Know-How Exchange : Strategy

the best thing you can do is presell, presell. Your reps have to talk it up. When I do one, I set appointments -- hourly. And handle the walk ins for my territory in between.

Having said that, Doc's love their freebies. I dated one and we didn't have a kleenex box, pen, or mug without a logo on it. Make sure they're good quality. They get tons of schwag.

There were two that really stood out, and my beau went out of his way to get. One, a usb flashdrive with a logo on it. Another was a usb flashdrive/pen combo. Another was a set of flags (the paper markers) in a hard cover-- with a larger sticky note. From a marketing standpoint, that gave the company a lot more room for advertising. Doc's drink a LOT of coffee-- he'd hunt a rep down for a travel coffee mug.

Sell Well and Prosper tm

Lots of good ideas here with the presell and credits for education. If doctors are your target, swag is not going to pull them in. They will maybe take it to give to their office people.

I did see a really cool 3D plasma screen - no glasses needed. At least in my tradeshow world, it would be a stopper - people would come in just to view the cool videos. If you can find this, that is what I would do. Pique their curiosity with something they have not seen.

John

You could do a drawing for one really big item such as a set of golf clubs or something electronic. This way they have to give you their information to win. You can do a presell mailer where they fill out their information and do a brief survey and drop it off at your booth or mail it in using a postage paid stamping with a cut off date. No need to be present to win. Also have some at your booth so that they can fill it out there. You can do some smaller give aways that go along with whatever you give out too such as golf balls or DVD's or gift certificates. Make it fun throughout the day and make a theme out of it. Or instead of little giveaways for everyone do games such as a putting green game with a hole in one gift or DVD trivial pursuit questions where they receive the giveaway if they get the answer correct.

Good Luck,
Promo Chic

Offer a free trip (including airline tickets) for two to a resort.

Trade shows are generally overwhelming affairs - so much competing stimulus. Offer the opposite - a quiet place to sit, with your literature around. Have the chairs look like (or have graphics of) the spine. Position graphics so people sitting are seeing the before/after images.

First of all...be wary of the massage idea for this reason: Those who are qualified buyers of your products are there to work and will not position themselves to be seen not working either by their peers or supervisors. You will end up leaking most of your promo budget to spouses, friends and non-qualified leads.

I would suggest the simple fishbowl giveaway. By any fashion you see fit (business cards, entry forms or pre-mailed entry tokens) do an hourly drawing of an item that has good perceived value. (i.e. ipods, putters, etc.) Have a giant white board and write the names of the winners. This brings them back periodically to see if they won. Sometimes they bring potential leads back with them. How well it's promoted will determine the success of any lead generating strategy.

An unconventional promo I've wanted to try:
Omaha Steaks delivered to their home or office. Just haven't had the right opportunity.

How will your product benefit the buyer? I would focus more on this than on the gimmicks, just to help your sales people realize more sales and connect with the right interested buyers, and not just following up with someone who participated in the giveaway. It would seem to me that the expense of spending time on uninterested prospects would be a waste of their time and that time could be better used with actual interested prospects of the product.