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Trade Show Drawing Ideas That Work

How to choose the right trade show giveaway for your raffle.

So, you are attending your industry’s big upcoming trade show.  You don’t have a huge exhibit but you want to do something to encourage the attendees to stop at your booth and start a conversation.  You also would like to capture their information for follow up by your sales team.

A trade show drawing might be just the ticket… if you choose the right gift.

Sure the big players might be able to give out an iPad every hour to attract a crowd but you just don’t have that kind of budget.  So what do you do to compete?

The key to selecting a trade show gift that will create buzz and attract people to your exhibit is finding a gift that meets four requirements:

1. It is the hot new item in the marketplace & being advertised heavily.
2. It involves some aspect of technology.
3. It is so new not too many people own it… but they are curious about it.
4. It is viewed as a luxury item… you don’t need it… but you want it.

The best gifts are the ones that if you see someone beside you on a plane take it out of their briefcase you are tempted to ask, “How do you like that?”

When cameras started going digital, they were great giveaways.  People were hearing about them but not too many people had purchased them yet.  Flat screen TVs were very hot, but now everyone that wants one has one.  When the original iPod and later the iPad came out they were the hot ticket for a trade show drawing… now, not so much.

So what are a few of the hot items right now?  It depends on how much you want to spend.  My favorite giveaway right now is any of the Noise Cancelling Headphones like the Sony or Beats models if you are willing to spend in the $300-$400 range.

http://www.sony.com/electronics/headband-headphones/mdr-1000x?cid=sem-na-274

Also, the Apple iWatch is something that many have heard about, are curious about but have not yet purchased one for themselves.

If you are looking for something a little less expensive and a little more on the fun side, check out Cozmo by Anki,
a life-like robot that would be fun to play with.

Finally no one ever has enough storage space so everyone can use an extra hard drive or two to store all those photos.  For under $100 you can give away one of these cool looking Lacie rugged mini drives and they are cheap enough you can give one away every day of the show with a minimal investment.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lacie-rugged-mini-1tb-external-usb-3-0-2-0-hard-drive-silver-orange/3764784.p?skuId=3764784&ref=212&loc=1&ksid=7f8de928-4fd0-48c5-afb1-80bf8a75577d&ksprof_id=8&ksaffcode=pg199138&ksdevice=c&lsft=r

But remember, no matter what you decide to give away, the key is to qualify sales information collected for the drawing.  A few simple qualifying questions as part of your lead collection process will help you rate the value of the sales lead A, B or C.  This way you only give your sales team the higher quality A and B leads for them to follow-up on.  This is important because a drawing will attract more leads but many may be there only to win the cool gift… that’s fine as long as you sort them out before they get passed on to the sales team.

Paul Gertner is nationally recognized speaker and corporate magician, whose honors include multiple Tonight Show appearances, performing at a presidential inauguration, and winning three international competitions. He can be hired as a trade show magician or keynote presenter. For more information, visit gertner.com.

Posted in Trade Show Booth Ideas on November 15, 2016 by Paul Gertner.