Marketers do a lot! But they don’t do it all alone. A lot of marketing is project based and you’ll find that you need to rely on the help of others inside your organization, in other companies, and with clients. Relationship building is a critical skill as a marketer and making a great lasting impression with those on whom you rely is key. No project should be complete until you’ve sent a sincere Thank You note that will continue the feeling of warmth and friendship until the next time you need to work with that person.

Overall, thank you notes should be:

• Timely
• Personal
• Unique

So, without further ado, here are my essential elements for creating a memorable thank you note!

Name – write a unique thank you note for each person in an organization that you worked with directly. If they represented the entire organization, you can include a line about the company, or keep it just focused on that individual’s contribution. Be sure to use the appropriate name for that person. If you became comfortable with each other throughout the process, then don’t use Mr. or Mrs., just use their first name. If it’s someone within your organization that you’re very comfortable with and have a nickname for them, use that! Make it personal. (Pro tip – when I’m working with people and I want them to connect with me, I sign my emails with a very shortened version of my name (Ang) to make them feel like a friend. It’s an instant signal that we are on close terms.)

Be specific about the project you worked on. Name it specifically. Don’t just write “Thanks for your recent help!” By specifically listing out the project and what they did to help, you’re detail-oriented and showing them it meant enough for you to pay attention and noticed exactly what they did to help. Their individual work stood out to you.

Include why it was helpful. Just saying what they did is nice but be sure to include why it mattered so much. Why did their contribution make the difference in the project? What impact did it have to the success of the project and the greater community? The why matters a lot.

Implications for the future. Be sure to state the ongoing importance of the project and why their work will continue to positively impact the community. This will not only make them feel even better about the time they spent working, but will get them thinking about how they can continue to help and maybe even encourage them to partner with you again soon.

End with another “thank you.” You can never thank people too much. You should also promise to keep in touch and offer your support should they have any projects that you would be able to return the help they gave to you. Build that relationship!

If you really want to go above and beyond, there are two things that will totally stand out.

Give them an additional thank you online. This can be in a review on Yelp or Facebook, or another social sharing platform, or it can be a post on your social media account using a photo or video of them helping with the project. The online review or post should not replace the physical card.

Design your own thank you card that is unique to you and the project. Make it stand out so that it is social-media-share worthy. Sometimes people will be so touched that they will post the thank you card that you send online. Can we say BONUS?! You can easily design your own thank you card and use a high-quality photo that represents you or your organization. If you really want to stand out, you could use a photo of the person helping or a photo of the project you worked on together.

I like to buy half-fold cards from Avery that I can design and print myself, customizing each to the specific project I worked on. It’s nice having a bit bigger of a card so I can include all the juicy details I want inside. 

Canva is a free program that has thank you card templates. You can upload your own images to use and add lots of fun text. Then you simply download the design as a JPEG and use Publisher or a different program to print them out. 

Whenever possible, make sure you’re sending an actual physical thank you card. In this digital era, emails get lost in the shuffle. Everyone gets excited to get physical mail that isn’t a bill so you’ll stand out from the get go. If you must send an email (you don’t have time or the project wasn’t big enough) you can send an email, but be sure to include something fun in there like a cute photo or GIF.

I hope you enjoyed these tips! If you did, please be sure to “like” the post down below.

Thanks for reading!

-Ang