Effective Printed Materials Make Great Trade Show Handouts

Of all the things you can give out at your trade show booth, by far the most useful and most direct in terms of communicating your sales message is some kind of printed material.

Unfortunately, compared to more imaginative handouts, printed materials can be fairly ordinary — some would call them boring. But the fact remains that printed materials are almost always the best way to communicate your promotional message.

You work hard to make an impression with your trade show booth. And you train your staff to say all the right things. But once your visitors are gone there are really only two things connecting them with your company and your products: your follow-up strategy, and your handouts. Will your handouts make it past the waste basket? Have you made them an integral part of your follow-up strategy?

One of your primary goals should be to put a piece of product literature into the hands of your prospects and get them to take it back to the office. You want to avoid it being thrown into the garbage can just outside the exhibition hall.

Why printed product literature?

One important reason why product literature makes such a popular handout is because printed pieces of paper or card stock are inexpensive. And when your printed pieces are well designed and nicely produced they can be much more effective in terms of communicating your message than things like hats, mugs or pens.

So what makes an effective piece of product literature? Here are a few suggestions.

First, creative graphic design is important. A poorly designed cheap one colour flier does not look good on your company or your products. You often don’t need an expensive multi-page brochure. But what you do need is an attractive, simple advertising piece that has catchy graphics and a clear statement of “the pitch”.

Use full colour photographs and a striking headline. And try to come up with something more than a description of the product. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask what features and benefits they are looking for in your product. And then create a “benefit-rich” statment in your product literature that focuses on your product’s customer-oriented benefits.

Second, make an offer your potential customers cannot refuse. Give them something like a free pen or a credit against their first order for filling in an inquiry form or customer survey. Or coordinate your offer with your website by encouraging your prospects to take advantage of a special offer they can only access online.

This strategy should encourage your prospects to keep your handouts, at the same time as enticing them to respond by accessing your website to have another look at your special offer. In other words, this could be a very effective followup strategy.

Third, design your printed handouts so your prospects will be likely to keep them. Everybody keeps business cards, so make sure to include a business card in your handout package. Many people keep business cards for years — often long after the person has left the company or the company has ceased to exist.

Business cards are important, so make yours stand out from the crowd. Printing is so inexpensive now you can print your cards in full color without incurring much of an expense. Use a full color photo of your product, or some other striking photo to communicate your marketing message. These days online photography websites have hundreds of photographs you can use for almost nothing.

Another idea is a full color post card / business card combination. Design the 3.5″ x 6″ postcard as a coupon or a “request for more information” that has your company mailing address pre-printed on the reverse side. When your prospects tear off the perforated card they are left with a business card for their card file or Rolodex

The imaginative ways you can use printed materials is almost limitless. Put a bit of time and effort into designing striking handouts and you won’t be disappionted with the returns.