Deciding on the promotional items you distribute at trade show displays is always challenging. Since it hard to attach an ROI to giveaways, some companies regard them as disposable items that have no pay off in sales.
Do Giveaways At Trade Show Displays Influence Buying Habits?
If you wonder why these have few results, think of your own buying behavior. If you want to buy a printer, a machine tool, or even 10 cases of paper, do you check the trade show pens you picked up to find a vendor? Probably not. You might love the pen, but you hardly consider it when making a buying choice.
Getting More Bang For Your Promotional Item Buck
Experts on marketing at trade show displays offers some tips on making your giveaways more useful.
- Think beyond pens and other small items that companies often distribute. Is there something relevant to your industry that is not too expensive and not too hard for show attendees to carry home? For example, if you work in the healthcare industry, deciding to provide attendees with personalized hand sanitizers, first aid kits and sunscreen could not only be an effective way to market your business, but they’re also small enough to fit in a carrier bag that they may have with them – you can learn more here.
- Guard your giveaways. Instead of laying the items out for easy pickup, let your booth staff prequalify the visitor before you hand off the premium. You can still give everyone a giveaway, but you may also walk away with some viable leads.
- To entice people into your booth, offer something that smells good or looking inviting. Fresh hot coffee, cooling bottled water, or even hard candy can be a welcome smell or sight to those walking the floor. If you put the goodies at the back of the booth, your staff can have conversations with those who drop by, which may result in leads. One caution: Before serving popcorn or beverages, check out show regulations to make sure you can distribute them on the show floor. Popcorn, in particular, can create a cleaning nightmare.
- Drawings can be a great way to attract booth traffic, especially if the prize is something people love, such as a trip or a car. Who doesn’t want to go to Hawaii or drive away in a Lexus? Since your goal is to generate leads at a B2B show, a better prize is something related to your industry, such as software, a product, or training. For example, the average visitor won’t sign up to win free CAD software, unless they’re an engineer or designer.
- Share the wealth. Rather than five one big prize after a three day show, offer daily prizes of lesser value to give people more hope of winning.
Deciding on giveaways can be challenging. Often, the exhibit company you purchased from also offers marketing services and is able to help you select which giveaway is best for your booth.
