Event Marketing Essentials: Trade Show Promotional Items

Strategic use of trade show promotional items will amplify your company’s presence and smash your marketing goals:

• Attract visitors to your stand. Displaying eye-catching branded items like pens, bags, USB drives, etc., is a good visual draw. They get attention and bring more foot traffic. You can also hand out small promo items to visitors to generate interest and leads.
• Attendees carrying around or using your branded items become mobile billboards for your business. It’s a great way to increase brand exposure and name recognition. Branded clothing, backpacks, and umbrellas are ideal canvases for your branding.
• Get more bang for your marketing buck. Ordering custom-branded promotional products in bulk is more cost-effective and creates a lively impact at big events like trade shows.
• Differentiate your presence from competitors. Uniquely branded giveaways help your booth and company stand out from others. Items reflecting your brand personality make you more memorable.
• Offering practical branded items like chargers, power banks, tool kits, etc., in exchange for business cards is a great way to collect leads and contacts at a show.

Effective Strategies for Event Branding

Central to the attendee experience, event branding products build tremendous brand equity during and after the expo.

Create a Cohesive Visual Identity

Develop a strong logo, colour theme, and overall visual style for the event branding and apply it consistently. Make your promotional giveaways instantly recognisable.

Develop Catchy Hashtags and Frames

Use unique hashtags and Instagram or Facebook frames so delegates naturally showcase and spread your branding as they post photos from the event.

Feature Alumni Branding

Leverage “As Seen At” merchandise to build multi-event assets for your marketing merchandise by showcasing where else it has been seen.

Conference Branding: Strategies with Impactful Giveaways

To ensure maximum buzz at symposiums, check that your conference marketing giveaways are impactful:

• Customise items in a way that makes them stand out. This could be through design (logos, shapes), personalisation of names or messages, or innovative items that the public hasn’t seen before.
• Items that encourage interaction with your brand get higher engagement. Examples could be Q&A games with fun prizes or slots to spin a wheel for interesting gifts.
• The psychology of a tangible gift to take away, as opposed to information overload at conferences, makes giveaways more impactful. A physical item that people can keep after the event provides a lasting impression of your brand.

Selecting the Right Giveaways for Trade Shows

Here’s how to select the right giveaways for upcoming trade shows:

• Know your audience and what might appeal to them. Consider their demographics, psychographics, and needs or interests. Branded tri-fold towels for golfers and scented candles or incense holders for indoor types.
• Consider the usefulness of the items not just at the show but beyond. The more your gift gets used, the greater its ROI. (That’s why corporate pens never go out of fashion!)
• Products should focus attention back on your brand, so make sure they are appropriately customised with your branding, logo, contact details, and so on.
• Choose a variety of promotional goods that appeal to different attendees’ tastes and needs so that you can readily connect with a larger pool of potential clients.
• Keep portability in mind, as delegates on a big trade show floor have a lot of stuff to carry. Compact, lightweight items are ideal for giveaways – think branded car air fresheners, a trio of highlighters, or engraved metal multi-tools.

The imaginative team at Tara Slevin Group are ready to assist you with trade show promotional items. Contact us today.