Trade Show, Event, Travel & Attraction Promos

If you’re heading to a trade show, you need custom trade show giveaways. They’re a tangible, cost-effective way to get your name in front of your audience—the majority of which are decision makers.

More than 80% of tradeshow attendees have the authority to influence buying decisions, and more than 50% buy something as a result of attending the show, according to a study from Exhibit Surveys.

Naturally, promotional trade show giveaways are a must. They boost your company’s sales and shorten the sales cycle. You can’t afford not to use them. Your competitors certainly will be using them to woo customers and prospects. That’s just the nature of trade shows.

You don’t have to blend in with all the other booths, though. You can stand out and make your company memorable with promotional items.

Follow these three tips when choosing trade show giveaways, and set your company apart at your next event:

1. Choose giveaways that make sense for your brand.   

There are thousands and thousands of promotional products on the market, but that doesn’t mean they’re all a great fit for your brand. To maximize the effectiveness of your trade show giveaways, always opt for products that tie in with your brand. People need to make an immediate connection with your company and the giveaway you’ve just placed in their hands. For example, if you’re in the healthcare industry, logo hand sanitizer makes more sense than a custom lighter. If you’re in the food business, a promotional cooler bag is a better choice than a custom dog leash. Keep your promo items relevant to your brand.

2. Make them appealing.

People flock to promotional items that are attractive, trendy and visually appealing. If they’ve never seen it before and it looks interesting, they’ll want to check it out. Plus, it shines a positive light on your brand when your logo is imprinted on high-quality, well-designed promotional products. Select trade show giveaways that have a natural appeal to your audience, and you’ll create a buzz around your booth.

3. Opt for promo items with a purpose.

Novelty products are fun, but if you want your logo to stick around for the long haul, your trade show giveaways should serve a real purpose for your audience. If attendees see a value in your giveaway, they’ll hold onto it. If not, it will likely end up in the trash; people can only schlep so much stuff at a tradeshow. Make sure your giveaways are useful and fill a universal need, such as custom bags or logo drinkware. Everyone has a need for these items, which makes them more likely to be used.

Promo know-how tip:

Don’t forget about your booth staff—you can maximize your trade show presence by dressing your trade show team in custom shirts or hats. 

Does your business have a tradeshow on the horizon? Make sure you have custom printed lanyards ready to distribute. They can increase your visibility on the tradeshow floor, boost your sales leads, and ultimately, create a nice surge in profits.

Think about the last tradeshow you attended. Everybody had personalized lanyards—and for good reason. They’re useful during the show to hold badges and name tags, and they’re handy after the event for holding anything from keys to USBs.

Here’s why you need promotional imprinted lanyards for your next tradeshow:

Attendees are busy.

There’s a lot to cram in at tradeshows, and sometimes, attendees get so consumed with other activities that they forget to stop by your booth. Remind them with logo imprinted lanyards. It’s an in-your-face way to keep your company name in sight, ensuring you don’t get forgotten.

People want something useful.

Custom printed lanyards provide an immediate benefit to recipients. They don’t get stuffed in a bag for later—they get used on the spot. It’s hard to pass up on something that can be used right away.

Countless people see your message.

People go to tradeshows to see cool stuff and, most importantly, to talk business. When attendees are wearing your company’s imprinted lanyards, your logo gets seen during every conversation.

When it comes to making a big impact at tradeshows, it’s hard to beat promotional imprinted lanyards. They’re a practical, highly visible way to promote your company and your booth. Read on for ideas on how to use custom printed lanyards.

Promo know-how tip:

Make your custom printed lanyards more exciting by adding a coupon, special offer or even custom candy to the lanyard’s badge holder.

When used appropriately at tradeshows, promotional products can not only gain visibility for your logo—they can help enhance the overall look and feel of your booth.

At IRCE 2012, the world’s largest e-commerce show, Volusion, a company that provides e-commerce software, had a knockout booth with strategically placed promotional items and a stylish design.

With upscale touches such as flooring that resembled hardwood and promotional products in a consistent color scheme of vibrant orange, blue and white, the Volusion booth was attractive and inviting to tradeshow attendees.

“We wanted our booth to be clean, modern, friendly and simple,” says Adelle Rodriguez, marketing event coordinator for Volusion. “We strive to find the beauty in simplicity, and we wanted people to easily see who we are and what we do.”

