The Magic of Using Brochures for Trade Show Giveaways
Website design By BotEap.comCandy, squeeze balls, pens and key chains – these provide questionable value to anyone visiting or manning a trade show booth. More and more meeting and marketing professionals are considering something a little different: brochures. They are a way to attract higher quality prospects, get a good return on the investment of time and money in attending shows, and help set a business apart from the crowd.
Website design By BotEap.comWhat is a brochure? The ultimate purpose of a brochure is to educate a target audience. Contains tips, techniques, or strategies to help accomplish certain tasks. Typically 3 ½” x 8 ½”, has 16-24 pages, fits nicely in a purse, pocket, or briefcase, and can be conveniently shipped in a standard #10 business envelope.
Website design By BotEap.comThe following five points highlight how you can use brochures as a powerful marketing tool to increase sales from trade show prospects.
Website design By BotEap.com1. Why booklets make a great trade show giveaway.
Website design By BotEap.comBrochures have lasting value, more so than many brochures currently used at trade shows. However, the brochures are not overwhelming by any means. One of the primary purposes of exhibiting at a trade show is to educate your target audience on how you can provide solutions to their challenges. A brochure packed with helpful tips could address those challenges. Plus, it increases your company’s credibility as an industry expert and draws the prospect to you when it’s time to buy.
Website design By BotEap.comYour company name on a coffee mug or pen doesn’t have the same impact when a potential customer is looking for solutions to their challenges. Rather, when they easily read your information in a brochure, you are perceived as knowledgeable. Also, it leaves the reader with the clear impression that he is looking to establish rapport and business relationship with them. Handing out flyers sets you apart from those who have a plate of candy at their booth, or those who offer one more shopping bag. Plus, booklets are less expensive than many other giveaways and can be used effectively and easily throughout the year in other parts of your sales and marketing efforts.
Website design By BotEap.com2. Who gives booklets?
Website design By BotEap.comAnyone in any industry who is selling or exhibiting at a trade show is a candidate for using brochures as a unique promotional tool. A business can write and produce its own brochure, have a brochure produced for it, or purchase copies of someone else’s brochure on a topic of interest to its target audience. Small, medium, and large businesses use brochures alike. Minimum purchases are usually completely manageable and there is an economy of scale as you purchase larger quantities.
Website design By BotEap.com3. What kind of information to include in a brochure?
Website design By BotEap.comThe best information to include in a brochure is common sense, grounded, basic, actionable content on a topic relevant to your business and important to your customers. The material can be solutions to everyday concerns, which people often overlook. Sometimes the “magic pill” response to challenges turns out to be information that is known but simply forgotten. The brochure acts as a reminder. It can also serve as new information for beginners in an industry.
Website design By BotEap.com4. How else can you use a brochure to market your business?
Website design By BotEap.comOnce you’ve produced a brochure, you can often find other organizations that can benefit from it. This helps recover your production costs, in case that concerns you. For example, a manufacturer might sell it to dealers. He also continues to market his own company and generates new income in the process.
Website design By BotEap.comOther uses include direct mail campaigns or licensing the rights to your brochure to another company. Licensing could also involve translating it into other languages to reach additional markets. Licensing agreements mean that the client produces the brochure. Your company grants specific rights, by written contract, for the client to perform all booklet manuscript production owned by your company.
Website design By BotEap.comIdentify prospects in your own industry by looking at vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers. Each one is a marketing niche. Approach them with common sense. Remember that you are providing solutions to many of your clients’ problems.
Website design By BotEap.com5. What common mistakes do companies make when exhibiting?
Website design By BotEap.comOne of the biggest mistakes that companies make when exhibiting is repeating what other exhibitors give away, or repeating what the company has done year after year regardless of the results. An uninteresting brochure claims that a company has given limited thought to the needs of its customers. The importance of educating customers on how you can help them cannot be overstated. When your business makes one more sale because someone reads the brochure you gave them, the investment of buying or creating the brochure is worth it.
Website design By BotEap.comGetting a full ROI from the trade show is ultimately the number one reason to attend the show. Some industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, are now making a concerted effort to withdraw money spent on excessively expensive and inappropriate gifts, and are turning to gifts with educational value.
Website design By BotEap.comUsing a brochure as a giveaway at a trade show booth creates magic as you enjoy better-qualified leads that lead to higher sales over a longer period of time with well-informed customers. A small investment in the brochure is definitely worth the big return.