Everyone knows that promotional products are one of the most popular ways to entice customers to tradeshow displays at conferences and special events. After all, everyone likes to get a bit of something for nothing. If your advertising specialties are quality items that attendees will actually use, your company name and logo can quickly become ingrained in people’s minds. Giving trade show patrons a giveaway is a great way to get them into your trade show booth so that you have the opportunity to interact, get their contact information or schedule a meeting for when the conference is over.

Adding The Next Layer – Tradeshow Attractions

Another popular way to generate interest in your trade show display is to purchase or rent trade show attractions such as cash cubes, prize wheels, treasure chests or popcorn machines. These attractions are designed to capture the attention of conference or trade show attendees who would otherwise simply wander by your booth because they aren’t familiar with your brand or aren’t yet aware of what you have to offer.

Most tradeshow attractions are designed to create immediate interest by grabbing people’s attention. Cash cubes, prize wheels and other interactive games or attractions can offer each person the opportunity to take a few minutes’ respite from the sometimes bewildering array of displays around them and focus on something enjoyable such as winning a prize. You’ll soon discover that, used properly, these machines are great ways to break the ice. Visitors tend to feel more relaxed and receptive after they’ve tried their hand at winning a prize.

Tying Together Your Promotional Products And Tradeshow Attractions

While both promotional products and tradeshow attractions are key elements to a successful trade show display, they work even better if you can successfully tie the two together in some way. Keep in mind that any advertising specialties or tradeshow attractions should also highlight your company’s products and services. For instance, if you’re a travel agency, you could order leather luggage tags with your company logo as promotional products, then have a prize wheel at your booth that features a variety of fun, vacation oriented prizes such as sunglasses, a beach towel, a duffel bag, etc. By keeping a common thread running through all your promotional products and giveaways, you’ll reinforce your branding and keep potential customers thinking about all your company has to offer.

A Multi-Level Promotional Approach

There isn’t any unspoken rule that limits your use of either advertising specialties or tradeshow attractions to one particular item or prize. In fact, by diversifying your promotional products, you can target particular demographics more successfully for greater impact.

Start with a simple giveaway item for all visitors. For the travel agency, this might be attractive luggage tags or a travel size neck pillow for those uncomfortable airplane flights. Choose a mid-range product to give to any potential clients who actually schedule a meeting with your company; perhaps a travel alarm or small toiletries kit. Finally, you could give away a few top shelf prizes or promotional products to any customers who actually book a vacation while at your trade show booth. Think luggage or a digital camera.

The Total Package: Tradeshow Attractions And Top Quality Promotional Products

By offering promotional products at three levels, you’re reinforcing your company message at every level and drawing in potential customers, setting them up properly for your sales pitch. You can enhance the effectiveness of this approach by utilizing tradeshow attractions such as a treasure chest or prize decoder to give away one grand prize such as a luxury vacation for two.

By offering multiple promotional products and incorporating a really desirable grand prize for the winner of your tradeshow attraction, you’ll increase your face to face time with interested prospects and reinforce your brand identity every step of the way.

About the author:

Jonathan Edelman provides helpful advice about trade show strategies. With years of experience in the trenches, he is an expert on booth displays, follow up techniques, and using trade show marketing strategies to boost revenue.