Promotional products help you advertise your business, but you can’t expect to get satisfactory results from personalizing random items and simply setting them on your trade show exhibit. Whether you want to believe it or not, there are proper ways and improper ways to distribute your trade show promo items and your marketing efforts will suffer if you go about things the wrong way. You still have to work for attendees’ attention if you use promotional items, and it’s best to tailor your giveaways toward each specific audience. Always come up with a plan that will attract potential customers to your booth and then engage them in conversation before handing them one of your promotional products!

How do you maximize the effectiveness of your company’s promotional products at trade shows? First of all—before you even consider ordering any merchandise with your logo on it—conduct thorough research on the trade show you’re planning to attend. What is the primary audience of that particular trade show? What products do you think would interest that audience? Attendees at an antique car show will probably prefer a muscle cars calendar or a snazzy keychain over a pedometer, just like participants of a travel or tourism trade show will probably be more interested in luggage tags than they will be in a mouse pad. Educate yourself about your target audience before you spend the money on personalized products that could end up being a massive flop! Also, you should give people a reason (besides the appeal of “free stuff”) to want what you’re giving them; offer an exclusive discount or coupon along with your promotional products and double the chances that you’ll hear from those attendees after the show.

It’s also wise to come up with a way to gain attendees’ contact information instead of counting on them to call you on their own. To accomplish this, organize a drawing and offer bigger-ticket promotional products (like electronics, gift cards, or watches) as prizes in addition to your less expensive giveaway items. Require attendees to enter the drawing by writing their names, phone numbers, and/or email addresses on a slip of paper, and then you’ll have the means to contact them about doing business with your company after the show is over. Or, instead of the drawing, you can start an email newsletter with special offers and encourage attendees to sign up on the list to qualify for them.

Second of all—after you’ve successfully analyzed the expected attendees and their interests—figure out how you’ll draw prospective customers to your booth by using your promotional products. As previously mentioned, it’s not a good idea to just spread your items on a table and watch attendees from a distance as they come up and take them. Don’t stand back and wait for people to come to you! The key chains or t-shirts you’re giving away might be the best that money can buy, but you have to interact with people if you want them to remember you; otherwise, they’ll get your promo item home and forget all about who you are and what you do (if they even knew that in the first place). Try this: stand front-and-center in your booth, make eye contact with passersby, greet them, briefly tell them how you can help them, and THEN hand them one of the items you personalized. That way, attendees will walk away with a positive impression and they’ll remember that impression every time they use the giveaway item you distributed! Also, this strategy makes it more difficult for freebie-hoarding attendees to snatch up all of your merchandise before you can actually use it to promote yourself to interested clients.

Third of all—and very importantly—don’t think your work is done once you’ve analyzed, customized, and socialized your way through a successful trade show. What does that mean? It means that you need to follow up! If you managed to collect a hefty stack of potential customer names and phone numbers or email addresses, then use them to express your gratitude. A brief “thank you” phone call or email a week or two after the trade show will reinforce your company’s image, remind people that you’re committed to assisting them with their needs, and make that colorful stress ball or tote bag you gave them THAT much more effective.

After countless research, we believe in pre-show marketing and targeting your show selection.

Show selection is one point that continued to come up in many conversations and was a key factor in driving results and helping reduce costs. By targeting your “niche market” with a larger presence, your company can stand out as a leader in your market.

With more careful and earlier planning of your trade show season, you can reduce unnecessary expenses. Many exhibitors rely on online trade show management programs, that allow them access 24/7 to their booth staff, shipping and scheduling of events. This way you are not over staffing your booth, and you know when and where items will be at any given time. Reducing the last minute shipping charges for literature or missing components.

Lighter weight exhibits and modular solutions also will decrease your shipping and drayage costs drastically. With re-configurable portable solutions, you can stretch your marketing dollars.

Creating a process for follow up to measure your results to target your most successful shows will also help stretch your marketing dollars. If you notice poor performance from a certain trade show but fairly decent performance from another trade show, why not concentrate your efforts on the show that gives you the best results.

Managing your trade show leads is one of the best practices for success at trade shows. Always implement a plan for lead follow up, even before the doors to the trade show open. Whether it be outsourcing your trade show lead follow up or implementing your staff into using online software to manage and track your leads, you will see the results and see where your efforts are paying off.

