10 Things You Can Do for Vendor Fair Success

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There are few places that attract the attention of crafters more than local vendor fairs. Not only are these a great place to gauge interest in your products, but they also serve as an affordable marketplace. Plus, if you find the right event, you’ll have plenty of networking opportunities, and you’ll put a little bit of cash in your pocket. Running Elephant Gallery presents 10 things you can do to put yourself closer to turning a profit.

1. Research Similar Events

Doing your research is the most important thing you can do before you join any type of marketplace event. Look online for reviews of the previous year’s events (if applicable) to get an idea of prior attendance. You should also check to see how many other similar events are happening at the same time, as these can pull potential customers from each other.

2. Ask About Duplicate Vendors and Stand Apart as an LLC

Once you find an event that you would like to attend, ask organizers about duplicate vendors. If you are selling custom signs, for example, you don’t want to be the third engraving booth that people pass by.

One way to make yourself stand out is to draw up a business plan, figure out the specifics of your business, and then consider registering as an LLC. Many crafters treat their trade more casually and run it on the side. Although forming an LLC will mean you’ll have to pay taxes, it also provides you with liability protection and ensures no one else has your business name. It’s neither difficult nor expensive to get started, so really establish yourself as a legitimate business. Then, if you ever need to hire support staff, you’ll have an EIN you can use on their paperwork, too. If you'd rather not do the legwork on your own, you can avoid hefty lawyer fees by using a formation service – just be sure to first check out the best LLC services to find one that’s affordable and offers ongoing support.

3. Market Yourself Ahead of the Event

Marketing is a challenging aspect for all small business owners. But it is necessary when you are ready to turn your crafts into a business. If you plan to showcase your products online, make sure that you have beautiful photos. Come up with a brand identity, including a logo that you can use on your website, business cards, and banners. Include a business card with every purchase so customers have something tangible to remember you by. You can create business cards using an online card designer where you can choose from a variety of predesigned templates and then add your own text, images, and logo.

It’s also a good idea to promote your business and this specific event through social media. If you don’t have a large following yet, find fun ways to increase yours. Use videos posted on TikTok and Instagram that show you doing your craft, or try going live at an event. People love these inside looks at businesses and craftspeople like yourself.

4. Design Your Layout Ahead of Time

Chances are you will only have a 10’ x 10’ “storefront” from which to display your goods. In this space, you not only have to showcase what you have to sell, but you have to have plenty of room for your customers to feel comfortable and uncrowded. It’s best to create a strategy ahead of time so that you know exactly how to set things up when you arrive. Handmade Business offers lots of advice in this area and offers tips on how to best set up your booth for success. Tips here include getting rid of excess furniture and making sure your best products are predominantly showcased.

5. Get a Grip on Inventory

If you are only selling two or three large handmade items, great. You can easily keep track of what you’ve made and what sold by simply looking in your storage area. However, if you sell jewelry, hand-painted miniatures, or other smaller products that you will have multiples of, it’s best to use an inventory management app. Green Geeks explains that these apps and programs provide basic inventory tracking for unlimited items, locations, and users.

6. Price Fairly and Competitively

You know your work is priceless, but you have to put a dollar figure on each piece. Before you get started, you have to know your value. Remember, your customers are paying for your time and talent, not just the cost of the raw materials used in your creations. There are many different types of pricing models, including value-based, competitive, and cost-plus pricing. The easiest method: cost-plus. This means you take your production costs, including time and materials, and add a percentage to come up with a profit.

7. Stand Out from the Other Booths

Do you know how to stand out in a crowd? As a creative individual, you probably do. But how much of your uniqueness should you let shine through in your vendor booth? All of it. Make sure that your booth is as unique as you, which means making sure it’s visible from afar. If you’ve already gotten your logo, design and order a banner online that features your new logo and business name. You also want to think about unique displays that go beyond acrylic shelving. For example, laying jewelry or lanyards on pieces of driftwood instead of a standard jewelry display.

8. Host a Giveaway

People love freebies, and your customers will appreciate a thoughtful giveaway with products or services directly relating to your business. Keep in mind here, as Viral Sweep explains, that a generic giveaway or a poorly conducted Facebook promotion probably won’t attract the kind of customers that you want. Make sure that your giveaway targets the people that you want as a customer.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t use social media to promote - and even include - customers. If you have an online shop, offer a limited time giveaway for people who purchase at the vendor fair or online. It’s best to provide two separate contests to keep it fair, but encourage people to show that they’ve followed you on social media to get double the entries. Use these promotions strategically to generate more interest in you and your products.

9. Create a Unique Hashtag

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last 10 years, you know that hashtags are all the rage. Hashtags are how social media users find and share things of interest. A few popular Instagram hashtags include #business, #sales, and #success. But, are these enough for your company? The answer is probably no. You can look online for a hashtag generator or use your company name so that people have a quick way to search for posts that you have created or have been tagged. You’ll also want to make posts with the vendor fair’s hashtag before, during, and after the event, too.

10. Have Fun

Perhaps most importantly, have fun. Remember, people are drawn to happy people. If you can showcase your personality by being conversational, laughing, and genuinely enjoying your time, people passing by will notice. When you are happy, it shines through. You’ll not only be more approachable, but you’ll also have the ability to accept whatever comes your way. Perhaps your first vendor show wasn’t a complete success. But when you’re happy in life, you’ll find a way to reframe your loss as a learning experience, and you have a better chance at being successful the next time around.

There is no single list of steps that could possibly work for everyone, but the 10 tips listed above can get you started on the right foot. So take stock of similar vendor events and the competition, protect yourself with an LLC, market yourself ahead of time and do your best to have fun! By preparing ahead of time, you’ll be ready for your customers, and you’ll be that much closer to earning their business. Remember, be unique, be yourself, and be ready.

Article by Emma Grace Brown 

Emma Grace Brown lives her life by her rules; and it works! When she's not snuggling puppies, Emma promotes female empowerment through her website. Her mission is to help those who live with self-doubt to realize they don't have to mold themselves to conventionality.