Have you written a book or a white paper? Give them away for potential clients to read and they will deem you to be the expert. Event giveaways can cost you a fortune if they are not given out to your target audience. You should plan them carefully around who is attending the event where you have a display. You should also find out how many people are expected to attend, and also find out what other people are giving away. If you can, you should contact others putting up a display and see what they will be using as a promo. This way you are forewarned and fore-armed. It is at this point that you can make a decision on what will make you stand out from the crowd. It may be that you will have your white papers printed with your card stapled on and a feedback form inside. When you give them away, ask them to fill out the form or go to your website and add their comments. You will not get one hundred percent response but those that are genuinely interested will take time to go to the site and fill out the comment form. When at an event, you want to make sure you are remembered for the correct things. You do not want to be remembered for the candy you gave away or the door prize you sponsored. You want to be remembered for your expertise and the practical information you gave booth drop-bys. It is this quality that the person picking up your promo item will deem more important than the item itself. If your information catches attention, you can be assured that more people will flock by your booth to pick it up. However, after saying this, you will always get people at trade shows that are there only to pick up the goodies without taking time to find out anything about you or your business. You cannot avoid these people, but at least they tend to be in the minority. Just remember when you are at a trade show and giving out materials and promo items that you are also after name recognition. Do not make it too difficult for people to know who you are. Just make it obvious that you are the expert and your printed materials will serve to inform and educate them with no strings attached. |