I’ve heard it said that trade shows are the easiest, most difficult marketing tool to master. Like all such challenges, finding tips to make this process easier has just become easier.  Check out the latest FREE trade show seminars.  21 Seminars in 21 Days

With the 21 Seminars in 21 Days, you will meet Mike Mraz, a 25 year veteran in the trade show industry, you can find out information on show selection, booth staffing and even trade show transportation.  Getting the best outcome from your trade show is one of the goals that every exhibitor wants to achieve.

Take advantage of the 21 Seminars in 21 Days!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiOxRdjaj0k

I am in need of a list of “Don’ts” for exhibiting. There are plenty of lists for what to do, but I cannot find any that state what not to do. I am speaking in terms of the act of exhibiting, not actual salesmanship.

Thanks
Penny

Thanks for coming to Trade Show Help Penny,

You are right there are several trade show do’s and there should be some don’ts as well.  In my opinion as a trade show attendee I dislike  when the booth staff is huddled together and you feel they are unapproachable.

It is uncomfortable to be milling around a booth trying to get someone’s attention.  I have also seen booth staff that do not say hello or welcome visitors.

I found myself one time entering into an exhibit where I knew there was a product that I felt was useful to me and my business, but the exhibitor was hosting a lunch for what appeared to be a high profile prospect.  I don’t feel it is appropriate to have food served in your booth, and if you feel it is necessary perhaps use a conference room where others don’t feel like they are intruding.

Don’t bring tons of literature, show them a sample of what you have so that you can gain a business card and get a real lead.  If you hand out literature left and right, you are wasting money on printed material as well as not gaining a true lead.

Don’t forget to follow up immediately after the show, don’t allow your competitors get to the potential clients first.  Put together a plan before the trade show begins for your after the show follow up.

Don’t overload your booth visitors, find out what solutions they are seeking and focus solely on that so they don’t feel overwhelmed.

I believe it to be a good practice to stand outside your trade show display and get peoples attention.  Invite them in for product demonstrations so they can see the solutions you have to offer.  Question them on what their needs are so that you can refine your sales pitch.

This is one of the main reasons companies choose to exhibit, to find potential clients and prospects.  Trade show attendees are people that are looking for solutions to help make their goals easier to achieve.

Trade shows are a valuable source to advertise your business and meet potential clients.  The objective of trade shows is to emerge as a leader, your business, service or products are the foundation of your placement in your industry, your trade show display is the vehicle in which to drive them home.

Attracting attention with your exhibit and creating an inviting environment is essential to your marketing goals when it comes to exhibiting.  Designing a trade show display to enhance your overall goal will solidify your strengths and solutions.

Staffing your display with professional team members will help not only attract visitors into your trade show booth, but will help present your company as an authority in your market.  Trade show attendees often times feel intimidated when they walk into an exhibit and feel they are “infiltrating” a group.   If your booth staff is lingering and talking among themselves, attendees are less likely to approach them with their concerns or needs for your products and services.

Companies are looking for more cost effective solutions and are seeking advice of industry leaders to provide them with those solutions.  When you show a potential client positive results with your product/services, they will feel they have found a common ground, and their interests in your offerings will grow.

Keeping detailed notes on your prospects issues can help in your post show marketing. Research the issues that they are facing, and show them how in their circumstances your products and services will be valuable in their daily efforts.

By addressing their issues and concerns, potential clients will turn into solid partnerships.

Determining how your company will relay its message to a trade show audience establishes the basic criteria you will need in selecting a trade show presenter.  Will your criteria’s be scripting, podium presentation, using audio visual technology, gimmicks, over the top presentations, or the presenter’s ability to communicate?  Successful exhibitors understand that each trade show has its own budget constraints, booth size and marketing objectives and not all trade show presenters are appropriate for every environment.

The basic goal of every trade booth is to generate leads and to educate the consumer about your company’s service or product.  You can achieve this by simply utilizing the trade show presenter as a sideshow attraction or as a Hollywood stage presentation.

The sideshow attraction works best in small booths and allows education, entertaining, and  lead generation to occur when the trade show presenter interacts with the attendee and inquisitively seek out key information to assess their need level.   The higher the need level, the faster the trade show presenter turns the attendee over to qualified sales staff.

Hollywood presentations educate attendees on products and services requiring attention getting tactics and typically larger booth space.  High tech displays and performance are there to dazzle the crowd into staying and watching the presentation with trade show jargon, sales pitch and information all rolled up into a 10 minute production.  These normally happen 3-4 times an hour. Lead generation occurs when the trade show presenter requests the audience to enter into a raffle or qualifying them for an immediate discount for participating in the show presentation.

