Many marketers have recognized the value of trade shows and exhibitions and have made participation in them a mandatory event in their marketing schedule. Whether it is a big show or one that is restricted to a few kiosks put up, there is no getting away from the fact that trade shows provide a valuable opportunity to reach across to new customers.

There has been constant debate over the choice of the promotional items that need to be distributed at such shows - whether they should be fewer in numbers, but of the expensive kind or whether there should be many small items that are inexpensive and can be handed over to everybody who visits your stall. It is wise to presume that with fewer items, though expensive, you might not get the attention of the customer to yourself for the period you desire to explain your product or service to them. Visitors would saunter in, take a look at your stall, pick up the goodies and just vanish, there by defeating the very purpose of you participating in the exhibition or trade show. On the contrary, having many giveaways, though of lesser value will definitely keep the customer busy and engaged in having a look at them and during that period, you can catch their attention to tell them about your products or service.

The key factor is the time that you can get a visitor to spend at your stall and since the average visitor is very loathe to do that, having to cover the other stalls at the tradeshow as well, anything that can hold his attention and which can make him spend those crucial minutes at your stall will decide the success of your participation at the show. Remember you cannot just keep distributing good promotional items and hope that people will oblige you with their time and span of attention. You need to make it interesting enough for them to stop by and give you the chance to talk to them about your company and capture leads to follow up later. One way of doing it is to orient the goodies that you are distributing to the theme of the show.

This will bring in the desired volume of visitors and they will be interested to hang around and look at the various gifts you have on display. You can then take the opportunity to educate them about the company and the various products or services you are engaged in. When you have a captive audience, you can also take the liberty of giving them your contact details as well as taking theirs for follow up action at a later date.