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If you’re looking to maximize your trade show presence beyond your booth, sponsorships are a fantastic opportunity to increase your brand visibility. Sponsorships come in many different forms and are available for practically any budget. Here are 21 trade show sponsorship ideas to help get you started:

Trash cans and recycling bins help keep the trade show floor clean and clutter-free. Pretty much every person has to throw something away at least once a day, meaning that you can get thousands of interactions with these bins a day. While this sponsorship won’t be a fit for every company, for some it’s a perfect fit. For example, it totally makes sense for a plastic packaging company to sponsor a recycling bin for plastic water bottles.

Getting around a large conference hall (or worse, multiple parts of an entire building) can confuse attendees and cause them to become lost. You’ll create a lot of goodwill simply by helping them find their way, whether that’s through printing maps of the venue or sponsoring signs and banners posted around the trade show floor. If you’re feeling fancy, you could even create guided tours that showcase specific highlights of the trade show.

Most trade shows have some sort of well-marked entrance with lots of signage, and passages and stairs often have their own banners as well. These large banners are an excellent sponsorship opportunity to help welcome visitors and get your company’s branding out there, front and center. If you can’t spring for the main entrance, wraps around stairs, elevators and other locations with high foot traffic are also good alternatives.

Everyone needs to drink water, and your company can help them do just that through a branded water station. Since water fountains are usually anchored to the outside walls of the trade show room, if you’re mired in the middle it can take a while to extract yourself and find a fountain to rehydrate. Take full advantage of the water station and hand out custom water bottles with your logo to attendees that stop by for a refill.

If the water station idea isn’t feasible, or it’s already taken, consider sponsoring a snack station instead. Blood sugar runs low (and tempers run high) as the day goes on, and breaks to grab food are few and far between. Having a place to grab snacks like granola bars, chips and even fruit and trail mix will seriously help trade show visitors and give you an excellent opportunity to market your company. If you’re a consumer packaged goods brand, see if you can become the official snack sponsor of your next trade show.

Trade show bathrooms are usually clean and serviceable, but nothing to write home about. However, you can create a VIP bathroom experience by providing fancy soap and lotions or tricking out the ladies’ lounge with nice furniture and good lighting. Trade shows are long and exhausting, and having a space to freshen up or do a quick change can seriously boost morale, not to mention create a favorable impression of your company.

Ever wanted to take a break from the trade show floor to go pamper your aching self with a quick massage or manicure? You can provide that very experience on the trade show floor by sponsoring self-care activities. The same sort of services that you would see in a mall or airport can often be replicated on the trade show floor for a surprisingly reasonable cost. Just be prepared to have a line out the door for your pampering stations.

Pampering isn’t the only type of self-care you can bring to the trade show. Wellness breaks involving yoga, meditation or healthy cooking demonstrations (just to name a few) will help fight off the trade show crud, give attendees a break from the onslaught of booths and workshops and give you a chance to show your company’s commitment to health. Wellness break sponsorship ideas are particularly well-suited to businesses in the wellness, healthcare and nutrition spaces if you’re looking for something that’s thematically relevant.

Everyone needs a chance to take a phone call, answer emails or just kick up their feet at trade shows, and lounges provide the perfect environment to do that. Gather some comfy couches and chairs (preferably in your brand’s colors), throw some rugs on the floor and add some throw pillows for an extra homey touch. If you’d really like to splurge, you can also sponsor phone call booths, somewhat-soundproof booths that help filter out background noise and make it easier to hear phone calls in noisy environments such as trade show floors.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy—and trade show attendees very tired adults. Everyone needs an opportunity to let their inner child out and get creative. Ball pits, drawing stations and toy bins are all fair game for a more lighthearted trade show display. Obviously, if you’re a toy company or an art supply business, this sponsorship idea makes perfect sense, but you can also make it relevant to your company by theming the station around your business—for example, using toy dump trucks in a demonstration if you’re a construction supply company.

Pics or it didn’t happen! Photo booths are popular for a reason: People love to show off photographic evidence of themselves doing cool and interesting things. Photo booths can take many forms, including props, backdrops and large cardboard cutout frames that people hold up around them. Stick with a traditional plain background or transport people to a new location using a photographic mural.

Most trade shows and conferences offer some kind of happy hour or mixer for attendees to socialize and network without booths and keynotes competing for their attention. The drinks, food, table linens and more all have to come from somewhere, and that’s why sponsoring them can be a great way to earn attendees’ goodwill and create a memorable experience. Make sure a few of your own employees attend to mingle with the guests and make new connections.

