We thought we should dedicate some space to talking about promotions. Yep, promotions – they have long been considered the necessary evil of doing shows. How many of us have ended up with so many promotional items that we couldn’t fit into our luggage? And how many of us quickly, and without remorse, tossed multiple items in the hotel trash?

There seems to be this crazy affliction that happens to otherwise normal and highly functional adults when they hit the trade show floor. On the floor, they ricochet from booth to booth looking for anything free. There is no consideration on what the item is or how many of the same thing they already have in their conference bag. Who hasn’t seen this? I always feel compassion for the naive booth workers who painstakingly set up the registration booth for the first day of the show. They spend dedicated time in arranging the giveaways just so. They venture out to the aisles to see how the promotional arrangement looks from every side.

Then the announcement comes that the floor is opening. Suddenly attendees are swarming from all directions. The same person who lovingly took the time to arrange all the giveaways is being swarmed, trying to talk to everyone grabbing from the pile. Finally realizing that it is to no avail, he quietly steps back from the registration table and looks shell shocked. Before the first day is over, three-fourths of the show stock is gone.

However, you can control the pandemonium and support your strategy through the use of promotions. Promotions don’t have to be worthless items that do nothing but strain your budget. In fact, promotions should add as well as support your show’s strategy. To accomplish this, begin to think about promotions differently. It is no longer a pen, stress ball or flashing ball discussion. It is pairing the promotion with your message. This can, typically, mean a higher priced item but the quantity will be less.

And you can curtail the frenzied aisle grab. Instead of placing the promotions on the registration counter, place them out of sight. Strategically display one on the counter, in order to peak interest. However, attendees have to be qualified before taking the item. This can be done pre-show where attendees have received a mailer announcing the promotion, with instructions on how to pick it up at the show. Attendees, not pre-qualified, will be qualified at the booth by fulfilling the action [i.e. attending a presentation] and/or responding to qualification questions.

If you approach promotions from this strategic angle, you will continue to read the benefits long past the show. We have personally experienced tradeshow promotions that, coupled with show strategy, continued to drive interest. Months after a show, we would receive calls from prospects and clients requesting additional promotional items to be sent as they had told co-workers or co-workers had seen the item and wanted one. You too can experience this type of response. It makes for a better show and a more qualified prospect database.

Posted: Monday, November 5th, 2007 | Promotional Marketing, Technology Marketing
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