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O P I N I O N
C osts for attending trade shows can range from reasonable to extremely expensive, depending on your level of involvement. In addition to registration, a booth, and perhaps hosting a hospitality event, there is the question of: “What do we give away for a booth visit and/or for attendance at a hospitality event?” Trade show giveaway items Keep the inexpensive items on the table and hand them out freely, but give the good stuff only to those who seem truly interested in your firm.
Bernie Siben
In addition to cost, much of the decision is about “bang for the buck.” So what do you give away that will be a legitimate marketing/public relations expense? It depends! My trade show experience has mostly been with A/E or multidiscipline engineering firms. I worked a company booth where people had to get a card stamped for a drawing. They didn’t care what we did or what we were giving away. They just needed a stamp on a card. You don’t need to give these folks anything. On one occasion, I told a young man that I would only stamp his card if he spoke with me for two minutes. He said, “Sorry,” and went to the next booth for the stamp. He didn’t need a giveaway item either. On another occasion, an older woman looked at the giveaway items on my table and said, “I have
five grandchildren. May I have one for each?” I casually asked her which one of her grandchildren purchased engineering services. She gave me a “deer in the headlights” look. Apparently, she thought firms took booths and gave away items just to help her cut Christmas costs. My experience tells me that you should have two or three gifts at your booth, with one more expensive than the others. The less expensive item(s) can be arranged nicely on the table, and folks can pick up whichever they like. These items are generally pens, mechanical or regular pencils, “Anyone who tells you what their firm needs and lets you talk about how you could help them has earned the more expensive item.”
See BERNIE SIBEN, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER July 25, 2016, ISSUE 1161
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