Jeffrey Nykerk

On of the best ways to track and measure the success of your promotional item/products is to create a social media event. Have the people take a picture using the item and post it to your social media platform(s) with multiple hashtags. Then have people vote on the best post with the winner getting a significant prize. Not necessarily an expensive prize, but one that is popular and current.

When I was head of marketing for a folding carton manufacturer, my most well-received promotion was creating a popcorn box with our company name that contained various ink, foil stamp, and coating options. I made sure each year to include "Visit Us at Booth xxx". We had two popcorn machines in the booth, so the smell of popcorn wafting throughout the likes of the Javitz Center created a buzz amongst the participant. The best part of the promotion was the person holding a popcorn box that read Visit Us at Booth xxx as they walked the convention floor, as well as boxes being left on the tables of other booths, lounges, etc. The best validation was when your largest competitor comes by and asks for popcorn because their CEO had a box...

Unless you are in a service industry, you will want to focus on the product your organization manufactures or sells. For example, if your company sells writing implements, the logical option is to showcase them at your booth. Besides handing out free samples (with company info on it), other options are images displayed on the booth. Also having a drawing for one of your more expensive items creates the opportunity to collect contact information for follow up after the show.

What I found helpful to increase participation is some type of remuneration. Whether it's cash, gift card, or simply providing the results of the study once completed goes a long way. Each survey is different and depending on the desired outcome, one of the above-mentioned would help.

One of the most annoying exclusions I encounter when reviewing surveys is the lack of a progress bar, especially when time to complete is more than 8 minutes on a desktop/laptop. Five minutes from a mobile device. It is difficult enough to get respondents to take your surveys. Including a progress bar lowers the psychological anticipation of when the survey will be completed. Always include a progress bar or % until completion.

What is missing from the information on the left is the respondent's involvement. Anyone can create a survey, but without rigorous testing of the survey in advance with a cross-section of participants, the results may be disastrous. Testing includes not only using multiple devices, but also geographic consideration, on WiFi, cell network, and Lan connection. Some survey platforms also have the capability of taking the survey off-line and once the device is reconnected, the store data is uploaded to the server. Creating a well-rounded survey is more advantageous on a platform that already has mobile technology built-in as opposed to creating it yourself using HTML, CSS, etc.