The article contains suggestions that help you cut costs at craft shows and market your business to grow your craft show business during tough times.

View the article at http://www.art.mt.gov/soa/pr.asp?ID=1289

Thank You Montana Arts Council!

by Shasta McLaughlin

The Extravaganza Craft Productions

copyright 2009

I’ve told you the things I did on My 30 Day Plan to Greater Profitability and I promised that I would let you know some things you can do to increase the profits your art or craft show business receives.

1.  Draw a marketing map that shows how the people you meet at craft shows are going to move from cold contacts, to warm prospects, to hot buyers.  Include on your marketing map all of your sales tools including your craft show booth, your fliers, business cards, website, blog, social networking, advertising, and more.

2.  Make sure each sales tool mentioned above (and any others you use) moves your customer through a process that leads to them buying your art or craft.

3.  Get a website.  Click here for easy instructions on how to build a website.

4.  Get your website search engine optimized.

5.  Arrange to take credit cards.

6.  Offer a payment plan.

7.  Get email marketing (auto-responders).  See my post on following up with your customers by clicking here.

8.  Create emails for your current customers.  Remember to follow the Can-Am Act for email.  Send your customers useful relevant information.  You want this to help your business reputation not hurt it.

9. Create emails for your warm prospects.

10. Create emails for your cold contacts.

11.  Sign up your customers to the proper groups above.   Ask permission before signing up people for your emails.

12.  Check if your business cards, fliers, etc. look professional and are updated.  Be certain they have current contact information.  Make sure they mention your website if you have one.

13.  Collect names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the people who are interested in your product.  Ask if they would like to be signed up for your emails.

14.  Sign up for Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Fast Pitch Networking or many others.  Let your customers and prospects know they can follow you there.  Post regularly.

15. Create a blog.  Post regularly.  Mention your social networking sites and your website often.

16.  Make sure your posts to your blog automatically post to your social networking sites.

17.  Pick up the phone and call a customer that you haven’t heard from in a while.  Renew your relationship with them.  Tell them the news from your business.  Offer to send them free information or ask if they would like to sign up for your newsletters.

18.  Send an email to customers that haven’t bought in a while.  Renew your relationship with them.

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There are several ways to #advertise your art and #craft event to vendors.  The idea is to find the most effective ways and stick with them.  You must test and record the results of your advertising to know what was most effective.

Advertising is best done when it reaches a target audience.  Your target audience is artists and crafters who sell merchandise at art and craft shows,  advertise where they are most likely to see it.

Places artists and crafters look for shows include (but are not limited to) Art and Craft Show Publications, local Chambers of Commerce, visitors centers, fairgrounds and events centers, bulletin boards, the internet, newspapers, radio, and TV.  Have a successful show already?  Maintain a mailing list.  Art and craft vendors also ask other artists and crafters at events they are attending if they know of other great shows in the area.

Art and Craft Publications

Art and craft publications are also known as craft fair guides, art and craft show listings, and many other names search the internet using the right keywords and you will find more than a few.  Art and craft publications contain many listings of art and craft shows.  They also usually contain some advertising for event insurance, outdoor canopies for shows, displays, and art and craft supplies.  They usually cover a specified area such as one state, several states, a region, or the nation.  Some will also contain hints and tips, checklists, book and product reviews, display ideas, etc.

Now for a quick message from our sponsor, smile:
My favorite, The Extravaganza Craft News, covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Local Places Artists and Crafters Look for Events

Local places artists and crafters look for events include the Chamber of Commerce, visitors centers, civic centers, fairgrounds and events centers, basically any where an art and craft show might be held.  Ask when booking your event if they will include your event on a calendar of upcoming events.  Be sure they inform their employees of your upcoming event so they will be ready to refer artists and crafters your way.

Bulletin Boards

Artists and crafters will also check bulletin boards in grocery stores, gas stations, art and craft stores, on college campuses, in salons, at local restaurants, and many other businesses.

Hang posters, postcards, or business cards on bulletin boards everywhere you go.  Be sure your advertising has a headline gauranteed to get the attention of artists and crafters who want to sell their merchandise.  Don’t forget the basics a date and time for your show and a way to contact you including (at least) your name and phone number.

The Internet

The internet is a great resource and you don’t have to spend a fortune on a webpage or webdesigner anymore.  You can buy a website and everything you need to run it for under $100/year.  You can get one that has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get editor) so that you can design and run it yourself or hire someone to run it for you.  A website is a great place to tell artists, crafters, and customers about your upcoming shows, and to upload your applications.  Need simple instructions for building a webpage visit http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com/index.php?pr=Build_a_website.

Newspapers

The problem with advertising anything in newspapers is actually reaching your target audience.  Reaching thousands of people who don’t sell their art and crafts at shows probably won’t help your business as much as reaching 100 people who do.

Newspapers do have other resources available other than paid ads.  Call the paper and ask about their policy for press releases, people in business, guest written articles, and calls to artists and crafters.  Ask who you send them to and the correct address.  Send a press release and call to artists to many local newspapers.  The free resources will probably benefit your business more than paid advertising at this time, but if they won’t run your articles ask if they offer a deal on paid advertising with submissions.

