At the end of a long day at a conference, event attendees can hopefully walk away with a few key lessons, some business cards, and ideas they can apply to their work. But often, they also leave with an armload of conference swag from trade show participants, sponsors and the organizers. Common swag items include T-shirts, pens, postcards and flyers with company info and discounts.
Swag bags are often filled with the same old stuff, much of which is being tossed in the trash as soon as attendees leave the building. Just because an item is free doesn’t mean it’s desirable or useful, and handing out 100 pens doesn’t mean you’ll convert any of those conference goers into customers or users.
Here’s how to make sure your swag catches the attention of event attendees and doesn’t end up in a garbage can.
1. Make It Something People Want
This seems like an obvious point, but it doesn’t seem like many companies actually think about it. Put yourself in the position of the conference attendee. Would you pick up that item if you walked by that booth? If the item was in a big swag bag, would it catch your attention, or would you throw it away without thinking twice?
Chances are if you wouldn’t use it, neither would anyone else. Also, make sure it’s something people don’t have 10 of already. Sure, USB keys and coffee mugs are desirable, but chances are you won’t be the only company at the event giving them out.
2. Seed Your Supporters
You’ll likely have a small swag budget, especially if you’re at a startup. One idea to make sure your items end up in the right hands is to create a smaller batch of items and make sure they get more exposure.
David Spinks, founder of BlogDash, had a limited budget this year for South by Southwest. So instead of buying 100 smaller items, he decided to get 20 T-shirts and give them out to good friends with the promise they would wear the shirt at least one day of the conference. This way, he got the exposure he wanted, the items actually went to good use, and he managed to stay under budget.
Hashable did something similar but on a larger budget. It sent its biggest supporters to SXSW for free. They wore branded T-shirts the whole time and used Hashable instead of carrying business cards. It was great branding for them, and the attendees were likely happy to wear the shirts in return for a free trip.
3. Go Digital
One of the trademark items at SXSW was the extremely heavy, overloaded swag bag. This year the organizers moved away from physical items and instead created a digital swag bag for attendees, accessible through a SXSW online account. The “SXswag” bag included discounts on apps and services, music downloads and even a free set of “We met at SXSW” Moo cards. It cut down on waste, but the jury is still out on whether the majority of people actually accessed the online bag (I know I didn’t).
Digital swag is an emerging trend and a great way to save money, but make sure it’s easy to access and that it’s desirable enough to get people to log on.
4. Go Green
