According to a new article by the Wall Street Journal online magazine, President Obama is planning to cap the emissions of greenhouse gases, forcing companies that pollute to purchase permits for emissions. These levels would be slowly brought down to 14% below the 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below the 2005 levels by 2050. The sale of those permits, beginning in 2012, would reap $646 billion through 2019. Of those revenues, $525.7 billion would be devoted to extending Mr. Obama’s signature “Making Work Pay” $800 tax credit for working couples. Another $120 billion would go to clean energy technology.

It will be interesting to see how much this proposal gets watered down in committee, but it is certainly an aggressive proposal by this new president.

Hopefully it will all be finalized by Earth Day.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any company interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

The US Department of Energy has recently updated its general information site called Tax Breaks for Businesses, Utilities, and Governments.

There are huge savings available for both commercial accounts (businesses, utilities, and government) and consumers.

The recently passed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-343) included, extended and/or amended many offered for businesses, utilities, and government originally introduced in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT). The bill also included tax incentives for consumers. For a complete summary of the tax incentives included in the bill, download the summary of Energy Tax Incentives in The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

The following types of incentives on the commercial side are covered in the bill:

Renewable Energy Incentives
These incentives include tax credits for production and facilities using wind, refined coal, geothermal, biomass, solar, and combined heat and power systems. In addition, $800 million of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) are authorized to finance renewable facilities.

Transportation & Domestic Fuel Security
These incentives provide tax credits for alternative fueling stations, cellulosic biofuel facilities, and for alternative fuel production, including biofuels, biomass gas versions of liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied or compressed natural gas, and aviation fuels. Idle reduction units and advanced insulation for heavy vehicles are also provided a tax exemption.

Energy Conservation and Efficiency
These incentives provide financing and incentives for state and local governments to reduce greenhouse emissions, for builders and developers to build efficient buildings or to improve existing buildings, and for manufacturers to produce efficient appliances. In addition, these incentives allow for swifter recovery of the cost of smart electric meters and grid equipment.

Consumer Energy Tax Incentives include such breaks as:

Home Energy Efficiency Improvement Tax Credits
Consumers who purchase and install specific products, such as energy-efficient windows, insulation, doors, roofs, and heating and cooling equipment in the home can receive a tax credit of up to $500 for improvements “placed in service” starting January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009. The ENERGY STAR® website has a complete summary of energy efficiency tax credits available to consumers.

Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credits
Consumers who install solar electric systems can receive a 30% tax credit for systems placed in service from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2016; the previous tax credit cap of $2,000 no longer applies. In addition, consumers who install small wind systems can receive a tax credit up to $4,000. Geothermal heat pumps also qualify for tax credits up to $2,000.

Automobile Tax Credits
Individuals and businesses who buy or lease a new hybrid gas-electric car or truck are eligible for an income tax credit for vehicles “placed in service” after January 1, 2006 and purchased on or before December 31, 2010. The amount of the credit depends on the fuel economy, the weight of the vehicle, and whether the tax credit has been or is being phased out. Hybrid vehicles that use less gasoline than the average vehicle of similar weight and that meet an emissions standard qualify for the credit. There is a similar credit for alternative-fuel, diesel, and fuel-cell vehicles.

This tax credit will be phased out for each manufacturer once that company has sold 60,000 eligible vehicles. At that point, the tax credit for each company’s vehicles will be gradually reduced over the course of another year. Read the IRS’s Summary of the Credit for Qualified Hybrid Vehicles for information on the status of specific vehicle eligibility.

If individuals and businesses buy more than one vehicle, they are eligible to receive a tax credit for each. If a tax-exempt organization buys such a vehicle, the retailer is also eligible to receive another credit. Companies that buy heavy-duty hybrid trucks are also eligible for a larger tax credit.

Consumers who purchase plug-in electric drive vehicles can also receive a tax credit. The credit for passenger vehicles and light trucks ranges from $2,500 to $7,500 based on the tax code formula.
Taxpayers may claim the full amount of the allowable credit up to the end of the first calendar quarter after the quarter in which the total number of qualified plug-in electric drive vehicles sold in the U.S. exceeds 250,000.

The Obama Administration has promised to continue its push for more tax incentives for renewable and alternative energy –so this Act is surely just a start.