Ask if they have a (printed/online) calendar of events and how soon your event will begin appearing on it.  Don’t forget your contact information.

Radio and TV

Radio stations often offer a discount on large numbers of ads.  Ask them if they can offer you a deal if you order ads now to advertise to artists and crafters and again later to advertise to customers.  They also offer package deals for onsite advertising.  Ask the radio station if they would like to sponsor your event and have their logo included on all your advertising.

I have never used TV advertising but I hear that cable ads aren’t that expensive and can be targetted to reach people in the area of your show.  Again ask a TV station if they might like to sponsor your event.  Feature a happy artist or crafter in your ads looking for vendors.

Don’t ask more than one radio station, TV station, or newspaper to sponsor your event and ask them if they only work with specific people i.e. ABC Radio only works with XYZ News.

Mailing List

Tell artists and crafters which publications they can find your listings in.  Contact art and craft exhibitors who have attended your show in the past.  Keep them happy and they are likely to return.  Keep your list updated so you don’t waste money mailing to bad addresses.

Email autoresponders from AutoWebBusiness.com or Constant Contact make it easy to stay in contact with vendors.  I highly recommend you check out these two companies if you don’t already have some kind of automated follow up/email system in place.

Word of Mouth

Many artists and crafters still only hear about shows through word of mouth.  Keep your vendors happy and they are more likely to tell others only good things about your show.

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Looking at it from both the perspective of a show promoter and artist the one thing that other vendors at shows do that bothers me the most is not including the legs of their displays into the size of their booth.

Having the legs of their display sticking into the aisles and into the booths next to them is hard for show promoters, as well as dangerous for customers and also inconveniences the vendors in booths nearby.  Show promoters are then pressed to find an acceptable compromise for everyone.

Keeping all parts of your display in the footprint of your booth keeps everyone happy.

Shasta McLaughlin
The Extravaganza Craft Productions
www.extravaganzacrafts.com

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I was out looking for great resources to share with you all and came across this article.  It is written for #Indie crafters selling books but contains great tips that many artists and crafters can use to improve their sales.

Selling Your Wares: 16 Tabling Tips

http://nomediakings.org/books/selling_your_wares_16_tabling_tips_.html

Good luck out there,

Shasta McLaughlin
The Extravaganza Craft Productions 

Today I was wondering what artists and crafters favorite (or least favorite) thing was about art and craft shows. So how about it, will you share with me what you like (or don’t like) about craft shows?

My favorite thing about craft shows besides all the handmade crafts, are all the talented and interesting people I get to meet.

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Get more information on finding great craft shows at www.extravaganzacrafts.com.

by Shasta McLaughlin

The Extravaganza Craft Productions

copyright 2009

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

Week one I worked on catching up on left over unfinished projects from previous weeks to prepare for my 30 days of greater profitability. As usual I accomplished some of the things I intended to do, did some things I planned to do later early, and didn’t accomplish some of the plan.

Week two I learned new things about my email marketing to keep my messages from being flagged as spam.  I joined a networking site I’ve been meaning to join for months when they ran a special I couldn’t pass up.  I did a client consultation which was a new service for me.  I blogged about what I was doing and I did all this while keeping up with requests for information about my business.

Week three I mailed coupons to show promoters, had  a second client consultation, worked on facebook profile and group pages.  I created a profile on Fast Pitch Networking and added a few contacts there.  I worked on cleaning out my email box, and signed up for a MySpace account, and I blogged about what I had done to make my business more profitable this week.

Week 4 what I had a new member join my Linked in account and contacted her right away with other places she could get more informaiton.bbI found my friend that was already on MySpace and reconnected with her. I created an email I can send to all my customers and prospects reminding them that they can follow me on my blog, facebook, twitter, MySpace,  and Linked in.  I still need to finish formatting it and send it to everyone.   I remembered to tell a client over the phone that they could follow me all these places. I also worked on creating my profile on Fast Pitch Networking and added a few contacts there. I blogged about my experience working toward greater profitability this week.

This last week while checking my email and cleaning out my inbox I made a horrible mistake and downloaded a malicious file. I spent the whole last week trying to back up my files so I can reformat my computer. I didn’t accomplish many of my goals except blogging about this weeks experience.

What I learned over this 30 days is that although I didn’t always accomplish everything I set out to do by having a goal every day and working toward it I did improve my business. I am confident that my business will be more profitable in the future because of the efforts that I made this month.

Next time I will blog about the many things you can include on your 30 day Plan to Greater Profitablility.
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by Shasta McLaughlin

The Extravaganza Craft Productions

copyright 2009

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

Week one I worked on catching up on left over unfinished projects from previous weeks to prepare for my 30 days of greater profitability. As usual I accomplished some of the things I intended to do, did some things I planned to do later early, and didn’t accomplish some of the plan.

Week two I learned new things about my email marketing to keep my messages from being flagged as spam.  I joined a networking site I’ve been meaning to join for months when they ran a special I couldn’t pass up.  I did a client consultation which was a new service for me.  I blogged about what I was doing and I did all this while keeping up with requests for information about my business.

