I have been browsing the craft pages and have found so many professional beaders lately. I am so jealous of your beautiful artwork and eye for color. I used to play with beads a lot when I was a kid. It might be time to try out that craft again. Oh, ladies, your work is Gorgeous!
If you have something wonderful to show me with the craft work you do, leave me a comment and I will come check it out. Free advertising is always the bomb!
I had to pleasure of meeting the owner of a great chime business today and I knew I had to share their product with you all. These are not your normal grocery store tinkling chimes. These are harmonious, beautiful sounding musical chimes. Grace Note Chimes is the name. What an awesome small business this is, starting from craft shows.
Do yourself a favor and check out their site. What an awesome gift for someone special, like you!
A lot of towns do big 4th of July events where booths and tables of homemade items are encouraged to be displayed. What a great time to get your name out in the community when so many are out and about for the festivities.
My town always does a big parade with food booths, craft booths and info booths as well. The whole day has festivities, concerts and fireworks at the end. Some of the best sellling items used to be the princess tiaras with tons of ribbons floating down the back as well as princess wands too. Things eveole and our crafters always have some great new ideas each year so it will be interesting to see what is the hot items this year.
Wow. I found another awesome local gal working on tatted jewelry and is it fabulous! Also on Esty, you have to check out TotusMel and her amazing craft. Who knew how beautiful handmade jewelry could be.
This crafter lives in my town and has some awesome products she is making. Her site is at Etsy and she does some local shows and sales. Check out Ashlee Nicole’s Trash Bags. I love the red tote! Also the diaper bags and bookbag. Super Cute!
I thought I would show some neat products that some of my friends are creating out there in the www. Stop by and see their product lines.
My friend Marybeth has been creating her awesome Island Girl items. I just love her.
Check it out!
What special items have your created to showcase for your Mothers Day Gift buyers? There are so many great ideas that you can do for specialty gift ideas.
-Grab a basket and put together different size sets of products. Your best sellers would be great. Throw some Wrap and Tulle around it to make it beautiful.
-Cello wrap a few key items and dress it up with diffferent ribbons and gift tags
-make a special gift just for mom or grandma with your special talents.
Anything you can create is special. Make a flyer and mail or send out an email notice to your customers about the special gifts and items you have for this holiday.
I had an offer the other day from someone who found my sales site and invited me to participate in a show. My first thought, COOL! I have some product I would love to move.
My second thought? No way. Why, you ask? Well I have talked on here before about making sure you are making enough money to warrant your participation. This event wanted $50 for a 5 hour show. Plus it was 2 hours away. Oh and third, it is a first time show with no guarentees on attendance.
Red flags went up in my brain. Lets see, we are talking about $75+ in gas, $50 in fees, plus lunch and my time. But only 5 hours to hopefully sell your product.
Sorry. 3 dings mean that there is not enough incentive for me to do it altho I would love to move some product, it is just not worth it.
Please take the time to add up your value. Your time is a commodity and very precious. How much is too much for you?
What are you doing for spring?
Spring is a great time to do some shows. Alot of companies have new products out, perfect for showcasing at a show. Also great buying times fall into spring like Mother’s Day and Easter and birthdays, of course.
Start hitting the papers and sites for spring shows. Break time is over!
If you are looking for a craft show or vendor expo to display your goods at but have no idea where to start to find one, here is a list of a few good places to start.
* your local Chamber of Commerce - usually has knowledge of whats happening and coming up.
* The local paper - you can do a search online for towns around you. Sometimes the promoters advertise that they are looking for vendors or they start advertising the show ahead of time for max exposure.
* Ask friends that do shows - they usually have knowledge of what is upcoming.
* Go online. CraftLister and CraftMasterNews are a few examples of listing services.
* County Fairs - While they cost a lot more, it maybe worth checking it out if you hav the time and proper type products.
* Farmers Markets/ Flea Markets - some towns have very extensive open air markets. It may be worth a browse or two to see if it would be viable for your product.
Chris
Some people say that they do not have an eye for decorating. And I actually do believe that. So if you are one of them but need to have an attractive display as well, know that there are ways to get that beautiful eye catching display.
One way is to take pictures of your display. It is easy to tell from a picture what is missing. Is an area flat looking or is everything the same height? Is the color scheme jumbled and unattractive? Does the tablecloth take over and hide your product line?
These are questions that you need to ask and look for.
Another way is to ask for help. Set your display up before you go to the show and ask a freind to look at it. Once it is set in the way that you like, Take a picture and then you can remember what it looked like. These is where a show journal comes in handy. I know that I have dones shows that I wished I had pictures of my display beacuse it came out Awesome looking and it is hard to set it the same each time. Also booths change from show to show depending on how much space you get, etc.
Know someone at the show? Ask them for tips and advise. You know that everyone has an opinion. All you have to do it ask for it!
Have fun!
Working your leads after the show is a critical part to being successful with shows. Have a sign up sheet for your mailing list or newsletter at your shows and use this to grow and develop your customers.
What items are they looking for? Let them know about new projects; New Shows to find you and sales that you have. Don’t forget special occasions like Mother’s Day, Christmas, Birthdays, etc.
Keep it fresh! Chris
Being unique in the craft show arena is a huge plus. Don’t be afraid to put your most interesting and different things out there for the world to see. What we are looking for is a niche.
I have talked before about making your booth, your product and anything else different if you are selling an item that is very popular. We all know that there are tons of candles out there. How are you diffferenciating yourself from the pack? Same goes for Jewelry. Do you make one thing super well and the rest ok? Then focus on the super awesomeness of the one you do.
Fancy up your labels, bags and displays. Consider having a vinyl banner made from a sign company if you are going to do a lot of shows.
Take a close look at your line and see what you can change to target in on a niche.
Need direct sales help? Get on my weekly tips newsletter by emailing me at directsalestalk@aweber.com and see my Direct Sales Blog. Increase your sales power!
Chris
Do you just hate doing update to WP? grrrrrrrrr. I hate cleaning up all with weird font stuff and losing my sidebars.
grumble grumble…. it will have to wait for another day!
We all have our favorite item that we make, use or can identify with the most. What is your favorite item that you can just sell the hell out of?
Is that because you can talk about it better than the other items, or do you gravitate to that item first when someone is looking at your stuff?
Chris
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