Nifty Idea for Trade Show Marketing

I attended a trade show recently and ran across this gem of a low-cost marketing tactic. For any of you who do trade shows, this one is worth emulating!

Several of the exhibitors had formulated a marketing cooperative for the event. These eight companies printed a one-page flyer, similar to a "dance card" or one of those free-dozen-donuts cards. This flyer had a brief description of each of the participating companies, a map to show their respective locations & booth numbers ... and a blank checkbox.

Each of the partners handed out the flyer from their exhibit booth and explained the rules of the contest to interested newcomers. Of course you could also get your card stamped in return for visiting one of the participating booths. Anyone who visited all of the partners' booths and earned all of his card stamps became eligible to win one of several really desirable prizes. They were giving away a mountain bike, a set of Callaway golf clubs and a computer memory backup/storage device... really hip, valuable stuff.

By collaborating on a program like this one, each of the participants became BIGGER than any one of them could have been individually. Bigger, better prizes. More buzz. Nicer, glossier flyer. More traffic ... and more sales leads.

Kudos!