Scenes from the Cherry Hill Chamber show

I had a chance to take in the annual Cherry Hill Chamber of Commerce Business Expo this past week. As always, it was a solid, well-run show with numerous companies set up at the show, trying to showcase themselves and attract business. And after all, isn't that what a Business Expo is all about?

I also went with another reason in mind. We often talk to our clients about trying to differentiate themselves. At a show such as this, it isn't always easy. With more than 100 exhibitors, it's not very easy to be different. However, after seeing what promotional items were being handed out at the booths, it's pretty obvious that not a lot of companies spent a lot of time trying to be different -- or more precisely, trying to get attention.

A very unscientific walk-through showed the following items being given away at booths:
-- Pens (19 booths)
-- unimprinted hard candy (7 booths)
-- Sticky notes/memo cubes/memo pads (3)
-- Food clips (1)
-- Stress balls/toys (3)
-- Computer screen calendars (1)
-- Mints in imprinted tins (2)
-- T-shirts (2)
-- Apples (1)

One company had an impressive display of promotional items -- tote bags, calculators, frisbees and t-shirts. I'm wondering how they figured out who got what when they were speaking to prospective customers.

What really struck me -- besides the fact that not everybody had something at their booth, were the hard candy people. We almost always advise our clients NOT to give away anything edible (one you eat it, the message is gone -- literally), but to give away something that's not even imprinted reeks of cheapness. After all, this is a business expo, not Halloween. After incurring all of the expense of joining the Chamber and setting up at the Expo, the worst possible place to try to save money is in deciding what to hand out at your booth.

If your company is participating in a show in the near future, please feel free to give us a call to arrange a no-cost, no-obligation meeting to discuss your booth activity and promotional plans.