Having a successful booth at a craft fair does not solely depend on your table display skills (although that is definitely a part of it). A successful booth also depends on your social skills, product visibility, the type of event, and branding.
Table Display
While a fantastic table display is not the ONLY thing that makes a booth successful – it definitely has an impact. A table display must be enticing enough to get people to stop and look. This can be done with dimension, finding interesting ways to display your products, creating a theme, having interactive pieces, and more.
Examples: Creating a branded board to hold your earrings can be a fun AND helpful way to display your products. If you are an apparel booth, having a mirror can help people visualize and make a decision. If you have enough room, you could even bring a makeshift changing room to allow people to try on your clothes!
Simply creating dimension can make a big difference when it comes to attracting people to your booth. Try using a cake holder for products, or having tiered shelves.
Product Visibility
This may sound obvious – but making sure people can easily view all of your products is huge when it comes to having a successful booth at a craft fair. This is another reason why dimension is so important for your table display. It makes it easier to display all your products. Placing many products together in a bin is going to deter people from looking. Having specific areas for each different type of product can help people easily find what they are interested in.
Branding
This is how you create a community – and if done correctly it can attract new customers to your booth. Finding creative ways to brand your booth can be fun, and it doesn’t have to simply be a banner. (Not to mention banners and/or table cloths can be expensive.) Simply putting your printed logo in a picture frame and placing it somewhere easy to see can be enticing. Having branded stickers for your products or a sign with your social media information makes it easy for people to remember you and find ways to connect with you outside of the craft fair. This can lead to future sales.
Social Skills
One of the most important pieces to being a successful booth at a craft fair is showing off your social skills. Having open body language and making small talk with those who pass by can really make a difference in your success. Even stepping out from behind the table can make a difference when it comes to the impression people have of you.
Pro Tip: Bring snacks! When people are hungry, we tend to get cranky. No one wants to go over to the booth with the cranky small business owner.
Type of Event
If you’re at an event that doesn’t really fit with you and your business – it won’t matter how well you do the rest of these steps. Making sure you are participating in events where your target audience will be is the first step.
For example: If I crochet cryptids and other strange oddities – I probably would not want to participate in a church’s bazaar (unless that church is really cool).
Find out as much as you can about a craft fair or event before you make the decision to participate. This includes: how many people are likely to attend, what other vendors will be there, how long has the event been held, and any other relevant questions you can think of.
If you are getting ready to participate in your very first craft fair, or you are just looking to up your vendor skills, check out our FREE TRAINING! We have a free mini course about the 3 mistakes most people make at craft fairs, events, or pop ups. Simply click here to access it. Not only will you get this training for free – but we will also send you a discount code for our ROCK YOUR FAIR course.
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