How to Choose and Purchase an Effective Trade Show Giveaway

Trade show giveaways not only help drive traffic to your trade show booth, they also help your potential customers remember you long after the show ends. It is very important to choose an appropriate and effective giveaway that will strengthen your company’s brand awareness, but this can be confusing, since there are literally thousands of options available. Here are some easy and time-honored steps you can follow to maximize your efforts.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• PC with an Internet connection and MS Excel installed
• Information from the show coordinator on attendees
• Attendee's literature, background information
• PC with an Internet connection
• PC with an Internet connection and Excel installed
• Major credit card or company purchase order
• PC with an Internet connection or a telephone

Determine the Message You Want to Convey

1. Create an Excel spreadsheet of the competitors who will be attending, with separate columns for each feature or benefit they bring to the marketplace.
2. Take a careful look at this and determine the unique benefits or features that your company offers that others do not. Are you more focused on customer service? Is your product technically superior in one key aspect? Note these unique differentiating characteristics and brainstorm ways to capitalize on them.
3. Create a messaging statement that captures what you want your trade show guests to take away from the show. One example would be “X Technology’s test and measurement systems take the guesswork out of the design process.” Another would be “XYZ Construction delivers on time and under budget.”
4. Share your messaging statement with others in your company so you have buy-in before you choose your giveaway.

Choose Items That Convey Your Message

5. Brainstorm ideas for objects that convey your company’s benefits. One example is a small toolkit on a key chain if your product helps others fix critical problems. Another example is a small laser pointer if your product helps to pinpoint, illuminate or communicate something. Small puzzles can also draw attention to a product that completes something or forms the critical “glue” for a larger system or service.
6. Review promotional giveaway sites to familiarize yourself with what is available and the typical prices. Some traditional items that can be found are:
   o Tote bags--If you help organize or transport something
   o Toolkit key chains--If your products fix or build something
   o Combination tape measure/pad/toolkits--If you provide precision in some way
   o Frisbees--If you help your customers soar
   o Yo-yos--If you return something or want to convey a playful image
   o LED lit key chains--If you illuminate something
   o Laser pointers--If you communicate or pinpoint something
7. If no object can be found that conveys your chosen messaging, then brainstorm a tag line that can be printed on a common object. An example for a company that focuses on customer service would be, “Where YOU Are Number One,” or “Our Customers Come First.” Be sure to review the tag lines of your competitors and make sure that the one you choose is not trademarked.
8. Choose two or three potential objects that meet your needs, pending approval of the rest of your team, and your budget.

Determine the Giveaway That Meets Your Budget and Timing

9. Contact the trade show administration and find out how many attendees there will be. From this, determine how many you believe will visit your booth. This will tell you how many giveaways you will need to order.
10. If you haven’t done this already, create an overall budget for your trade show.
11. List all the large expenditures, such as space rental, shipping and graphics, into an Excel spreadsheet, then see what is left out of your overall number for trade show giveaways. If nothing is left, then you will need to start over with a bigger number. This may mean going back to your management with the numbers and a justification.
12. Divide the trade show giveaway budget by the number of giveaways you need to order; this is your budgeted per-unit cost.
13. Review the two or three you chose earlier against this budgeted cost, and see which ones fit. Be sure to factor in the shipping cost in the per-unit cost number. Multiply the number of units you need by the advertised per-unit cost, then add shipping and any additional charges such as artwork printing, then divide again by the number of units.
14. Choose the giveaway that gives you the best presence for the lowest overall per unit cost.

Purchase Your Giveaway

15. Make sure you have a very high-quality image for your logo and tag line, if you are using one.
16. Consult the site’s guidelines for uploading artwork, and follow them to the letter.
17. Place your order via credit card or company purchase order over the phone or through a Web interface that allows you to add details so that you can give specific instructions as to when you want to see a proof and where you want your artwork placed.
18. Review the proof carefully when it arrives, and ask others to take a look as well. Another pair of eyes always helps.
19. Specify shipping instructions carefully. If you are cutting it close to the wire, it is worth it to pay to expedite charges to make sure your items arrive in time.

Tips & Warnings

• Many companies choose to focus on a new aspect of their products or services just for a specific trade show. You will not hurt your brand if you veer away from the established marketing messaging to emphasize a trade-show-specific benefit or feature your company uniquely offers.
• Be sure to spend ample time on this step. Without careful planning, you will not know how to choose a giveaway that reinforces what you want attendees to come away from the show knowing about you.
• Don’t hurry this process! It is critical to the success of the entire show.
• Choose unique items that are not going to be the same as others. This will drive more traffic to your booth.
• Make sure the items you choose have enough space to print your logo and/or tag line without distortion.
• Complete this step at least 3 months before your show dates. Rush charges can be very costly.
• Don’t choose an item that is too common. A very high percentage of exhibitors will put little thought into their giveaway and will use something common, like a pen. This is not a differentiator.
• Don’t choose perishable items that have no longevity. Bottled water may be welcome at the time, but the bottles will be thrown away when empty.
• Shop around! There are many giveaway vendors on the Web, with dramatically different costs.
• If you are choosing your giveaway at the last minute, make sure the vendor can deliver before your show.
• If your giveaway is a child’s toy, be sure it is made from nontoxic materials.
• If the first proof doesn’t meet your expectations, ask for another one before the giveaways are created. This saves last-minute problems, even if it does add more time to the process.
• Make sure you can get your money back and move to another vendor if you are still not satisfied after two proof cycles.