Speaking of keynotes, many of these speeches are sponsored by large donors. Since keynotes are the main event, they’re often more expensive sponsorship ideas, but they have a big impact since so many people come to them. If a keynote is out of your budget, smaller panels, workshops and other events may also be an option. Your trade show rep will be able to talk to you about sponsorship tiers and help you find something that fits your budget.

Many exhibitors run competitions or raffles at their individual booth, but running a trade show-wide competition through a sponsorship will help you reach more attendees. Make sure the competition idea matches the theme of the conference, whether it’s a trivia contest or an obstacle course. If the trade show doesn’t currently have plans to host such a competition, start talks with them early, as this will require some planning on both your parts.

No list of sponsorship ideas would be complete without swag bags. Most conferences give attendees a bag full of goodies at registration, including pens, notebooks, USB drives, t-shirts, fans, umbrellas and anything else that might be helpful given the weather or conference location. While you still have your own promotional giveaways to hand out, becoming one of the official swag bag sponsors will ensure that every single visitor gets an item with your logo on it–a pretty persuasive proposition.

Trade shows and conferences are a great chance to record podcasts or radio interviews since so many speakers and subject matter experts are gathered in one place. Ask around to see if there are podcasters who plan to cover the event (the trade show association might even be planning to do it on their own) and offer to sponsor the episode. You can also take it one step further and sponsor the creation of a booth where these interviews can take place without all the interference of the trade show background noise.

Live streaming keynotes and other important speeches and panels can help both the sponsors and the trade show reach a wider audience, making it a win-win for everyone involved. If there aren’t already plans in place to live stream the trade show, reach out to the organizers and offer to sponsor it. Even if they were already planning to offer a live stream, they’ll surely be grateful for some help to defray the costs.

Demonstrations on VR headsets are a crowd pleaser at any event, which is why sponsoring them at a trade show is a great idea. Of course, you can always offer the VR demonstration at your own booth, but you’ll reach more people if you’re the official virtual reality sponsor of the entire trade show. Choose a simulation that’s relevant to the theme of the trade show: a mock surgery for a healthcare trade show, for example.

Most conferences have their own dedicated app to help attendees build their own custom schedule and keep them up-to-date on last minute changes. However, these apps can often be difficult to use and may constantly crash if too many people use them at once. See if your company can sponsor a new, improved trade app experience for the next exhibition. Not only will you be offering attendees important information, you’ll also be able to promote your business within the app itself. If rehauling the app isn’t within your budget, look into in-app ads instead within the existing system.

It’s critical to choose the right sponsorship opportunity for your marketing strategy so you can maximize your trade show ROI without going over budget. Consider one or more of these 21 sponsorship ideas at your next trade show.

Many companies like to offer seasonal giveaways that rotate out with each quarter. While this approach may seem limiting at first, once you begin looking, you’ll realize there are dozens of custom giveaways for each season. Plus, if your giveaways are relevant to the season, recipients will be far more likely to use them rather than tossing them into a corner and forgetting them. Since summer is coming up, we’ve compiled the must-have promotional items for this season. Without further ado, here are our top 17 summer giveaway ideas for businesses:

Tritan tumblers are made of a distinct double-walled design with BPA-free plastic and a stepped interior that gives the cups their unique look. Tritan tumblers are impact- and shatter-resistant and top rack dishwasher safe. They hold 16 oz. of liquid and provide many customization possibilities, including an optional lid and straw (perfect for those summer smoothies). Ten inset colors are available: clear, blue, charcoal, green, lime green, orange, pink, purple, red and yellow. Your logo can also be printed on five different Tritan tumbler insert options: white, oval dome, silver mirror, silver slitter and embroidered round patch.

Few things are more refreshing than cracking open a cold beverage while you enjoy a summer sunset on your porch. But it can be tough to keep a drink cold during the warmer months, and that’s where custom KOOZIES® and can coolers come in. These neoprene sleeves keep your beverages cold and insulate them from the heat of your hand. Meanwhile, the sides and bottoms of the can coolers offer plenty of surface area to display your brand’s logo. They come in lots of shapes and sizes, including slim can coolers for your favorite seltzers, KOOZIE® Bottle Koolers, and stainless steel versions.

Hydration is extra important in the summer months when you’re more likely to sweat. Custom water bottles are a traditional giveaway for a reason. Literally everyone alive has to drink water, so they’ll definitely be put to use rather than sitting in the back of a cabinet. Whether you want a screw top or pop top, plastic or stainless steel, rubber grip or carabiner, there’s a branded water bottle design to fit every specification and budget. Plus, if you’re in a hurry, we can rush ship many water bottles in 24 hours (not including transit time) for orders that come down to the wire.

