3 Reasons Why Promotional Products Trade Shows are Changing

Attendees mingle at Promo Marketing's Power Meeting.

Trade shows are invaluable tools in our industry: They let you see new product, connect with associates, and learn new selling and marketing strategies. The traditional, big industry shows, like PPAI Expo, are great for many reasons and always will be needed.

That said, with the crowds, the time investment and the cost, many trade shows leave a lot to be desired. For many distributors, hosted-buyer events have become the preferred way to find new product and make new connections. In a recent survey, 100 percent of distributors polled said they prefer the one-on-one format of Promo Marketing’s Power Meetings to a traditional trade show.

This new evolution of the trade-show world is a reaction to the biggest obstacles distributors face today. In a survey with hundreds of leading distributors, these were the three main reasons they said trade shows are changing.

1. Trade Shows Are Expensive

Plane tickets, hotel rooms, taxis, dining—there are a lot of costs associated with trade shows. No matter how you look at it, trade shows are a big investment.

Hosted-buyer events can solve this problem. The typical trade-show costs are 100 percent free at Promo Marketing Power Meetings. Hotel, airfare and meals are all complimentary for qualifying distributors, making the events easy to attend.

2. It's Hard to Do Business at Trade Shows

Say you need some face time with a supplier before you can land a big sale. You go to its booth but every time you do it’s too crowded. The supplier can only talk for 90 seconds before scanning your badge and talking to the next attendee. That’s not how business gets done.

Power Meetings are the opposite. Each distributor gets a 20-minute, one-on-one meeting with every vendor. The suppliers are there to answer questions and help you develop ideas to land more sales. You can even contact them before the show with questions and artwork so they can prepare samples and answers to best suit your needs.

3. Trade Shows Don't Make You Money

You can see thousands of new products and meet dozens of suppliers at a trade show. Whether all that translates into dollars is another story. How many business cards do you get from people whom you never call? How many times do you leave an event with nothing but a few samples and a lot of bills?

Identifying the value of trade shows is hard, but finding the value in Power Meetings is easy. The numbers speak for themselves:

• 95 percent of attendees said they started working on an order with a supplier they met at Power Meetings.
• 100 percent said information from Power Meetings will influence their buying decisions in the next 12 months.
• 95 percent said they sent product information to a client as a result of Power Meeting.
• 100 percent said Power Meetings were beneficial.

Promo Marketing’s Power Meetings are the future of trade shows. To find out more and see if you qualify to attend, email us at powermeetings@promomarketing.com or visit www.pmpowermeetings.com.

Want to attend an upcoming Power Meeting? There are limited spots available for the following events:

• Power Meeting - San Antonio, May 22 to 25 (Register today—space is extremely limited!)
• Power Meeting - Atlanta, June 29 to July 1 (co-located with PPAI’s Women’s Leadership Conference)
• Power Meeting - San Francisco, August 16 to 18 (co-located with PPAI’s North American Leadership Conference)
• Power Meeting - San Diego, August 28 to 31
• Power Meeting - Atlanta, October 5 to 8