A friend called me yesterday to bemoan that her client wants to print 1500 stress balls for an upcoming conference π«ππ
She knew it was a bad idea but didn’t know what to suggest instead. Because a lot of people face this problem, let’s talk about what I recommend!
HowΒ toΒ ChooseΒ AffordableΒ TradeΒ ShowΒ GiveawaysΒ forΒ LargeΒ Events
If you have a trade show or conference and want to hand out something to everyone there, but can’t afford to buy something nice for hundreds or thousands of people, what do you do?
The first step is to ask whether you’re looking for π£π³π’π―π₯ π³π¦π€π°π¨π―πͺπ΅πͺπ°π― or ππ¦π’π₯ π¨π¦π―π¦π³π’π΅πͺπ°π―.
If you’re looking for π£π³π’π―π₯ π³π¦π€π°π¨π―πͺπ΅πͺπ°π― and want to hand something to everyone, keep it simple: mints, pens, sticky notes, and other useful small items that people *might* stick in their bag for future use. You’re not going to build a relationship or get leads this way, but there will be eyeballs on your brand name.
I’m not a fan of this route because it’s usually expensive and environmentally wasteful, but if a company insists on printing hundreds or thousands of something, this is the way to go. (ππ―π₯ π±ππ¦π’π΄π¦ π±ππ¦π’π΄π¦ π±ππ¦π’π΄π¦ π―π¦π·π¦π³ π±π³πͺπ―π΅ π’ π΄π΅π³π¦π΄π΄ π£π’ππ π)
StepsΒ toΒ FollowΒ forΒ LeadΒ Generation
If you’re looking for ππ¦π’π₯ π¨π¦π―π¦π³π’π΅πͺπ°π―, here are your steps:
1) Create a print-on-demand shop with all your cute, fun, trendy branded items. Make it cool, creative, and chic. (Need help? Hire us at Go To Market – Custom Print-On-Demand Branded Merchandise!)
2) Print a postcard with a QR code to your shop and offer a gift code for a FREE hat / t-shirt / tote (you pick). Have people in your booth wearing your merch.
3) At checkout, ask customers to opt-in to your mailing list.
Why this works
1) A small percentage of people will take you up on this, but the people who do are ππππ πππππ. These are the people who want to engage with your business.
2) It’s a ππππ πππ π ππ πππ when people are wearing your brand out in the world. It’s like handing out those 1500 mints except that there’s social proof involved.
3) It’s environmentally sustainable, which is often aligned with your customers’ values.
If you can’t get a print-on-demand store up and running, offer something else that’s high value — a free course, consultation, interview, etc — that gets people to your website.
Pens and stress balls don’t make sales. But people who opt-in for your merch are solid leads!
If you HAD to get a piece of low-cost merch, what would you pick? I’m going for the mints.