Tradeshow giveaways are a great way to attract attendees to your trade show booth. They help you generate leads and keep your brand alive in the memory of the attendees long after the show is finished. Giveaways become an important part of your integrated marketing plans, especially when it’s your first show where you want to build brand recognition and expand your customer base.
However, if your tradeshow giveaways aren’t appealing to your attendees, your integrated marketing strategy can backfire and it runs the risk of bad word of mouth affecting your brand reputation.
In this blog, we’ll discuss some of the best tradeshow giveaway ideas for your business if you’re debuting at a trade show event.
- Tech Items
Smartphone wallets, cable dock magnet mounts, USB chargers, audio devices like headphones and Bluetooth speakers, phone accessories are giveaway ideas that attendees will find useful. They’re light-weight, cost-effective and provide space for branding.
- Product Samples
Giving away samples of your products to attendees is one of the best ways to create brand awareness. This will enable your potential customers to have a first-hand experience of your products and aid purchasing decisions.
- T-Shirts
One of the most sought-after giveaways, t-shirts are a convenient keepsake to take back home. They provide value as they can be worn anytime. When they have your logos, tagline or business messages printed on them, they’ll bring wider brand exposure and foot traffic to your booth.
- Tote Bags
Attendees will find high-quality and eco-friendly tote bags useful to carry all the trade show goodies. They can use these giveaway bags in the future for other activities too. As an exhibitor, you’ll find a larger space to print your logos and brand messages. Include your brochures, gift cards or coupons in your branded tote bags.
- Reusable Water Bottles
Reusable water bottles are a great utility item. You can help attendees stay hydrated while exploring the trade show. These bottles also provide a lot of opportunities for branding.
Some Additional Tips
The giveaway items that you choose should support your brand image, business persona, and campaign.
- The items that you select should be relevant to your business. This will help the attendees to associate your brand with the industry.
- As this is your first trade show, budget might limit your choices. Go for inexpensive alternatives that have the same potential to create an impact as more expensive giveaway items.
- Instruct your booth staff to not hand over giveaways to every attendee. Prepare the eligibility criteria beforehand. For example, the attendee must attend your product demos, participate in a discussion, take part in games and contests, or fill up forms and surveys, etc. to be eligible for a giveaway. This will help you manage your budget and cater to only qualified leads.
- Make sure that your brand logo is printed or etched on the giveaway items. This will help make your business more memorable to attendees and also let your brand stand out.
- If you plan a themed trade show booth, make sure that the giveaways are somewhat related to the theme. This will strengthen your brand message.
Aside from exhibit displays, giveaways are also part of trade show marketing strategy which often gets ignored by exhibitors. Selecting the proper giveaways for your first trade show can be a challenging task. When done right, giveaways can attract attendees, engage them with your brand and turn them into prospects and future brand ambassadors.
