Many artists and crafters are learning that to really succeed at your hobby as a business you need to market your crafts well.

Marketing involves engaging your customers in a relationship that builds trust and friendship.  It is easiest and most cost efficient to maintain this relationship using the resources that the internet provides us.  For instance online stores, web sites, e-mail marketing, and more.

Selling crafts online gives customers who want to buy but don’t have the money right now another place to buy when they are ready.  Include a coupon and link to your online store or website on your business card and give it to every customer who enters your craft show booth.  Let customers know if they visit your online store and enter the coupon code they will receive a discount.

With more crafters than ever looking to sell crafts online more and more places to sell crafts are popping up all over the internet.  I’ve created a page to help you sell your crafts online.  http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com/index.php?pr=SellCraftsOnline

Please comment below and let us know if you’ve used any of these sites and how you felt about your success with them.  Also please include the price range of your arts or crafts, and what you sell, if you sell crafts online feel free to include a link to your online store so we can take a look.

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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!

Large Craft Show Display Tower

Don’t be fooled by the name, ‘The Cupcake Tower’ is not just a stylish
display for cupcakes.  Imagine candles, bath and body products, jewelry, you name it – this tower can display it.  Take it from Lori Ward, owner of ‘Miss Ruby Sue’, a wildly successful designer of women’s couture accessories who recently wrote “This is the CUTEST. The FUNNEST. THE BEST PROP for my work at the San Francisco International Gift Fair.These are easy to put together and take apart. I love my Cupcake Tower!”

Melissa Challeen, a Team Leader for ‘Wildtree’, a direct sales company of
all natural gourmet blends, oils, dressings and sauces recently purchased a
tower to show off her product at her home parties and open houses.  Is your
product potentially messy like hers?  No problem, the tower has a thin
laminate coating similar to a countertop so that it wipes clean easily.  The
tower is handcrafted from durable, sustainable materials so it can be used
for years to come.

Medium Display Tower when Disassembled

Keep in mind the tower folds flat for easy storage/transportation.  In
addition, the ribbon detail can be custom matched to your product or logo
colors.  Because no glue or adhesive is used, your ribbon can be easily
removed and replaced with other colors and patterns for different occasions.
It’s hard to find a creative, fresh approach to displaying arts and crafts
at shows and fairs but The Cupcake Tower will undoubtedly catch people’s eye and draw them to your table.  The owners, Jennifer and Joy take pride in their quality product and have gone above and beyond for their customers.

Check them out at http://www.thecupcaketower.com.  Various sizes available.

Oh, and last but certainly not least, good karma comes with each purchase as 10% of proceeds are donated to Habitat for Humanity.

The Extravaganza Craft Productions is in no way affiliated with The Cup Cake Tower.  We did not receive any compensation for posting this article.  We’re just helping you find the best displays while trying to support another great handcrafted product.

These clear modular baskets stack to help you organize your small crafts.  Carry your crafts to the show in them.  Display small crafts in them or stick the basket under your table cloth to build height in your display.  Baskets are available in clear, blue, green, pink or orange to match any display.

My affiliate link is below.
Clear baskets do many jobs for your craft show display.

I’ve found another idea that would help make your craft show booth more professional.  The main factors to me have been portability, ease of set up and a clean professional look.

This shelving system comes from The Container Store.

This system folds flat for transportation and is made of hollow tube cast iron in a pewter finish.

Available in 3 shelf, 4 shelf, 6 shelf, 4 shelf media or 6 shelf tower there are lots of possibilities for your art or craft show booth display.

My affiliate link is below.

3 Shelf Folding Bookcase
Makes Portable Craft Show Set Up
Easy and Professional

While attending an art fair in my area a few years ago I visited with artists and crafters.  We discussed my newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, and if I should include artist and crafter reviews of shows.  I found this an interesting topic as I had never really considered all the pros and cons of show reviews before.

The only positive point I see to show reviews are that artists and crafts people hopefully don’t get suckered into doing bad shows where the promoter is not truly doing their best to advertise the show.

There are many factors involved in if a vendor has a good show.  Factors ranging from their financial  and emotional investment, what is happening in their lives-before, on the way to, during, and after the show, what they are selling, how they are displaying their items, their own marketing skills, their own attitudes and actions in their booth, to the purchasing habits of the customers at the show.  Even the placement of your booth and the weather (too good or bad) could affect sales at a show.

