3 Ways to Choose a Branded Promotional Product People Will Love

There’s a reason branded promotional items are one of the go-to marketing pieces for trade shows, conferences, and other large corporate events. It’s because everyone loves a freebie, right? But just because sought-after promotional products are an easy way to get attention, it doesn’t mean finding the right branded promotional items to market your business is easy. What is the right product that will support your brand well and that people really want to use?

We’ve all seen promotional giveaway items that are uninteresting and are more of a nuisance since “not only do I have to carry this around all day with the rest of my stuff, but then I feel bad about tossing it in the trash when I get home.”

You don’t want to spend all that money on a promotional product just to find out that people throw them away further down the trade show floor. To avoid making any mistakes, here are my top 3 tips for choosing a winning promotional item for your next big event.

Think About Your Audience

Yes, everyone likes free stuff, but in today’s world of marketing, free stuff has become the norm for generating leads. So, because giveaways at trade shows, conferences, and events have become such a mainstay, it takes more creativity to get someone to truly say, “Hey, I want that!”

That means that throwaway, trick-or-treat type of giveaway items just don’t make the cut. You have to think about your audience and what kind of items they find useful, fun, and worthy of holding on to.

Take a deep look in to your ideal customer, and then think of the things they may use while at work and at home. Do they travel a lot? Do many of them work in home offices? What would they keep on their desk? What do they do for fun? Do they have kids?

All of these factors play in to finding a promotional item that your ideal audience will find intriguing instead of unworthy of taking up space in their bag.

Don’t Cheap Out

One thing you might find while searching for a great, useful, and relevant promotional item for your audience is that with quality comes cost.

Yes, more value means more money, but in the long run, these are items you’re using to generate leads, so you need to make sure it’s something that actually…generates a lead.

Don’t be afraid to invest more in a quality product. The ROI will be worth it, because when you spend your marketing budget on cheap and uninteresting promotional items for your audience, you’ve actually thrown money away since those items won’t be bringing you any return. To protect your investment, don't give the promotional product to just anyone who walks in your trade show booth. Make them earn a higher quality item by leaving your their business card, filling out a survey, or winning it in a raffle.

Don’t go for cheap, go for quality, and see the pay off.

Get Your Numbers Right

You might still be concerned about cost, but here’s another thing to keep in mind: don’t overbuy.

Almost every marketing manager or event buyer has experienced the mass surplus of items after wrapping up an event at one point or another, and that just means you didn’t get your numbers right.

When determining how many items to buy, take in to consideration that you may not be coming into contact with every person who will be attending an event. Many people purchase the same number of items as people in-attendance, plus some “just in case” extras, and that’s just a waste of your budget.

Take a close look at past events that were similar in attendance, or start tracking how many people come to your event this year so you have a clearer picture the next time you participate in the event. If you are afraid of underbuying, don't worry about it. If you run out of your promotional item, just collect business cards from the people who are really interested in your product or service and mail it to them later with some product brochures or have your local salesperson hand deliver the item and use it as a chance to tell your brand story.

Keep these three things in mind and I know you’ll have a winning promotional product strategy that gains your audience’s attention, grabs leads, and fits your budget. If you need more help with any of those aspects, please give me a call at 847-398-5500 or shoot me an email at dona.blunt@newportpros.com. I’d be happy to guide you to the perfect items for your audience!

For more trade show marketing ideas, you might like these other posts:

How to Choose the Right Promotional Products to Drive Trade Show Booth Traffic 

Three Ways to Drive More Traffic and Spur More Engagement at Your Trade Show Booth

10 Ideas Using Promotional Products That Will Drive Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

Get in the Game to Get Sales from Your Next Trade Show Booth

In one of my previous blog posts I talked about using games as a unique, fun and effective way to drive traffic to your trade show booth and score big at your next conference or event. Between the interactivity and the chance to win a cool prize, setting up a game is a great way to stand out among the sea of other booths as well as encourage attendees to engage with your booth staff rather than do a quick look and pass.

Here are four ideas to up your game at your next trade show.

