Your Trade Show Swag
3 Ways to Make an Impact with Event Merchandise
A trade show is a different beast when it comes to promotional products. Quality and client focus are still necessary but first impressions are so important in such close proximity to direct competition. Focusing on the three points below will make your trade show swag, and your brand, memorable.
Visibility
Trade shows and exhibitions are busy spaces. So many people with so much to see and it’s not just the booths that will be doing the advertising. Anything on or in the hands of all those people will be visible. So obviously it’s smart to put your brand wherever you can.
- Shirts are the clear pick here, but make sure they’re attractive and well-made. You want visitors to want them and want to wear them. The “want” is important because if attendees see a great giveaway shirt, they will seek you out to get one for themselves.
- Hats, but only if your target demographic are typical hat-wearers. No one is going to suddenly start wearing a hat (especially indoors) just because they were handed one. Remember, you want them to use it on the day to draw more potential business to your booth or marquee.
- Bags! These will come up again because they are just great promotional products. Exhibition-goers will receive A LOT of promotional products over the course of the event. You want them to use your bag to carry it all. A great trade show bag needs to be durable and reusable, with an eye-catching design.
Usability
Give the people something they’ll use again and again, not just for the duration of the exhibition. If trade show-goers value your promotional products, they’ll incorporate them into their lives post-exhibition.
- Reusable coffee cups are a great product by themselves. On top of that with environmental sustainability on everyone’s mind, yours will have great reusability both during the show and afterwards.
- Bags! There it is again. If yours is a great bag, stylish and well-made, it will replace the one they bought for $2 extra at Cotton On.
- Pens, we know they’re a staple, hard to make exciting. However, for every appointment they make or number they write down, your booth visitors will be flashing your brand about. It’ll go home with them and get months of use, reminding them of you.
Desirability
This isn’t high school, you want people to start talking about you, with each other and with you. Draw them in with exciting and interesting promotional products that they’ve glimpsed at your booth or they’ve spotted other people with.
- Technological items have a high perceived value and will draw potential customers to you. USBs and ear buds will be snapped up because these are things that we use frequently and to death. We always need more, and you can provide them to the appreciative crowd.
- A recent hit in the promotional product world is the vacuum drink bottle. These stainless steel vessels are super sleek and when you pair them with a splash of powder-coated colour, trade show attendees will be lining up for one with your name on it. They’ll use this perfect branded bottle over and over again in all situations making the hype about them real.Â
- This last item is great one for potential clients on the go, much like those attending a trade show! They’re out and about all day, networking and connecting and exchanging numbers and researching various companies, their device is chowing through battery like crazy and then you save the day with a branded power bank to keep them going. What a hero!
Promotional products work well as initial points of contact between businesses and their potential customers. They’re a business card with a greater purpose but you need to make yours stand out when competing for attention at a trade show or exhibition. Aim for these three things and you won’t go wrong.
Events and trade shows are a key, must-win moment for so many of our clients. That being so, we’ve put together a helpful tool to bring your brand to life at your next event.
