BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Rubber Art Stamping craft show thursday, any marketing ideas?

This Thursday I will be hosting an annual holiday crafts show. Seven vendors at my house. Traditionally, this is my biggest sale day of the year-- being a home show and lots of local people visit we do get a good turn out. For the first time, I am planning a $10 table with a sign hinting at teacher gifts and secret santas. Anyone have any other marketing ideas?

Hi Carol and Welcome!

I think your $10 table sounds wonderful. I would add some 'sparkles' or a few candles on your table or something along those lines, to help draw people's attention to it.

Can you wrap up some of your items in a pretty gift bag, so all they have to do is buy it and deliver it to the teacher or friend? Nothing expensive, but some pretty clear wrap with a red or green ribbon? Or, offer 'free gift wrap'...?

Do you serve food or drinks? If I walked into a holiday craft show with the smell of cookies baking in the oven, hot cider, etc., I know that alone would keep me there, lol! And, I'd end up buying more as well...

I'll keep trying to think of tips! Good luck!!

Have a great day!

I like the idea of the sparkly things to draw people's attention.
You could use Christmas lights too.

Do you do any personalization on your items? We have one lady who is at our craft fair every year and she paints dates and names on ornaments right there for free. There is always a line at her table so I thing people like personalized gifts.

Also maybe some clearance items that you want to get rid of (out of season stuff maybe).

The only other thing i can think of is to do some sort of raffle. People love to win things, and this way you get names, addresses, phone numbers, and maybe emails. You can send them flyers about future shows.

Happy selling!

Well thanks for the ideas. I tried all that I could. We served cookies and drinks, (wine in the evening), the fire in the fireplace, candles all over, wrapped gifts, etc. I even set up a door prize (great idea to get future names and adresses). It all looked beautiful.

But the one thing that you can never count on is people showing up, and that was a little lacking. We had so many people say they were coming that just didn't show, but what can you do? Sales were average, not specatacular. (Home shows usually are closer to spectacular) Luckily, I don't depend on this for a living!

It was nice seeing some people again, and beginning to feel a little holiday spirit going. I find it hard to let people look at things that I have made, but it is always nice to see them smile or show appreciation so usually get over my nerves.

So when it was over, exhausted from the days of planning I still don't know if it is worth doing again. I will give myself a few days to rest it off and then try to figure out if I enjoyed myself.

Carol

sorry that your turnout wasn't so great. I think you should try it again. People may not have been in the holiday spirit yet.

Hi Carol

I'm sorry it didn't turn out better!

I read in the paper that stores this year were desperate to get customers buying items for the holidays, so much so that many started having crazy sales a lot earlier this year. The article went on to say that people just were not buying as much this year as in years past.

What other places to do you sell your goods? Have you ever sold any online?

I don't think you should give up either, especially if you really enjoy what you are doing!

Have a great day!

Just want to add one other verbal reply that I had. It was suggested that I put small signs or hints as to what the items could be used for. For example, a little tag that could say "great teachers gift".

All great ideas. We did them all. We just didn't have enough shoppers!

Even though the sale is over, this is a good topic if anyone comes up with any more ideas...

More to the list... Think visual when setting up the display. Use props, have things on different levels. Set some thing up high, medium and low. Try to group colors together. Take a step back and look at the overall effect.

And holiday music.

What seemed to sell the best? My girlfriend and I are going to do a couple of craft shows next year. We are taking 4 months to make everything.So we should be ready for the spring craft shows. That is if I get done painting the darn Christmas trees I promised everyone. I'm down to my last two and I swear they are taking the longest. My frend is a great sewer. She is making fabric bowls, vases with flowers, stuff animals while I have calendars, notepads, cards, tags, bookmarks and I am experimenting with paper jewelry. So far the pins are OK but not up to the quality I want.