|
|
|
 Trade Show Giveaways |
|
 |
|
This article is adapted from an interview I did regarding trade show promotions and giveaways for the radio and broadcasting industries. It covers product selection, imprinting methods and how to create a successful trade show giveaway by focusing on your goals and your target audience for your trade show giveaway.
| |
|
What kinds of products are the most popular giveaways for today's trade shows?
Some of the perennial trade show favorites include promotional tote bags, lanyards and pens, but you really see everything at trade shows these days. There's a lot of fun stuff, like toys and office items that are designed to be fun, which probably come in handy if your booth isn't very busy. USB products, which started with memory sticks, but include a wide variety of items now, and other computer accessories are also very common today.
In order to attract the attention of radio broadcasters, salespeople, and engineers, what kinds of products would you suggest exhibitors use?
I think they should start by thinking about who they're trying to reach and what message they want to convey. There's a lot more to a successful trade show giveawawy than just good product design. A successful promo is going to convey a message because the target audience finds it valuable, and because it makes an impact on them. Especially at trade shows and other events, it's part of a greater experience and needs to support that experience because it's the one thing that people will still have with them next week.
Even at the same trade show, smart exhibitors would be using totally different products to appeal to broadcasters versus salespersons versus engineers. They may or may not have an explicit connection with radio at all. I was just reading about a company that gave out scarves at a search engine conference. As a product, scarves had nothing to do with the company, but folks from California who flew up to Chicago in mid-winter probably appreciated them. The key is using the creative to tie a product that the audience will appreciate to the message you want to convey as a brand.
No one would ask an advertising agency what kind of ad would be best for an insurance company. Funny or serious, print or television, there are always going to be a lot of ways to reach an audience successfully. Promotional products are advertising as much or more than they are physical products. That's one reason why we try, as much as possible, to understand every customer's goals and what their company or organization does and represents. The pizzeria supply manufacturer doesn't have to get the pizza-shaped stress ball as a giveaway when they exhibit at a trade show. That would be very limiting, and get old fast. There are probably only two, one that looks like a slice and one that looks like a whole pie. That may be one reason why promotional products were so popular with companies in the dot-com boom. They didn't have a physical product, so it was good to use these products to give bring their brands into people's lives, but they also had to be creative about how they tied it into their brand and their product. They weren't limited by thinking their promos had to be car-related because they were in the automotive industry.
What options do you have for branding these trade show products for your clients?
Most items are screen printed, pad printed or embroidered, and we also do laser engraving, embossing and debossing and other imprinting methods. Depending on the item, we can print anywhere from one to five or more colors or do four-color process printing. Many items also feature multiple imprint areas, allowing more options for creative customization of imprinted trade show giveaways. We have our own art department, so our designers will often provide the customer with multiple options for their artwork.
What are some of the most imaginative products you offer?
There's been a lot of innovation in the industry lately, and a lot of great product development. I often see noteworthy new gadgets on blogs like Gizmodo and they're things we've already been offering as promotional products. For example, we have a cooler with a built in radio. Other items may not be technologically groundbreaking, but they fill a particular need, such as a keychain with a built in parking timer and compartment to hold quarters.
What are the most expensive?
Golf products, brand name apparel and luggage, executive pens and some electronics tend to be our most expensive items. Most of these items are used as corporate gifts. In the past I know we used to have a kayak and a golf cart on our site, although I don't think anyone ever ordered them. Only about one percent of the products we have on our site cost more than $100 each, and with high-end merchandise like that we are more likely to source things that aren't on our site in order to meet our customers' specifications. Just because a specific model Waterman pen isn't on our site, doesn't mean we can't get it, it just might not be necessary to show every one online.
How quickly can you turn around orders, and at what volume?
We know that lots of people looking for a trade show giveaway are buying for a show that's just around the corner, so we have about a thousand items that can be produced in a day, and most of the items on our site we can produce within five days. Some rush orders may have a limit in terms of the number of pieces that can be produced, but that number is typically around 5,000 pieces. We're very good at handling rush orders, and we do a lot of them, but the ideally there's time for the customer to review samples and, for larger orders, see a pre-production proof before the order is run. Of course, that requires planning ahead!
Browse our Trade Show Giveaways
Read more about Trade Show Promotional Marketing
Return to Promotional Product Guides
Visit our Promotional Products Education Center
|
|
|
