Advice on gifts, SWAG and trash and trinkets in libraries

I did this as a response to a question about the use of SWAG in libraries and thought it might be of wider interest.

“I can speak a little for the vendor goals when using swag in marketing environments.  It depends what you are trying to do, but, then, this type of marketing is difficult to measure ROI. This giftee/swag/trash and trinkets thing is a small tactic that is part of a bigger picture.  I worked for companies that might budget up to $500,000 for an ALA conference out of an $18million marketing (not sales) budget so the scale is very different. There are some things I’ve learned that might be relevant though.

Our frames were always:
1. Building brand awareness (especially after the many name changes/mergers, or you’re ‘new’ to this audience, and rebranding/new logos).
2. Extending conversations in the booth from look the other way and grab a handful of pens to have a conversation.
3. Thank you gifts to great customers or a thank you for feedback at an event/booth.
4. Attracting people to the booth for a conversation and look-see to show off new initiatives and new/renewed/revised product launches.
5. Getting folks to sit through a full demonstration or short presentation when the messaging is complex and visual.
6. Positioning yourself as a ‘player’ in the library market.

So, you need to know your goals first in the context of what you’re trying to do.  The two big goals that might matter to any library are, IMHO:

a. Branding and Identity Strategies: You don’t need to be around long to see the many new names, logos, taglines, marketing strategies and product changes and improvement so reframing your identity in the minds of customers and prospects is essential.
We always used passive ‘gifts’, or industry long “SWAG’, for this (pencils, bags, lanyards, squishees, shaped like something cool, pins, badges, cheap toys, candy with logo wraps, water, hand sanitizer, breath mints, etc.
If the things were helpful – like bags for loading up on stuff in the exhibit hall – people were grateful and your logo was carried around the hall – hence the wild bright colours! Baker & Taylor have owned this space with their collectible cat bags. Cats!
You need to hit on this multiple times to burn in changes and booth staff can sometimes struggle with questions given the range of behaviours on they might present themselves and what the underlying concern/need is.

b. Communication and Relationship Strategies: Attractive things that reward for a good conversation and are appreciated (not too heavy or awkward).  Our goal is to reward for the extended feedback from the customer (remember many booth staff are not in direct sales and often are help desk staff, trainers, executives, etc. who get a chance to see customers in a more comfortable environment (i.e., not when there was a ‘problem to be resolved).” The same things work for short presentation in a booth theatre to attract an audience or reward them for listening (and trading for their business card).
We used things like beach towels, Disney park passes, ‘green’ water bottles, invites to special events (focus groups, parties, drinks, lunch/dinners, etc.) when they qualified, USB drives (sometimes loaded with customer materials), umbrellas, hats, iTunes or Starbucks gift cards, books (I’ve written a few just for the booth), kids’ toys like Slinkies, special white papers, etc.  Imagination and differentiation rule from the rest of the exhibit hall noise.

c. Thank you gifts:  We use these (and stay under the public sector gifting rules for cost) to thank people for:

• attending an event (custom chocolates with cute packaging) – in our field purse size is best.
• participating in a focus group (Starbucks card under the legal limit) – again wallet size doesn’t weigh them down or generate curious questions from non-invitees in the lobby.
• serving on an advisory board or beta trial (I’ve had good success with logo watches or fountain pens which aren’t very expensive in bulk).

All SWAG can be used to signal the end of the conversation and guide them on their way so you can serve another in the Hall when it’s busy.  You chances of getting good time are improved with appointments and going at odd times.

The main measurement in the booth is getting leads – business cards or scanning your badge – or doing customer research on UX, training needs, and new product launches.  That’s about the most you can do for quantitative although we do measure follow through by staff assigned to follow up on captured requests for more info or a site / webinar demo.  Anything that builds a better relationship or generates better understanding needs a qualitative methodology. That’s the (free) cost of admission.  We required booth staff to contribute to group report on the event (value, should we go again, booth set-up, successes and room for improvement, etc.).  I used Surveymonkey to make it easy and track who responded.

Lastly, some SWAG can be digital (gift cards) and used as a follow through thank you to generate better memories along with requested collateral, or to request a Zoom meeting/demo.

Lastly, if you don’t train the staff in the appropriate use of SWAG, you’ll underachieve and waste a lot of the investment.

Hope this helps.

Stephen Abram. MLS, FSLA
CEO, Lighthouse Consulting, Inc.
Past President SLA”