Remember the sweet joy of deciding on your costume, pulling together the essential elements, and then (if you were raised in the great white north like me) covering it all up with a parka and mittens.

Word would spread like wild fire of the house giving away full sized chocolate bars, children sprinting before the generosity ran out.  Conversely, the lady who handed out popcorn balls, that took up sacred space in your sack, would be avoided.

Growing up, my mother worked for a pharmaceutical company that also happened to make toothbrushes. Every year we would be the first stop on every parents list. The disappointment from my school mates was audible, when their first glimpse of Halloween joy was a toothbrush, even if they had Muppets on them.

I went to the store yesterday to stock up on the full sized candy bars I insist we give out every year. I was speaking to the person in front of me (yup, I’m that girl) who mentioned that adults don’t really have anything like halloween. That got me to thinking.

Trade shows are a lot like halloween, but for adults and professionals. As attendees, we go to shows for the education, to network and to meet new vendors. We also look for the best giveaways. We all do it. No matter our position, our profession or our status.

As exhibitors we go to generate leads, network and target prospects. We want to stand out, be the first one seen while people are fresh. Get the hot prospects first. We train our reps and put our best foot forward. Then we wait.

Why not get proactive before the show? Give your reps something to be excited about, give your clients something to look forward to, create some buzz! Nothing creates a buzz like a fantastic, new, targeted promotional giveaway. A great giveaway drives more qualified prospects to your booth, which will excite your reps and keep them engaged.

Don’t have your reps handing out a click pen, the trade show equivalent of the popcorn ball. Don’t have your reps giving out slicks and heavy catalogs to bring back to the main office. Are they informative, and important YES! But they are also the toothbrush. Something easily sent after you have made an initial, lasting impression.

Have your reps handing out something they will be proud of. Something so cool attendees can’t help but talk about it in the hotel bar. Something that will drive the buzz to your booth, so you can present your offer. Be the candy bar house, and the characters will come running.

With all of these new and exciting promotional ideas, it does take a special something to stand out in the crowd. At Clever Advantage we’re always intrested in ideas that are fascinating, but more importantly were looking for items that are useful. That will be retained by our clients clients for a long time.

With that in mind, and summer around the corner, my favorite new item is the breskey. It’s a bottle opener that looks exactly like a house key and fits on a key ring. A perfect promotional idea for mortgage brokers, home renovators, bars, breweries and anyone looking to celebrate summer 2011 with their clients.

In San Diego promotional products that work for summer range from frisbees to surfboard wax scrapers. Around the country or in your own backyard anything promoting your brand in your clients lifestyle works well. 

At Clever Advantage we specialize in getting your brand noticed at memorable times. We all have special summer memories. Boarwalks, Camps, Bonfires.

Call us today to discuss some fun ways to get your brand noticed during this critical memory making time. Let’s work together to find just the right promotional products for your clients lifestyles!

www.cleverpromotionalproducts.com

(866)698-7746

info@cleveradvantage.com

One of the important key elements to promotional product awareness is to understand how to properly display the products. So, whether it is part of a tradeshow package registration, passing them out for prospects who visit a booth, or even for those who might purchase a company product, the presentation says a lot more than what most people might think. It says a lot about how the company handles the little things in business. If flyers, pens, sticky notes, or an assortment of other products are scattered about the booth, it could give the impression that this is the way the company will treat the prospect’s business.

“Making your logo your hardest working employee is what we’re all about here at Clever Advantage,” says Casey Poldino, President of Clever Advantage,” a San Diego promotional products company. “We even have a 100% guarantee that means you can rest easy knowing your promotional products will be printed correctly, look great, and delivered on time. We’ll even show you how to display them to show that your company cares about the little things too.”

Clever Advantage is an entrepreneurial San Diego promotional products company that caters to like companies because they understand the entrepreneurial heart of the business, and especially what it is to start small and grow large.

The challenge for companies is to keep from skimping on their marketing budget. When economic times become taxing, people scale back on the little things first, which is mostly likely the worse move they could make. In many instances, the marketing representative will start searching for steep discounts, which isn’t a bad thing always, but clearly only making the financial deal without personally knowing the people behind the business. So, finding the right San Diego promotional products company can be a huge plus because they know the current trends, markets and interests where fellow San Diegans are drawn.

I’m always a huge fan of traditional promotional products like pens, pads of paper, magnets, and sticky note pads. They stay around for a while and are useful, and that’s what you want with your San Diego promotional products.

Of course, you also need to consider what it is you do for business, where you do your business and then figure out how to tie it all together. Long before you even consider a San Diego promotional products company’s catalog page you’ll need to decide your logo, your company’s colors, and anything else that will make you unique; your niche that other businesses can’t live without.

The message you send on your San Diego promotional products should be clear and concise; a logo, tag line, which is four or five words of what you do, address and telephone number. Try not to blanket everyone. Lay out a marketing plan with your marketing representative. If you don’t have the budget at this point for a marketing representative, then you’ll need to find a San Diego promotional products company that understands your market. Getting your promotional product materials to the right people will surely increase your business, and will keep your quarterly, half-year, or yearly budget on track!

With the estimated amount of time, money and effort to attract a new client being seven times more costly than it takes to retain a current client, any solid San Diego promotional products company understands that setting the appropriate goals is important. From mining a client base and reducing your cost per acquisition to increasing conversions and referrals, staying on track with a promotional products company who has experience will surely help any company survive these tough economic corrections.

