

#3 Certificate to print out

One goodie bag idea is to give out a certificate for them to print and sign. This can be good as an additional takeaway from your event, or it could even make up the main goodie bag item itself!

Of course, this will depend on what type of goodie bags you're including in the first place. These certificates are good for those who want to make goodie bags themselves. They can include this certificate as an extra goodie, and then use the rest of your goodie bag ideas!

You could also put a link on there so they know where to sign up for more info about the event (or anything else you'd like them to do). These certificates can be good for those with an email list as well, and additionally they can make a good follow-up email.

If you want to use this goodie bag idea but don't know how to create a certificate yourself, there are many ready-to-go templates for certificates all over the Internet.

#4 Vouchers and gift cards

Another good goodie bag idea is to give out vouchers or gift cards. These can be good for any virtual events you may hold in the future, so they'll come back again and use it!

Vouchers are usually used when there's a specific product that needs promoting. You could give out goodie bags with vouchers in it that work towards purchasing this product.

The gift cards can be good for when you're promoting something bigger than just one specific good, like a course or membership site. You may also include links to these resources in the goodie bag so they know how to access them!

#5 eBooks and videos

Another good idea is to give out some form of digital content. You could include eBooks, video series, or even more audio recordings from the event itself. These goodie bag ideas can be great as a way to get people excited for whatever you're promoting next!

For those who can't attend your event, goodie bag ideas like this are good for you to have. They'll be able to access these resources so they feel as though they were at the live event itself!

#6 Tickets

There are goodie bag ideas that aren't just for virtual events, but any event you may hold. You could include tickets to an upcoming local conference or even a specific workshop that's part of your bigger training series! However, you can go even out of the box and give tickets to any other event, because... why not?

These goodie bags can be great as they show how much you care about their experience with the company and want them to have good memories. If you include enough of your goodie bag ideas, it will show them that they matter and their opinion is valued!

Over to you

Remember goodie bags can be used as a good marketing tool for your business. You don't need to give out physical goods in order to get people excited about your event or products! You just have to think outside the box, and you'll find that virtual goodie bag ideas are just what you're looking for.