Holding Your Own Craft Show

If you are a crafter, and you want to SELL your crafts, you need to get your product out there in front of people. Selling online is great (and I’ll have some tips on that in another post), but don’t forget about craft shows!

These are a great way to meet people — both fellow crafters and crafty shoppers. Meeting other crafty people is good for the soul. You’ll have like-minded people to talk to, share ideas & brainstorm with, etc. And for obvious reasons, you want to meet crafty shoppers…

There are many reasons to hold your own craft show. Some of you may live in an area that doesn’t yet have a thriving craft scene, or maybe you live in a very crafty area and it is hard to get space at shows. Or maybe you would like to show your work in a smaller setting, where there is less competition from other vendors… It really doesn’t matter why you are throwing your own show, the important thing is to do it! Here are some tips to help:

Think Small – Don’t feel pressured to throw a big shindig. A smaller show will be much easier to manage, and if this is your first time throwing a show, you don’t want to be stressed out!

Location, Location – As they say in real estate, location is everything. If you have enough space, move some furniture around and throw a show in your home. If your place is too small for that, find an inexpensive place in your area. This could be a coffee shop or bar, a banquet room at a restaurant, conference room in a hotel, etc. You do not have to rent the largest hall in town and send your life savings on food, a DJ, etc. This is not a wedding. It’s a craft show!

Join Forces – If you have some crafty friends, join forces to make this a very kick ass show. This will lighten your work load and also expand your customer base, as you will all be promoting the show together.

Be A Fame Whore – Speaking of promotion, go ahead and be a fame whore for the day. Remember, ladies, the keywords are Shameless Self Promotion. I would deem it perfectly acceptable to walk around in giant sandwich boards displaying the deets on your craft show.. Of course, I also think it’s perfectly acceptable to wear a sandwich board around town telling people when it’s your birthday. (Go big or go home…)

But if you don’t want to go down that avenue, you should be doing the following: announcing the show in your customer newsletters, tweeting about it, creating a Facebook event, blogging about it, asking your bloggy friends to blog about it as well, sending press releases to every newspaper, tv station, radio station, blogger and podcaster you can find, hanging up flyers around town, asking your friends and family to hang up flyers, and well, I can go on and on, but if you can do the above, you’re golden.

Have FUN –  Yes, this is your business and you need to treat it like a business if you really want to make money (otherwise, it’s a hobby). But seriously, try to enjoy it and have fun, okay?