People always like free stuff. Sometimes they want free things for the sake of getting something free and other times they want something free in order to make an informed decision about a particular product or company. At a trade show, you want them to have a good impression of you and sometimes the way to their heart is through giving them something free that they can enjoy. You want attention to be drawn to your and giving away free stuff is the way to do it.

It is a good idea to have plenty of giveaways such as magnets, pens, business cards, brochures, candy, and even food. Food tends to be a different type of giveaway at a trade show, but doesn't have to be extravagant. The food can be cookies, doughnuts, popcorn, or anything that people will be able to easily eat while walking around or, better yet, browsing your booth. If at all possible, you can try to package your food items with your company's contact information. They'll remember you as being the booth with the popcorn balls or the amazing glazed doughnuts. Perhaps by packaging it with a business card or a napkin with the company name, they will remember the name of the company that gave them the great snack.

Another great idea to bring in more business is to have a gift certificate giveaway. You can do this by advertising that everyone who comes into your gets their name put into a drawing for a free gift certificate. This encourages them to come to your booth, which will most likely result in them browsing around. Chances are, they'll buy something, come back after the drawing, or tell someone else about what you're doing. As for the gift certificate winner, they will be excited to cash in their certificate and will most likely come back as a repeat customer. Any time someone wins something from a particular company, they are more likely to be loyal to that company.

However, you can run with doing drawings for various different prizes. You can do a single drawing or several drawings in a day and the prize should be relative to your business. Have the participants write down their information such as phone and address on their entry ticket and use that information to your advantage later on to "follow-up" with them.

It is quite amazing what a good giveaway can do. If you're known as the booth that gives away freebies and prizes, then people will be flocking to you. This gives them a great opportunity to see what it is you have to offer and for you to accumulate more sales and sales leads. It is true that doing such giveaways cost money, but many times it takes spending money to make money. The idea is to get a higher return on your investment so that you make back everything you spent and then some.

The booth that isn't doing any kind of giveaway will most likely not get the same attention you will unless they have a product that customers cannot resist. This does happen once in a while, but trade shows are very competitive, so it is about coming up with an innovative idea and utilizing that idea to yield a profit. Giveaways can do that. They give the customer something to enjoy, something to look forward to, and something to tell others about. Anytime someone wins something or gets something free, they have to tell their friends and family, especially when they win. Anyone who doesn't brag when they win just isn't human, so take advantage of that.