Conferences and webinars have never been more competitive. Organizers are all chasing the same goals—more registrations, memorable experiences, and ongoing conversations. But with overflowing inboxes and crowded social feeds, maintaining the momentum after wrap time is challenging.
Guru Media Hub, organizers of the popular online events – Eventastic, Guru (The Conference) and Delivered – found that swag was critical to cutting through the noise.
The B2B marketing and events leader partners with Swag.com to drive more event signups and boost engagement both during and after the big day.
“We’re heavily focused on thought leadership and education, but we bring a fun twist to everything,” says conference director Stania Antoine.
She believes that branded merchandise is a key part of that experience. See Stania talk about our partnership in the video below.
More than conference swag
Like many event organizers, Guru Media Hub could have taken the easy route, ordering inexpensive giveaways that attendees might use once before tossing them in a drawer.
Instead, the team treats every item as an extension of its brand.
“Since our name is on it, we attach what we do to quality,” Stania says. “We wouldn’t want to give people cheap swag and have them associate that with us.”
That maxim led Guru Media Hub to invest in high-quality apparel like brand-name hoodies, hats, and long-sleeve shirts that recipients continue to wear long-term.
“If it’s premium quality, it’s something they’ll use for years to keep advertising for us,” Stania adds.
Swag that drives action
Guru Media Hub doesn’t reserve swag for the registration table.
Instead, branded merch is built into the company’s event marketing strategy, from encouraging early registrations to rewarding social media engagement.
“We use it as incentives to drive registrations,” Stania explains. “It entices people to sign up early and be the first to get exclusive swag.”
In a recent author partnership, Guru Media Hub even drove book sales by offering free hats with every book purchase—and they used Swag.com giveaway links to manage the process.
By collecting recipient info in Swag.com landing pages and tracking inventory from the platform, Guru Media Hub successfully incentivized book sales during a live event.
Finding the perfect fit
One of Guru Media Hub’s most popular giveaways wasn’t a hit by accident.
For a recent event, the team envisioned a lightweight, neon pink long-sleeve shirt—but only if the color, fabric, and overall quality were exactly right.
Working with their Swag.com customer success manager, Guru Media Hub’s team reviewed numerous samples before finding the perfect color combination.
Months later, Stania noticed attendees still wearing the shirts while scrolling through LinkedIn.
“I saw so many people wearing the long-sleeve pink shirt,” she recalls. “It was really cool to see how many people connected with it the way we’d hoped.”
Bringing creative ideas to life
Not every promotional product fits neatly into an online catalog.
Over the years, Guru Media Hub has challenged Swag.com to source one-of-a-kind items like inflatable boom box coolers for an ’80s-themed conference—and even brainstormed novelty plush toys inspired by one of the company’s podcasts.
Instead of spending hours searching for suppliers themselves, the team relies on Swag.com experts to turn ambitious ideas into reality.
“[Swag.com] is very responsive when it comes to sourcing options and giving us samples,” Stania says. “The whole collaboration piece has been great.”
A partnership built on collaboration
As Guru Media Hub’s events have grown, so has its reliance on a partner that can simplify complex fulfillment.
From sending sample products to managing international shipping, Stania says Swag.com has become an extension of her team.
“We send over as much information as we can, and the [Swag.com team] takes that and runs with it,” she explains.
This allows Guru Media Hub to focus on designing memorable attendee experiences while Swag.com handles the sourcing, sampling, and logistics behind the scenes.
Creating experiences worth remembering
Conference merchandise is often treated as an afterthought—a box to check before the event begins.
Guru Media Hub sees it differently. For their team, premium swag is a way to encourage registrations, spark conversations on social media, and create lasting connections with attendees.
And like the swag itself, that’s something worth holding onto.