Drinks aren’t the only thing you’ll need to keep cool during the summer. Food is just as important, especially if you’re going to be outside all day. We offer branded insulated bags in many different designs, from backpacks to sling bags to baskets. Different capacities are also available as well. We sell everything from a personal lunch bag perfect for individuals to large party coolers that can hold the entire gang’s food and drinks. Some soft coolers also feature fun add-ons, such as built-in speakers, which add to the usefulness.

Soft coolers are a bit easier to transport, but in terms of durability and protecting your food, you can’t beat a hard cooler. Any time you’re jostling around a lot—say, you’re boating on the lake or driving to the beach—a hard cooler is a smart move. They keep food from getting squished and cans from getting dented (or worse yet, from being accidentally punctured and spilling liquid everywhere). The two main design options are plastic covered in insulation and leak-resistant fabric or molded copolymer with latches and handles.

If you go to the beach and don’t bring a beach ball, did you really go to the beach? Cost-effective beach themed giveaways provide hours of fun and deflate to a small plastic ball, always an important consideration when packing for summer vacation. Many different custom beach ball styles are available, including solid colors, alternating stripes, rainbow stripes and even a translucent one. We also offer other beach-themed inflatables, including dart rockets and baseballs, for all your beach entertainment needs. All of our beach ball options cost under $2 a piece (and sometimes under $1), so these are great choices if you need a lot of summer giveaways on a budget.

Beach towels are great for so much more than the beach. You can take them to the pool, the lake, the water park, even a yoga class. Custom beach towels also give you a lot of real estate to represent your logo or other branded imagery, providing an excellent promotional opportunity for your company. Opt for a plain solid color to really make your logo pop, or up your design game with a striped pattern or even a full beach scene. If you’re looking for something a little more unusual than a beach towel, beach mats and blankets are also great summer giveaway ideas for businesses.

You’ll also want something to carry these in, why not consider custom tote bags?

Sun’s out, guns out—in your company’s custom tank tops. Whether you’re sunning at the beach, chilling by the pool, fitting in a workout, taking in a baseball game or simply mowing the lawn, tank tops allow your arms to breathe and your shoulders to get some sun so you avoid that dreaded farmer’s tan. Our custom tank tops come in literally dozens of colors, so you’ll be sure to find the best shade to make your logo really stand out. They’re available in both men’s and women’s sizes, as well as several fabric options from simple cotton to sporty mesh.

The humble flip flop has been around for thousands of years, and there are murals that show ancient Egyptians wearing this simple yet practical shoe. But this long history isn’t the only reason why promotional flip flops are a great business giveaway idea. After all, everyone needs at least one pair of water-resistant sandals they can wear to the beach or into the pool showers during the summer. You can print the soles and/or straps with your logo, and our custom flip flops come in many colors to ensure they mesh with your brand, including black, blue, forest green, maroon, navy, pink, red, white and yellow.

Sunglasses aren’t the only way to protect your eyes from the sun. Baseball caps are a summer wardrobe staple for a reason: They protect your face and scalp from the burning sun and improve your vision in glaring conditions. Opt for a classic all-fabric design or choose one with a mesh back panel for extra ventilation. If you don’t want a traditional custom baseball cap design (with a curved bill), flat bill trucker caps and snapback hats are also options. In addition to many solid color combinations, multiple shades of camo are also available.

These simple flying discs provide hours of entertainment, whether you’re just chucking them around in the park or participating in a competitive game of disc golf. The flat, round surface is the perfect area to showcase your company logo without distortion. If you want to take things to the next level, consider a more unusual custom disc design such as the donut flyer or a glow-in-the-dark disc.

Summertime means grill time. As the days get longer, the dads of America bring their grills out of winter hibernation and fire them up to cook steaks, burgers and all manner of good summer food. So, if you’re looking for summer giveaway ideas for businesses, you can’t go wrong with a promotional barbecue set. A custom BBQ set features tools such spatulas, brushes, forks, cleaning brushes, skewers and tongs–pretty much everything but the grill itself. Order a set to get them together in one convenient case or order them separately for a truly one-of-a-kind custom design. Every time they grill out, they’ll think of you and your company.

Keeping cool during the summer is difficult, but it’s a little bit easier with a custom fan. We offer many options, from paperboard on a wooden handle to a battery-powered plastic mini fan. These fans are an especially good idea if you’re exhibiting at an outdoor event, such as a fair. On a hot day, attendees walking around and fanning themselves with your logo will be an excellent promotional opportunity. In fact, some visitors might come find your booth specifically for the fans, building your brand awareness among groups who might not naturally seek it out.

