When you take your custom canopy to your next tradeshow, you may want to consider a giveaway. A giveaway can be a great way to generate interest in your business at a show, but it can also be detrimental to your business if you do not put adequate thought into it. The promotional gifts, or swag, you give away needs to be realistic for your budget, be of a quality that makes participation worthwhile, and give you an adequate return on investment. In order to help you choose the best swag for your giveaway, consider the following:
Choosing Your Swag
Before you even begin looking at what promotional materials to buy, consider the goals of your campaign. While giveaways can be very beneficial to your business, if you pick the wrong swag, you could end up taking a big loss. Therefore, having a clear objective is imperative. This will help you pick the type of promotional gifts that will actually help your business. Here are some questions you should ask yourself when choosing swag:
- What is your objective with your giveaway? Do you want to promote your brand? Thank participants for attending a presentation or demo? Ensure your business name stays on their desk at work so you are at the forefront of their mind next time they need to make a buying decision? Choose a clear and concrete objective.
- Who are you trying to reach? As a business owner, you should be aware of your target demographic already, so choosing the right swag for your customers should be simple. However, you would be surprised how often people choose swag that is more about what THEY would want instead of what their customers will realistically find appealing. Before you choose your swag, get inside the head of your target customer and consider what will actually appeal to them.
- What is your budget? It is imperative to be realistic about what you can afford. While giving away a laptop may generate a lot of interest in your booth, are you going to make a return on that investment realistically? There are many different gifts you could potentially give out without spending hundreds of dollars.
- Is this swag going to serve a purpose? After a tradeshow, participants are going to have a lot of stuff that they got from all the different booths and a lot of it will probably be thrown away. Think about if your choice of swag is going to be something they want to hold onto, or something they’re going to toss the moment they get home.
Swag Ideas
Now that you know your objective, here are some ideas for swag for your tradeshow giveaway.
- Mobile device charger. This is an example of very thoughtful swag. At a tradeshow, there will certainly be people who failed to remember their phone or tablet charger. Even if they didn’t, it is always helpful to have an extra one around. These are relatively inexpensive to buy and you can deck it out with your branding.
- Reusable water bottle. This is another piece of swag that is handy for trade shows because it is helpful both at the show and afterwards. Print your logo on it and you will get free advertising and keep yourselves at the forefront of their minds.
- Hand sanitizer. At a tradeshow, you are shaking hands all day, but most people will not have considered picking up hand sanitizer before the show. Participants will be grateful for the protection from germs, because no one likes getting sick.
- Screen cleaning cloth. This is a useful item that many people do not think to pick up for themselves, but greatly appreciate when they receive one. They are bound to keep it after the show, and every time they clean their tablet or computer screen, they will think of you!
- Tote bag. This is an incredibly useful promotional item to give away because it gives attendees something to carry all the various free items they get in, while giving you a lot of advertising space. After the tradeshow, they can use it to carry groceries or as a gym bag. However, be careful that your design is one that people will want to carry around; keep it simple and don’t clutter it with too much information. Aim for simple, but recognizable.
- Umbrellas. Unexpected rain can really put a damper on a tradeshow, but if you give away umbrellas with your logo on them, you’re the hero of the event! Not only that, umbrellas are always useful and you can never have too many of them, so participants are likely to keep them around for a while afterwards.
Saving on Swag
Once you have chosen your swag, there are certain ways you can save money to get the highest return on investment possible.
Order early
If you decide to do a giveaway, it is imperative that you order your swag with plenty of time to spare. Don’t wait until the last minute to order your swag or you are going to be slapped with high rush production and shipping fees. You could also be severely limited by the options because you will have to rely on what they have in stock. On top of that, you could go through all that expense and trouble and they could have misprinted your logo! Give yourself adequate time to select and order your swag to avoid excessive expense and mistakes.
Order in bulk
As a general rule, buying in bulk saves you money because the cost per item lowers the more you buy. For example, if you are purchasing t-shirts, buying 100 instead of 25 of them brings the cost per item down significantly. Look at your budget specifically for tradeshows and assess how many attendees are going to each to determine what volume is worth purchasing in the long run.
Get several quotes
One of the benefits of ordering your swag early? You can shop around a bit. Get quotes from several different vendors to determine where you can get the best price for your promotional product.
Keep message general
Keep in mind that you may not distribute all of your swag at this event. Therefore, it is not a good idea to make it too specific to the tradeshow. Additionally, avoid any messaging that is seasonal or won’t be applicable in six months. Keep the message general to your company, with your logo, URL, product name, or phone number; the information should be that which is not going to change anytime soon. This way, you can give the swag away at future events with no loss to you.
Now that you are ready to choose the right swag for your next tradeshow, don’t forget your custom canopy! A canopy tent with your branding can make you stand out from the rest. Shop our custom branding solutions at Impact Canopy today!
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