Promotional Products…It’s the latest. It’s the greatest.

But is it a waste of money?

Promotional items are a proven and valuable way to increase tradeshow effectiveness.

However, the hottest new promotional product on the market can be a complete waste of money, and even worse, your time at a tradeshow if

you don’t have good metrics for evaluating ROI.

When selecting promotional items for your tradeshow booth you need to carefully examine what you really want to accomplish at the show. For

example:

Are you looking to increase brand awareness? Do you want to give product demos and collect leads? Are you looking to close sales?

Each outcome should determine the kind of ad specialty item you use and your method for delivery.

Let’s assume that you need to increase brand awareness for a new product and are attending a targeted show where almost everyone is a

realistic prospect.

In this case, to increase booth traffic, you might want to offer attendees the latest and greatest ad specialty item that matches your

product benefit.

Now, what happens if your company’s product is already established and your goal is to give demos to qualified buyers? That same booth

driver can swamp your staff with unqualified leads!

Even worse, if you are looking to the show to drive revenue, your team is now wasting time with bad prospects and losing valuable sales

opportunities!

Try this instead. If you are looking to give product demos, you might want to choose a higher-end product and pre/post market to attendees.

Get them to schedule a demo time and have the item on hand to give them after the demo is over.

If you are looking to close sales, consider a separate meeting room and promotional product that will set the tone for the discussion.

Often times you may want to present the item to them on location and offer to either ship it or hold on to it until the event’s close.

For even more ideas and suggestions about improving your tradeshow ROI, please contact me at [email protected].