Week three I mailed coupons to show promoters, had  a second client consultation, worked on facebook profile and group pages.  I created a profile on Fast Pitch Networking and added a few contacts there.  I worked on cleaning out my email box, and signed up for a MySpace account, and I blogged about what I had done to make my business more profitable this week.

Week 4 what I accomplished.

• Power Pay contacted me but then never got back to me.  I guess I still need to call them next week.
• I remembered that I had a Linked in account and had a new member join there.
• I found my friend that was already on MySpace and reconnected with her.
• I created an email I can send to all my customers and prospects reminding them that they can follow me on my blog, facebook, twitter, MySpace,  and Linked in.  I need to finish formatting it and send it to everyone.   I remembered to tell a client over the phone that they could follow me all these places.
• Worked on creating my profile on Fast Pitch Networking.  Added a few contacts there.
• Worked on cleaning out my overly full email box which got even fuller despite my efforts.
• I  blogged about my experience working toward greater profitability this week.

Here is what I didn’t accomplish.

• I still didn’t get my accounting done.
• I didn’t call the people I just mailed free newsletters to in the last few weeks to ask them what they thought of the newsletter.  It is probably too late but I will try to fit this into next week anyway.  Call your prospects right away they are only interested about 7 days!
• I didn’t create any articles to send to show promoters that will encourage them to list their shows with me.
• Since I didn’t write the articles I also didn’t start calling my huge list of show promoters.  Obviously I didn’t sign them up in my email marketing system.
• I didn’t get the article written for my newsletter although I have some very good ideas to write about.

I hope that this series is inspiring you to work along with me to improve your businesses profitability by doing something each day that will make your business stronger. I know that I’m a bad example but I would really suggest that you write your goals down on a calendar.  This way you can truly see what you did accomplish and will remember what you didn’t get done so you can work on it in your spare time or in your next 30 day plan.

The plan for the next 8 days:

Day 24 -Write and send a quick email to all my customers from the past asking them how their businesses are doing?  Tell them how my business is doing and showing them where they can get more information from my business.  Sort of bring them back to take another look at my business.

Day 25-Write the article for my newsletter.

Day 26-Finish writing my book.

Day 27-Clean out my email box.

Day 28-Do my accounting

Day 29-Create articles to send to show promoters who haven’t listed with me yet.

Day 30-Call show promoters and ask them if I can send them free articles.

Day 31-Blog about my 30 days to Greater Profitability for my art and craft show business.

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by Shasta McLaughlin

The Extravaganza Craft Productions

copyright 2009

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

Week one I worked on catching up on left over unfinished projects from previous weeks to prepare for my 30 days of greater profitability. As usual I accomplished some of the things I intended to do, did some things I planned to do later early, and didn’t accomplish some of the plan.

Week two I learned new things about my email marketing to keep my messages from being flagged as spam.  I joined a networking site I’ve been meaning to join for months when they ran a special I couldn’t pass up.  I did a client consultation which was a new service for me.  I blogged about what I was doing and I did all this while keeping up with requests for information about my business.

This week I got less accomplished than I had intended but what I did do I feel good about.

Week 3 what I accomplished.

• I did mail  my coupons to show promoters.
• I had a  second client consultation.
• I learned something new about my facebook profile and group page.  Added links to my group from my profile page.
• Worked on creating my profile on Fast Pitch Networking.  Added a few contacts there.
• Worked on cleaning out my overly full email box.
• Signed up for a MySpace account.  You can follow our posts at http://www.myspace.com/extravaganzacrafts.
• I  blogged about my experience working toward greater profitability this week.

Here is what I didn’t accomplish.

• I still didn’t get my accounting done.
• I didn’t call the people I just mailed free newsletters to in the last few weeks to ask them what they thought of the newsletter.  It is probably too late but I will try to fit this into next week anyway.  Call your prospects right away they are only interested about 7 days!
• I didn’t create any articles to send to show promoters that will encourage them to list their shows with me.
• Since I didn’t write the articles I also didn’t start calling my huge list of show promoters.  Obviously I didn’t sign them up in my email marketing system.
• I didn’t contact Power Pay and get signed up to accept credit cards.

I hope that this series is inspiring you to work along with me to improve your businesses profitability by doing something each day that will make your business stronger. I know that I’m a bad example but I would really suggest that you write your goals down on a calendar.  This way you can truly see what you did accomplish and will remember what you didn’t get done so you can work on it in your spare time or in your next 30 day plan.

The plan for the next 7 days:

Day 16 -Call the people I sent newsletters to.  Ask them if they would like to receive free articles.  Sign them up as prospects.

Day 17 -Create articles for show promoters.

Day 18 -Call show promoters and ask them if they would like to receive free articles to make their businesses more profitable.

Day 19 -Call Power Pay and get set up to accept credit cards.

Day 20 -Find my friends who are already on MySpace and try to connect with them.

Day 21 -Do my accounting!

Day 22 -Write article for my newsletter.

Day 23 -Blog about my accomplishments this week.

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