Trade show raffles are a fairly common marketing strategy, however they are not to most effective. A raffle may draw attendees to your trade show booth, but there are many things you want to consider before choosing to use a raffle as a trade show promotion. We have all tossed a business card into a fish bowl in the hopes of winning some fabulous prize; we are typically not interested in the company’s product or service, we just want the chance to win the prize. This being said, why would you assume all the leads generated from a trade show raffle are good, qualified leads.
A trade show raffle is not an inexpensive undertaking; companies typically hire professional models to distribute and collect information for the raffle. These models know they will be compensated for the number of names they acquire, so therefore, qualifying the entrants is not a priority for them. The prize itself needs to be something unique that the audience would want to win; it can’t just be a promotional bag. therefore it is not going to be cheap. Once the trade show is over, the prize has been given away and you are left with a fish bowl full of “qualified” leads; this would be fantastic if these were qualified leads, however all of them are not.
Once you are back from the trade show, these leads must be entered into a database; this takes time away from the other office duties of whoever is lucky enough to get this task. Once the leads have been entered into the database, then a mail packet must be prepared and mailed; the time spent preparing these packets and postage is another factor that must be considered in the overall cost of the raffle. Once these mail packets have had time to reach their destination then the sales staff must go to work calling all these leads; the vast majority of which will have no idea why they are being contacted. Therefore, trade show raffles are not a wise use of time or money.
Instead of a raffle, use these resources to generate a trade show experience using a trade show entertainer or invest in a better trade show exhibit campaign that will not only increase booth traffic, but will clearly define your product and produce leads that will result in increased sales. Give out promotional tote bags to all visitors and try and help them remember you. Raffles are better left to the church.
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