Here’s to a Greener Tomorrow…Today.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for anyone interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Business people who spend money on advertising and marketing will be surprised to learn that advertising one’s name on a reusable tote bag is over 15 times less expensive per impression than any other form of advertising.

People who receive an imprinted reusable tote bag use them an average of 9 times per month, according to the June/July 2008 survey of 618 businesspeople on behalf of the Advertising Specialty Institute. Since the bags have a large imprint area and are displayed in a visible location, the advertising message will be seen an average of 1,038 impressions per month; nearly 12,500 people will see that message each year –per bag. Give out 500 imprinted bags, and in one year, over 6.2 million people will have seen your imprint.

At an average cost of $3.00, a tote bag imprinted with a logo and message on it will be viewed 12,000+ times in a year –making the cost per impression (CPI) only $.00025, which is about one fifteenth the cost of an average city billboard ($.003), and 1/28th the cost of an average cable TV commercial ($.007) and the 1/76th cost of an average half-page black-and-white newspaper ad ($.019).

Because imprinted bags, such as totes, are a useful item, they are kept for an average of 9 months, according to the survey. It also points out that 53% of those who received an imprinted tote bag indicated that their impression of the advertiser had become either significantly or somewhat more favorable after receiving the item.

Reusable bags are good for the environment—as they prevent plastic bags to be used. Those made from recycled materials or from natural cloth or jute, are even more eco-friendly. Plus, they are traveling billboards for your message. Imagine the impact of 500 or more people carrying your mini-billboard around –wherever they go.

Reusable imprinted bags are both good for the environment and good for your budget—it is a winning combination.

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Notes:
1) The ASI survey was a series of interviews conducted in June/July 2008 in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia regarding promotional products they had received. The purpose of the interviews was to understand how advertising specialties influence end-users’ purchasing decisions; determine the number of impressions of popular advertising specialties; and analyze the Cost Per Impression (CPI) of advertising specialties compared with other popular advertising media. Further, during October 2008, an online panel survey was conducted among recipients of advertising specialties to augment the non-wearables sample from the in-person interviews. Results have been combined in the report where appropriate. There were 213 completed Web based interviews, for a total of 618 completed surveys for this study. Respondents were asked if they had received any promotional products in the last 12 months. Most respondents were business/professional people (84%) and all were age 21 or older. Research provided by the Advertising Specialty Institute, Copyright ©2008, All Rights Reserved.

2) The CPI of billboards and cable TV rates came from Los AngelesMobileBillboards.com and the CPI for the other forms of advertising came from The Nielsen Company for 2008.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for anyone interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

The results are in… and the June/July 2008 survey of 618 businesspeople on behalf of the Advertising Specialty Institute prove that imprinted promotional products return the best return on investment of any advertising medium.

A summary of the conclusions of the report are:

• Instant recall: More than 8 out of 10 (84%) respondents remembered the advertisers of the promotional products they’re received.

• Very impressionable: 42% of respondents had a MORE favorable impression of an advertiser after receiving the item. And nearly a quarter (24%) said they are MORE likely to do business with the advertiser on the items they receive.

• It’s all business: Most respondents (62%) have done business with the advertiser on a promotional product after receiving the item.

• User-friendly: The majority (81%) of promotional products were kept because they were considered useful.

• Staying power: More than three-quarters of respondents have had their items for more than 6 months.

• Bag it!: Among wearables, imprinted tote bags were reported to be used most frequently with respondents indicating that they used their bags an average of 9 times per month. They also deliver the most impressions: Each bag averages 1,038 impressions per month.

• Most impressive: The average CPI of an advertising specialty item is $0.004; as a result, marketers get a more favorable return on investment from advertising specialties than nearly any other popular advertising media.

With budgets tight this year, doesn’t it make sense to utilize a proven medium to keep your name and message in front of your clients and prospects?

Imprinted advertising specialties, from tote bags, pens, shirts, caps, USB’s, mugs and other imprinted gifts can help you to increase and maintain business during this tough economy. While some of your competitors are cutting their promotional budgets or spending their money on more expensive forms of advertising, your company can gain top-of-mind market penetration for pennies per impression through proven promotional products—delivered in a way to maximize its impact.

Promotional specialties can be used as a gift with purchase, as part of a customer loyalty or incentive program, as a thank you gift or as part of a trade show campaign.

