Ways to Master the
Tradeshow Giveaway Game

Exhibitors use gift-giving as a marketing strategy to enhance awareness, create goodwill, communicate a key message, and/or serve as a loyalty-building incentive.

Define Your Audience: Having a focused objective for your tradeshow giveaway will help you decide who should receive it. Consider having different gifts for various visitors.

For example, you may want to have different quality gifts for your key customers, high-opportunity prospects, and booth visitors.

Set Your Goal: What do you want to achieve by giving away a premium item? Tradeshow giveaway items should be designed to increase your recognition, communicate a message, motivate an action, or promote your small business. It's important not only that the message have an impact, but also the premium itself.

Find the Right Item: There is a multitude of different items you could consider as a premium giveaway. However, which one will best suit your purpose? To select the right item, decide on your objective.

Do you want it to enhance a theme, convey a specific message, or educate your target audience? Set a purpose to make your selection process easier. A promotional specialist can also help you make an effective selection. Remember your company image is reflected in whatever you choose to give away.

Add Your Message: Is there an item that naturally complements your marketing message? Have the message imprinted on the item with your company name, logo, and phone number. An important aspect of any gift is to remember who it was from long after the fact.

Set a Price: The price range for tradeshow giveaway items is enormous. Quality, quantity, and special orders, all impact the price. Establish a budget as part of your exhibit marketing plan. Consider ordering the same item for several different shows. The greater the quantity of your order, the lower the individual unit price.

Establish Qualifiers: What must visitors do to qualify for a giveaway item? There are several ways to use your tradeshow giveaway effectively: (a) as a reward for visitors participating in a demonstration, presentation, or contest, (b) as a token of your appreciation when visitors have given you qualifying information about their specific needs, and (c) as a thank you for stopping at the booth.

Prior to the show, they send "kings" to their key customers, "queens" to suppliers, "jacks" to new or hot prospects.

They request that the cards are brought to the booth in exchange for a special gift. When the cards are presented, the booth staff already know certain information about the visitor.

They can then act on their previous knowledge and use time with the visitor more productively.

Have a Sales Incentive: Will your tradeshow giveaway directly help future sales? Hand out a discount coupon or a gift certificate requiring future contact with your company for redemption.

Consider premiums that will help generate frequent visits to customers and prospects, such as calling you for free refills.

Inform Your Target Audience: A novel tradeshow giveaway can actively help to draw prospects to your booth. Make sure your prospects know about it.

Send a tickler invitation with details of the giveaway, or create a two-piece premium, sending one part out to key prospects prior to the show and telling them to collect the other half at your booth.

Post-show follow-up could include a question about the premium - did visitors remember receiving it andh ow useful was the item.

After the tradeshow, critique your giveaways with your exhibit team:

• Did it draw specific prospects to the booth?
• Was it eye-catching enough to persuade passers by to stop?
• Did your customers find it useful?
• Did it project the right corporate image?

Make your premium work for you by applying the 10 ways to master your tradeshow giveaways and experience show success... it will be money well invested.

Written by trade show expert Susan A. Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, who works with companies to improve event success. For a free copy of "10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make," e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: www.tradeshowcoach.com

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