Monday, February 24, 2014

Tradeshow Trends

Tradeshows are a great way to reach potential leads for your business. Industries from tech to produce hold conferences throughout the year to discuss industry trends and to showcase products and services. In 2014, plan to make a lasting first impression with these tradeshow trends.

Engage your audience with data-driven learning experiences. These experiences allow your potential audience to engage with the brand, while providing your company with behavioral data and fill in the blanks of what people care about and their intentions of coming to your show. Use technology to figure out how people move within your space.

By focusing on conversation instead of hard sale tactics, your audience will have more of an opportunity to ask questions they believe are relevant to their business objectives. You should make your booth relevant to your audience to get their attention and be top of mind by accommodating their needs.

Create a space of comfort within your booth to hold meetings, sit and chat or hold a brief demonstration. Colors should be cool with a few light wood tones. The space should have a real world feel to increase the feeling of authenticity.

Stand out on the tradeshow floor by incorporating live music and demonstrations to capture the imagination of your audience in a branded way. This will increase brand awareness after the tradeshow.

Spend your budget wisely by creating an active brand and product engagement that makes sense to your target audience. Another way to spend wisely is to shop American Promotional Products for all of your tradeshow needs. We offer a wide variety of apparel and products from trusted brands.  By leveraging these tradeshow tactics you can turn your next tradeshow appearance into a success! 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Valentine’s Day at the Office

With Valentine’s Day on a Friday this year, it is time for a refresher on handling Valentine’s Day at the office. While some hopeless romantics are lovesick over flowers, candies and sweet nothings from their significant others, some people don’t care for a holiday that encourages doting on your loved ones. Valentine’s Day opinions can make the day particularly sensitive, so here are some ways we recommend handling Valentine’s Day at the office.

Gift giving should be done in a fair way. Just like in elementary school, if you bring in a Valentine’s Day card for one person, you bring them in for everyone. Not including someone in your Valentine’s Day gifts may cause their feelings to be hurt or can make them feel uncomfortable.

If you want to give gifts to some people, do it outside of the office. The same goes for flirting. Valentine’s Day can be seen as a time to express feelings for a person in hopes that your romantic interest is reciprocated, but it is best to keep your relationships out of the office.


Keep your emotions in check on Valentine’s Day. Three girls in the office received flowers from their boyfriend, and you are single. Emotions run high on Valentine’s Day, but you cannot let them affect your work. Instead, take a deep breath, leave your emotions at the door and focus on the task at hand – work.

Harness emotions the night before by baking cookies as a sweet treat to everyone in the office. Everyone loves a cookie, especially when emotions are high. It is a great way to help your fellow coworkers relax and enjoy the day.


A nice way for management to get involved in the Valentine’s Day spirit is gift giving. Show your employees how much you care by getting them something as simple as a personalized mug. At American Promotional Products, you can select from a wide range of tumblers, mugs, bags and other branded promotional products that are a nice way to say that you appreciate your people.