10 Tips for a Successful Craft Show
That time of year that everyone has anxiously awaited is here- craft show season! Whether you are a vendor, or just like to roam, these shows are a big deal in our craft world. We wanted to highlight some of our most popular tips of how to make your booth a show stopper and help to sell all of your wonderful creations.
1. Catch Their Eye: This one might seem obvious, but we can’t stress enough how important the look and feel of your booth is. You want to make yours creative enough to stand out from other booths, while still staying true to you and your products. Find a style and theme that works
2. Giveaways: Everyone loves free stuff! Draw in a larger range of customers with some sort of giveaway they can enter, and encourage them to stop and take a look. It can be a prize basket, a free piece of crafting supplies or even one of your products. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive.This will help you to catch their attention, and keep it long enough to draw them in. (This also helps if you are trying to collect emails, phone numbers or other information to reach them later!)
3. Discounts Discounts Discounts: This is one of our favorite tricks. Make sure that when you price your items, you leave some wiggle room to be able to mark down your products toward the end of the day. Most people won’t respond to a 5% discount, so make sure to make it big enough to catch their eye and their wallet. That way the roaming customer who has walked by several times that day will be incentivized to buy!
4. Catalog: In one booth space, it is impossible to have enough room to show all of your products or the many options you might have. Providing a catalog to help customers see all of the options there are will encourage sales, and also help with return customers. Having catalogs they can take and pull out whenever they need a gift or new home décor will keep you in the forefront of their mind even after the fair.
5. Open Space: We have mentioned that your booth should look appealing- but you can’t forget about the space. Have your best products displayed, arrange things in an inviting manner, and make sure the booth is open with enough space for your customers to come in and explore. Try out a few different setups until you find what really works for you.
6. Shop Around: While it is hard to not pick favorites, make sure you try different fairs, stores and conferences and see which fits you best. Each year they are so different, and trends are constantly changing, so keep trying to scout out the best ones. Don’t be afraid to ask for the stats and customers they expect to attend either!
7. Brand Yourself: While the fair is great contact to start with, make sure you send customers away with branded cards/QR codes so they can be return customers. QR codes making getting to your website or catalog quick and easy, and a card will help them to remember you next time they want more product.
8. Bring a Friend: Craft shows can be exhausting, so it is nice to have someone there with you. Bringing someone along means a person to chat with in the lulls, and another person to help customers when the rush hits.
9. Payment Options: Nowadays, there are a million ways people can pay you. While you can’t please everyone, make sure you research which options are most popular for the fair you are going to and be prepared. While cash is always an option (in which case, we suggest you bring a cash box too!)- look into other options such as Venmo or Square for credit cards.
10. Don’t Forget to Smile!: While nobody likes the pushy salesperson who follows you around the store, make sure you smile and add to the inviting atmosphere of your booth. Be ready to answer questions, tell them about the hard work you put into each piece and make a friend out of a customer. That is the best way to ensure a sale, and a lifetime purchaser.
We hope that as you prepare for all of the upcoming craft shows, you found some fun ideas and new inspiration from this blog! While we only touched on 10 of our favorite tips here, make sure to head over to our FB community page and watch our FB Live recording that goes over dozens of craft show questions and answers. What was your favorite piece of advice in this article? We can’t wait to see you all in the craft fair circuit soon!
1. Catch Their Eye: This one might seem obvious, but we can’t stress enough how important the look and feel of your booth is. You want to make yours creative enough to stand out from other booths, while still staying true to you and your products. Find a style and theme that works
2. Giveaways: Everyone loves free stuff! Draw in a larger range of customers with some sort of giveaway they can enter, and encourage them to stop and take a look. It can be a prize basket, a free piece of crafting supplies or even one of your products. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive.This will help you to catch their attention, and keep it long enough to draw them in. (This also helps if you are trying to collect emails, phone numbers or other information to reach them later!)
3. Discounts Discounts Discounts: This is one of our favorite tricks. Make sure that when you price your items, you leave some wiggle room to be able to mark down your products toward the end of the day. Most people won’t respond to a 5% discount, so make sure to make it big enough to catch their eye and their wallet. That way the roaming customer who has walked by several times that day will be incentivized to buy!
