1. Catch Their Eye: This one might seem obvious, but we can’t stress enough how important the look and feel of your booth is. You want to make yours creative enough to stand out from other booths, while still staying true to you and your products. Find a style and theme that works
2. Giveaways: Everyone loves free stuff! Draw in a larger range of customers with some sort of giveaway they can enter, and encourage them to stop and take a look. It can be a prize basket, a free piece of crafting supplies or even one of your products. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive.This will help you to catch their attention, and keep it long enough to draw them in. (This also helps if you are trying to collect emails, phone numbers or other information to reach them later!)
3. Discounts Discounts Discounts: This is one of our favorite tricks. Make sure that when you price your items, you leave some wiggle room to be able to mark down your products toward the end of the day. Most people won’t respond to a 5% discount, so make sure to make it big enough to catch their eye and their wallet. That way the roaming customer who has walked by several times that day will be incentivized to buy!
4. Catalog: In one booth space, it is impossible to have enough room to show all of your products or the many options you might have. Providing a catalog to help customers see all of the options there are will encourage sales, and also help with return customers. Having catalogs they can take and pull out whenever they need a gift or new home décor will keep you in the forefront of their mind even after the fair.
5. Open Space: We have mentioned that your booth should look appealing- but you can’t forget about the space. Have your best products displayed, arrange things in an inviting manner, and make sure the booth is open with enough space for your customers to come in and explore. Try out a few different setups until you find what really works for you.
6. Shop Around: While it is hard to not pick favorites, make sure you try different fairs, stores and conferences and see which fits you best. Each year they are so different, and trends are constantly changing, so keep trying to scout out the best ones. Don’t be afraid to ask for the stats and customers they expect to attend either!
7. Brand Yourself: While the fair is great contact to start with, make sure you send customers away with branded cards/QR codes so they can be return customers. QR codes making getting to your website or catalog quick and easy, and a card will help them to remember you next time they want more product.
8. Bring a Friend: Craft shows can be exhausting, so it is nice to have someone there with you. Bringing someone along means a person to chat with in the lulls, and another person to help customers when the rush hits.
9. Payment Options: Nowadays, there are a million ways people can pay you. While you can’t please everyone, make sure you research which options are most popular for the fair you are going to and be prepared. While cash is always an option (in which case, we suggest you bring a cash box too!)- look into other options such as Venmo or Square for credit cards.
10. Don’t Forget to Smile!: While nobody likes the pushy salesperson who follows you around the store, make sure you smile and add to the inviting atmosphere of your booth. Be ready to answer questions, tell them about the hard work you put into each piece and make a friend out of a customer. That is the best way to ensure a sale, and a lifetime purchaser.
We hope that as you prepare for all of the upcoming craft shows, you found some fun ideas and new inspiration from this blog! While we only touched on 10 of our favorite tips here, make sure to head over to our FB community page and watch our FB Live recording that goes over dozens of craft show questions and answers. What was your favorite piece of advice in this article? We can’t wait to see you all in the craft fair circuit soon!
Diana Knoth - September 19, 2021
Great ideas and tips! Thanks for all you do for your customers!
Lynda Pasternak - September 19, 2021
Great tips, I agree with making your booth inviting, and branding. I always have a professionally printed banner and business cards. I love your tip on a catalog or brochure. Never ignore your customers by talking to friend, never look bored. Welcome your customers but like you said, don’t overwhelm them with sales pitches. One last tip, be sure to have plenty of cash and change on hand. While many will use credit cards a lot bring cash to craft shows. I’d hate to loose a sale because I didn’t have the correct change! Thanks for posting.
Jennifer Butler - September 19, 2021
A huge one is researching your market to see if it’s the right fit for your products. A flea market/swap meet isn’t usually the best place for handcrafted items. If it’s a recurring market check it out ahead of time to make sure it isn’t already saturated with the product you sell.
Pam Suarez - September 18, 2021
All of these advices in this article are going to help me take the next step in saleing my signs. I think just being myself ,and having fun doing it ,and showing of your awesome stencil ,is going to be a very exciting .
