Are you collecting the contact information of the people who enter your Art Festival booth and buy your one of a kind works of art? If no, why not?

Collecting a customers contact information is simple and makes it so much easier to make sales increasing profits greatly. Why?

Well let's start with the fact that the person who just bought from you has told you that they like and want your product, trust your service, and are willing to spend their hard earned money with you.

Also read How to Add Art and Craft Buyers to Mailing Lists and Simple Inexpensive Ways to Collect Your Customers Contact Information.

I started The Extravaganza Craft News without this knowledge and I spent most of my time chasing new customers. I struggled because I really didn't know who was interested in buying my products. I felt like a dog chasing my tail-going around and around in circles but never getting any results.

As I learned about marketing I found that you will spend more time and money always chasing new customers than you would if you just sold and resold to those who had already bought from you.

Now I'm focusing my time and attention on ways to get people to tell me they need my products and services and then sign them up for email marketing.

I send slightly different emails (designed to keep my current customers coming back) to people who have bought from me and the results have been much better profits and less work.

First read Why Add Art and Craft Buyers to Mailing Lists.

Next decide what information you need to mail and email your customers useful information that will encourage them to buy your one of kind handcrafted art work. Information that is generally collected includes:

First Name Last Name Address City State Zip Code Phone Number Email Address Birth Date

Remember that the more information you try to collect at one time the less likely your customer will be to give you any information at all. Try to collect small bits of information at a time but...

be sure to collect information that makes sense together all at once. For instance mailing address, city, state and zip code. It wouldn't make sense to ask for the street address and not get the other information.

Begin to collect your customers contact information. Read Simple Inexpensive Ways to Collect Your Customers Contact Information.

A database program will make it so much simpler to mail your customers. Many people also use a spreadsheet program like (Microsoft Excel) and that will work but may have some flaws that could cause you hassels as your database and needs grow.

I'm using Microsoft Excel successfully for now.

Don't have money for expensive database software or Microsoft Excel? It's free to download Open Office (which includes a database, word processing, a spreadsheet, a simple graphics program, a power point like program, and more at http://www.openoffice.org/.

Now all that is left to do is create mailings or emails that share valuable information (valuable to them-not you) with your customers about your products or services. Merge their information into the mailings or use it to print address labels and send.

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Need to see examples of email messages that give your customers valuable information? Visit http://www.extravaganzacrafts.net, on the right it says Get 6 Articles Free put your email address in that box and hit Sign Up. You will receive my marketing emails, including 6 articles that will help you make your art festival or craft show booth more profitable, some bonus articles etc. Don't forget to think about how you can make your emails valuable to your customers! Comment below and let me know how I can make my emails more relevant to you.

There are several ways to advertise your art and craft event to vendors. The idea is to find the most effective ways and stick with them. You must test and record the results of your advertising to know what was most effective.

Advertising is best done when it reaches a target audience. Your target audience is artists and crafters who sell merchandise at art and craft shows, advertise where they are most likely to see it.

Places artists and crafters look for shows include (but are not limited to) Art and Craft Show Publications, local Chambers of Commerce, visitors centers, fairgrounds and events centers, bulletin boards, the internet, newspapers, radio, and TV. Have a successful show already? Maintain a mailing list. Art and craft vendors also ask other artists and crafters at events they are attending if they know of other great shows in the area.

Art and Craft Publications
Art and craft publications are also known as craft fair guides, art and craft show listings, and many other names search the internet using the right keywords and you will find more than a few.  Art and craft publications contain many listings of art and craft shows. They also usually contain some advertising for event insurance, outdoor canopies for shows, displays, and art and craft supplies. They usually cover a specified area such as one state, several states, a region, or the nation. Some will also contain hints and tips, checklists, book and product reviews, display ideas, etc.

Now for a quick message from our sponsor, smile:
My favorite, The Extravaganza Craft News, covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Local Places Artists and Crafters Look for Events
Local places artists and crafters look for events include the Chamber of Commerce, visitors centers, civic centers, fairgrounds and events centers, basically any where an art and craft show might be held. Ask when booking your event if they will include your event on a calendar of upcoming events. Be sure they inform their employees of your upcoming event so they will be ready to refer artists and crafters your way.

Bulletin Boards
Artists and crafters will also check bulletin boards in grocery stores, gas stations, art and craft stores, on college campuses, in salons, at local restaurants, and many other businesses.

Hang posters, postcards, or business cards on bulletin boards everywhere you go. Be sure your advertising has a headline guaranteed to get the attention of artists and crafters who want to sell their merchandise. Don’t forget the basics a date and time for your show and a way to contact you including (at least) your name and phone number.

