Behind the Booth: Part Two - Marketing and Booth Design

Booth at the Wonderfully Made Bazaar, Cornerstone Church, 2014

A word or three on Marketing:

The first thing I can't harp on enough is branding.  Figure out your business name, if you're going to have one, and then a logo.  Then put it on everything - business cards, banners, flyers, advertising, Facebook, Etsy - anywhere your stuff is, your brand is. It's still the hardest thing for me to remember to do!  I finally printed up a set of tags that have my logo and name on them, so every piece I sell has my logo attached to it somewhere.  

(In the above picture I was sharing a booth space with my sister-in-law who makes soaps, so I had a banner made up with both of our logos and we called ourselves "Suds and Stitchery" for the show.  :)

Make sure your brand is consistent!  I do everything in plum and lime green - so my tablecloths, business cards, display pieces (I painted the ladder for my ladder shelf plum!) all mesh.  The baskets I've left natural, because they show up nicely, and stand out a bit.  Also, when I add riser shelves, they're white to make them pop.  

Personally, I try to connect with my buyers - a business card goes into every bag, thank you notes go into on-line orders.  Custom pieces get a half page paragraph on the inspiration behind their design, and any special touches so they know the story. 

Booth Design:

If you're doing craft shows, this is possibly the most important section in this whole blog series.  I find that booth design affects everything: sales, number of shoppers who stop in my booth, attitude (both mine and my shoppers), how other vendors react to your booth - it all seems to hinge on a few key principles.  And a variety of small things.  

•  Color.  Keep it balanced.  If like me, you have lots of colorful items, then keep your backgrounds neutral to showcase them.  And by neutral I don't mean Black, White, Grey, or Brown.  But don't go neon, or patterns.  My items don't look good on black or white, but put a nice solid tone behind them and they pop!  

• Match your booth to your items.  Most of my product is geared toward younger parents, tourists, and a few throwbacks that draw in an older crowd.  My price points vary from $5 - $180 with most in the $40 or less range, so I'm not in the "upscale" category.  So I did not design my booth to look like a boutique, which would have actually turned off many of my potential market.  Instead, I keep it very homey, playful, and bright.  But I know a woman who sells jewelry who does a dark chocolate and ivory color scheme to her booth with lots of satin and velvet, so it looks very rich.  Her price points start at $150 and hit $500 very quickly, and she designed her booth to reflect that. 

• Space and Flexibility.  You won't have the same amount or layout space at every show.  Some shows provide tables, some don't. Some provide chairs, some don't.  I make a plan based on four different layouts, and have practiced each in my downstairs open area with painters tape on the floor.  

1. First: The 10 x 10 booth.  This usually doesn't come with tables or chairs, but sometimes has them available to rent at an indoor show.  About a month before the show I tape out a square on my floor (in the garage also works, if you have one - or a very understanding friend).  Then I set up my tables, racks, etc and try it out.  I do a full dress rehearsal here - linens, shelving, risers, product.  Play with it.  Move things around.  Take pictures.  Try things you don't really think will work - then take pictures again.  I usually leave this set up for two weeks while I play with it, if the dogs don't get too interested in my stuffed toys.  Otherwise I take it down and play with the pictures - circling things I like, crossing things I don't, and making a solid plan. 
2. The  8' Table.  Sometimes this comes with chairs, sometimes not.  Most of the time there isn't room to have hanging racks or extra shelving - figure out how to get what you want out of this booth - I have been known to sacrifice some of my seating area to put up racks/shelves behind the table!  
3. The 8' x 5' space.  No table, but about the same amount of space.  Again, practice!  Have a plan.  By the way, if you find you like this set up more than #2, ask if you can have the table removed from your space.  Most shows will let you bring your own set up, especially if you arrange it ahead of time.
4. The Unknown.  I've had a few shows that didn't tell me ahead of time, or had oddly shaped spaces.  For example, the booth above was supposed to be 10 deep by 16 wide.  It ended up being closer to 14' wide, and about 12' deep, so we adjusted and put a second table in the back instead of having one super long setup.  This allowed people to actually walk through the whole booth, which turned out to be a very cool effect.

 Having done some design work for store windows and store displays, I have a bit of a leg up on how I design my booth.  There are a few key things to remember during your layout of product, and I guarantee you'll see better sales through these simple tips.

• Put the product you want to sell as impulse buys at eye level, on the right hand side of the booth.  People almost always walk a booth from right to left, and eye level items get the first look through.  Remember, your eye level is not your client's eye level, necessarily.  I make sure to keep kids things lower to the ground and more adult products up higher.  

• Before the show opens, walk by your booth.  Is it inviting?  Does the layout encourage you to walk up to the tables/shelves?  Is there room for three or four people to come in and see your wares?  Most people won't swing back if they can't get in to see.  Think about your venue and what you sell - will people with strollers be trying to come visit your booth?  Make sure that small items are back from the edge of the table.

• Put Price Tags on Everything!  This one is super important.  There's a varied school of thought on this, and after three years of doing shows, I can pretty solidly tell you that your sales will increase if the prices are visible.  If you have to ask the artist to get the price, only the most die-hard shoppers will bother.  Which means impulse buys are out.  I've passed on dozens of cool pieces over the years because they weren't tagged, and I automatically assumed they were out of my range because of it.  But $100 wasn't always out of my range, and I've found booths over the years where items weren't marked and nothing in the booth was over $50.   Even just a discreet card under what you're selling will make all the difference to your sales.  The only exception is for very small items, then I make a clear sign and attach it to their basket.

• Think about it this way - someone who stops to look has roughly a 10% chance of buying something (I average about 1 sale in 10 shoppers).  If they pick something up, they have a 50% chance of buying something (even if it's not that thing).  If they carry it around the booth while looking at other things, they have a 90% chance of buying something.  If you don't have price tags on your items, most will pick up an item, search it for a tag, and put it back down, because you'll be chatting with someone about their piece and won't have time to answer pricing questions all day.  You aren't selling to one person at a time, and you'll want to be able to make sales without having to be right on top of people

• If you make wearables, wear your product!  If you make vases, put flowers in some of them.  Showcase how your items would look in homes.  I put smaller stuffed animals in baskets to be reminiscent of a play room.  Coaster sets are up on the table with a pretty pottery mug, usually purchased from one of the other vendors first thing in the morning - I take a card and note the location of their booth, too.  :)  Never hurts to work together for sales!  I've given other vendors really good deals on pieces with the proviso that they show it off in their booth and send people my way who are interested. 

Next time, I'll talk a bit about Inventory - What to Make, How Much to Make, How I Price My Stuff.  

See you then!