Trade shows are an exciting way to promote your business and with the right materials can be a successful endeavor. Often, visitors are making many contacts at the trade show during the day and making deals over dinner at night. Here are 5 tips for promotional items at a trade show that will get your foot in the door, so to speak, with potential clients so that you can be a part of the deal-making dinners.

1. Know Your Target Audience
Consider your target audience, or ideal customer, when choosing promotional items. If you are an enthusiast, a frequent trade show visitor, or repeat vendor, this will not be a problem. Fairly new vendors should do some research before going to the show. Blogs are a great way to get in touch with others that have attended the same show a year before. These individuals will help you to cater to your audience by giving some inside tips on how many and what kind of visitors to expect. 

2. Give a Gift
Tote bags filled with free gifts are a great way to get your business name out there. Lure the visitors in with usable incentives. The gift that offers the most return for your money is the print calendar. Create a clever print calendar that people will want and they will have your business information all year long. Desirable gifts such as hats, t-shirts, and pens are the best incentives to get that print calendar in their hands.  

3. Differentiate Yourself
The larger the show, the more important it is to differentiate yourself. Bold colors, large print signs, and creative attention-getting props are required at a Las Vegas sized show. Some vendors use waterfalls, big screen TV’s, unique and even motorized display racks. Create a line of bold adverting just for the show if needed. Encourage visitors to make it a routine to collect this year’s special trade show memorabilia, including your print calendar and business cards. 

4. Have Greeters
Greeters are a must have to detour the flow of foot traffic through your booth. Your greeters should be great talkers who are very sociable. Along with drawing visitors into your booth with your promotional items, an effective greeter will always greet with good eye contact, a smile, and a handshake. Once contact is made, the greeter can hand off the prospect to a sales person or a subject matter expert.

5. Create Desire with a Crowd
One way to inspire the curiosity of visitors is to create a crowd. Bottle neck the entrance to your booth with display racks and greeters. People will get curious and want to see what they are missing. Even backing up just 3 to 5 people can begin to build a crowd. Once there is a few more, lead the crowd inside of the booth to receive their free print calendar and other gifts. Then repeat the process again and again.

The right promotional items combined with the right presentation will get you in the circle of most desired contacts, so plan wisely. And then be prepared for gaining new loyal customers at the dinner table each night.