An Artists Mindful Guide to Craft Shows - Part Three

Ok so first, I apologise for the week delay on this last part. I’ve been prepping for my upcoming solo art exhibit in Hamilton. Tomorrow I will be at the gallery installing the exhibit. I will cover this adventure in a future post. Stay tuned!

Now on to Craft Show tips.

Marketing tools; brochures, bus cards, booth display

Your decision to include or not various marketing tools before, during and after the show depends greatly on your overall vision of your craft making activities. If you are a hobbyist who has simply run out of room at home for all your wonderful crafty creations and your friends and family are finding it hard to be surprised with your gifting; then maybe it’s time to sell some of your inventory. As a hobbyist your risk is minimal because your crafty activities are not your main source of income. Printing off a few basic business cards on your own ink jet printer at home is the most you probably need. You can also make a basic sign to insert into a desk sign holder (check your office supply store) to display your crafty name.

On the other hand, for those of you who either earn all or most of your income from your art and craft activity (or your desire is to do so in the near future); marketing effectively is a very important aspect of your business. What you choose to spend your marketing budget on depends on what your business is offering.

Business cards are still important to have available to customers. Even in this digital age, a business card is something that you can give each customer who visits your booth. It serves as a reminder to the customer who they talked to and what they saw at the craft show. A physical reminder is still effective especially in the digital age where “posts” can be deleted and memories erased in a simple click.  I have an entire workshop dedicated to planning, designing and printing your business cards and flyers. Send me a message if you are interested and I will organize a future date.

Flyers, brochures and product cards are other popular tools to use at your point of sale display. Flyers are a standard single page; often focus on a particular product, service or promotion that is available for a limited time. They are meant as a quick read and ask the reader to do something, aka. “Call to action”. Brochures are usually a single sheet of paper that is tri-folded, although I have seen them as a folded single page or multi-page format. Brochures are perfect for explaining, educating and informing readers about your product or service. Often the consumer will keep the brochure on hand for future reference; think Chinese food menus. I use these to introduce myself, talk about my art classes and tell them various ways to read more, contact me, sign up (aka. Call to action) Product cards are a bit of a cross between business cards and flyers. I’ve seen some artisans only offer product cards. I have found it awkward to collect these because they don’t conform to the same size as the other business cards I’ve collected and often I end up tossing them after I’ve recorded the contact info. My tip here is to skip these when you are starting out because they are more expensive than a combination of business cards and homemade flyers. Just my humble opinion.

Your booth display is also a very important marketing tool. Again, think about what attracts you to a display in a store or craft show. Keep the overall look simple, organized and easy for the eye to move around. Set up your display like an artwork; have one large key object or a small grouping of larger objects as a focal point. As in art, this focal point should not be directly in the centre of your booth/table. Then place other objects in such a way as the eye is drawn in one direction or another. You can test the effect by setting up your table/booth then stepping back to the opposite side of the aisle and observing the effect. Again, this is a whole skill set of its own. I offer a workshop which discusses composition. Learning how to effectively compose a drawing, painting, display is a very useful skill for artists and artisans. Let me know if you’re interested.

Effective Selling Techniques

So I’ve gone to half a dozen workshops promising to educate me on selling techniques. Unfortunately most of these turned out to be marketing workshops. There is a big difference between marketing and selling.

Here is an excellent excerpt from a web page that explains these two concepts beautifully:

“According to Philip Kotler, Professor at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, marketing is a system of activities designed to price, place (distribute) and promote products and services that satisfy the needs and wants of target customers/markets in order to achieve business objectives.  In contrast, Kotler describes sales as the process of persuading customers to purchase the company’s product or service.  In the strictest sense, sales can be considered part of promotion in the Four Ps (product, price, place and promotion).”

In my experience at craft shows, as a sales person in retail, and through my research I have discovered a few things that help customers reach a buying decision. First, listen more; talk less. People love to talk (most people). And they really love it when someone listens to them. So listen. They will tell you want is important to them. Use this in a caring way to help them with their purchase decision. Caring being key. Avoid being pushy at all costs. Don’t sell!!! Instead of blah blah on the features and benefits of your product (stuff that’s already part of your marketing) talk about your creative experience making your product or providing your service. Tell a story.

When I see someone has gravitated to a particular painting I might say something like; “when I visited that beach last summer it was such a beautiful warm day”. Make sure your story is true. Being genuine is very important.  This helps to open up a conversation window about the piece. I find many consumers purchase décor and home products that appeal to them on an emotional level. Think about your own belongings in your home. Be human. If it’s a product they can try on or taste, offer this to them. The more personal and emotional the experience the greater the odds they will want to include your work in their home. Even after a positive interchange, the chances of them walking away are still very high. Don’t take it personal!!! Lots of us consumers (me included) like to ponder purchases prior to making a decision. If their experience with you and the product was positive and memorable, the likelihood of a future purchase(s) is increased.  

Just like we are told to do in social media, investing time in developing relationships with your customers is the most important activity that you can do.

Things I learned doing Art and Craft Shows

Lastly, to summarize the last three posts; here are a few key points I learned doing art and craft shows:

• Planning, Preparation and Participation are key
• Research and research more; never stop researching & learning
• Write down comments, questions, ideas that you receive during the show
• Leave your phone alone; seriously, don’t touch it!
• Smile, show genuine interest in customers, ask how they are; engage, engage, engage!
• Don’t talk shop with other vendors during the show!!
• Come out from behind your products and greet customers
• Vary your display from one show to the next and record reactions/outcomes
• Tell everyone what you do; including the cashier at the grocery store, your neighbour you never talk to and especially your hairdresser
• You cannot accurately predict the outcome of any show - expect the unexpected!!
• Don’t give up if the first few didn’t go as expected, as with anything in business it takes time, trial and error to find what works for you; and sometimes what works doesn’t work every time. Be patient!    

I hope you enjoyed these blog writings. Let me know your thoughts and any questions or ideas you have. Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Thank you for reading!!