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.