Contents:
The right trade show giveaways can help generate leads and support integrated marketing messages that will prompt attendees to tie that message back to your company long after the show has ended. In this post, we cover the best practices for planning , selecting and distributing popular and impactful trade show giveaways, and share our list of the top 10 giveaway items. When trade show giveaways are effective, they have the power to enchant attendees at an event, so it is important to properly plan your giveaways to ensure your promotions have as big of an impact as possible.
Before you select trade show giveaway items, first consider whether or not they support your corporate image, brand persona and campaign theme. Additionally, check out our post on Branding at Trade Shows to learn more on how to properly portray your brand. One of the most important functions of a trade show giveaway is its ability to resonate with your clients and prospects. While unique and fun trade show giveaways are always a great way to generate interest in your brand, practical giveaway items can present more value to visitors, creating greater long-term impact.
Over a creative giveaway and swag ideas for a perfect event If you've never considered using giveaways at your events, maybe you should start. Explore Envisage Brand Experiences's board "Unique Exhibition Giveaway Ideas " on Pinterest. | See more ideas about Corporate gifts, Corporate giveaways.
Trade show booth design is a key element to engaging with attendees. Like exhibits , trade show budgets vary in size from exhibitor to exhibitor. Regardless of your event marketing budget, you should be conscious of the costs associated with the trade show giveaway items, including cost per item, taxes, shipping and storage.
Make sure your exhibit design catches the attention of everyone at the trade show. A quick look at a random exhibition hashtag over Twitter will give you an immediate idea of how clogged hashtags are becoming. To help you choose the right swag, here are 13 unique giveaway ideas to thrill your attendees. View Totally thrilled to have won AugustaGolfUK prize draw for amazing titleist executive luggage range! People like things that they don't see everyday.
On the surface, trade show giveaways seem to be one of the easiest decisions associated with exhibiting. However, selecting the perfect impactful giveaway item can be difficult. To help you select the right promotional item, we have outlined a list of popular trade show giveaways and their benefits. Smartphones dominate the mobile device market and are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
What better way to provide value to your visitors than offering a smartphone wallet? Make sure the smartphone wallet features your company logo and work with the vendor to style with company colors. Everywhere you go, from the office to the park, you see people carrying reusable water bottles. Branded tote bags are a trade show giveaway staple and can help attendees carry all the goodies they snag up on the trade show floor. Lip balm as a trade show giveaway will remind attendees of your brand every time they reach into their pocket or purse to moisturize their lips.
Trade show attendees may not be in the office, but they are still connected to their workplace via email, text and calls. Constant communication can take a toll on battery life, which can send an attendee scrabbling to the nearest outlet. If you have USB chargers as your trade show giveaway, you can provide attendees a lifeline back home when they need it most. T-shirts are one of the most sought-after trade show giveaway items. Attendees love to hunt down and collect as many free t-shirts as possible while walking the trade show floor.
By utilizing t-shirts as a giveaway item, you will ensure that your trade show booth is flush with attendee traffic. We have all been there: At trade shows, this worry is tenfold. Attendees will speak with and meet potentially hundreds of people, making breath mint giveaways practical and in demand.
While walking the trade show floor attendees work up an appetite, and offering snacks to visitors who show interest in your booth is a great way to start conversations. Attendees will be more receptive to sales pitches and consultations if they are able to sample a product on the show floor.
Audio equipment, like Bluetooth speakers and headphones, are great trade show giveaways because they can be used outside of the show in a variety of ways. If you choose headphones as a trade show giveaway, make sure they come in branded cases, otherwise the recipient may forget that the headphones came from your company. Picking the perfect trade show giveaway items can be challenging at times, but when done right, you will be sure to net amazing returns in both in-booth traffic and attendee engagement with your brand.
The amount of exhibitors spamming hashtags saying 'please visit us' or 'remember to stop by' is somewhat depressing. See it yourself. This is the most adopted and, dare I say, abused tactic to increase footfall at exhibitions. I believe there is a space for competitions but only for smart ones. They should help to communicate the selling proposition of what is being promoted. It is a smart idea to run competitions over social networks during the event rather than asking for the vintage 'business card in a bowl'.
I am a big fan of those who offer services around their product as rewards. It is a great way to preserve the value of your core service while giving something away. Come visit our stand at the weddingexpo and stand a chance to win one of 20 free consultations at bridalwardrobe pic.
