Top 10 Branded Merchandise to Give at Trade Shows

Welcome to the trade show, fellow entrepreneur. It’s an event tailor-made for you to promote your brand to hundreds, even thousands of new people. Some of them could be potential customers or long-term partners, others can be the competition seeking to outdo you. Whatever the case might be, you’re here to put your best foot forward and promote the living daylights out of your brand.

But what might be the best way to do it during a trade show? Well, gift-giving, of course. As a company, you will need to take a decent number of promotional gifts for any prospective attendee of your booth, and there are plenty of ideas for such gifts floating out there. In this article, you will get to learn which of these promotional gifts are guaranteed to attract clients to your booth during any trade show.

 

List of Ideas for Promotional Gifts

Bottled Water

One thing that attendees will do the most during a trade show is, interestingly enough, not attending booths or networking. What they will do the most is, in fact, walk. They will probably walk for several hours in total during any given day of the show. And all of that walking takes a lot of energy that needs refuelling.

For that reason, trade show organisers provide food and beverage across the venue, including custom bottled water. Keeping oneself hydrated is crucial. So, imagine giving away a lot of bottled water during an event. Not only will you help the attendees regain some energy, but you’ll also be advertising your product in the best way possible.

Tech Products

No matter who visits your booth, you can rest assured that they own a piece of technology at home. So, in order to meet modern consumer demands, you can give away certain printed tech products, gadgets, or supplementary material.

Some of the most popular tech product ideas for branded gifts include:

In terms of expense, these gifts will probably cost you the most. However, they are by far the most useful (and reusable) items today, and everyone from 18 to 88 will need them.

Reusable Coffee Cups

Eco-friendly is the way to go, and one popular method that trade show attendee brands use is giving away reusable, green items. That’s where the branded reusable coffee cup comes in. Not only is it practical and sturdy, but you can also wash it and use it later. And yes, that logo of yours printed on the side will be the perfect advertisement whenever your client or employee takes the cup with them.

Notebooks

Despite the popularity of smart items, people still like the feel of pen and paper in their hands. Personalised notebooks are an excellent gift for any business person because of how practical they are.

One example of their practicality can be seen during the very same trade show you’re attending. More often than not, people will watch panels and take notes of everything they hear. And more than 90% of the time, they will use the notebook they just picked up from the nearby booth.


Related content:
Personalised Notebooks – The Perfect Promotional Giveaway


Sanitiser

With lots of booths and strangers in trade shows, you will want to keep your hands clean, and so will your employees. Therefore, a branded hand sanitiser is a must. But it’s also an excellent and practical product to promote your brand. People who visit your booth will want to feel safe, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, so your sanitiser might be the exact thing they need at that moment.

Drinking Bottles

Reusability and eco-consciousness don’t limit themselves to coffee cups. Lots of brands nowadays tend to use metal or hard plastic promotional water bottles as promotional gifts. And with good reason — each bottle is practical, easy to carry, and safe for the environment. Plus, it keeps the beverage inside as hot or as cold as you need it to be.

Mints

A single branded mint has a lot of benefits. Firstly, it helps with digestion. Next, it provides the consumer with a nice, minty-fresh breath. Finally, it’s a delicious way of getting some much-needed energy to push onward during a busy event.

Packs of mints, therefore, make a splendid giveaway item for any brand, but by all means, don’t stop there. You can offer other promotional confectioneries such as custom jelly beans, logo chocolates, and printed lollipops.

Lip Balms

Walking is an issue that takes a lot of energy, but talking is just as taxing during a trade show. With the air so stifled and the constant rush from booth to booth, your lips are bound to end up chapped. So, you’ll need a quick solution for that, and an average printed lip balm is a proverbial lifesaver.

Lip balms make for decent gifts because they can be used immediately and because they often last for a long while. On the other hand, they are also compact and small, so they can fit anyone’s pocket and be carried around easily.

Pens and Other Stationery

Earlier, we mentioned the use of notebooks during trade shows. Well, a notebook goes well with an accompanying printed pen. After all, your attendees will need to take notes, fill out forms, sign deals, and provide phone numbers and email addresses.

Pens and other custom stationery items are great because you can buy them in bulk at a relatively low cost. More importantly, they are items that people use regularly. So, even if your pen with a brand logo is sitting in someone’s living room, they will be reminded of your brand every time they pick the pen up and use it. In addition, a pen can fit anyone’s purse or briefcase, so they can take it everywhere, promoting your brand further to anyone who sees the attendees using the pen.

T-Shirts, Caps, and Other Clothing Items

Any form of apparel can be a tool for advertising and marketing. More often than not, people give away personalised T-shirts with company logo, slogans, and event names. And attendees enjoy these gifts, since they can always use a new clothing item to wear.

One major advantage of a T-shirt as a promo item is the ‘ad space.’ After all, both the front and the back of each shirt offers plenty of room for anything to be printed. The same can be said for printed caps, logo scarves, custom jackets, and other branded clothing items.

 

Show Booth Promo Gifts Summed Up

A promotional item that you give away during a show ought to combine practicality and interesting design. A lot of the items listed above are quite common, so some companies are abandoning them in favour of more innovative gift ideas. But make no mistake, any idea can be excellent for brand promotion, as long as you do it right.

In addition, make sure to diversify your stock. If you can, have at least six or seven different types of gifts available at your booth. After all, different attendees have different needs, and the more you have to offer, the more people your booth will draw in.


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Promotional Tech Gifts – A Foolproof Way of Dazzling Your Audience


As always, we are here to answer any questions you may have. Contact us to talk through your ideas. Together, we’ll make sure your chosen branded products fit any event or giveaway you have in mind! You may give a member of our experienced team a call on 0800 0148 970 or simply email us today.