Here are my top 5 giveaways for a trade show display – they’re old but definitely bold

#1 – Stapler

Cheap and easy to source and personalize.  I like them because they are practical and everyone uses them so when a visitor has emerged with several plastic bags full of tomorrow’s trash, I know they will take that stapler and place it in the desk at home or office and it is going to be used.  I love that idea – my name and contact information on something which will last for years and will be seen again and again because you always need a stapler!

#2 – Travel Cups

Travel cups for taking your morning Java or Joe off on the commute are great promotional gifts and they are always in demand.  I like the idea that whenever a visitor has my travel cup, they are going to be enjoying a drink and while they are in that happy frame of mind, my logo and contact info is right in front of them.  I use these as a major gift – no kidding – if you want to get one of these out of me, you need to sit down and have an exploratory chat about business.  It works – use them!

#3 – Alarm Clocks

Out of town attendees usually end up relying on a wake up call from the concierge who may or may not be able to speak English or tell the time.  A travel alarm is a nice touch.  This is a super promo gift – I really have to  like you to give you this and you really need to be serious about business to pry one of these babies out of my hands.  Don’t skimp on quality here and make sure it is accurate, tells the time properly and goes off when it’s supposed to – test the alarm too, don’t offer nasty or annoying alarm sounding clocks.  Stick to these tips and your visitor will keep it forever.

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Trade show displays are still a cost effective way to market your products or services. Exhibits can work for people who have been in business for years and also for a new entrepreneur. To have a successful trade show exhibit, you have to plan ahead.

First, you have to make sure you are exhibiting at trade show that is going to appeal to your target audience. The next very important step is to set up your exhibit to attract visitors to your exhibit. Below you will find some useful tips on enhancing your trade show experience.

When it comes to marketing materials, remember sometimes less is more. To keep your booth looking tidy and organized; you should replenish your marketing material frequently. This way you will not have large piles of materials lying around. Huge stacks of materials sometimes give visitors the impression that no one is interested in what you are promoting. You can store your marketing materials under the table and only display a few flyers or brochures at a time.

Handing out tote bags with your logo on them will go a long way in promoting your company. People who are visiting trade shows collect a variety of samples and brochures. They will be grateful for the bag and your company name will be seen all over the trade show floor.

It is important to make sure that you have a gender balanced staff in your exhibit. Having the same number of women and men on the trade show floor will make your visitors more comfortable. If you have a staff of all men or women your exhibit might not be as inviting to some. It is also a good idea to have a staff that varies in age so visitors will feel comfortable talking about your products.

Trade shows are an excellent way to promote your products, improve customer relationships in a friendly and personal arena.

Trade shows are an excellent way to get your product and brand name out in front of hundreds of people. Trade show promotional products can help get your name recognized and help to attract potential customers to your trade show exhibit. If promotional products are not used properly they can be a drain on your company’s budget.

Some exhibitors think of giveaways as a last minute detail. They only provide them because the competition is doing it. Giveaways can help with your branding and marketing if you use them correctly. Promotional gifts help keep your company’s name in front of qualified leads.

Think of your promotional items as perpetual marketing materials that are used over and over. That is why you need to buy quality promotional items. If you buy cheap pens that don’t work or leak, people will not think highly of your product when they use them.

Everyone knows attendees love giveaways and most of them don’t plan on buying anything from you. You should have different items for different types of attendees. You can give cheaper promotional gifts to people who probably don’t qualify as a lead. You can train your staff to qualify attendees quickly and give higher quality gifts to potential customers.

If you want to get the most out of your trade show exhibit you need more than just an eye catching display and friendly staff. You have to be able to attract your target audience to your exhibit and qualify them quickly. You can then use promotional gifts to build up your company’s brand. The most important thing is to make sure you follow up on qualified leads after the show is over. All of these things will make your trade show exhibit a successful event.

Sometimes it is hard for the small and medium sized businesses to compete against the larger companies.  Knowing who and what you are up against is the first step in planning a good strategy. You should gather as much information about the show as you can so you will be able to make informed decisions. You will need to know the layout of the show, the size and location of your exhibit and information on the organization running the show.

You will want to arrange your trade show exhibit properly. Make sure larger items are in the back and smaller item are in the front. Everything should be on eye level so visitors don’t have to strain to see your products or marketing material. You want your exhibit area to be uncluttered and easy to move around in. You can have a PowerPoint presentation that is continuously playing and showing off the products and services you have to offer.

To get the most out of your trade show you can use giveaways, prize wheels or promotional gifts to lure customers into your exhibit. You can have demonstrations or presentations to draw in potential customers. Another good way to attract attention to your exhibit is to use a money machine or something similar. Any of these things will get the visitors attention and they will want to come over to your exhibit to see what all the excitement is about.