The return on investment is what a company looks for when hiring a trade show presenter.  Accomplishing this is by knowing the companies specific needs and knowing what the presenter can offer.  Once the issues are address, selection of a qualified trade show presenter is easy.

About the Author:
Dale Obrochta is a professional trade show presenter who uses promotional balloon entertainment to build trade show booth traffic. He is a leading entertainer in the balloon entertainment industry who consistently works trade shows and corporate events. Magical Balloon-dude Dale is balloon entertainment at its best!

Trade Shows, your platform for customized marketing solutions.

Whether you are an exhibitor in Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando or New York City,  trade shows offer great potential for defining relationships.

It does not matter if you exhibit in a 10 x 10 display, a 10 x 20 inline exhibit or a 20 x 20trade show booth.

There are always details to cover and items can get over looked.  Have you run into the missing graphic? The lost box of literature?

What are your biggest trade show frustrations? We here at TradeShowHelp.org would love to hear from you about your exhibiting experiences.

Are you exhibiting more now through the economic downturn?

Are you exhibiting at smaller niche trade shows?

Have you experienced something that frustrates you each and every time you exhibit?

What would make your exhibiting experience easier?

How do you conduct your post show follow up?

We want to hear from exhibitors, their success stories, their failures.  By defining each part of your exhibiting experience and with strategical  planning you will find it easier to define your marketing ROI.

Mark

This is a point that is being talked about in board rooms all the time, I find one of the best answers, is to pose the question – Do you want to keep in touch with prospective clients?

This is the time to continue to market products and services by way of trade shows.   By exhibiting smarter, but not less often.

Competitors may pull out of shows and this gives you the opportunity to earn business on the trade show floor.  Companies may be sending less of their staff to the trade shows, but these are the decision makers and they have the buying authority.

Exhibitors need to determine which shows are giving the best ROI, the best way to do so is with detailed event management software, keeping detailed records and being able to report on any trade show will show where your marketing dollars are being best used.

Being able to access and compile the data at your fingertips will prove not only valuable now, but in the long run you will be able to show detailed information on any trade show you have attended.

I have heard discussion from some newer or smaller companies that they are concerned with the costs of trade shows, but yet want to harness the potential that now exists.

Exhibit Rental is a great option for companies that want to test the waters of trade shows.  This allows you to get the exposure you need without the heavy costs of purchasing an exhibit.  Modular exhibits are light weight and reconfigurable, so they can grow with you as your company grows, or be broken down so that you can try any of the smaller niche shows you may be considering.

Marketing in a recession is challenging, but planning accordingly and keeping focused on “potential clients” is worth the effort.

Judy

I sort of chuckled at this post Judy since I had recently went out to purchase winter boots in the cold blizzard season of the Windy City and there was not a pair to be found.

By a consumer stand point, I would like to see a variety of all items offered, whether that’s on the trade show floor or in retail.  Product launches for trade shows can draw the prospects on anticipation of what’s the latest and greatest.  When done properly, focusing a trade show around a product launch with teaser marketing can peek your prospects interest.

On the other hand, if you have a reliable product that’s a top seller but it’s new & improved, that will solidify your customer loyalty, if it’s worked well in the past, it’s a product worth showcasing.

I would do a little research on similar product lines and see how other companies have approached their fashion trade shows.

Lynn

Lynn – I am surprised this inquiry hasn’t come sooner, being that show books can sometimes be about three inches thick. There are many companies that are cutting back on on their marketing departments with the current economic concerns.  Many exhibitors do not realize the amount of time that it takes to sort through the show books.

i.e.  For the National Restaurant Show in 2008, there were 50 plus line items that had various deadlines for the forms to be turned in.

Carpet Orders
Cleaning Orders
EAC Application
Storage Order
Hanging Sign Order

If you are unaware of all the logisitics and procedures for filling out your show books, it is easy to be overwhelmed.  From a cost savings stand point, I would suggest contacting a company that has the experience and support system for managing your trade shows.  If you miss a deadline with one of the show forms, the costs can be outrageous, if you are partnered with an experienced trade show service team, you will save money, because you will never miss a deadline and have to pay the inflated rates for example of overtime labor rates or overnight shipping.