2023 is expected to be a unique year for businesses from all industries. Two things have changed compared to the previous period: the return of in-person events and a shift in consumer behaviour. With a troublesome economic climate, existing and prospective customers pay more attention than usual to how they spend their $$. This means that brands need to refine their marketing 2023 strategies, focusing on efficiency and demonstrating they are able to provide more value than their competitors.
But let’s go back to the good news – expos are back on track for 2023!
Humans are social beings and after a long period of attending boring, formal online events, people can’t wait to meet face-to-face with their network of friends and professionals. And going to a trade show is an excellent opportunity to create and implement your own essential expo branding strategy and to enjoy the multiple benefits it brings.
Although it seems marketing budgets are shrinking and you think you have limited budget to advertise, promotional products offer the best solution to keep promoting your business. One of the main reasons to organise expo and trade show giveaways is that promotional products are a form of passive advertising. When your corporate gift is practical and used frequently by the recipient, your brand message will have a large number of exposures, ensuring better results than other forms of advertising.
Unlike traditional advertising, the right promo products continue to deliver ROI if they are practical and add value for the user in day-to-day life. A good giveaway item can provide benefits such as: fostering awareness in potential customers, increasing loyalty with existing customers, building a strong relationship with customers, and encouraging silent influence at decision-making time.
VMA Promotional Products can help you find products to reach your target audience within your budget. Let us help you get the most from your expo experience and obtain better results within the limitations of your budget!
You can make the most of exhibiting at expos first by being easily found with a highly-visible branded space. We can help you with marquees, media walls and banners to build your space and stand out in a crowded convention space. Next, make sure you remain memorable after the main event with a branded promotional giveaway consisting of items that recipients will appreciate and use.
Here is our list of essential tradeshow promotional products:
Marquees
Marquees are the perfect choice to stand out at tradeshows; these are sophisticated and impressive tent-like structures featuring material walls supported by a frame to create a space which can be used for various events. Make sure you choose a quality marquee that you will be able to use for a long time to promote your business at all in-person events.
Flags
Flags are an effective and affordable form of marketing and they provide a certain degree of highlighting your business that a simple banner cannot ensure. These are easily assembled, cost-effective, lightweight, portable, and ready to be displayed in many locations. There are many shapes and sizes to suit your needs.
Pull-up banners
Pull-up banners are also portable and lightweight, serving as one of the most practical forms of mobile advertising. They can be used both indoors and outdoors and can create an environment for effective advertising at exhibitions and other events within just a few seconds.
Media walls
Our resilient media walls are made from fabric and represent a great alternative to standard pop-up back wall displays. You can take them with you to any tradeshow using the included convenient transport bag and set them up in a matter of minutes – lightweight aluminium poles with bungee cords snap together to create the base framework. The perfectly tensioned fabric print slides onto the framework like a sock and then zips closed.
The media wall folds to a fraction of the full-size design and looks great due to the high resolution of the image, the vivid colours and the round angle corners. These portable fabric media walls have a sleek and professional finish, making them perfect for all kinds of events, functions and conferences.
Promo items
After attracting potential customers with a professional branded space, make sure you remain top of mind by offering them promotional products they will use on a regular basis and think of you each time they do!
Pens
VMA Promo offers a wide range of pens, including novelty, metal, plastic, refills, natural, highlighter, stylus, deluxe, and presentation. Our most affordable pens cost under 30 cents, while luxury pens are also available at attractive prices as we source our promotional products direct from the factory. The most popular pens in the last year have been eco-friendly items, such as the Napier Bamboo Pen, a product that is renewable, sustainable, and printed using renewable energy.
Notebooks
Notebooks and quality stationery will always be in high demand due to the advantages they provide compared to using digital devices – increasing productivity and creativity, lack of distractions such as notifications, improving memory, and enabling the user to disconnect from smartphones and computers. You can help your business audience take up a healthy habit this year with one of our high-quality notebooks that you can customise with your brand and visual elements. The range of notebooks we provide is extremely diverse and includes natural colour vs. white colour notebooks, notepads with pens, professional compendiums, notebooks with elastic enclosures, and spiral bound notebooks and notepads.
Tote bags
The usage of green or eco-friendly products has taken a big step forward in 2022 and this trend will continue in 2023 and beyond. One of the activities that still creates a lot of plastic waste is shopping – according to some statistics, we use approximately 5 trillion plastic bags each year and many of them are not recycled or discarded properly.
In order to reduce the use of plastic bags, replacing these with tote bags is highly recommended; canvas bags seem to become more and more popular in Australia and other parts of the world. VMA Promo has a generous selection of tote bags that you can offer during expo giveaways, made from materials such as hemp, cotton, non-woven polypropylene, and jute, that you can print with your own logo and images.
Drink bottles
Drink bottles are among those essential expo branding products that are consistently used by recipients, showcasing your message wherever they go. Our offer of drink bottles addresses all budgets and preferences: polycarbonate thirst drink bottles that are affordable and reusable; tritan drink bottles that are shatter, odour and stain resistant; sports mixing shakers with a secure screw-on lid with a snap closure; borosilicate glass drink bottles with leak proof lid and protective neoprene sleeve; and stainless steel drink bottles.
Key rings
What’s the one item that you can put your logo on, is very affordable, and people use every day? If you haven’t guessed already, it’s the key ring! VMA Promo offers a variety of key rings, some under 50 cents, and made from durable materials. All key rings are available at competitive prices and will ensure a repeated contact with your brand message, helping to build loyalty. Take your pick from: zinc alloy key rings in different styles and shapes, wood key rings, neoprene wristband key rings, torch key rings, and bottle opener key rings.
Key finder
If a coloured key ring is not enough to help you locate your keys, consider testing one of our key finders and possibly offering it as promotional product at your next tradeshow. These electronic gadgets are designed to enable you to locate missing keys or other small items; they include a remote that stays stationary and a key chain that connects to the keys. Whenever you cannot find your keys, simply press the button on the base station or remote and the key chain will beep loudly, enabling you to find the keys.
Data blocker
With the massive use of USB drives and charging stations, malevolent persons or hackers have found multiple ways to steal your data from these external storage devices or from your smartphone. As a result, you may be reluctant using public charging stations or introducing your USB drive into a computer you cannot trust 100%. Fortunately, you can take precautions to protect your personal information with a USD data blocker, a device which plugs into the charging port of your phone, acting as a shield between the untrusted device and your phone.
Coffee cups
Encourage your clients and business partners to ditch their reusable paper coffee cup, which cannot be recycled due to its interior plastic lining. There are plenty of alternatives in our coffee cup section, such as glass coffee cups, classic ceramic cups, stainless steel coffee cups, and microwave safe polypropylene cups with or without silicone or cork protective bands.
Are you looking to make the most out of your next tradeshow by using the latest marketing 2023 tactics? Don’t forget to incorporate expo giveaways in your strategy – the investment can be minimal or larger, depending on your budget. The results (new customers or repeat business) will continue to appear even years after offering these useful gifts due to the power of passive advertising.
