It’s ‘eat or be eaten’ on the trade show floor. You must stand out among the other trade show exhibits if you want to survive. Leveraged correctly, trade show promotional products can separate you from the pack and capture your target audience. They can help you brand your company, market your products, raise your visibility and boost the traffic to your booth. In this article, we’ll explore each of these factors and discuss the mistakes people commonly make when using promotional items.Branding And Marketing On The Trade Show Floor Your booth will only take up a tiny fraction of the convention area. Because of this, your exposure will be limited to those who pass in your immediate vicinity. It’s a given that your trade show booth should be well designed and communicate your message effectively, but your reach is still limited beyond a few yards. Trade show promotional products allow you to extend that reach. By giving attendees items with your company name and contact information displayed, you can leverage your branding and better leverage your trade show marketing efforts at the event.
Raising Your Visibility
As attendees walk the event floor, they’ll be carrying – or wearing – the trade show promotional products you’ve given them. Items that can be used immediately like a logo branded water bottle serve as walking ads for your company during the trade show event. However, you won’t want a disposable item like this to be your primary giveaway. The best giveaways are those that your potential client will take home and use again and again. Either spend a little extra for a reusable, brandable water bottle, or choose another item as your primary trade show giveaway.
If you’ve provided them with items that catch other attendees’ eyes, they can be a powerful way to alert others across the floor about your booth and your company. In order to spark their interest, you should use whatever space is available on the items to communicate the benefits your business offers. Each attendee that carries your trade show promotional products displays your message and increases your overall visibility.
Boosting Traffic To Your Booth
Trade show promotional products are not only useful for branding, marketing and raising your visibility at the event, they’re excellent for attracting people to your booth. Some will hunt the floor for your company, hoping your business can offer them the solution they need. Others will visit your booth because they saw someone carrying a promotional item they’d like to have. You can leverage these motivations to build buzz about your company and to draw crowds. The more people who begin looking for your booth, the more attention you’ll attract.
Common Mistakes
There are several potential pitfalls to using trade show promotional products poorly. If the objective you’re hoping to accomplish with the items isn’t carefully considered, you may waste your budget and your time. For example, many exhibitors spend a significant portion of their budget on items that will be thrown away immediately after the event. Once the items are discarded, they can’t continue to brand your company or promote your products. Exhibitors also try to conserve their cash flow by investing in cheap materials. Keep in mind that the items you give attendees will leave an impression of your business in their minds. Cheap materials won’t leave a favorable impression.
Ideas For Trade Show Promotional Products
There’s no need to limit yourself to using conventional items. While cheap throwaway pens may be useful to attendees, they seldom grab attention and are often discarded. Instead, offer attendees practical items that they’ll continue to use long after the event. Good examples of helpful trade show promotional products are alarm clocks, coffee thermoses and even small bulletin boards. These tend to be used over and over while constantly keeping the name of your business in front of their owners.
Trade show marketing with promotional items is a powerful way to spread your company’s message. When used correctly, they can help build your business and lead to more closed deals.
About the Author:
Jonathan Edelman provides helpful advice about trade show marketing strategies. With years of experience in the trenches, he is an expert on booth displays, follow up techniques and using trade show promotional items.
