Candy Adams, CTSM, CME, CEM, CMP, CMM, is an independent exhibit-management consultant, trainer, speaker, writer, and an Exhibitor conference faculty member. CandyAdams @BoothMom.com

one are the days when you could afford to set out a pile of branded giveaways for booth beggars to bring home to their kids. After all, with budgetary belts tightening in most exhibit-marketing departments, excess is not an option. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even in the best of times, indiscriminately handing out branded stress balls and T-shirts can be a big expense with an insignificant - and often unmeasurable - return.

However, when exhibitors select giveaways based on specific objectives, they can be a cost-effective investment that ultimately benefits the bottom line. They can help you lure prospects to your space, thank clients for current business, thank booth visitors for the time they spent with you, and/or remind clients and prospects of your product or exhibit theme.

The following seven suggestions cover some of the most effective giveaways that I've used or seen on the show floor. Hopefully these ideas will help you select an item that fits your budget and assists you in accomplishing your exhibit-marketing objectives in the process.

1. Free Show-Hall Passes
If a customer or prospect does not have the budget to attend the trade show, offer a free pass to the exhibit hall. Show management often provides exhibitors with free tickets to the show floor anyway, which makes this a low- or no-cost option with a very high perceived value. But even if you have to pay for the passes, it may be worth the investment, and is probably less expensive than a sales call. Make sure to highlight the value of this pass, so the invitees know they're getting a great deal. And given the state of many companies' travel budgets, this kind of giveaway is extremely relevant, and likely to be particularly well received.

Free passes are especially effective for customers that live in or near the show's host city. Check your sales database for those customers and hot prospects who are local or within a few hours driving distance of the show. If they were on the fence about attending, your offer of a free pass will likely ensure their attendance. And they'll undoubtedly stop by your booth to thank you for your generosity, giving you a face-to-face opportunity you otherwise would have missed.

2. Gift Cards
Gift cards for gas stations, bookstores, coffee shops, and home-improvement stores are always a hit. They're also easy to distribute in various denominations, based on the attendee. For example, you can tier the giveaways so that casual passersby receive a smaller amount than VIP customers or hot prospects. Staff members can have one pocket with $5 gift cards and one with $15 cards, to distribute based on your specific qualifying criteria. And for those local customers with travel restrictions, the offer of a $25 gas card and a free show-floor pass can go a long way toward securing their attendance.

Some companies have restrictions on the gifts that their employees can receive. The low-end cut-off point is usually about $25. If your gift exceeds a company's limit, the attendee may have to refuse it or turn it in to the company for corporate use. In fact, at medical-industry shows and many shows in the government/nonprofit sector, gifts to attendees are generally prohibited.

3. Product Samples
Products promoted at a trade show vary from commercial printing presses to bicycle locks. But most fall in between. If you can afford to give away a sample or trial of your product, it can be one of the most effective giveaways possible. After all, assuming attendees accept the trial offer and use it, it's virtually the only giveaway that results in hands-on exposure to your product. And assuming your product lives up to the expectations you set, the trial offer will likely move them further along the sales cycle than any logo-adorned tchotchke ever could.

If your product is too expensive to offer to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, consider selecting only your top 10 prospects at the show and giving them the trial offer. Or, if your company sells software or services, consider a short trial period so attendees can experience the product and confidently sign on the dotted line once they see - with their own eyes - that it lives up to your marketing claims.

4. Two-Part Gifts
I've seen some really fun giveaways where the exhibitor mailed a low-priced part of the giveaway before the show and invited recipients to come to the exhibit to get the other half. Examples include mailing attendees a watchband and promising a branded watch face if they visit the booth, sending a lanyard and offering the matching stopwatch in your exhibit, and mailing a branded Post-It Note pad via direct mail with the promise of a monogrammed desk set if recipients attend an in-booth meeting.