Jason Robbins, ePromos’ CEO, loved the sophisticated booth design—especially the trendy couches and coffee table. It was a nice nook where Volusion staffers could talk business with interested booth visitors.

Set atop the coffee table were dishes containing business cards and a big bowl of custom sunglasses. There were also custom notebooks paired with promotional felt-tip pens. On the table’s lower shelf were folded promotional t-shirts that featured a tie-shaped design.

Rodriguez distributed hundreds of each of the custom items, but the most popular, she says, were the custom Nalgene bottles and custom notebook and pen combo.

“People were excited about the Nalgene water bottles because they’re just really nice bottles,” says Rodriguez. “And they were excited about the small, cute notebooks because they were easy to take to education sessions.”

Designer touches in the booth and interesting promotional products helped make IRCE a stunning success for Volusion.

“It was a great show for us,” Rodriguez says. “People were really excited about our software and having quality giveaways always helps.”

CEO Jason’s promo know-how pointer: “Choose promotional products that will enhance the overall look of your booth, as Volusion has done. Its booth is colorful and clean, just like its website. Our friend Adelle Rodriquez, Marketing Event Coordinator, has got it going on. Way to go Adelle … you had one of the best-looking booths in all of IRCE!”

When it comes to designing your tradeshow booth, simple can be beautiful. You don’t want promotional items, pamphlets or business cards cluttering your booth. The goal is a clean, inviting space in which to do business.

At IRCE 2012, the world’s largest e-commerce show, Shutterstock nailed it. This company, a global marketplace for photos, vectors, illustrations and videos, is the perfect example of how tradeshow booths should be done.

Our CEO, Jason Robbins, particularly appreciated the booth’s white backdrop. For a company selling beautiful imagery, a white background is a perfect way to show off vibrant colors and eye-catching photos.

Jason also liked that Shutterstock’s promotional giveaway, custom lip balm, was stored neatly in a clear jar. The lip balm tubes weren’t haphazardly strewn across the tabletop; they were organized in an attractive manner.

CEO Jason’s promo know-how pointer: “Keep your tradeshow booth clean, not cluttered. When promotional items are stored in a jar or dish, or even organized neatly on a tabletop, it helps create a professional image for your company.”

For the past two weeks, the sweet scent of cotton candy has been wafting through the air in New York and New Jersey. It’s all part of a scent-centric promotion to attract people to State Fair Meadowlands, Jersey’s biggest family fair.

Trucks mounted with billboards bearing the scent of cotton candy have been cruising to malls and shopping centers to advertise the fair. The billboard’s fabric was saturated with the sweet smell, evoking happy memories from state fairs past.

Scent marketing is a clever strategy that can work for your company, too. When you use scented promotional items, they can influence a decision or trigger a memory with your customers. Scented promotional products can also remind your customers of happy times, helping forge an emotional connection with your brand.

State fair organizers were spot-on with this promotion because it struck a chord with fair-goers. The smell of cotton candy no doubt conjures images of ferris wheels and carnival games. It makes people want to attend, which was exactly the goal of this promotion.

The state fair ended last weekend, so the saccharine aroma is gone. Newark is back to smelling like it usually does.

Promo know-how tip: Scent is the most powerful of all the senses, so when you want customers and prospects to sniff out your company, turn to scented promotional products.

Conference goers have a lot competing for their attention: speakers, workshops, special events, and of course, exhibitors. What do savvy exhibitors know? They need promotional products to draw foot traffic to their space, and they need to use those promotional products creatively in order to engage with attendees.

At last week’s IRCE 2012, the world’s largest e-commerce show, creative promotional products were everywhere. And you can bet our CEO, Jason Robbins, could detect those promotional products from a mile away.

Here’s Jason with one of his favorite promotional items: a logo brontosaurus from Bronto Software, an e-mail marketing company. “They gave out logo brontosauri, invited you to take a picture in a photo booth,” he says, “and then with an iPad, you could tweet, post or e-mail the pictures. Plus, booth visitors also got the print-outs.”

Creative promotional product. Creative promotion. Bronto Software knows how to rock a conference with logo items.

Promo know-how tip: If you’re exhibiting at a conference, get your hands on some creative promotional products. They can help you stand out from the pack and engage your audience. Use them at your booth, or enlist staffers to distribute them at entrances to luncheons or workshops.