Promotional Products Articles & Promotional Newsletters Educational

As anyone who's ever attended one knows, trade shows are an assault on the senses. Immediately upon entering the convention center, attendees are bombarded by loud music, flashing lights, a profusion of video and computer screens, crazily (or scantily) clad models, overly vocal salesmen and much more. Amidst all this noise and pomp, how do you, an individual exhibitor, reach your targeted audience?

One way is by reaching out before your prospects walk through the door. Find out which hotels attendees will be staying at, and then arrange to have promotional literature placed in their rooms before they arrive. Or, better still, place promotional gifts in the rooms. Imprinted mints on the pillows, bottles of water in the mini-fridges or slippers by the beds will do wonders for attendance at your booth. If you don't feel comfortable passing out gifts indiscriminately or intend to use more expensive gifts not suited to such an approach, then leave "coupons" in the rooms redeemable for a free gift if the visitors stop by your booth. No matter what sort of material you decided to place in the hotels, be sure it has your company name and booth number prominently displayed.

The quality of your promotional items will have a lot to do with how successfully you distinguish yourself from the glut of other exhibitioners with whom a given attendee will visit. Expense is one way to accomplish this, but not the only way. An especially useful gift can make you just as memorable. Usefulness is also a way to cut through a different kind of clutter: the wide range of attendees, some (even many) of whom will have no real interest in doing business with you. Offer gifts that are of great use to people in your target audience but of little use to anyone else, such as soil charts or mineralogical maps if you're marketing to geologists. Giving away books or videos specific to a certain field is another way to make sure random show-goers don't walk away with your supply of promotional items. If you do decide to go the expensive route, it's a good idea to hand out the promotional gifts only after attendees have sat through your presentation or filled out a survey or questionnaire.

The coherency of your exhibit will also help you cut through the clutter. Have your booth itself, the signs, chairs, tables, banners, gifts and literature all follow one design theme and color scheme, and put your logo on everything. Outfit your staff in matching shirts also emblazoned with your logo. Interested attendees will be able to identify them easily in order to ask questions, and when the staffers are on break or walking around the exhibition center they'll also be advertising your business.