The Internet
The internet is a great resource and you don’t have to spend a fortune on a webpage or webdesigner anymore. You can buy a website and everything you need to run it for under $100/year. You can get one that has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get editor) so that you can design and run it yourself or hire someone to run it for you. A website is a great place to tell artists, crafters, and customers about your upcoming shows, and to upload your applications. Need simple instructions for building a webpage visit Build a Website.

Newspapers
The problem with advertising anything in newspapers is actually reaching your target audience. Reaching thousands of people who don’t sell their art and crafts at shows probably won’t help your business as much as reaching 100 people who do.

Newspapers do have other resources available other than paid ads. Call the paper and ask about their policy for press releases, people in business, guest written articles, and calls to artists and crafters. Ask who you send them to and the correct address. Send a press release and call to artists to many local newspapers. The free resources will probably benefit your business more than paid advertising at this time, but if they won’t run your articles ask if they offer a deal on paid advertising with submissions.

Ask if they have a (printed/online) calendar of events and how soon your event will begin appearing on it. Don’t forget your contact information.

Press releases are informational articles sent to the newspaper. They inform the public of events (art festivals, craft shows, bazaars, musuem openings, and so much more) happening in the area. They are free and printed in most publications as space allows (so send yours early and often). Read Press Releases for Art Festivals and Craft Shows.

Radio and TV
Radio stations often offer a discount on large numbers of ads. Ask them if they can offer you a deal if you order ads now to advertise to artists and crafters and again later to advertise to customers. They also offer package deals for onsite advertising. Ask the radio station if they would like to sponsor your event and have their logo included on all your advertising.

I have never used TV advertising but I hear that cable ads aren’t that expensive and can be targetted to reach people in the area of your show. Again ask a TV station if they might like to sponsor your event. Feature a happy artist or crafter in your ads looking for vendors.

Don’t ask more than one radio station, TV station, or newspaper to sponsor your event and ask them if they only work with specific people i.e. ABC Radio only works with XYZ News.

Mailing List
Tell artists and crafters which publications they can find your listings in. Contact art and craft exhibitors who have attended your show in the past. Keep them happy and they are likely to return. Keep your list updated so you don’t waste money mailing to bad addresses.

Email autoresponders from AutoWebBusiness.com or Constant Contact make it easy to stay in contact with vendors. I highly recommend you check out these two companies if you don’t already have some kind of automated follow up/email system in place.

AutoWebBusiness.com Increase your sales by 100% GUARANTEED! CLICK HERE

Word of Mouth
Many artists and crafters still only hear about shows through word of mouth. Keep your vendors happy and they are more likely to tell others only good things about your show.

List your show with The Extravaganza Craft News now!

While attending an art fair in my area a few years ago I visited with artists and crafters. We discussed my newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, and if I should include artist and crafter reviews of shows. I found this an interesting topic as I had never really considered all the pros and cons of show reviews before.

The only positive point I see to show reviews are that artists and crafts people hopefully don’t get suckered into doing bad shows where the promoter is not truly doing their best to advertise the show.

There are many factors involved in if a vendor has a good show. Factors ranging from their financial and emotional investment, what is happening in their lives-before, on the way to, during, and after the show, what they are selling, how they are displaying their items, their own marketing skills, their own attitudes and actions in their booth, to the purchasing habits of the customers at the show. Even the placement of your booth and the weather (too good or bad) could affect sales at a show.

As the artist who prompted the conversation pointed out some crafters who know of really good shows wait years to get juried in. They might not want extra competition either getting in or competing for sales so they might hesitate to tell you everything they know about the show. On the other hand everyone who has ever experienced a bad show is pretty quick to tell you about it.

So how do you know if you can trust a show review? I suggest using your best judgement. Reviews by someone selling merchandise similar to yours should be more valuable to you than those by someone whose product sells in a whole different category, but then again they are your competitor.

Compare the number of bad reviews to good, remembering it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. Ask lots of questions about why people felt that way about the show and which factors might have played a part, while talking to crafters personally about shows. When possible consider the values and motives of sources.

Better yet, attend shows as a customer if possible before entering as a vendor. Look closely at the number of people attending, look at what booths are busy, what is selling, how much money is being spent. If booths in one area of the show are making lots of sales while others aren’t see if the set-up allows for proper flow of traffic to all the booths. Is your most likely customer in attendance, are people buying products that are the same style as yours and that sell in your price range? How many competitors will there be in your category?