Pull Out a Classic with Cornhole

This Regulation Cornhole Game requires a bit of space, which makes it a great game to set up at an outdoor event where you have a booth set up. One way to set the stakes is if contestants make 3 of 5 throws they win a small prize, and if a player makes all 5 shots they win a grand prize, but of course, you can run the game in any number of ways.

Just make sure your cornhole boards are on brand with your logo and colors. Our cornhole boards feature two sets of four bean toss bags and a 4-color process vinyl logo on a two sturdy 2 ft. x 4 ft. frames, which also come in a variety of colors to fit your brand. You'll be taking this game to every trade show and corporate event for years to come.

Spin the Wheel - The Micro Prize Wheel

Easy and fun for everyone to try, ask trade show attendees to spin the wheel for a chance to win a number of prizes. For those who maybe aren’t as coordinated as a skilled cornhole player, spinning the prize wheel is a good way to keep the winning barrier low if you’ve got some crafty prize ideas that are great for generating leads.

Our Micro Prize Wheel is also ideal if you want a game, but don’t have a ton of real estate at your booth. Our wheel only takes up 14” of space on your table, but at 20” tall, it’s something you know attendees will see and want to spin!

Drop a Puck to Win a Prize

Similar to one of the most popular games on The Price is Right T.V. game show, the Puck Drop Game is sure to get people on board with participating and engaging with your team at your trade show booth.

Set the prize for one or more of the slots at the bottom of the game board and let luck and gravity do the rest. The Micro Prize Drop game includes 3 mini pucks as well as printable templates for adding your company logo to the title insert and your specific prizes to the inserts in the bottom of the board.

Everyone’s a Winner with Prize Toss

With eight customizable prize slots, think of Prize Toss as the game where everyone wins! Since some shots are more difficult to make, those slots should be your high-prized items with the easier shots being your more general giveaways. Our Prize Toss game features a large header area for you to promote your brand, logo, or special event messaging.


Have you ever used a game to draw people in to your trade show booth? What was the basis of the game and were you happy with the results?

If you are looking to drive traffic to your upcoming trade show booth, or see how promotional products can help you meet your marketing goals, give me a call at 847-398-5500 or shoot me an email at dona.blunt@newportpros.com. I'd be happy to consult on a unique promotion for your business.

For more trade show marketing ideas, you might like these other posts:

5 Unique Ideas to Drive More Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

Here's What to Expect When You Work with Newport Promotions

10 Ideas Using Promotional Products That Will Drive Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

Polish Your Way to Trade Show Booth Success

There are several companies who can set-up a shoe shine stand in your booth, but is it a good idea?

You bet! PPB magazine, a magazine for the promotional products industry, published a case study that illustrated a successful use of this unique promotional idea. A medical imaging company, whose customers are primarily male, set up two shoeshine stands in their trade show booth. Their booth staff wore aprons to highlight the theme and they invited customers to climb up for a complimentary shoeshine. Don't worry, the shoe shine was done by a professional shiner.  You don't need to have expert shoe shiners on staff to make this work for you.

While this is a unique, traffic-building idea, you may be thinking, how does this help my brand? It does! The great twist to this promotion was that the prospects were given a custom-printed newspaper to read while their shoes were being shined. Of course the newspaper content contained the exhibitor's marketing and product messages. Then, upon completion of the shoe shine, the prospects were also given a tote bag with the company's logo to store their newspaper plus a company-branded tin of shoe polish.

This promotion was beneficial for all parties--the weary trade show attendees had a chance to slow down and rest while their shoes were being shined and the exhibitor had a captive audience with an opportunity to tell its story. In this example, the company was able to generate 69 leads, which resulted in $100,000 in new sales the following year.

Could your prospects use a little pampering? If so, this could be a good way to attract people to your trade show booth. For additional promotional products to use to promote your brand, try shoe shine cloths, shoe polish, shoe horns, travel shoe bags, or full Dopp Kits. All of these items can be printed or embroidered with your logo.

Interested in implementing this idea or want to brainstorm some other unique traffic building trade show promotions? Give me a call at 847-398-5500 or email me at dona.blunt@newportpros.com to get started.

You Might Also Like:

Recharge Your Trade Show Booth Traffic

A Powerful Promotion to Create Trade Show Buzz

5 Unique Ideas to Drive More Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth