6 Marketing Mistakes Craft Show Vendors Make

A business can’t survive without marketing.

Many makers assume the event organizer will handle the marketing, but leaving it all up to them means leaving money on the table.

Here are 6 marketing mistakes you don’t want to make before, during, and after a craft show.

1 – Leaving it up to the organizer

The event organizer is responsible for marketing the event as a whole. However, you’re missing a big opportunity if you don’t tell your fans, followers, and past customers about the upcoming event they can attend and:

• Skip shipping fees
• See your latest (and hottest) products
• Meet the person behind their favourite products
• Take advantage of any deals you’re running during the show

Spend time promoting the event in the weeks leading up to it to not only do your part to make the event a success, but to get more of your target market to your craft show table (so you can make more sales).

Here are several ways to do that: How to Promote a Craft Show (as a vendor)

 

2 – Not having a clear marketing message

Every craft show should have a purpose beyond “I want to sell my stuff”.

>> What time of year is it?

>> What’s the theme of the event?

>> What does your target market care about right now?

For example, if I’m selling table linens and a Spring craft show is coming up, I may know my target market is thinking about hosting Easter dinner or updating their table decor for Spring/Summer.

I would then have the goal of selling my Spring/Easter/lighter coloured products.

So my marketing should reflect that. I would post Easter and Spring-themed products leading up to the event (and not a bunch of random items).

People are more likely to pay attention to your marketing when it has a clear purpose (e.g. not “here’s another item I made” or simply posting the event’s poster over and over).

 

3 – Not prioritizing marketing AT the craft show

More shoppers won’t buy from you than those who do. So if you’re focusing solely on making a sale, you’ll miss out on marketing opportunities that allow you to make sales after the event.

Just because someone stops at your table and doesn’t buy, it doesn’t mean they’re not interested in your products and will never buy.

They may just:

• Be on a budget until the end of the month.
• Have purchased from other vendors and don’t want to spend any more that day.
• Be gathering gift ideas and be planning to buy in the near future.
• Be heading to dinner after the event and don’t want to carry around a purchase.

If you don’t make an effort to interact, connect, and create a way to stay in touch with those people (so you can stay top of mind and they remember your business when it is time to buy), you’re missing out on future sales.

 

4 – Failing to create content

Find time to snap photos of your setup and the products you have displayed beautifully at the craft show.

These will come in handy when you’re applying to future craft shows and when you need content for your marketing channels (i.e. social media platforms, newsletter, website content, etc.)

You can also post to social media while you’re at the craft show, and encourage people who are looking for something to do to come visit you.

 

5 – Going silent after the event

Craft shows are a lot of work, and if you’re an introvert like me, you may not want to interact with anyone (even if it’s online) for several days.

But right after an event is when your business and products are fresh in shoppers’ minds. So it’s important to send a newsletter to engage the new subscribers you accumulated during the craft show, and post to social media to remind new followers about your business.

This could lead to some easy online sales.

 

6 – Not building social currency after the craft show

You just got your craft business in front of (hopefully) hundreds of people.

For those who did and didn’t visit you at the craft show, let them know:

• What was your most popular item
• What you sold out of
• If someone exciting purchased from you (e.g. a local celebrity, a bride who purchased an item for her big day, or maybe you met a local store owner who placed a wholesale order).

This is a great time to boast about your accomplishments and get your followers realizing what they missed out on and what they might want to buy (to be as cool as everyone else;).

You can also encourage people who did buy from you to post and help market your business.

For example, you might create a post:

“Did you visit me at X craft show this weekend? Post what you purchased and tag me.” (perhaps to be entered into a draw or to receive a promo code for a future purchase).

Sharing how great the event was, how much fun you or everyone had, or how blown away you were by how many people purchased will make people feel like they’re missing out if they don’t get in on the action (i.e. buy one of your products too or visit you at your next event).

Pique their curiosity so they want to visit your website and see what everyone is raving about.