Choosing the right imprinted gift, and the proper distribution of it, can help you maximize sales and gain more referral business this year – at a fraction of the cost of other forms of advertising.

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Note: The survey was a series of interviews conducted in June/July 2008 in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia regarding promotional products they had received. The purpose of the interviews was to understand how advertising specialties influence end-users’ purchasing decisions; determine the number of impressions of popular advertising specialties; and analyze the Cost Per Impression (CPI) of advertising specialties compared with other popular advertising media. Further, during October 2008, an online panel survey was conducted among recipients of advertising specialties to augment the non-wearables sample from the in-person interviews. Results have been combined in the report where appropriate. There were 213 completed Web based interviews, for a total of 618 completed surveys for this study. Respondents were asked if they had received any promotional products in the last 12 months. Most respondents were business/professional people (84%) and all were age 21 or older.
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Robert Piller, president of Eco Marketing Solutions, is experienced in green marketing campaigns and recycled promotional products.  He has worked with thousands of retailers across the country to get them to offer reusable imprinted tote bags for their customers, to help reduce the landfill waste caused by plastic bags.

His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Changing people’s recycling habits can take many years, since people have different “levels of greenness”. As I had discussed in my article, “Are all consumers ready to ‘go green’?”, people have different attitudes about both their desire and need to become more environmentally concerned and aware.
Many states and cities are launching recycling campaigns to help educate consumers about the importance of recycling – and to create awareness of the importance of recycling.
Some of the tools used for these go green campaigns are television commercials, billboard ad, radio commercials and eco-friendly promotional products –like recycled rulers, biodegradable pens and pencils and recycled refrigerator magnets –given out to school children during community outreach programs.
But not all campaigns are as effective as possible. How do individual states rank in respect to their recycling efforts? According to the report, “Do Mess With It“, by Steve Spacek, residents of the Northeastern states of Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts do the best job of recycling, as they had the least amount of per capita waste disposal.

Here is the entire list, in order of the state with the least amount of waste to the most wasteful state. The number beside the state’s name represents the daily per capita waste thrown away in pounds, according to 2002 numbers.

1.Connecticut 0.4510
2.Vermont 0.5840
3. Maine 1.0348
4. Massachusetts 1.4575
5. New York 1.5250
6. New Jersey 2.4698
7 Minnesota 2.5871
8. Maryland 2.9465
9. Hawaii 3.6754
10. Idaho 4.4523
11. Missouri 4.6106
12. Washington 4.9711
13. Florida 5.2001
14. South Dakota 5.3127
15. Montana 5.3165
16. Alaska 5.4872
17. Alabama 6.1666
18. Louisiana 6.2151
19. Delaware 6.2535
20. W. Virginia 6.3716
21. Iowa 6.4104
22. Rhode Island 6.6646
23. Georgia 6.6713
24. California 6.7999
25. Nebraska 6.8072
26. Oklahoma 6.9690
27. Wyoming 7.2168
28. Texas 7.2457
29. New Hampshire 7.3430
30. North Carolina 7.4116
31. Arkansas 7.5971
32. Mississippi 7.8556
33. Colorado 7.9048
34. Tennessee 8.2213
35. Illinois 8.4773
36. Ohio 8.7336
37. Utah 8.8063
38. Kansas 8.9314
39. Arizona 8.9871
40. Virginia 9.0122
41. Oregon 9.0161
42. Wisconsin 9.4417
43. North Dakota 9.4650
44. Indiana 9.7873
45. Kentucky 9.9515
46.South Carolina 10.2101
47. Michigan 10.4388
48. Pennsylvania 12.9517
49.New Mexico 15.6367
50. Nevada 16.9415

Let’s hope that the education campaigns continue and both consumers and businesses can work toward a 10% reduction in waste per year—which is very attainable.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for anyone interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Who would have thought—the water bottle as a status symbol? You see the ubiquitous water bottles everywhere. Bottled water, from such exotic lands as France, the Fiji Islands and even “water locale”, basic bottled tap water – is all the rage. But how environmental are these single-use water bottles?

The non-profit organization, As You Sow, surveyed U.S. beverage companies in 2006, developing a report that spurred Nestle Waters to become the first major beverage producer to support legislation that would increase recycling rates. And this past October, it became the first to support an industry-wide goal to recycle 60 percent of plastic bottles by 2018.

