Promotional items

Promotional items and incentives

How to use promotional items or incentives as crowd pullers

Many exhibitors use promotional items on their stand because they think they should. Sometimes, stand staff who feel uncomfortable engaging with visitors, give away promotional items instead of talking to people.

However, promotional items and incentives can be used to good effect as a crowd puller or a hook.

Before you splash out valuable budget on promotional items or incentives, consider the following:

• How does the item(s) fit into your exhibition marketing strategy?
• Can you afford it or does it mean compromising on stand design or other areas?
• Is your chosen item relevant to the message you are trying to portray?
• If you give something away, can you get something back in return – such as contact information, an appointment...or even an order?
• How can you tie in your promotional item to a pre-show mailer or invitation?
• Does the visitor need to bring something with them (like a voucher) to exchange for their free gift?
• Do you want to have a low value item (pens, mugs) that you can give away like sweets as part of a brand building exercise and a more expensive, exclusive item that you only give to serious buyers?
• It’s important to be consistent in your marketing activities so that visitors remember you and your key message(s)
• Instead of a give-away, would a visitor attractor on the stand work better? Perhaps an interactive game, a magician or a cash cube?
• Visitor attractors can work well as long as your stand staff are briefed and poised to engage and talk to visitors as the crowd gathers

Remember – don’t give anything away unless you get something back in return!

Show organisers often offer sponsorship opportunities such as carpet tiles, graphic banners, carrier bags, exhibitor locator boards and carrier back inserts. Such activities help to raise the profile of your brand and your presence.

Whatever you choose make sure it fits into your exhibition marketing strategy, is within budget and you get something in return. Think carefully about how you use your chosen promotional item or incentive.

GForce can help you identify and select the right promotional item, incentive or visitor attractor for your marketing objectives and help you decide how best to get maximum effect.

We are able to source just about anything from pens, mugs, mousemats, seed packets, calculators and stress balls to cameras, MP3 players, incentive vouchers, pottery piggy banks and more unusual items. We can also help you find magicians, caricaturist, interactive games and other crowd pullers.

To discuss your exhibition marketing ideas, call GForce now on 01624 665770 or email us here.

Exhibitor Stand Staff Training

Why is exhibitor stand staff training important?
80 – 90% of the success of the stand is down to the performance of your exhibition stand staff. How your stand staff behave, stay motivated, engage and interact with visitors has a direct impact on your overall performance.

It’s also important to plan your participation, promote your presence and develop lead management, follow up and evaluation processes.

GForce can help you maximise the investment of your show budget by providing two levels of exhibitor training:

Workshops which will help you with:

• Pre-show planning
• Pre-show promotions - direct mail, PR, advertising, sponsorship, email and web, promotional items and incentives
• Pre-show stand staff training
• At-show stand briefings and lead management
• At-show promotions
• Post-show follow up procedures and promotions

Bespoke workshops for individual companies designed to develop your stand staff

• These workshops focus to your specific exhibiting objectives and during the workshop we develop strategies for your stand staff to use to maximise their personal performance on your exhibition stand

To find out more about Exhibitor Stand Staff Training workshops call GForce now on 01624 665770. Our forthcoming Workshop dates are on the right.

GForce works with Marketingesp Limited - a specialist exhibition marketing company providing advice, guidance and/or practical implementation of your pre-show, at-show and post-show marketing activities. These include co-ordinated direct marketing campaigns, email marketing, public relations, promotional incentives and show literature.

"We work with exhibitors to help them make the absolute most from their exhibiting experience - to make it rewarding, profitable and enjoyable. We work alongside you providing consultancy and guidance on promoting your exhibiting presence by developing strategies to increase footfall to your stand. We also help with identifying post-show marketing activities to your leads and contacts." Emma Swales, Director, Marketingesp Limited.

Research has shown that companies who conduct a pre-show marketing campaign can increase visitor footfall to their stand by up to 40%. GForce and Marketingesp can show you how.

Project Management and Consultancy

Making your exhibiting experience a smooth journey
There is so much more to exhibiting than booking your space and turning up. You have to consider, plan and organise a raft of activities and how this is managed can make the difference between success and failure.

GForce has over two decades of experience of planning and implementing exhibition participation for client companies and that invaluable knowledge is available to you.

Our exhibition project management and consultancy services include:

• Assistance with show selection and stand space selection
• Creation of your Exhibition Plan
• Management of your Exhibitor Manual
• Design and project management of your modular or custom built exhibition stand
• Liaison with your graphic designers to achieve maximum graphic impact
• Organisation of on-site show services including audio-visual, furniture, electrics etc
• Co-ordination of transportation and logistics
• Help with selection and suitability of promotional items or crowd pullers
• Bespoke stand staff training workshop for your exhibiting team

We can help you every step of the way. To find out more about our exhibition project management and consultancy services call us now on 01624 665770 or email us here.

The help and advice we received from G Force Displays was invaluable when planning an event in Monaco on a budget. We decided an enhanced shell-scheme was best value for money and G Force then produced drawings, obtained quotations from on-site contractors and helped co-ordinate, freeing up vital time for other urgent projects.

Anne Blythe, Senior Registrar, Isle of Man Ship Registry

Giving you access to all the exhibiting help you need

GForce has been working with exhibitors for over two decades and in that time has helped organisations exhibit successfully all over the world. Using our expertise and knowledge we can give you practical and tested support services aimed at driving results for your show experience.

• Exhibitor stand staff training workshops to develop your exhibiting team and get them ready to do business on the show floor.
• Show management services for organising your own exhibition or live event.
• Project management and consultancy services to help you maximise your show participation at home and at international exhibitions.
• Conference backdrops and event equipment for conferences and live events, available to rent on a per-event basis.