Trade shows are an ideal way for small and medium size business to get their brand and company recognized. Your exhibit has to make an impression and be used to lure people into your space to find out more about your company. If you prepare in advance and make your exhibit interesting and interactive you will be on your way to having a very successful trade show.

Trade show promotional items when they are used properly can result in a successful trade show for your company. Some companies don’t use them to their full value and are ineffective in getting people to remember their products or services. You want your giveaways to be something that ties into your products and services. It should be practical so your company message when be seen repeatedly for a long time.

Promotional items should be part of the budget from the beginning when you are in the planning stage of creating your trade show exhibit. There are many companies that throw in the promotional items as an afterthought if there is any money left over in the budget. This is not a good marketing strategy. If your use them as part of your company’s trade show marketing plan they can be used as a valuable tool.

To get the most value out of using giveaway items is to actually have multiple items that are given out to specific people. Promotional items and giveaways will draw visitors to your exhibit. However, not all of these visitors will become qualified leads. If you give high quality promotional gifts to every visitor you will quickly drain your budget and will get nothing of value in return.

You should invest in at least two different giveaways. One of the items can be less expensive but still of good quality and will get your message out there. You can then also have a higher quality giveaway that you only give out to your best customers and qualified leads. You can also tell your present customers to come see you at the trade show to get their promotional giveaway.

Promotional items and giveaways are great way to thank your present customers for their business and to generate new leads. They are well worth the expense if you use them properly. If used properly they will increase your exhibit traffic, get your message across and produce more leads for you to follow up on.

Trade shows are a way for a company to increase public awareness, generate new prospects and generate more sales. When you are planning your trade show exhibit it sometimes helps to step back and look at your exhibit from the visitor’s perspective. To get a better idea about what your target audience is looking for you can visit other trade show exhibits and collect their giveaways and marketing material. This will give you an idea about your competitors and also might give you a new perspective on setting up an appealing display.

Trade show giveaways and promotional items are a great marketing tool. Your giveaways should support your marketing message and should be more than just inexpensive novelties. You want something that ties into your company’s products or services. For instance, if your company provides software solutions you could giveaway flash drives with your slogan, logo and contact information. If your business is food related you could hand out miniature booklets on healthy recipes or potholders. No matter what your company provides as far as services or products you will get more value out of a promotional gift that ties into your company’s message.

Your promotion products should be of good quality and offer value to your visitor, such as thermal cups, calendars, or calculators. This way your company’s message will live on long after the trade show is over. They should also reflect your company’s message or services.

Giveaways and promotional products are a very effect marketing tool and should be part of your trade show marketing strategy and not just an afterthought if the budget allows for it. Using these tips will also put you ahead of your competitors who dispense novelties that will probably get tossed away or broken before the show is over.

Trade show promotional gifts are a great marketing tool. They can be used to get your brand recognized and help to bring prospects into your trade show booth. By using reusable promotional gifts with your company name and logo on them, they will be seen over and over. Retention is the way to get your name recognized by potential customers.

You want to be visible to the prospects, so you want your company name to be on their desks, in their briefcases and in their home. Every day promotional items such as pens, bottle openers, and key chains have the greatest return.

The key is to get your name in front of prospects and people who would use or need your product. If you just simply put out your promotional gift items for everyone to pick up you are wasting money that will never be returned.

The main reason promotional gifts are used is to drive traffic to your booth. Most companies are overlooking a powerful way to use their promotional gifts. You should always remember your present customers. Giving them promotional gifts helps build customer loyalty.

One of the biggest reasons that customers or clients leave their current suppliers isn’t because of price or service. It is because they do not feel appreciated and feel you take their business for granted. By giving your customers promotional gifts you are saying “thank you” for doing business with us.

Another thing to remember is the quality of the gift makes a difference. You don’t want to just buy something because it was the cheapest price. Most promotional products have a high end and low end product. You don’t want to give out gifts that don’t work or fall apart; that puts a negative spin on your company’s reputation. A good rule to follow when choosing a promotional product is not to buy the cheapest.

Promotional gifts are a great marketing tool to bring in new prospects and to also keep current customers happy. If you use them correctly you will reap the benefits.

I’ve touched on this before – tying your giveaways into the season and tapping into a festive mood as you seek to attract attendees to your trade show display and have them take away a giveaway they are going to use again after the show – this keeps you and your business fresh in the mind of the attendee long after the show itself as well as getting your brand and name in front of other people in the attendee’s business and private life.