“Historically the beverage industry has lobbied against beverage container legislation,” said Amy Galland, As You Sow’s research director and the report’s author.

“We would like to see the industry either work with legislators to create deposit legislation that will be mutually beneficial, or come together with an alternative method that can achieve that goal of 70 percent or more,” Galland said. The nationwide recycling rate is 33 percent, though states with deposit legislation have rates above 70 percent.

GreenBiz.com reports that just prior to the report’s release, the American Beverage Association announced it would be a founding member of The Climate Group’s Recycle Together initiative, which will work with cities and states to increase recycling rates and develop best practices for recycling in communities.

In the report, “Waste & Opportunity,”, 23 companies (including soda, beer, tea and water bottlers) were evaluated in four categories: reduced use of virgin material, use of recycled content, support for and involvement in recovery and recycling programs and legislation, and communication of goals and achievements, and were graded from A-F, with 4.0 being the highest score possible.

In this year’s report, there were no honor roll students. No A/B Students, even. The valedictorian was Coca-Cola, topping the class with a 2.02 average–barely a C. It’s followed by Anheuser Busch, Pepsi and Nestle Waters, which each received a C-.

Red Bull, Fiji Water and Honest Tea got varying D grades. Some of the remaining companies (National Beverage, Miller, Coors, Monarch Beverage, Dr. Pepper/Snapple, Cott, Hansen’s, Starbucks and Crystal Geyser) received F’s, and seven (Adirondack, Arizona, Boston Beer, DS Waters, Jones Soda, New Belgium Beer and Polar Beverage) scored straight zeros.

If I was the Principal at that school, I would make them all take Recycling 101 again—over the summer until they get it right.

To top it off, Nestle has made claims during the past year or so, of having an eco-friendly water bottle because it uses 30% less plastic than it previously had used. This is green washing, at its finest. When you factor in the poor grades these companies received, plus the amount of fuel consumed in transportation, the carbon footprint of bottled water is significant.

If consumers do not want to face mandatory bottle deposit legislation, they should act quickly. Consumers should buy a water filter for their tap water or buy bottled water in gallon-sized jugs, while choosing reusable and recyclable BPA-free water bottles in which to drink it. These bottles, which can be of BPA-free plastic, metal, or even biodegradable plastic, will not end up in landfills—helping to make ensure a greener tomorrow.

Businesses can promote themselves by giving away, or selling, imprinted reusable BPA-free water bottles at trade shows, as a gift with purchase, or just to keep their name in front of their customers. It is a marketing idea that can help save the planet while advertising their brand.

Let’s work together to make reusable water bottles the new status symbol –not the one-time use bottles. Not only is it good for the environment and your waistline, it is good for your wallet, as well.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for anyone interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

“The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first mandatory, market-based effort in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states will cap and then reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector 10% by 2018,” according to its website, rggi.org.

The ten states will cap CO2 emissions from the power sector, and then require a 10 percent reduction in these emissions by 2018. The ten states are: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Pete Grannis, RGGI chair and commissioner of the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, said in a statement on September 29th, “The first RGGI auction has successfully used market forces to set a price on carbon, and this will send a clear signal to support the investment in clean energy technologies”.

They will participate in a cap-and-trade approach which will allow these states to sell emission allowances through auctions and invest the proceeds in such consumer benefits as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other clean energy technologies.

According to the online green newspaper ClimateBiz, the RGGI sold nearly 12.6 million carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) allowances Friday to 59 participants at a clearing price of $3.07 each. The floor was set at $1.86 per allowance, each of which allows electricity generators to emit up to a ton of carbon dioxide. It also mentioned that RGGI futures on the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange began trading on September 29th, opening at $3.25 a ton, finishing at $3.76.

It is believed that RGGI will spur innovation in the clean energy economy and create green jobs in each state. Let’s hope each region of the country can create their own Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and spur awareness and innovation in the marketplace. _____________________________________________________________________
Robert Piller is President of Eco Marketing Solutions , which helps companies promote their brand and image at trade shows and in direct mail with environmentally-friendly imprinted promotional products that won’t end up in landfills. He is a frequent guest writer and speaker on issues of green marketing. He can be reached at robert@ecomarketingsolutions.com or visit his blog: www.greenspotblog.com.

Austin, Texas has just announced a new project, named the Pecan Street Project, which is designed to “bring great minds of clean energy — and the money and jobs that come with them — to Austin to develop the electrical grid and utility business model of the future”, according to an article by Katie Humphrey in the Austin American Statesman.

