Using Promotional Items to Gain More Leads at Trade Shows

How Promotional Items Work at Trade Shows

Promotional items are a wonderful addition to your trade show exhibit.  They work best when they are combined with other marketing activities to reach your target audience.

They work to hold your marketing message and keep it front and center in the minds of perspective buyers after the event ends.

Keep in mind that the best promotional items are ones that your prospects can use and see on a daily basis. for example, items that sit on desks, hang on walls and stick to refrigerators and file cabinets.  Items that hold family photos like magnets, picture frames, and clips work well for this.  If you need ideas, we can help!

Trade shows will be in full swing during the Spring and summer months. Use these tips to learn more about your customers, have fun and book more appointments.

1.Learn something about your potential customers. Ever had a burning question you always want to know about potential customers? Give away a promotional gift that is imprinted with your company brand in exchange for completing a survey. Make the survey available online for convenience and provide the ability to share the survey with colleagues. Give respondents an email confirmation when they complete the online survey. They can show you the email to receive the promotional gift when they visit your booth.

2. Keep it lighthearted. Make a promotional product part of a game or other fun activity that draws attention to your booth.  Nothing hard,complicated or unsafe, but make it fun and profitable at the same time. For example miniature golf, some form of bingo or trivia that ties into your product or industry.  

3. Make an Appointment. Give out promotional items to each person that schedules a free sales consultation.

4. Create a Sneak Peek. Offer a free sample to each visitor with a promotional item that has information on how to order the full sized product.

Contact us for help with your next project! Stay in touch on Google+, Facebook and Twitter: Visit our website and Request a Quote.

Attract Potential Customers to Your Trade Show Booth with Promotional Items

Have you ever walked up to a trade show exhibit or booth that didn’t have any items to hand out i.e. promotional items?  Maybe the exhibitor looked interesting from a distance, but when you approached and moved closer you found that they seemed unprepared.  They had very few marketing materials.  People were there to answer questions (hopefully) but there was still a feeling that something was missing.  How did you feel about that company? Do you have a positive image of the company when this happens?

Need Items for your Next Trade Show?

While it’s not written in stone that companies give away promotional items at trade shows, it's come to be an expectation that there should be some sort of takeaway item.  Not because people are greedy and need to be given something to do business with a given company.  But because having promotional items is an indication that the company has given their visitors some forethought, they're prepared, and they have a clear marketing message that they are supporting with a take away item.

When promotional items, samples and/or marketing materials are present, the exhibitor has taken advantage of the opportunity to not only have face to face conversations with groups of potential buyers, but it also presents an opportunity to get these items into the hands of their target audience. Why would a company want to pass up on that opportunity? 

Trade shows are a great opportunity to learn more about your industry, rub elbows with experts and most of all learn about your customers. Make the most of the experience and use the opportunity to distribute items that will give the visitor a way to remember you after the event is over.  Armed with giveaway information, potential buyers have a way to better absorb and learn more about your company, set an appointment or make a purchase.  

When a company appears to be unprepared, it leaves one with the need to fill in the dots on their own.  It may not be a deal breaker, but it puts more pressure on the folks in the booth to provide a compelling reason to do business.  If no one is in the booth to have a discussion or answer questions, that sends a strong message as well.  The Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) conducted research that shows the following:

• ·        62.6% of trade-show attendees stated they had received a promotional product.
• ·        71.6% of attendees who received a promotional product remembered the name of the company that gave them the product.
• ·        76.3% of attendees had a favorable attitude toward the company that gave them the product.

Their findings indicate that most companies surveyed (maybe some of your competitors) are giving out promotional items.  And it confirmed that they help visitors remember the experience they had with the company after the event is over. Most importantly, it helps to improve the attitudes of customer toward the company that gave them out.

Trade shows are happening all the time, and Spring shows will be in full swing in the coming months. We have plenty of items for your next event, including Quick Ship items.  Contact us and take advantage of these tips and a wide selection of promotional items.

 Contact us for help with your next project! Stay in touch on Google+, Facebook and Twitter: Visit our website and Request a Quote.

How to Brand Yourself as a Stylist, Spa or Salon Owner

By Guest Blogger Gerard Fairley

Branding your salon or spa is a crucial part of your business development for long term success. So, what does branding really mean? Branding is the proprietary visual, emotional, and rational image associated with your company.  Branding is communicating your businesses core attributes and qualities, and creating a simple but strong emotional (and visual) association of those qualities in the minds of your potential customers. Branding creates loyalty. The name of your salon or spa is the first step. Creating a slogan that communicates the qualities of your business might be a second means of branding. Does your spa offer premium styling and coloring services that costs a bit more for the quality, or does your salon offer inexpensive, fast service? The purpose of having people remember the brand name and have positive associations with that brand is to make their selection easier and enhance the value and satisfaction they get.

Building a brand around your spa or salon will help you generate instant recognition. It is all about synergy and in this day and age, many times it starts with your website. Why? Because more often than not, this is what your potential customer sees first.

People are not picking up the phone book any longer, they are now firing up Google or Bing and conducting searches for reviews or coupons and special offers. Does your brand carry into your physical store? Has your website been updated to at least keep up with the times? Do you maintain a weekly blog? All these questions are important when building the brand of your spa or salon. Do you answer emails, questions and acknowledge comments? Do you do good work? Do you have a logo? What are people saying about you?

Your customer is asking these questions:  Who are You? What are you about? Who has used your service…and did they like the experience?

Be your own brand;…. brand yourself first, and then extend this to your company.

Brand yourself as a leader, as an expert, an innovator and this will immediately allow you to stand out from the crowd of the other people in your beauty niche. This will generate that positive talk, feedback and buzz. You want your customers to “ooh and ahh” about you to their friends. This is far more valuable than a Facebook Fan Page update, or a paid ad on Yelp.

Don’t be cheap, spend a little money and get a professional logo design that embodies the essence of your salon or spa. If you are a mobile stylist without a brick and mortar, this is even more important for you. Get a nice logo and while you’re at it; have it imprinted onto some promotional giveaways.  Think of your customer as you select a relevant item like a beauty bag, a nail kit, water bottle, hat etc.  These giveaways can be used in contests or just as a thank you to your current customers. Your existing customers are your most powerful form of advertising. A quality promotional item like a hand bag with your logo on it, in the hands of your customer…now doesn’t that sound like a powerful piece of marketing?

Gerard Fairley is a Salon and Spa Consultant based out of Atlanta GA, with over six years of Internet and Social Media Marketing expertise. Feel free to contact him and find out more about marketing your spa or salon business by visiting his website, Spa Salon Mobile Marketing.