Yen-sight #3: Do you really need giveaways?

Take a quick look at your workspace. Now take a peek at your desk or counters at home. Have you been secretly collecting a pile of conference pens? What about notepads? Or did you unknowingly gathered up the newest trend in your closet - eco-friendly reusable bags? (I admit I have about two dozen reusable bags, mainly from the conferences/events I managed or attended over the past year!) I recently read an article on inc.com on the impact and effect of giveaways (aka swag aka chachke) at events, 11 Ideas for Cool Giveaways, and it reminded me of an experience last year I encountered while working as an intern at a software organization.


For one of our biggest tradeshows of the fiscal year attracting 10, 000 individuals across three days (which we sponsored and subsequently had a large presence in the exhibit space), we chose not to have swag at our booth. Nothing at all. No pens, no highlighters, no lanyards... no useless junk cluttered up our space. Was this decision to not have swag due to budget constraints? No, not really. Was it due to the intern not wanting to purchase swag? Highly unlikely ;) We chose not to have any swag simply because we wanted to attract decision makers who were there to LEARN about our solutions and technology from our representatives. While I have always had swag at events I managed or supported, the decision to eliminate it completely worried me... would we still get a high turnout?

The eighth point in the article from Carmen B hits it home. Here's an excerpt of Carmen's point which illustrates why having swag isn't always the best and most effective tactic to encourage your audience to move through the sales pipeline.

"...instead of spending money on swag, invest the money to sponsor tradeshow promotions that drive attendees to your booth, where you can collect and scan their data while speaking directly to them... you leave with real ammunition to drive post-event sales."

While I didn't fully understand the impact of not having swag during our planning discussions, after the event I had a well-rounded understanding of how that impacted the individuals who stopped by our booth and how we could continue the conversation after the event. You want to attract and initiate the conversation with key members of your targeted audience through the booth set-up, the presentations, the representatives who have the initial contact with your audience... not through giveaways. Granted there will always be individuals who will be disappointed you didn't give away fancy pens or USB's, but the real value in your work is knowing that you have access to these folks after the day is over. By collecting relevant and updated data, you can connect with those individuals to pursue their business and further the discussion. In the end, that's precisely what happened to my team - we targeted the right individuals, secured their contact information, and both parties received something more than a "giveaway" transaction. And we did this all without having any swag in our area (it feels really good to know you don't have to bring any leftovers back to the office!)

So in the end, I learned you really don't need swag to do business (obviously in certain scenarios having giveaways does no harm). If you have a specific objective and you want to "weed out" individuals who have no ability to further contracts with your organization, you will simply attract decision makers by having the right people present in your area. They are not there for swag - and will not be disappointed if you don't give them another pen to add to their collection.

(Side note: inc.com is one of my fave resources for the latest and greatest business, marketing and leadership trends)