According to Brewster McCracken, an Austin City Council member, “We’ve got to change the way electricity is delivered. It involves business model changes and significant technical advances in distribution, storage and the source of the electricity”.

In the 1980′s, Austin was home to Sematech and MCC, two consortium that helped build the reputation of Austin as the base for high tech minds and high tech projects. It was very successful, as many high tech ventures were launched, then later spun off, while Austin’s high tech manufacturing and sales forces hit an all-time high.

The Pecan Street Project (named for one of Austin’s oldest and most eclectic streets) hopes to lure green projects of all scopes to Austin, and replace manufacturing jobs which had peaked in 2000. With assistance from the Environmental Defense Fund, the Pecan Street Project will try to recruit both public and private partners interested in clean energy research. They will also promote the Project at the Clean Energy Venture Summit, which will be hosted by the University of Texas and Austin Energy in December.

Let’s hope this project is successful – and spawns similar projects across the nation. America’s energy independence depends on it.
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Robert Piller is President of Eco Marketing Solutions, a company that helps businesses to promote their brand and name to their customers and prospects using environmentally-friendly promotional products that won’t end up in a landfill.You can visit his website at www.ecomarketingsolutions.com and view over 50,000 eco-friendly imprinted promotional products. Robert Piller is a frequent speaker and writer on issues of green marketing and helps companies that want to go green better promote themselves in their marketing campaigns. He can be reached at robert@ecomarketingsolutions.com or read his blogs at www.greenspotblog.com.

A recent article by Bob Keefe, Cox Newspaper’s West Coast Bureau Chief, reports that Applied Materials has just completed a 2.1-megawatt solar panel system on their parking lot in Sunnyvale, California. It is said to be larger than the one Google built on their campus.

Let’s hope that corporations expand this “solar wars” mentality, so we can cover parking lots, highways, office building roofs, and other non-permeable areas. It can provide a network of clean and renewable energy sources from untapped locations.

Sure, there is a trade-off of aesthetics vs. functionality, but I believe the American people are ready for it –especially after reading recent polls showing over 60% of the population favoring expanded oil drilling laws.

As more solar panels are developed, costs will drop–making solar power a viable energy alternative. Perhaps utilities can place solar panels on top of office buildings and apartment complexes and even college campuses, and share a percentage of the proceeds with those institutions and businesses. It will create a win-win situation and cut through a great deal of red tape.

I hope I’m seeing the future — clean solar energy.
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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

(Part 2 of 3)

The day you have marked on the calendar is here. Today is the first day of the trade show you have planned for over the past few months. You’ve lost sleep, spent time at Kinko’s the other night running off last-minute flyers and signage you forgot about, and now you are ready to go.

Or are you ready?

In my previous column, I discussed several strategies for maximizing your trade show effectiveness and return on investment.

In this column, I will be discussing several “at-show” trade show activities and tips you can do to ensure a successful trade show.

Guerilla Marketing: Some companies do an end-run around the show management’s policy of a 5-mile radius of non-competing activities by hosting hospitality suites at nearby hotels (or even the host hotel or at the corporate home office or regional facility). I have even heard of companies that host private invitation-only golf tournaments the day prior to a trade show to get the maximum bang for their buck as they bring in their top prospects, customers and vendors. Be forewarned, however, that if caught violating the show management’s rules, you can be fined, banned, humiliated and forced to walk the plank (well maybe not the plank). Many of these same functions can be done with the blessing of show management with a smile, charm and some money.

Walk the Walk, not Talk the Talk: Many times you can get into a trade show by applying as an attendee or by telling management that you would like to walk the show to decide whether or not you want to exhibit the following year. As an attendee, you can visit your competitor’s booth and hear their sales presentations – though you may also be kicked flat on your backside, as well as thrown out of the show by management. I have always found it good business to introduce myself to my competitors, offer to swap brochures (you are each going to end up with each others’ sales material one way or the other) and just start a friendly conversation. Sometimes you can learn a great deal just be being honest and up-front. (Remember the golden rule: “Do unto others…”)

Walking a show floor also gives you an opportunity to actively seek out potential customers, either in the aisles, at seminars, in the restrooms (yes, I have seen it and it is not pretty), at lunch or at other booths. Remember, exhibitors do not like to have salespeople visit their booth on their time (since they paid for their booth space and you didn’t). Best approach is to arrive early (just as the show floor opens) or just as the show closes, as it will be less busy then and exhibitors may welcome a conversation during a slow time.