One of the most effective online lead generation tactics in B2B is to share free knowledge in exchange for contact details. White papers, ebooks, reports are just a few of the traditionally valuable weapons to gain qualified leads. I don't see any reason why this tactic should not be similarly effective offline. The process is the same. Attendees get a copy of your quality piece of content, you get their data. I believe the industry is mature enough to start investing more heavily in these tools.
Inviting attendees to Like your product at exhibitions is a great way to generate long-term value online. See how Renault did it a few years ago at AutoRai and my comments about it. Similarly effective is the offline Tweet. This is an even better tool to power competitions. The key here is to make it super simple for the attendee to action the Tweet or Like that is. If it takes more than 30 seconds I do not believe it is worth it. If you are able to work out a simple process to get your attendees to tweet offline I believe you have quite a disruptive competitive advantage.
I am sure fellow exhibitors are going to hate you. I told you in December that this was going to be the year of Photo Booths.
I believe that I've seen one at each exhibition I've attended. Taking pictures and streaming them online is a great start, but you are required to push it a bit to make an impression. I believe that the Meet Mr Holland campaign , one of the best social media campaigns ever produced by the human kind, is a prime example of how to get this right. A quick look at a random exhibition hashtag over Twitter will give you an immediate idea of how clogged hashtags are becoming. Social advertising is a great way to gain competitive advantage and secure prime real estate in the event stream.
I am thinking Twitter here but also Facebook. Twitter Ads help you to target specific hashtags and audiences, making sure you focus only on relevant prospects. I believe this is an often overlooked opportunity with quite some potential. That is if your message is not 'come and visit us, we are so cool'. Not even ads will help you with such a weak message. It gives me shivers to think that in I am still writing this. Yet wifi connectivity is still a major issue in the industry.
I actually can recall the only events where wifi worked and was reliable. It is probably 5 or 6 out of hundreds. Smart exhibitors can capitalise on the lack of good coverage most exhibitions have by providing their own wifi for free to attendees. Not being a fan of freebies, complimentary wifi needs to be tied in some way to your product and service. You can collect leads by giving free accounts and present branded splash screens to login to the service.
If you asked me what is the most memorable activity I did at the event, I must say it was the eventprofs Tweetup. It was a great gathering of like minded people. Once again Mr. Holland was so nice to host the tweet up and provide free drinks for the chirpy crowd. You already noticed how many times I mentioned Mr. This proves the point that the more innovative and welcoming you are towards online communities and technology, the better the results.
Another powerful way to leverage on exhibitions' weaknesses is to fill in their gaps. Despite introducing the role of the Event Cool-ordinator or Twitter Concierge a few years ago, this is a service rarely offered at large events. Very few exhibitions are dedicated to providing customer service over social media. I believe this is a fantastic opportunity to help attendees at the event.
Practical information about the show floor, wifi, services, education program are just a few ideas to get your tweeting on and get your brand recognised over social media. It is your shortcut to amplification, reach and differentiation from the 'come and visit us' boredom. Orange Telecom stand at Ad: Tech London This is how powerful giving plugs and comfy working stations is to attendees.
I still remember that booth, it was the only place where you could sit and spend some time working and relaxing. There was no staff from the company. Just the space. Yet the message was so powerful and everyone at the exhibition knew that the Orange stand was the place to go to recharge physical and mental batteries.
Donating to charity is such an amazing proposition. It immediately shifts perceptions and attitudes. Visit the Xerox booth the USOpen? Watch our progress: If you read the Event App Bible , you know by now that premium sponsor opportunities are increasingly recurring features in event mobile apps.
With growing adoption of event mobile apps , this is a great way to secure precious advertising real estate in a very relevant and timely fashion. Once again the message of that advertising placement needs to be carefully considered. A weak or merely promotional message will not add a lot of value. I can remember the first time I was passing by a super tiny booth and noticed the company arranged 2 lines of 4 chairs. A zealous speaker was running a seminar about what I guess was an interesting topic. Curious bunnies started to flock to the stand and in a matter of minutes, 30 people were listening.
The seminar was about 15 minutes long and it recurred every hour. What a great idea.
It is in effect an alternative to sharing an ebook. It is quick, practical and to the point. In a consumer context, this can be achieved with special happenings featuring guest stars. See an example:. I still have to make my mind up about Vine or Instagram for events. I don't jump on excitement bandwagons. I believe it just makes pundits look silly in the long term.