8 Awesome Swag Ideas for Your Next Conference or Business Fair

As the new year is in full swing again, many businesses will be preparing to head back out to business fairs and conferences. When it comes to networking, there aren’t many better opportunities to put your brand in front of so many people at once and have the ability to leave an impression face-to-face.

But while your personality and conversation may be an important part of your pitch, another great initiative to leave your potential new partners interested, is by including some fun promotional “swag” that can be not only practical but a fun way for your new network to help your audiences commit your brand to memory.

Chances are if you have been to a business fair before, then you already know how many types of company merch there are – and how they may not always be the best quality. Cheap rubber bracelets and flimsy water bottles are a common sight, but you can leave a much better impression with new and interesting promotional business merchandise.

That is why we have created this list of the most impressive, eye-catching business merchandise for sale that will make anyone interested in coming up to your stand for a chat and leaving with your company in mind.

Tumblers

If you want to offer a step up from the cheap water bottles that you have become accustomed to finding at events, then you should consider offering tumblers to visitors instead. Tumblers can offer much more quality and uses than water bottles and can not only be a quality gift that lasts but a reminder of your brand as well.

By creating personalized tumblers, you can offer a cool keepsake to engage visitors and keep your brand on their minds long after the event has ended. With personalization options like those at PenFactory, you can put your logo on a high-quality tumbler that your new potential customers will use each day. Now whenever they are making their morning coffee, they can reach to grab their newly acquired tumbler and recall their experiences with your brand.

For example, check out this customizable 20 oz. Tumbler. It comes in four different colors with a durable design that allows you to place a high-quality business logo that will last for years to come.

Snacks

A business conference can be a lengthy event. Making your way among all of the stands, stopping for conversations, and remaining on your feet for what can be hours at a time is a tiring process. This presents a great opportunity for businesses looking to make their presence stand out, and attractive to attendees. By offering snacks at your booth, you can appeal to event goers who are looking for a break and some refreshments during a long day of networking.

Some advantages of snacks are the fact that they are very easy to buy and store, so if you’re traveling to an event you won’t have to worry too much about logistics. And while you may be thinking of heading over to a local wholesaler and picking up some snack packs, there is an even more desirable option for marketers: personalized snacks!

You can customize snack packaging so that your branding is featured. This can be especially beneficial if you offer them to go with visitors to your stand, as when the time finally comes for them to enjoy their snack, they’ll be confronted with the image of your brand, and recall your interaction.

If you purchase customized candy or snacks, there is a good chance you will need a container or bowl to store them in on your company’s table. Why settle for a boring bowl when you could have a container with your company’s logo on it – another chance to showcase your branding? 

Check out this Silicone Snack Container from PenFactory. It is large enough to hold customized snacks, and fully customizable for your business. Not to mention, it’s plastic free! Purchase one if you plan to have snacks at your next business trade show. 

Promotional Candy

While snacks are nice for keeping your hunger at bay throughout the day, sometimes it can be nice to enjoy a little treat just because. When people come by your stand during a business fair, you may want to offer something that sets an easygoing mood, and candy is a great option to do this.

Candy comes in many varieties, and is also easily stored and moved, even more than snacks. You can set up a single section of candy or offer many different choices. Having visitors pause to look and consider could also be a great opportunity to engage them in extended conversation, which can help your networking initiatives.

Taking a pause from the more serious atmosphere and taking a break to enjoy a little chocolate or other sweet is a nice reprieve for these conference visitors. You can personalize promotional candy products and leave them with a parting reminder of your business. Considering the fact that eating candy is also often a positive experience, attaching your brand to that feeling is a good way to leave a better impression in the minds of your visitors.

Stickers

Some fair-goers won’t be interested in consumables, however. But you still have many options to choose from for a cool piece of business swag with logo for your booth visitors. One such option is to create stickers for your brand.

With these business fairs being such large events, it is only natural that some people will get worn down over the length of the event. So even if your networking skills are top tier, and you feel that you had meaningful engagement, it is still possible that your business could get lost in the sheer volume of the experiences had at the event.

By offering a sticker with your brand logo, and even some contact details, you offer another reminder of your business, and when looking through their goodie bag or event materials, a client could be reminded of your brand and the conversations you had with them that day. If you want to enable your brand to be seen by as many as possible, you can even look to add cool designs or slogans, with your contact information as a smaller portion of the sticker. This way it could be plastered on windows, cars, or other objects which may generate questions from those who see it.