Summer is prime growing season for lots of plants and many people enjoy gardening in the warmer months, especially in the early morning before the weather gets too hot. If you’d like to give away custom garden tools this summer, we offer a wide selection of accessories such as rain gauges, promo planters, wood birdhouses, grow-your-own-herb kits and more. For those who don’t have much of a green thumb, we also offer custom plant-a-tree cards as well as garden-themed calendars.

So, you’d like to host a prize giveaway on your social media channels or at your next trade show—but how should you go about it and what prizes should you offer? Do prize giveaways really work? Below, we explain the seven reasons why prize giveaways work and then we dive into the two main types of promotional giveaways: trade shows vs. contests/sweepstakes. Finally, we explain the rules for each one and offer prize giveaway ideas for your next campaign.

There are almost as many benefits to giveaways as there are prize giveaway ideas. Not every giveaway has the same purpose and a single giveaway may have multiple purposes depending on the company’s goals. Here are seven reasons why your business might want to host a prize giveaway:

Capture leads

Many giveaways require you to sign up for a newsletter or otherwise give your contact information in order to receive the product or enter the contest. Most people are happy to give you an email address in exchange for a free product, making giveaways an easy way to grow your list and capture leads.

Grow social media followers

Not all giveaways are based on exchanging email addresses. Many companies run giveaways on social media, where participants must follow, like, retweet, comment, tag others or some combination thereof in order to enter. This approach will get new followers on board and encourage existing fans to engage more with your brand and each other.

Give back to fans

Speaking of social media and email lists, doing a giveaway can be a great way to give back to your existing subscribers. To say thank you, you can open the giveaway only to existing followers and then randomly pick a winner (or winners) to show your appreciation for your community.

Demonstrate the product

Depending on what product or service you sell, you might be able to make it the giveaway. This strategy gives people the opportunity to try your product or service for free (or at a discount, if your giveaway is a coupon). Many people are hesitant to try something new if they have to pay for it upfront, but if you remove that barrier to entry, people will be far more likely to give it a chance. If they love your product, then they’ll be willing to come back and buy it later.

Act as a loss leader

Free samples and giveaways frequently lead to people making greater purchases in the long run. Even if people have already made a purchase from your company, offering coupons or free giveaways (such as an annual birthday gift) encourages them to visit your store or website more frequently and to buy other products while they’re there to pick up the free gift.

Generate free publicity

If you’re at a trade show, attendees walking around with your branded promotional giveaways is basically free advertising. The same goes for social media, since shares and retweets will show up on the sharer’s timeline. This can be much more cost effective than purchasing signage or digital ad space. Which brings us to the next point:

Save money and time

Giveaways make it easy to stick to a budget. You figure out the per unit cost, multiple it by the number of giveaways and voila, that’s your budget. Once you set up the initial contest rules, prize giveaways don’t take up too much time, so they’re also efficient as well cost effective. Nor do they require a lot of technical knowledge to run, so the learning curve is low.

There are a couple of different strategies for trade show giveaways. Many organizations opt for inexpensive items that can be easily carried around the trade show floor, so they can hand one out to everyone who visits the booths or signs up for their mailing list. Companies may also choose to offer larger prizes for attendees who win interactive booth games, raffles, etc. Some businesses opt for a combination of these two. For example, they may hand out custom USB drives to everyone who visits the booth and signs up for the mailing list. Whoever signs up for the mailing is also automatically entered into a raffle for a nice portable speaker as well.

Here are some of our favorite suggestions for trade show giveaways:

You don’t think of needing a bottle opener until you need one, and then you really regret not having one. Bottle opener keychains are usually made from metal, so they’re durable and will last for a long time. They’re also small and very portable, making them an excellent choice for a trade show giveaway. Bottle openers are quite affordable (definitely under $2 a unit, and often less than $1) so you can hand one out to every visitor without breaking the bank. Plus, they attach to a key ring, so your recipients will think of your company every time they reach for their keys.

The promotional t-shirt is a trade show classic for a reason. They’re pretty affordable, come in many colors and styles and pack easily in a bag or carry on. Choose from dozens of options, from your basic cotton tee and long-sleeve shirts to moisture-wicking performance designs and fashion-forward trendy styles. T-shirts come in multiple sizes as well as many different cuts: men’s, women’s, unisex and even kids. And let’s not forget the colors. Pick from beige, black, blue, brown, gray, green, orange, pink, purple, red, white and yellow to find the perfect hue to make your logo pop.