Anita Maxwell - September 18, 2021
These tips are awesome and this company is absolutely amazing. You’re always keeping us in mind with everything you do. I retired from my job of 36 years in November 2017. One of the reasons I retired was to help my daughter with her son (My first Grandson) who was diagnosed with ATRT at the age of three. For those of you that do not know what that is it’s a malignant brain tumor. Marshall is now cancer free but unable to do anything for himself. My daughter has two other children younger than Marshall and she needed help with them when she had to take Marshall to the doctor which is quite often. I also take care of my mother who has dementia. I felt myself getting lost with helping everyone else and not doing anything for myself. My husband noticed it and said you need to find something that you love to do that will give you peace of mind when you’re not helping everyone else. Then I found this company WallCutz. It has totally gave my joy again. I feel like I have found myself again. I still help them but when I’m not helping them I’m crafting. I have a booth that I work to keep up daily. All the ideas that WallCutz gives us is inspiring to keep going. I’ve always enjoyed crafting but have never done stenciling until now. I started in January of this year and my business is doing wonderful. I owe it all to WallCutz and WallCutz Community. Thank you WallCutz.
Dawn - September 18, 2021
Thank you so much for all of the tips and advice! I did a show a couple of years ago but thinking of doing another in early December. Space, display and prices is the most difficult for me to figure out.
Tina M Hall - September 18, 2021
Oh my gosh, this is so timely! I will be doing my first craft show one week from today!! Thank you for these tips.
Julie Charpentier - September 18, 2021
Love this! I have my second ever show in oh my gosh less than 3 weeks ekkk! My first show in July was a great learning experience and hoping to do much better with everything that I have learned! The business card is a definite must! I had so many orders just from people calling after the show that I was in awe!
Connie - September 17, 2021
Lots of helpful hints. Almost ready to take the plunge!
Joyce Dietz - September 17, 2021
Thanks for adding these tips to the blog! I still work full time so haven’t built up inventory yet to do craft fairs, but it is something I’m interested in doing in the future. Also need to get a few more of your great stencils!!
Bela - September 17, 2021
Thank you so much for the tips, I’m
thinking of participating in a craft fair but I’m a little bit nervous since I’ve never done anything like that before. I’ve already setup a shop on Etsy and started selling signs to a local business.
Thank you for the tips!
Bela
Sept. 17 2021
Pam McCorkle - September 17, 2021
These are some great tips to keep in mind. Thank you to everyone who shared their tips.
Cheryl Kaminski - September 17, 2021
Thank you for these helpful ideas. I am thinking of selling my artwork.
Linda Evans - September 17, 2021
Great blog with many helpful hints. While staying home and looking after my elderly father I will not be able to do the craft fairs this year so I’m thinking of setting up my canopy here at my home.
Glenda Welborn - September 17, 2021
Thank you for you Top 10 Favorite Tips ! I haven’t had the priviledge of doing a Craft Show or a in Store Booth yet, although I’d love to give it a try in the near future. Your Tips will help lead me.. Side Note .. Your Stencils, Crew & cCompany are Awesome ❣❣
Donna Mayer - September 17, 2021
Having done several craft shows, I can relate to many of the top 10. Most important being presentation, making sure you do not stack items. People don’t want to search for things, it needs to catch their eye as they are walking by. Another great tip I found out my 1st craft fair was to bring someone with. I had to rely on the person next to me, who was nice as can be to relieve me when I had to use the restroom Good job on the tips!
Crissie Katz - September 17, 2021
Good tips! Love your stencils!!
Rose Brubaker - September 17, 2021
Thank you for the wonderful tips..Just getting started here.
Susan Anthony - September 17, 2021
Have used your stencils for quite awhile now.. definitely favorite.. appreciate your tips so much…
marissa speicher - September 17, 2021
so happy to see these tips … terrific ideas … will be very useful with my upcoming events … thank you :)
Debby Halter - September 17, 2021
Great ideas, some things I hadn’t thought of😊