As a small business owner, it can be stressful to commit yourself to a craft fair. It can be especially nerve wracking if you have never been a part of a craft fair or market before. There are a few main tips to having a successful booth at a craft fair. They include: your behavior, your display, and post communication.
Your Behavior
The most important tip for becoming a successful booth at a craft fair is your behavior. Your body language, how you interact with others – these all affect how potential customers view your small business. If your body language is closed off and you are not interacting with anyone who walks by, then people will simply walk by. Unfortunately for you as a small business owner – your products do NOT speak for themselves when it comes to event marketing.
Interacting with those who walk by, having a conversation, looking like you ACTUALLY want to be at this event are all simple ways that you can make others feel more comfortable with you. The more comfortable someone is – the more likely they will be to stop and talk.
Also consider that your personality and authenticity are part of your brand. People shop not only for products, but to support brands they love.
Example: Vivian and I went to the Feminist Magic Market in March. We met Emmie Web, an artist who was selling her artwork. While we absolutely loved her art, we fell in love with who she was as a person. The only way we were able to do that is because she took the time to talk with us. At the end of the conversation we wanted to support HER, so we purchased some artwork. Would we have purchased anything if she hadn’t started a conversation with us? Maybe – but she solidified her sale by giving us her attention.
Your Display
This one seems obvious, but to have a successful booth at a craft fair you NEED a well thought out display. A well thought out display will be organized, include dimension, and clearly display who you are as a small business.
A huge common mistake at craft fairs is when small businesses simply lay out their products, flat on the table. You need dimension to catch passersby’s eyes! You can do this by using shelves, maybe a display board to hang up jewelry. Whatever you decide to use, just make sure it is sturdy and will hold your products well.
Pro Tip! Consider putting up a price list. This will help you if your vendor booth becomes extremely crowded and you cannot talk with everyone easily. This will also help potential buyers know if your products are within your budget.
Post Communication
This is probably one of the most important steps to having a successful booth at a craft fair – and it is the most forgotten step. Whether you have an automated checkout process or you create a physical email list signup, you need to set up a system for post communication after a craft fair or market. It could be that someone wanted to make a purchase but was unable to this time around. Adding them to an email list will allow you to begin cultivating a relationship with them, even though they did not make a purchase. If someone did make a purchase, adding them to an email list will allow you to continue to nurture a relationship with them.
Still feeling a little nervous about your first ever craft fair or market? We have a free mini course about the mistakes you could be making at craft fairs, markets, or pop ups! Check it out here.
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Feel free to share your thoughts with me, I can be reached at vivian@theseasonedmarketer.com!
Looking for more free marketing tips and content specifically for small business owners? Check out our podcast, S.O.B. Marketing Podcast. Every Wednesday we discuss a new topic to help small business owners take on marketing on their own. Listen to our episode of the S.O.B. Marketing podcast wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube! Have a topic you want us to discuss? Email us at Help@TheSeasonedMarketer.com!
Interested in elevating your event marketing game? Check out our FREE mini training course! Learn 3 mistakes you could possibly be making that are impacting your participation in events, craft fairs, and pop-ups. Not only is this training course FREE, but you will get a special discount at the end for our new course, ROCK YOUR FAIR! Click here to check it out.
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