We’re carrying more and more important information in our phones, but many people also find it necessary to carry a wallet for their ID, credit cards, cash, etc. Silicone card holders attach to the back of a smartphone or case and let you carry essentials all in one convenient package. They’re perfect for traveling, going out, hitting the gym, going for a run—any time you need to take the essentials but don’t want to bring your full wallet. And every time they reach for their phone or their cards, people will see your logo on the back of the silicone card holder.

Trade show attendees need some way to carry all the swag they receive, and offering them a custom tote bag is a surefire way to earn some goodwill. Many different styles are available, including the classic trade show bag, grocery and shopper reusable bags, large totes and all-natural bags made from cotton, canvas and jute. Bags also offer a lot of real estate to feature your logo, plus the bags will be extremely visible as people carry them around the trade show floor. And we can’t forget to mention that promotional gift bags get an average of 7,000 impressions in their lifetime, making them extremely effective.

There are three main types of giveaways where only some (not all) participants win a prize. They are:

• Contests: In contests, effort, skill or merit is required to enter to win a prize, and chance cannot play a role. The winner is determined by voting, percentage of correct answers or other judging criteria.
• Sweepstakes: In sweepstakes, the winner is picked at random, so the prize is based on chance. No payment, purchase or other consideration is allowed. In certain states, providing contact information that will be used later for marketing purposes counts as a consideration, so check your local laws.
• Lotteries: In lotteries, participants must purchase or pay for something in order to enter, and the winner is determined by chance. Private lotteries are illegal in the U.S., so don’t host one! Stick to sweepstakes and contests instead.

While they’re sometimes called “giveaways,” most promotional campaigns of this nature are technically sweepstakes. Whether you’re running a contest or a sweepstakes, here’s what you should include in the description so you don’t rule afoul of any laws.

• “No Purchase Necessary”
• “Purchase does not enhance chance of winning”
• “Void where prohibited”
• Details regarding non-monetary consideration (i.e., submitting an email address to enter)
• Identity of the host/promoter (i.e., your company)
• An explanation of all methods of entry
• Eligibility requirements
• Beginning/ending dates, including time and time zone
• Date winner(s) will be chosen and notified
• A clear description of the prize(s)
• Judging criteria (when applicable)
• Method of selecting winner(s)
• Publicity rights regarding use of winner's information
• Publicity rights regarding use of participant's information
• Liability limitations
• Odds of winning
• Physical address (not a P.O. Box)

Different states also have different rules about promotional giveaways. Before conducting a contest or sweepstakes campaign, research any relevant state laws and make sure to abide by them. If you’re planning to run a giveaway via social media, rather than in person at a trade show, each social media platform also has its rules governing promotional giveaways. You can find the rules at the following links:

• Facebook’s rules
• Twitter’s rules
• Instagram’s rules
• Pinterest’s rules

Generally speaking, the prize for a contest or sweepstakes should be larger than a trade show giveaway since there will only be a limited number of winners (or maybe even one!). Here are some prize giveaway ideas for contests and sweepstakes:

This lightweight, portable custom Bluetooth speaker fits in your pocket—but don’t be fooled by its tiny size because the built-in subwoofer means that its sound is plenty big. The looping strap easily attaches to a bike, backpack or bag for added portability. The speaker features Bluetooth capability up to 30 feet, a built-in microphone for conference calls, on-speaker controls and 4-5 hours of play on a single charge. The speaker offers not one but two surfaces for imprinting: There’s a full-color dome on back of the speaker and a full-color digital print on the speaker grill.

These slick-looking headphones feature a futuristic geometric design, 33 ft. Bluetooth wireless range, 85 percent isolating outside noise reduction, 10+ hours of play on a single charge and stereo sound with omnidirectional full range audio drivers. The headphones also offer multi-function on-ear buttons for answering calls and controlling music and a built-in microphone for phone calls. And most importantly, the flat side of the headphone drivers offers a large imprint area to show off your brand’s logo and imagery. These custom headphones come gift boxed with a soft carrying bag, 3.5mm aux. headphone jack cord and micro USB cable for a truly classy giveaway.

This unique beanie is guaranteed to stand out among the crowd of giveaways. Sure to be appreciated by anyone who lives in a cold climate, the beanie keeps your head and ears warm while you listen to music on the built-in rechargeable wireless earphones. The earphones offer a built-in microphone and LED indicator and can be removed from the beanie before hand-washing it. The ribbed beanie can be embroidered with the logo or imagery of your choice, up to 4 inches in diameter.

As long as you do your research and plan ahead, you’ll pull off a successful prize giveaway. If you’re not sure which item to offer, you can always run your prize giveaway ideas by your followers and ask them to vote in a poll on which one you should pick. Good luck on your next prize giveaway! If you have questions about ordering prizes, our customer service team is always happy to help.