How to: Giveaways
#1 Know your Audience: If all trade show attendees were buyers, acquiring new business would be like shooting fish in a bucket. But we know this is hardly the case. This doesn’t mean, though, that you should throw in the towel. Offer giveaways only to attendees who will return your investment: potential clients who make an appointment to meet with you to discuss your product or service.
#2 Don’t just giveaway anything: Your secondary objective with giveaways should be to drive traffic into your space. Your PRIMARY objective should be to strengthen customer loyalty and promote your product or service. Essentially, steer clear of distributing any cheapo knick-knack, regardless of how it relates to your business: if you’re an electronics manufacturer, don’t give away rubber balls…try flash drives. If you’re a publisher, don’t bake cookies…give ‘em pens.
#3 Where are the giveaways?: If you’re able to solely target prospective clients with your giveaways, super! If you’re not (say, your exhibit environment wasn’t design to accommodate meetings), strategically position the giveaways somewhere in your space that doens’t lure passersby. Give them to each salesperson or keep them in an interior, yet easily accessable, cabinet.
#4 Price isn’t the only factor: A dollar per item, for instance, can buy a heck of a lot more than you might think…So USE it! That’s what budgets are for. Sacrificing quality for cost is the kiss of death in any business dealing. Remember to offer your giveaways to the right people for a near guaranteed ROI.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:21 am
How about two tiers of giveaways. Say something in the $1 range to get them in the booth. Now they are in the booth and you have a good engagement… now onto the premium items, somewhere around $5000 or so. Just kidding. But maybe a little up the ante like one of those cool 4gig memory sticks with your company logo on it. You can get those in bulk for a reasonable price as a premium giveaway. Heck that 4 gig stick could have your brochure on it. Hey this stuff is great, I should get a job in Marketing.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Richard - We’ll send you a darned 4 gig memory stick. Enough already, we get it!