Hand Sanitizers

With Winter and Spring in full swing, people have become more conscious of germs and viruses spreading around and their hygiene in general. Spending a long day at a business conference means you may have conversations with a lot of new people and shake a lot of hands. To give people peace of mind, and a keepsake they can keep using after the event ends, consider offering hand sanitizers at your booth!

Hand sanitizers are such a common gift, but that is for good reason. They’re always at checkout displays because it is incredibly convenient to have on hand after pumping your gas or eating some food, for instance. By offering hand sanitizers at your stand, you can get people interested in approaching, and secure a promotional product that can keep your brand relevant for months after the event is over. Especially if you personalize them with your branding.  

Branded Clothing

Even if you’re a well-off business professional visiting a conference in order to promote your rapidly expanding enterprise, everyone likes free things! Whether it is small keepsakes like pencils or highlighters, it can be fun to collect keepsakes and company swag to memorialize these events. Chances are you will be among a sea of businesses with their own booths looking to stand out. In this case, it can be worth it to make a larger impression on passersby and a good way to do this is with branded clothing.

The most popular and accessible clothing items for events are t-shirts, hats, hoodies, and crewnecks. While you can offer multiple sizes if you’d like, these are often quite flexible as a one-size-fits-all option and can be a fun collector’s item for attendees who find themselves visiting many of these events throughout the year.

And while these pieces of branded clothing can be memorable for the individual, if they do end up wearing them out and about, you also have free advertisement for your business that may be less applicable with smaller gifts!

Toiletries

While regional business fairs that bring in business from around town are popular and valuable networking events, many conferences will focus on a larger area, and people may be traveling from much farther away in order to attend these events. To offer some goods that are not only reminiscent of your brand, but also useful for people on the go, consider offering toiletries at your business stand.

Now you don’t have to go overboard or offer anything too intimate, but small offerings like travel-sized toothpaste tubes, shampoo bottles, or even a compact mirror can be thoughtful gifts that won’t be a burden to a traveling professional. Imagine that you flew hundreds of miles and you arrived at the business conference unsure if you remembered to pack all of your essentials. This can be a common mistake, but the relief of seeing a stand with convenient toiletries would be enough to make you stop by and observe the providing business.

By personalizing these items, you can even make sure you stay on the attendee’s minds when they go back to their hotel, and when they finally return home.

Pens and Stationery

While digital devices have come to dominate not only the business world but society in general, that does not mean more analog gifts are out of the question for you to offer at your stand. When it comes to pens and stationery, for instance, many people are more comfortable taking notes by hand, which can come incredibly handy at a networking event.

Pens and stationery can be a good promotional purchase for several reasons.

Pens, journals, notebooks, and stationery products are quite affordable to buy in bulk, while still being high quality. Even more, all of these items are products that business people use on a day-to-day basis, so they are practical. Finally, these products are durable, and can last for years. We probably all have an old pen or pencil from a school or business event that we use to make quick notes or keep close by in case of emergency. Personalizing a pen with your branding could mean that you stick with an attendee much longer, as a more personal connection means they are less likely to throw it out.

Notebooks and paper pads are also valuable items, and in a busy event like a business fair, can come in handy for taking down contacts and making short notes. But in the case that you do want to accommodate more of the digital types, then you can also always go for a stylus pen. With a soft touch stylus tip, these pens can be used with touchscreen devices and even customized with your branding.

Conclusion

If your company is looking to attend a conference or trade show, then it is important that you consider what promotional items you can offer to leave the best impression on attendees.

While we created this list to offer 8 different promotional items to swag up your visitors, there are many more offers you can look to explore at PenFactory. Pen is in our name as we specialize in a variety of pen builds, functions, and qualities, offering everything from fun and colorful plastic pens, to precious metal designs that are the epitome of luxury. But more than that we offer a selection of office supplies, drinkware, bags, and many more categories of items that you can personalize to make the most of your appearance at a business conference.

Visit PenFactory’s site today and begin making your personalized order!

We have many options to help with customize your products and get your order to you as quickly as possible, in case of a last-minute need for events. No need to search for “merchandise near me,” you’ve got PenFactory!