Attending Seminars: Attending seminars is an excellent way to meet prospects and renew old acquaintances. Same strategy applies here—get there early and stay late—as you will often get an opportunity to meet many high caliber prospects. Have your 30-second elevator speech ready and met and mingle.

Celebrity Appearances: You can plan to have a celebrity at your booth or an opportunity to meet the president or CEO of your company (if that is an appealing option). I have seen booths with local professional athletes, sportscasters, painters, wrestlers, actors, cheerleaders, Spuds McKenzie (am I dating myself?), singers, body builders and “celebrities” that I did not recognize at all.

If promoted properly, a celebrity appearance can bring people into your booth, giving you an opportunity to try to qualify them while they wait in line. A typical Hollywood B-list actor can be had for as little as $5,000 and as high as $25,000 or more per day, so it depends on your budget. Although this can bring both exhibitors and attendees into your booth, I believe that anything you can afford to do that get’s people to stop in, and gives you an opportunity to qualify them, is a viable option.

Sponsorship Opportunities: There are many opportunities for sponsorships, such as hosting the show’s prayer meetings, breakfasts, luncheons, golf tournaments, speakers, concerts, beverage carts, panel discussions, Wi-Fi service, etc. Depending on your budget, these can be an expensive option, but it will give you an opportunity to get your name in the directory, on banners, and mentioned several times throughout the show. These events will also allow you to mix and mingle with many of the top companies in your industry, giving you and your firm instant credibility.

Ad Specialties/Promotional Products: As I mentioned in my first section, a well-targeted imprinted promotional product can stop a person who would normally pass by your booth – and keep your company in their minds after the show. It goes back to the billboard question I like to ask my clients: “If you can put your advertising billboard on your customer’s desk (or in their car), how much would you pay to rent that space?” A useful and meaningful advertising specialty with a quality imprint can help keep your brand identity in the prospect’s mind when they are ready to make a decision – without the high cost of “rent”.

Remember what I mentioned in the earlier column about an A-B-C selection of swag—a low-cost gift for non-qualified visitors; a higher priced gift for qualified prospects and customers; an even higher valued gift for members of the media, “A-list” prospects and others. Be sure to keep the higher priced gifts out of eyesight so they only go to those you intend them for.

I also suggest packing your literature with the imprinted gift so that when they are handed the promotional item, they get your sales information, as well. I have sold hundreds of orders of imprinted bags, both plastic and fabric bags (both made of recycled material to avoid these ending up in landfills, of course), so when you hand out the item, not only does your billboard get carried around the entire show floor, but your sales material is placed inside ahead of time—ensuring it gets to that buyer.

Another good idea is to hand out a live tree seedling tree in a tube, with a single sheet sales flyer wrapped around it. When you hand it to the recipient, tell them that you are giving them a live tree seedling, so when they get home, they should immediately take it out of their bag and plant it. What happens is that nobody wants to kill a tree, so instead of waiting for that mythical “rainy day” to go through the stack of collected trade show material, they will get home and reach for the tree seedling—with your sales flyer wrapped around it. It is a low-cost way to ensure your material gets looked at.

Lights, Camera, Action: Nothing makes a booth look bleaker than dark spaces and shadows. Pay for electricity and have bright halogen lights highlighting your booth, as well as calling out special sections. Be sure to keep the lights high, as halogen lights can get very hot – making your booth quite warm. Lighting is one area you do not want to skimp on.

Personnel: As a final suggestion, don’t forget your personnel. They should be armed with a few opening statements (open ended questions) and given a plan on how to stand, how to introduce good prospects, how to move along visitors that are not prospects, etc. I also shipping a case or two of bottled water to your booth so you and your staff can stay hydrated. Rest them and rotate the staff if possible, as breaks as few as 15-minutes can help to rejuvenate a person and make them more upbeat.

Following these ideas can help you make the most of your time on the show floor. In my final segment of this article, I will discuss one of the least used, and most important, of the three areas of trade show marketing—the post-show follow up process.

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Note: To view the other segments of this three part column, visit http://greenspotblog.com/?cat=65

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.