Bruce Ulrich
Taking your art or things you have made to sell at a craft show or market can be intimidating. There is a lot to learn and we wanted to share some of those things with you now so that you don’t have to learn them the hard way! Some main takeaways from this video by Bruce Ulrich have to do with presentation, marketing, and payment.
When you do a craft show, you really want your booth presentation to be on point. Having varying levels of display and making things easy to see are really important. Avoid having too much clutter by having table cloths so that you can store extra items beneath tables and out of sight.
Marketing can come down to having your logo on your products themselves or having business cards available to hand to folks. If you want an inexpensive way to brand your products, consider having a custom branding iron made for you. Another great way to make it easy for people to find you on social media is to have a QR code made for your custom URL. This makes it easy for people to use their smartphones to scan the code and immediately connect with you online. They may not buy anything that day but having a way to keep in touch behind the craft show may lead to future opportunities.
Knowing how to speak with people at craft shows takes some practice. You mostly want to just say hello and make them feel welcome. If you do have a hot seller or sale item that you want to push, greeting people first and then mentioning it casually helps them to know what’s available. Find the balance between talking with people and giving them room to browse – whatever you do, don’t just sit behind a table in silence… awkward!
Finally, when it comes to payment at a craft show, some people will be equipped with cash so you need to be carrying a cashbox to make change, but many people will want to pay with a card or their smartphones. Getting set up with something like a Square Reader to be able to handle that swiftly will make it easy on the buyer and help you make sales.
Although these three main things are great starting points for how to have success at a market or festival, there is a lot more to consider and it starts with knowing what to make. Study the show that you are taking part in and try to get in the mindset of the buyers that tend to stroll that market. It’s always fun to make what we want to make but sometimes you have to “play the game” and make things that simply will sell. The best thing you can do is attend the markets you are interested in taking part in and see what people are buying. Stay true to yourself but know that you may have to tweak what you normally do if you want to make sales.
Consider enrolling in TMCU for full access to all of the educational content and follow along with Bruce for more tips and tricks on how to:
Offer bundle pricing on sets of items
Represent your brand with your logo
Make it easy for buyers to check out at your fair or festival booth
Choose items to sell that you can make at a low cost
TMCU Members can access their Members Only Resources page to find the Craft Show Checklist we made to help you out! Drop us a comment and let us know what we can help you with next!
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