Tuesday, February 25, 2014

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.

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Monday, February 17, 2014

Recharge Your Trade Show Booth Traffic

Having trouble getting people to stop by your trade show booth?  Have you given people a reason to stop and step into the booth? Are you frustrated that attendees are too busy checking their messages on their phones to really pay attention to exhibitors at the show?

Don't get frustrated, work with it. Why not provide them with something of value to get them to stop by. What would happen if you provided a stopping point for people to hang out at your booth WHILE they checked their messages?

The recent 2014 Chicago Auto Show had such an area for attendees; providing re-charging for both body and electronic device.

Genius! Not only do you get people to come into your booth to recharge their phone but you'll get them to stop and linger to recharge their bodies. That's an opportunity for you since they will linger long enough to hear about your business value. Could you put something like this in your next trade show booth?

Don't think that this type of stop is for major shows only. You don't need to have a major structure built that takes up a lot of space in your booth like the station above. You can provide a similar Charging Stop with just a table, a power source, plus a chair or two.  The person stopping will not only be grateful to be able to continue to use their phone, but they will also be a captive audience for your booth presentation.


Another twist to build on this theme of recharging is to give your key clients or trade show visitors a branded portable power source that they can take with them. Once they have recharged their phones and heard your business pitch, hand them a power source to go. These Emergency Chargers store power after plugging them into a computer or other power source. Then use your phone charging cable to recharge your phone battery so you can keep using your phone when the phone's battery has lost power. Your clients will not only be grateful when they receive this useful item, but this is a promotional product they will hang on to. They will continue to be reminded of your company each time that they recharge their phone. Once you have used this type of item, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it!

For some pre-trade show marketing, send an email or direct mail blast to your VIP customers inviting them to come to your booth to recharge. By letting them know that they could get one of these valuable devices by visiting your booth, they will make stopping by your booth a priority.



If you are interested in a quote on these promotional Emergency Phone Power Chargers or want some additional ideas on how to draw more traffic to your trade show booth, give me a call at 847-398-5500. Or, shoot me an email at dona.blunt@newportpros.com.

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Friday, February 14, 2014

5 Unique Promotional Pens to Help Brand your Next Event or Trade Show

Have a trade show or event coming up where you need a unique but inexpensive promotional item? Don't overlook these memorable, themed pens to keep your brand in your customer's hands for a long time.



The Earth Bend-A-Pen is perfect for an Earth Day or global event. This fun pen features a bendable body and arms. The cap helps the pen stand on the desk.



If your event has a beach theme, these surf board pens give you a lot of space for your logo or custom design.


This Spinning Dice pen would be perfect for a Casino Night event or Vegas-style hospitality suite at your next trade show. Or use the pen in a promotional mailer with a headline like "Don't gamble your marketing dollars on an untried design firm?"



These Scent-Sational Highlighters would be a fun promotional giveaway in any trade show booth or on a college campus. Since the highlighters feature fruit smells, they would also be a good tie-in for healthy eating or tropical themed promotional campaigns.


Mixing classic with modern! The iCrayon Stylus give a nod to the crayons of our youth but really it serves as a modern stylus for touch screen devices. Use this stylus on an Apple, Android or other touchscreen device.

Don't see your theme here? Not a problem. I have a whole selection of promotional pens and I'd be happy to recommend the perfect item that will fit the theme of your event or trade show. Give me a call at 847-398-5500 or email me at dona.blunt@newportpros.com to get started.