This strategy gives you multiple contacts with the customer, and makes a memorable impression. Plus, the pre-show element helps you score a spot on attendees' coveted must-see lists at the show. In fact, you can include a call to action that helps to solidify their plans to visit your booth: Request that they schedule an appointment to stop by the booth and retrieve the second part of their two-part giveaway. That way, they have penciled you in to their plans for the show, and you know when to expect each prospect, allowing you to anticipate their visits and personalize your sales presentations.

5. Personalized Gifts
Speaking of personalization, there are many ways you can personalize promotional products for attendees. In fact, many of them can be done right in your exhibit, including vendors with portable engravers (for pens), embossers (for putting names on faux leather journals), and sewing machines (for embroidering names on hats, shirts, or jackets). Personalized items have a higher perceived value, and send the message that you care about each individual visitor. After all, a branded pen is a branded pen. But a branded pen with your prospect's name engraved or printed on it is all the more likely to make it make it back to his or her office without getting tossed in a trash can on the show floor or back at the hotel.

Assuming that it takes some time to personalize each item, you can take advantage of the wait time to qualify prospects and communicate your key messages. If it takes longer, you can either send the item after the show, or ask them to stop back later to retrieve the finished gift. Either way, it gives you an additional touch point with the attendee, and the wait time actually heightens the perceived value of the item even more.

If booth time is limited, personalize your items before the show by e-mailing attendees and asking them to visit a Web site to schedule an in-booth appointment and provide their name as they'd like it engraved on their gift. Then you can personalize the items before the show and commit attendees to pick them up in your exhibit. If attendees do not retrieve their items, you can send them after the show with any promotional information you distributed in your booth and a note that you missed seeing them at the show, but would like to set up a time to tell them about your products or services. Then have a salesperson follow up to make sure they received the item, and to gauge their interest and offer additional information.

6. In-Booth Experiences
What kind of activity can you create that will offer your exhibit staff quality time with each attendee? For one of my clients with only a 10-by-10-foot booth space, I created a two-part relaxation station themed "Take the Pressure Off." One side of the booth had a few comfortable chairs with inexpensive vibrating foot massagers (that you didn't need to remove your shoes to use), while the other half of the booth was reserved for three-minute shoulder massages.

Sales staff engaged and qualified the booth visitors waiting in line for their complimentary foot and shoulder massages, while a humorous video presentation played on a small LCD screen during attendees' massages, which we called the "massage message." The video capitalized on our captive audience, communicating key messages about the exhibitor's products in a memorable way.

Another client of mine created an in-booth strategy that combined the personalized-gift concept with a low-key experience. The booth featured a bistro area with free coffee and a journal embosser. While the attendees were waiting for their journal to be embossed with their name on the cover, they were invited to sit down and have a cup of coffee or tea. Exhibit staff engaged waiting attendees, qualifying them and communicating key messages while they drank their complimentary beverage.

7. Web-Site Information
While this may not classify as a giveaway in a traditional sense, when my giveaway budget is really low, I often give away specially printed business cards with my clients' show-specific URLs and passwords to download a variety of industry-related information. If your company has industry-specific research, Webinars or educational videos, or anything along those lines, access to that information can prove far more valuable to attendees than a branded pen. And in many cases, the information already exists, so the only expense is printing the business cards that direct attendees to the URL.

This low-cost strategy not only provides attendees a tangible takeaway, it also can position your company as a thought leader in the industry that is willing to go out of its way to help clients and prospects do their jobs. Plus, you can create an online sign-in page that captures attendees' contact and/or qualifying information when they log on to view your content. You can also track who visits the URL and pass on that information to the sales department, as it is an indication that the prospect is keenly interested in your company, giving salespeople a big green light to follow up.

So while giving may indeed be better than receiving, before you choose to distribute giveaway items in your company's exhibit, at least consider the aforementioned options. After all, giving the right gift makes you far more likely to get something - be it ROI or increased brand awareness - in return.e