Choosing the right promotional product can attract buzz - and the right prospects - to your trade show booth. These hot items and strategies will ensure a packed crowd.

Attendees must have felt as if they were on a carnival midway as they walked the trade show floor at the American Society of Association Executives & the Center for Association Leadership's annual meeting held in Nashville, TN, last August. Stopping at the Cleveland booth earned them a chance to win an iPod. Across the aisle, the Hartford (CT) Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) was hawking a vintage Vespa scooter. At the other end of the floor, the booth for Flint, MI, was giving away a Segway (the scooter for the 21st century), while the folks at the Northern Kentucky CVB had a mink coat (faux of course) up for grabs.

It begs the question: With all of these giveaways in play, who had time to focus on business? But in today's competitive business climate, a really cool premium offer is basically the price of admission just to get a seat at the table. And as far as Gloria De Hart, vice president of sales for the Flint area CVB, is concerned, the cost of the Segway they raffled off was money well spent. "It definitely boosted traffic to our booth," she says. "It was a great activity that really helped break the ice."

The Flint CVB had a staff member ride the Segway up and down in front of the booth to get people interested, and when attendees came over to the booth, they could ride it a little themselves. The staff then collected the attendees' business cards and had a raffle on the second day of the two-day show. They raffled off 15 keys and one actually started the Segway. "In all, about 40 people showed up for the drawing - I can't tell you how many business cards we collected but it was a lot," says De Hart.

Now 40 people showing up at a booth for a raffle might not seem like a big deal, but consider that little Flint was competing for attention with destinations like Chicago, New York and Las Vegas, and that number increases in significance. The ability to have that kind of an impact on an event is what makes premiums popular at all kinds of meetings - from trade shows to association conferences, to training meetings. "People are focusing more than ever on these gifts as part of their programs," says David Peer, senior director of merchandise and fulfillment for Carlson Marketing Group. "Choosing the right product for an event is crucial to generating the response you want from a recipient, Peer says. "Marketing, meeting, incentive and travel and entertainment budgets are still very tight. Many companies have scaled back on all kinds of business activities that involve travel, and that increases the role merchandise can play in creating a memorable experience."

And money does not have to be an object. "Promotional items are actually the cheapest way to advertise," says Melissa Anunson, marketing manager at Verona, WI-based pc/nametag, a company that provides meeting supplies. "You can get small premiums with your organization's logo imprinted on them for less than a dollar a piece."

While it is possible to plan a "merchandise-less" trade show, these items are one of the most cost-effective ways to add value to the attendee's overall experience. "It's part of the sizzle of the program, the feel-good attitude that brings it all together," says Peer. "People look forward to receiving these gifts."

As the popularity of trade show giveaways has grown, so too has the challenge of finding gifts that are memorable and unique enough to market your company effectively and to be appreciated by the recipient. Here's a primer on issues to consider when developing a merchandise strategy for a trade show or similar event.

Make a Plan
It's important to have a gift-giving strategy when it comes to using promotional products. This is particularly true when employing the practice at trade shows. There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to choosing a promotional product strategy - the open house theory and the more selective, invitation-only approach.

The open house style entails offering attendees inexpensive but useful items (think pens, Post-it notes, candy, key chains and buttons). Often they're displayed at the booth in a manner similar to the complimentary bowls of peanuts you'll find in some bars. "This will get your message to many more people," says Anunson, "but how many of them are qualified leads?"

The trade show floor is full of different types of people with different agendas. Some people have specific goals for attending the show; others do not. An exhibitor's observation and questioning skills will be the key to determining who may be a viable sales prospect and, ultimately, a worthy recipient of a gift.

There are always attendees who are ready, willing and able to drop a business card into a fishbowl for any kind of drawing. Any kind of giveaway also attracts these types of attendees. They may even want more than one for family, friends and colleagues. That's one reason why Dennis Johnston, vice president, destination sales for the Lexington, KY, CVB, doesn't believe in the practice of using raffles or giveaways to draw traffic to his booth. "It really isn't showing the proper respect to the attendees who are attending the show for serious business purposes," he says. "The practice really does fill your booth with people who are just there for the giveaway. I much prefer to get a pre-registration list and target the attendees who I really want to spend time with, with pre-show mailings. A trade show giveaway is like buckshot from a shotgun. It's too scattered. I prefer a marketing strategy that has the precision of a rifle."

But there are ways to increase the accuracy of a giveaway at a trade show. "Contests that require more than just a business card to enter and keen questioning of visitors when they enter a booth to ascertain if they have business potential will help deter these types from finding their way onto your follow-up lists," says Susan Friedman, CSP, owner of The Tradeshow Coach, a Lake Placid, NY-based consultancy.

Friedman also urges exhibitors not to underestimate underlings sent by their organizations to do some specific research. "They may be extremely strong influencers," she says. "They also probably know whom in their organization you need to contact. Time spent with them could be invaluable."

The invitation-only approach will target prospects before the show and notify them that a premium with a higher perceived value will be available to those who visit the booth. Of course, to receive the item, more is expected of an attendee. Common requirements include meeting with a salesperson or filling out a questionnaire. "Your up-front expense is greater, but by pre-qualifying leads and gaining more information about their needs, the ROI probably won't differ much from the open house theory," says Anunson. "If you're going to offer a nice premium, pre-mail the attendees to make sure you get on their very full to-do list."

Almost all trade shows make attendee lists available to the exhibitors. Most popular and appreciated items are utilitarian and unisex, small and packable. Better yet, offer to send them their premium after the show to save them the hassle (and collect their name and address for your database at the same time) of carring it home.

Know Your Audience
Edwards' iPod example highlights an extremely important factor that must be considered when choosing merchandise - the demographics of the target audience. It's important to know as much as you can about the recipient of a promotional item or client corporate gift. If you give one group an iPod they will be motivated by it, while another group will see it as something they can use to re-gift to someone else. And unless your product ends up in the hands of the person you intended, the influence over their behavior you were hoping to leverage is completely lost. In some cases, the sexy, hot item of the moment would not perform as well as something mundane. "It's got to have lasting value and that doesn't necessarily mean high cost," says Peer. "I've got a flashlight at home that I use every time the power goes out and it's still got the name of the company that gave it to me on it."

Size is also a factor. If most of your attendees are within driving distance of your event then you can give them something big because it's not going to be a problem to take home. But if the majority of attendees have flown in, then a smaller, more portable item would be a better bet.

High-quality T-shirts, the latest high-tech mousepad or a few high-end golf balls may fit the bill. "It doesn't matter how great a promotional item or pillow gift is if it gets left behind in the hotel room for the maid to enjoy," says Peer. "I'd love to see hotels track the number of room drops that are left behind. I'll bet it's a lot higher than most people think."

Reprinted with permission of Successful Promotions, copyright 2006

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