Increase Sales with a Promotional Trade Show Giveaway
Updated: Jan 19
By giving away a promotional item to people visiting your trade show booth you can increase traffic to your website, boost recall, and disseminate your contact information in a uniquely positive way.
A packed exhibition hall would seem like the perfect place for prospecting, generating leads, and making sales. But realistically, when you consider how distracting they can be, with each booth competing for the attention of every attendee, it’s very difficult to stand out. However, word spreads quickly when you have an interesting promotional product that you are giving away to those visiting your booth.
With all this traffic to your booth, you will meet more prospects and even have an opportunity to pre-qualify them. By increasing your prospect pool, you can’t help but gain a lot more viable leads, and ultimately new customers.
Studies by Incomm Center for Trade Show Research & Sales Training reveal that trade show visitors are 50% more apt to visit a booth that is giving away an appealing promotional item. The result is an increase in brand awareness thanks to the added traffic to your exhibit due to your giveaway. This raises the potential for increased sales.
How do you choose a promotional item that would get you the best results?
First of all, you need to choose a promotional item that reflects your brand image and be useful to potential customers. The idea is to give them something they would appreciate, use repeatedly, and remember you for. This could be a pen, reusable tote bag, fidget spinner, USB drive, etc.
Secondly, to get the “most bang for your buck” when it comes to a promotional giveaway you would want to select something that people will keep and use repeatedly once they leave the trade show.
These are the things you should consider when selecting your giveaway:
Does this item fit the image you want your brand or company to reflect?
Is this giveaway something you can afford to buy in volume?
Is there room on this item to imprint your logo and contact information or message?
Is there time to order this item in bulk and receive the shipment before the trade show?
How unique is this giveaway compared to others?
Is this something you would appreciate receiving and use over and over again?
How you give out your promotional item will have an impact on its perceived value and how effective it is as a marketing tool. For example, you would never want to place a stack of all your giveaways on the table.
Doing this diminishes the perceived value of your giveaway because it invites anyone who walks by to just grab one. What works best is if you selectively and personally give them out to visitors you’ve spoken to and who qualify as potential customers.
When you distribute your promotional item thoughtfully it will impress your prospect and show that you appreciate them having visited your booth and taken time to speak with you about your products and services.
You also might want to have your visitors fill out a form with their contact information before offering them your gift. This is a very effective way of qualifying prospects, plus it gives you a way to follow up with them afterwards.