Advantages of Using Promotional
Gifts in Pre-Show Marketing

Promotional gifts that are selectively distributed before a tradeshow can play a significant role in increasing traffic to an exhibitor's booth. Reaching out with a promotional item as an incentive, along with other pre-show contact, gives you a distinct advantage over other exhibitors who are also clamoring for the same buyers' attention.

Studies show that the most successful exhibitors – in terms of business generated and leads collected – reach out and write to their customers and prospects before a show.

A simple direct mail campaign to invite conference attendees to visit you in the exhibition hall will likely generate incremental traffic to your tradeshow booth, which can turn into increased sales. In addition, utilizing social media and email, in tandem with traditional mail, further enhance pre-show communications.

Making the Most of Pre-Show Marketing

Yet, to gain the greatest impact, you also should consider offering an incentive that entices your prospects to come by your exhibit booth for a special gift and/or to be entered in a drawing for a high-appeal prize. Including the location of your tradeshow booth in the exhibition hall as part of your communications is key to making this strategy effective.

As evidence, a study on the effectiveness of promotional products in tradeshow settings demonstrates that using tradeshow incentives in conjunction with pre-show mailings is successful in attracting more attendees to visit your booth during an event.

The research was conducted at Georgia Southern University and published by the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI). The study's findings reveal that pre-show mailings with incentives are more effective than mailings without an offer of action.

By including an offer of a gift or the opportunity to be included in a drawing for a highly valued item to be claimed at the show, more recipients visited exhibitors’ booths.

Therefore, using tradeshow promotional items as a draw in your pre-show marketing efforts can be highly effective in increasing customer awareness and building booth traffic. And the greater the traffic, the greater the potential for sales leads and revenue achievement.

This article was written by Praveen Samra oft www.2bsources.co.uk.