Do you hand out promotional products to everyone that stops at your booth space?  Is that really the right way to spend your marketing dollars?  Rather than hand out thousands of widgets, banking on "real clients" to keep your giveaway and call you - why not give away something much nicer to just the right clients by premarketing to an exacting list of prequalified buyers?

Here is a classic gimmick to get visitors to your booth - and you can target your pre-selected clients, rather than hand out 1,000’s of ineffective, inexpensive throwaway promotions. Devise a two-part promotion: Send out half of a prize in the initial announcement ( in this case it was the tin that holds the Swiss army knife) and reward the clients on your mailing list with the second half of their prize when they stop in at your booth. It’s a classic promotional gimmick — and it works.

 Other ideas - one company sent out a work glove - the left hand - and told the invitee that to receive the mate - the right hand - they needed to stop by their booth and pick it up. A scratch-off game ticket fits easily into an invitation envelope - invitees must bring it by the booth to see what prize they won.

Jan Koren - jkoren@AbsoluteExhibits.comb