4. Catalog: In one booth space, it is impossible to have enough room to show all of your products or the many options you might have. Providing a catalog to help customers see all of the options there are will encourage sales, and also help with return customers. Having catalogs they can take and pull out whenever they need a gift or new home décor will keep you in the forefront of their mind even after the fair.
5. Open Space: We have mentioned that your booth should look appealing- but you can’t forget about the space. Have your best products displayed, arrange things in an inviting manner, and make sure the booth is open with enough space for your customers to come in and explore. Try out a few different setups until you find what really works for you.
6. Shop Around: While it is hard to not pick favorites, make sure you try different fairs, stores and conferences and see which fits you best. Each year they are so different, and trends are constantly changing, so keep trying to scout out the best ones. Don’t be afraid to ask for the stats and customers they expect to attend either!
7. Brand Yourself: While the fair is great contact to start with, make sure you send customers away with branded cards/QR codes so they can be return customers. QR codes making getting to your website or catalog quick and easy, and a card will help them to remember you next time they want more product.
8. Bring a Friend: Craft shows can be exhausting, so it is nice to have someone there with you. Bringing someone along means a person to chat with in the lulls, and another person to help customers when the rush hits.
9. Payment Options: Nowadays, there are a million ways people can pay you. While you can’t please everyone, make sure you research which options are most popular for the fair you are going to and be prepared. While cash is always an option (in which case, we suggest you bring a cash box too!)- look into other options such as Venmo or Square for credit cards.
10. Don’t Forget to Smile!: While nobody likes the pushy salesperson who follows you around the store, make sure you smile and add to the inviting atmosphere of your booth. Be ready to answer questions, tell them about the hard work you put into each piece and make a friend out of a customer. That is the best way to ensure a sale, and a lifetime purchaser.
We hope that as you prepare for all of the upcoming craft shows, you found some fun ideas and new inspiration from this blog! While we only touched on 10 of our favorite tips here, make sure to head over to our FB community page and watch our FB Live recording that goes over dozens of craft show questions and answers. What was your favorite piece of advice in this article? We can’t wait to see you all in the craft fair circuit soon!
Great ideas and tips! Thanks for all you do for your customers!
Great tips, I agree with making your booth inviting, and branding. I always have a professionally printed banner and business cards. I love your tip on a catalog or brochure. Never ignore your customers by talking to friend, never look bored. Welcome your customers but like you said, don’t overwhelm them with sales pitches. One last tip, be sure to have plenty of cash and change on hand. While many will use credit cards a lot bring cash to craft shows. I’d hate to loose a sale because I didn’t have the correct change! Thanks for posting.
A huge one is researching your market to see if it’s the right fit for your products. A flea market/swap meet isn’t usually the best place for handcrafted items. If it’s a recurring market check it out ahead of time to make sure it isn’t already saturated with the product you sell.
All of these advices in this article are going to help me take the next step in saleing my signs. I think just being myself ,and having fun doing it ,and showing of your awesome stencil ,is going to be a very exciting .
These tips are awesome and this company is absolutely amazing. You’re always keeping us in mind with everything you do. I retired from my job of 36 years in November 2017. One of the reasons I retired was to help my daughter with her son (My first Grandson) who was diagnosed with ATRT at the age of three. For those of you that do not know what that is it’s a malignant brain tumor. Marshall is now cancer free but unable to do anything for himself. My daughter has two other children younger than Marshall and she needed help with them when she had to take Marshall to the doctor which is quite often. I also take care of my mother who has dementia. I felt myself getting lost with helping everyone else and not doing anything for myself. My husband noticed it and said you need to find something that you love to do that will give you peace of mind when you’re not helping everyone else. Then I found this company WallCutz. It has totally gave my joy again. I feel like I have found myself again. I still help them but when I’m not helping them I’m crafting. I have a booth that I work to keep up daily. All the ideas that WallCutz gives us is inspiring to keep going. I’ve always enjoyed crafting but have never done stenciling until now. I started in January of this year and my business is doing wonderful. I owe it all to WallCutz and WallCutz Community. Thank you WallCutz.
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