As the artist who prompted the conversation pointed out some crafters who know of really good shows wait years to get juried in.  They might not want extra competition either getting in or competing for sales so they might hesitate to tell you everything they know about the show.  On the other hand everyone who has ever experienced a bad show is pretty quick to tell you about it.

So how do you know if you can trust a show review?  I suggest using your best judgement.  Reviews by someone selling merchandise similar to yours should be more valuable to you than those by someone whose product sells in a whole different category, but then again they are your competitor.

Compare the number of bad reviews to good, remembering it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time.  Ask lots of questions about why people felt that way about the show and which factors might have played a part, while talking to crafters personally about shows.  When possible consider the values and motives of sources.

Better yet, attend shows as a customer if possible before entering as a vendor.  Look closely at the number of people attending, look at what booths are busy, what is selling, how much money is being spent.  If booths in one area of the show are making lots of sales while others aren’t see if the set-up allows for proper flow of traffic to all the booths.  Is your most likely customer in attendance, are people buying products that are the same style as yours and that sell in your price range?  How many competitors will there be in your category?

Remember while it is the promoters job to advertise the show, it is your job to advertise your product.  How much better would every show be if, every vendor told 100 other people about the show?

What do you think are art and craft show reviews worth their weight in gold?

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***********************
Shasta has always been an artist and crafter. She participated in craft shows since she was a child with her mom. She has sold her own art at shows since Dec. 2005 and has promoted The Extravaganza Craft Shows. She is now the publisher of The Extravaganza Craft News a newsletter to make artist’s and crafter’s craft show booths more profitable.

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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I’ve been keeping my eyes out for ideas to share with you that would help make your craft show booth more professional.  One of the key factors to me has been portability, ease of set up and a clean professional look.

I found this versatile shelving system from The Container Store and wanted to share it with you.

The supports and shelves can be set-up in any configuration.  Supports can be set up further apart or closer together, they can also be set up facing each other or facing away from each other.  Shelves can be added at several heights to bring your crafts up to your customers eye level and add interest to your display.

With extra pieces available you can add extra supports or shelves or subtract them from your set up to make your shelves fit in any size craft show booth.

With the right hooks art could be hung from the outside of the supports as well as set on the shelves.

Link below is an affiliate link.

A versatile shelving system that can
be set up in many different layouts
to create the perfect art or craft
show booth display.

Looking for #art and crafts shows occupies a large amount of time for the vendor who makes a living selling at shows.  One time saving hint: knowing where to look for shows is the key to saving time looking for them.

For the longest time the only place you could find good shows was to attend a show and talk to the different vendors about the shows they had attended.  Unfortunately these show had often happened in the previous two weeks or were about to happen in the next two weeks.  Often there wasn’t time enough to get registered for them and the shared information was already forgotten by next year.

And now a brief message from our sponsor:

If you’re looking for shows in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota or South Dakota…The Extravaganza Craft News is a great place to look!

Okay enough of tooting my own horn, smile!

When I was looking for shows to attend the places I looked were:

The internet-using different combinations of keywords you will come up with all different kinds of results.  Search for combinations of: arts, crafts, fairs, festivals, antique shows, jewelry shows, gem and bead shows, trade shows, farmers’ markets, shows, show listings, bazaars, boutiques and other words to do with your craft to narrow down the search.  Include the name of the city and state to search the area where you would like to sell.  Include Christmas or holiday if you’re searching for seasonal shows.

Many sites will give you sample listings, some will have free listings, and others will have paid memberships, newsletters etc.  Hint:  Find a listing that covers your area and purchase it.  It will help you find the information you need before considering which shows to apply for.  Freeing up your time to do other more profitable tasks.

Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Centers, Community Centers, Fairgrounds-These are either the places local shows are held or they are often the sponsors of local shows.  They will usually know about which shows happen yearly and might have phone numbers for the contacts of many local shows.

Local Newspapers-Newspapers will often carry advertising for shows that are happening in their area of coverage.  Look for call to artists/crafters in the press releases as well as in community calendars, etc.

Grocery stores, gas stations, local restaurants, store windows-You will find bulletin boards in many businesses around town.  Many places will even hang posters in their windows so open your eyes and look.

Ask show promoters-Don’t forget to ask show promoters if they hold other shows or if they know of any other shows they recommend in the area.

Word of Mouth-Word of mouth is still a good way to go.  Ask your friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and church group about their favorite shows/events in your area.  Ask other artists that you meet, attend shows and ask vendors what other shows they know of.  Keep a log and you’ll be prepared to find the shows again next year.

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