Fourth of July is soon going to be upon us and already I’ve been stocking up on giveaways in keeping with the party mood this creates as one of the major holidays in the year.  Virtually everything I have has a US flag prominently displayed or in fact dominating the giveaway decoration while my company logo is integrated with this (we have a the company character holding the flag, wearing a shirt made of the stars and stripes or you guessed it, a model in a stars and stripes bikini).

It’s not just the 4th July that you have to work with – in a few days it’s “Secretaries Day” so a bunch of flowers are in order for she who keeps you on the right track – it doesn’t matter whether the day in question is acknowledged by all or something little more than marketing mush for a little known niche.

These special event days are very helpful in getting your giveaways into the minds of the attendees and spurring demand for them whiel at the same time, they are highly likely to be used after the show and so satisfy the need to keep being used and in plain sight long after the show itself has ended.

Here are a few events/celebration days coming up you can look to use with your trade show giveaways:

• 4th of July
• 22nd April – Secretaries Day
• 10th – 16th February – Cardiac Rehabilitation Week
• Easter – day varies in April
• 3rd – 7th March – Employee Appreciation Week
• 3rd Wednesday in May – Employee Health & Fitness Day

Take a look on any work calendar or internet site and you’ll find numerous other major and not so major celebratory occasions you can tie into with your promotional giveaways.

Trade show giveaways need to fulfill a couple of main criteria – they serve as an attractor at trade shows pulling in attendees and they also serve to help keep your name and business at the forefront of the attendee’s mind after the show is over.

Finding the right range of giveaways requires some thought and application but this is also a continuous process and not something you do once and forget about it.

Eco-friendly giveaways are helping to attract attendee’s attention more and more because green issues are so high up on the social awareness agenda and from a moral standpoint, they are a no-brainer – there is no downside to using eco-friendly giveaways.

Some of the best eco-friendly giveaways I have come across so far include storm radios – radios for use in emergency situations and usually doubling as a storm lamp with a hand crank to charge the battery and allow for continuous use in any given situation.  For me they are a great gift to have but just because you hear the phrase “green” does not mean you are restricted in what you are currently doing.

Think about your last trade show – what did you see available as giveaways?

Pencils, pens, mugs, bags, caps, t-shirts, novelty items, desk furniture, rulers, stickers, badges, credit card scraper, key fobs, bag clips, flyers – and many, many more.

Any one of the above items can be sourced as recycled or made from recycled materials – going green doesn’t mean you have to specifically choose green eco-products that look like a hippie fashion accessory, there are plenty of products available which have been made from green materials fro decades but the public simply hasn’t been aware of it to begin with.

Tapping into the green trend is not difficult – just ask your supplier about their green eco-range and look at the existing substitute products you can immediately include in your existing range of giveaways while at the same time, take a look at your existing stock and you’ll be surprised at how much of what you have already bought is already recycled and therefore “green” to begin with.

The issue will be how you make your attendees aware you are now ecologically friendly

I was in Las Vegas recently for PMA 2009 which is one of the world’s largest exhibitions for consumer electronics and as you can imagine there was a huge amount of drone and chatter going on in this cavernous series of exhibition halls.

Not only does Nevada host PMA but Las Vegas is certainly one of those towns which has a lot of pizzaz and va-va-voom with the strip and casinos and a definite 24 hour, round-the-clock lifestyle.

I saw several trade show displays with slot machines on them and this was a surprise to me – attendees were falling over themselves playing them and I just could not understand what was going on – I mean, here we are in Gambling Central for the world with slots all over the place, and yet, in this arena, surrounded by state of the art techno gizmo’s here are these guys playing slots like they were about to be phased out forever?

I grabbed one of the guys I’d seen and recognized from a show a couple of years ago and asked him what was going on – the company behind the booth with the slots was allowing attendees to win vouchers which could be cashed in for casino gambling chips which I thought was pretty neat given we were in Vegas.

I got hold of one of the exhibitors, Mike Hollenbrook and we talked about business, PMA 2009 and what was going on – they had used slot machines before and always they provided a great attraction mechanism with flashing lights and sounds of money being paid out.  With the exhibition taking place in Vegas they had gone a step further after a successful tie -in with a casino on the strip.  Casinos want people pulled into their gambling and gaming arena while the company was meeting a bunch of highly-paid convention visitors who would be bound to unwind somewhere in Vegas in the evenings so what better way than get the casino to sponsor the slots and prizes for the convention attendees in exchange for which the casino was given a head start on the convention attendees attention.

I like this kind of deal best of all – someone else pays for it and you get something to bring in the attendees to your booth – everyone wins unless you have a really bad evening on the tables for real!