“If you’re launching a new product, we can help generate a positive brand exposure and also target any new market segments for your company,” says, Casey Poldino, President of San Diego based Clever Advantage. “Through the ups and downs of economic adjustments, we’ve continued to satisfy our customers for years. Some things just remain constant, and knowing your market and learning how to adjust to it is the best way to succeed.”

Having been in business for many years, Clever Advantage has been committed to associating with only the highest caliber marketing partners for their programs. Overseeing services like printing, public relations, web development and design, Search Engine Optimization, and pay-per-click marketing are all second nature to this San Diego promotional products company.

“We love a challenge, and we really enjoy helping our clients achieve their dreams at the next level,” adds Poldino.

Here’s just a short list of three different types of trade show promotional products:

• A vinyl or fabric banner that smoothly stretches over a lightweight, portable, and easily assembled aluminum frame can be striking, and can include single, double and even triple sides.
• Literature racks, made from plastic or aluminum, are sometimes over looked on the marketing display. How many times have you gone to an exhibitor’s table and they just have stacks of papers. The piles’ corners are crisp and sharp at the start of the day but an hour into the show, with people bumping the table and shuffling through their paperwork, the table appears unprofessional, a mess. Literature rack tradeshow promotional products come in an array of colors, styles and capacity, but most feature three to ten pockets.
• A tabletop panel is usually more durable than a pop-up system, but not as easy to assemble. However, they are impressive because the panels already have the graphics in place. They are rectangular panel pieces that form a trade show display. Available in several sizes and shapes, they maintain the ability to be compact and easily shipped to the trade show location.

A good rule of thumb on all of this is to think like the customer. Of course that shouldn’t be news to you, but think how they are going to perceive you when they see you from across the room. You need to draw them in, so using the right tradeshow promotional products will do just that.

                A pop-up display usually contains one to a multitude of graphic images and can be placed on your exhibitor’s table or even be a standalone floor version. They promote your business name, logo, and any special product you might be advertising. There are a number of materials used to create this type of product; vinyl or plastic are two popular ones, but a design that consists of a lightweight aluminum frame that when removed from its carry bag and springs into shape easily and is ready for a graphic banner is really cool, and building in popularity. A banner material then rests on the framework creating a smooth finish for your artwork.

                Of course some of these tradeshow promotional products can be a bit more complicated in their appearance but are still considered easy to work with. They come with lightweight feature lighting and shelving options, but they are not adjustable in size, which sort of makes sense is they are made from vinyl, plastic, or aluminum, right?   

                An advantage of pop-up trade show promotional products is the convenience; simplicity of set up, tear down, and of course transportation, which are all vital at the beginning and ending of a long exhibition day. Another advantage is that they are designed to be easy enough for one person to assemble, carry and store, as well as proved a versatile display to be transported from location to location.

                So, when choosing a pop-up display as one of your tradeshow promotional products consider the durability, easy of assembly and of course the warranty.

                Although a lot of businesses have the intention of going to a trade show they fail to promote their business the right way. It’s sort of like drawing a foul in basketball and then stepping to the foul line and not taking a shot. Trade shows are a great opportunity, just a like a free throw from the foul line. Easy!

                Spreading the word is what you need to do, and it should start as soon as you know you’re going to be an exhibitor. Hopefully that’s about six to eight months prior. Getting the ‘word’ out by email, snail mail, and even local advertising where the trade show is being held are all awesome ways to accomplish just this.

                When you do arrive though, make sure you have some unique, but traditional, trade show promotional products to giveaway to people who visit your booth. Show them you personally care about their business and will do the best you can to help them! Avoid trendy items. They are just that, ‘trendy.’ This means they won’t have a lasting value and will soon be considered kitschy and tossed it the circular filing cabinet. That’s not where you want your name ever!

                What’s going to last? High quality pens, pads of paper, coffee cups, magnets, etc. The point here is to make sure they bring it to their office or home.

                Just remember that exhibiting at a trade show and marketing your attendance before and during go hand-in-hand. Otherwise you’re surely wasting time and money!

                So, instead of “Mistakes One Can Make with Trade Show Promotional Products,” I’ve chosen to title this blog, ‘Trade Show Promotional Products You Could Consider Avoiding.’  Not so negative.

                A trade show exhibition can be the perfect time to impress your current clients as well as wow prospective new ones. A good tip to remember when it comes to handing out some of your trade show promotional products is that one gift does not fit all your customers.

                Consider this factor. About twenty percent of your customers give you about eighty percent of your business. Treating them a bit differently than you would someone who barely gives you business or doesn’t give you business at all is, well, just good business. I call that top twenty your A+ clients. They bring you the most business and certainly give you referrals whenever they can because they care about and believe what you do is good for them. So, if you’re giving gifts at your trade show, you should carry varying levels of gifts to hand out to different customers.

                This doesn’t mean to scrimp on what you hand out to perspective clients or the clients who have used you only once in the five years you’ve known them, but they should be given something nice. It’s a great way to secure loyalty down the road. Who knows, but for every five years, they just might not need your services.

                However you decide to play it though, keep the varying levels of gifts idea in mind. There are a number of really good trade show promotional products on the executive level that can be purchased at low quantities for a pretty fair price too.

                Be sure to have as much fun as possible. It’s your money, so make the best of it.