Keep Your Friends Close and Your Competition Closer

The tradeshow floor is filled with hundreds of prospects waiting to meet you.  Unfortunately, the floor is also filled with booths after booths of your competition, scoping out your potential clients and trying to woo them over to their side.  A good agent always keeps track of his contacts – friend or foe – so how do you make the most of sharing the room with your competition?

Investigation: Send out spies to see what other companies are doing to draw a crowd.  Maybe you’ll find an idea that inspires you to try something new at the next show!

Make Friends:  You’re still going to be competing with these people no matter what, so why not make friends with the employees?  You never know who could be working for your competition.  Maybe there’s the ideal employee for you sitting unhappily at the table down the aisle, working for the wrong company!

Find References: Maybe you can’t help a potential client with a particular order.  Try to snoop around and find out which companies are at the show, so you will be able to refer your prospect to someone who can.  Even though you can’t help them this time, your prospect will remember how helpful you were and might think of you in the future for other orders.

Even though you may be competing for clients, you can still have a good working relationship with the other vendors at a show.  You never know when having an extra contact in the business might come in handy!

Brush Pass Giveaway: Bags

Undercover Printer's Bag Ladies

In the spy world, a “brush pass” is when two agents meet for a very short period of time and something of value is passed between the two.  In the trade show world, you will be making a large number of brush passes as you hand out promotional items to potential clients.  How can you be sure the items you are passing out are staying with your prospects?  Our agents have been on the case, and we’ve discovered evidence that a good quality bag could be the answer to all of your promotional item worries!  Why?

They’re helpful:  With all the loot people will be picking up at trade shows, their hands can get full pretty quickly.  A good bag will be sought out by people laden with other promotional goodies from all around the show.

They disguise your competition:  When you give away a good quality bag to your potential clients, all of your competition’s merchandise will end up making their way in there.  For the entirety of the show, your brand will be the only one seen as all the others stay hidden in your bag!

They stay with clients:  Even after the rest of the show materials from inside your bag are cleared out, people can always use an extra bag.  People use nonwoven bags for grocery shopping, storage, and transportation all the time and are always looking for more quality ones, especially if they are free!

They’re easy to customize:  There are many options for you to truly customize your bag to represent your company in the best way possible.  Nonwoven bags are always a customer favorite and are the most likely to be used after the show as opposed to plastic or paper.  Bags can be printed in full color to perfectly match your brand’s logo and things like additional pockets can help keep your prospects organized.  With bags priced as low as $1, you can find the perfect bag for any budget!

Whatever you choose, don’t be afraid to spend a little bit more to ensure that you are getting your money’s worth.  More expensive products will generally be better made and will stay in the hands of your potential customers longer. You can also offer to sponsor the bag that the show is giving out!  These bags, handed out to everyone at the start of the show, will ensure that your brand gets into the hands of every single person attending the show.

Hand out a quality bag and watch your brand walk around the show!

-by Jenna Marie, Chief Code Breaker

Stick it to them!

undercoverprinterSo you’ve made the effort and gone around to say hello to your clients – now what? How often will you have contact with them? Once a year for a check up on your services? Make sure you leave behind reminders of you and your company so that they don’t forget.

Now, wait just a second before you order up a fresh batch of chip clips or $.50 pens. Are your clients only worth half a dollar to continue doing business with you? Will the items you leave behind make an impression or end up in the receptionist’s drawer with the unwanted? Take the time, and the money, to plan out the ideal leave behind that portrays the value of your product or service and the value of that client or prospect to your organization.

I’ve never heard of an IT company making an impression with a chip clip – think about it. Seek the advice of an expert or a creative thinker if you are having a hard time finding that perfect thing to keep your message sticking around all year. Have fun and be creative! Make the giveaway a part of your brand and something with a perceived value that will not be tossed aside or consumed before it is remembered.

Time Matters

Everyone wants a great deal, especially in this economy. With the ease of searching on the internet, many companies feel that they are saving a bundle on marketing products by having an employee search around for the best price.

Unfortunately, dollar for dollar, the company spends almost 30% more using this method because of the cost of the employees wages to do the searching, along with the costly mistakes of using unknown vendors and relying on that voice on the phone.

What to do? Find vendors that are local, reliable, and reasonably priced-ones that you can count on to get the job done right the first time! You may find out quickly how little that employee has to do all day – for the $20K/year that he adds to your bottom line!

Your Marketing Partner in Crime

You’ve reached the top secret spy blog for Undercover Printer. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to market your business efficiently and affordably. We hope to help you achieve that with our posts and links on this blog.

If you are an agent (client) of Undercover Printer, or just have something to share, please give us your comments! We’d love to hear from you!