Blog homeI need some help here everyone - so please do comment below with ideas, special requests etc.
In 4 weeks time we are taking a stand at the Travel Technology Show (stand A49) - which takes place at Earls Court 2, London, UK on the 5-6th of February. From the stand I will be demonstrating TourCMS, my reservation system aimed at small tour operators. I have been kindly invited to talk at one of the seminars (on Wednesday 6th Feb) - about integrating the old into the new. It is going to be a busy few weeks getting all this organised (incidentally, those two statements are not connected, I was invited to talk before I took the stand!)
The most important aspect to organise is of course the swag. Forget about anything else, if we don’t have swag, we may as well not go to the show. It is the swag I need your help with.
What is the best travel technology swag that you have seen at a show?
I was just speaking to someone about this a couple of minutes ago and he says there is a travel technology company who always has “pick and mix” - but he has never dared to go and try it (probably through fear of being asked questions by salesmen on overdrive and ending up committing himself to a 200,000 USD IT project)
I was thinking along 3 lines:
- Something useful that would be useful for all visitors to the show with a travel IT interest - maybe a bound version of some of my best blog posts. This has been shot down as our stand at the show isn’t about my blog - but about our product. Besides who wants my blog posts? (Although one of my posts did make it into the recent T-List blog book, via Travolution)
- Something useful that is targeted at potential (or existing) clients - I have some ideas about this…. and is the most likely outcome
- Something completely useless - like T-Shirts or sweets (however having paid for the stand I don’t fancy paying any more money for this - our marketing budget is stretched anyway - OK - maybe we can afford sweets)
So - over to you. What should we do for swag?
Followup question for bonus points - should we run a “competition” with some kind of prize - so we have some dodgy reason to ask people for their contact details or business cards?
Now everyone can see why I should really leave marketing well alone and stick to IT / ecommerce.
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Thinking back to my last World Travel Market experience, what attracted alot of people were freebies.
I think it was the Israel stand that were giving away lanyards, they were really colourful and attractive and I must have had about a dozen people during the day ask me where I got it from!
Guess it could be a good way to attract people to your stall.
http://www.ideasbynet.com/exhibition-gifts.htm
Darren
The interesting question is whether we need to attract people to the stall….. after all if someone is attracted by a pen - would they be likely to be a long term customer?
My favourite (useful) things are:
* An Opodo mousemat (that I still use as my main mousemat)
* An Amadeus aeroplane (made of rubber) - great for throwing around the office
However neither were picked up at trade shows.
Hi Alex,
I was doing some research and came across your blog. I work for a promotional merchandise company and would love to make some helpful suggestions. I know you’ve mentioned you have a tight budget but certain products can be really cost effective. Also you must remember that these give away items will strengthen your brand and increase awareness (and profits!)
Products that prove very successful for our clients in a trade show environment are things like USB sticks (which can be pre loaded with your contact details and services), stress balls, pens, keyrings and mugs.
Your idea of a competition would also be a good way of promoting yourself for very little cost. If you held an old fashioned raffle for instance you could generate some cash to pay for a decent prize.
Anyway if you’d like any more info feel free to contact me or visit our website www.calverleycollection.co.uk
Good luck
Laura