Remember while it is the promoters job to advertise the show, it is your job to advertise your product.  How much better would every show be if, every vendor told 100 other people about the show?

What do you think are art and craft show reviews worth their weight in gold?

Looking at it from both the perspective of a show promoter and artist the one thing that other vendors at shows do that bothers me the most is not including the legs of their displays into the size of their booth.

Having the legs of their display sticking into the aisles and into the booths next to them is hard for show promoters, as well as dangerous for customers and also inconveniences the vendors in booths nearby. Show promoters are then pressed to find an acceptable compromise for everyone.

Keeping all parts of your display in the footprint of your booth keeps everyone happy.

Also read Attending Craft Shows Isn't Just About Selling Arts and Crafts.

What is one thing other art & craft vendors do that tick you off at craft shows?

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

Week one I worked on catching up on left over unfinished crafts and business projects from previous weeks to prepare for my 30 days of greater profitability. As usual I accomplished some of the things I intended to do, did some things I planned to do later early, and didn’t accomplish some of the plan.

Week two I learned new things about my email marketing to keep my messages from being flagged as spam. I joined a networking site I’ve been meaning to join for months when they ran a special I couldn’t pass up. I did a client consultation which was a new service for me. I blogged about what I was doing and I did all this while keeping up with requests for information about my business.

Week three I mailed coupons to show promoters, had a second client consultation, worked on facebook profile and group pages. I created a profile on Fast Pitch Networking and added a few contacts there. I worked on cleaning out my email box, and signed up for a MySpace account, and I blogged about what I had done to make my business more profitable this week.

Week 4 what I accomplished.

• Power Pay contacted me but then never got back to me. I guess I still need to call them next week.
• I remembered that I had a Linked in account and had a new member join there.
• I found my friend that was already on MySpace and reconnected with her.
• I created an email I can send to all my customers and prospects reminding them that they can follow me on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Linked in. I need to finish formatting it and send it to everyone. I remembered to tell a client over the phone that they could follow me all these places.
• Worked on creating my profile on Fast Pitch Networking. Added a few contacts there.
• Worked on cleaning out my overly full email box which got even fuller despite my efforts.
• I blogged about my experience working toward greater profitability this week.

Here is what I didn’t accomplish.

• I still didn’t get my accounting done.
• I didn’t call the people I just mailed free newsletters to in the last few weeks to ask them what they thought of the newsletter. It is probably too late but I will try to fit this into next week anyway. Call your prospects right away they are only interested about 7 days!
• I didn’t create any articles to send to show promoters that will encourage them to list their shows with me.
• Since I didn’t write the articles I also didn’t start calling my huge list of show promoters. Obviously I didn’t sign them up in my email marketing system.
• I didn’t get the article written for my newsletter although I have some very good ideas to write about.

I hope that this series is inspiring you to work along with me to improve your businesses profitability by doing something each day that will make your business stronger. I know that I’m a bad example but I would really suggest that you write your goals down on a calendar. This way you can truly see what you did accomplish and will remember what you didn’t get done so you can work on it in your spare time or in your next 30 day plan.

The plan for the next 8 days:

Day 24-Write and send a quick email to all my customers from the past asking them how their businesses are doing? Tell them how my business is doing and showing them where they can get more information from my business. Sort of bring them back to take another look at my business.

Day 25-Write the article for my newsletter.

Day 26-Finish writing my book.

Day 27-Clean out my email box.

Day 28-Do my accounting

Day 29-Create articles to send to show promoters who haven’t listed with me yet.

Day 30-Call show promoters and ask them if I can send them free articles.

Day 31-Blog about my 30 days to Greater Profitability for my art and craft show business.

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Entry 4 of 6 in the series My 30 Day Plan to Greater Profitability.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

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Art and Craft Show Expert Shasta McLaughlin provides articles, hints and tips, checklists and more for artists and crafters that sell handcrafted products who want to save time looking for shows, packing for fairs, and get more sales at festivals. Now she is revealing how to collect your customers contact information, follow up with them and make more money while working less. Go to http://www.extravaganzacrafts.net to get her newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, that will help you avoid mistakes, save time and money when preparing your craft show booth.

Being an artist or crafter is about so much it's about having an idea, a talent, and a skill and developing that into a business. It's about learning there are proper ways of marketing those skills and that when done properly any business can succeed to some degree of success. It's about knowing what you define as success-as each person defines it differently.

The stigma surrounding home based businesses comes from the many mistakes that you see home based businesses making. For instance:

• posting hard sale messages
• posting numerous sales messages
• lack of marketing skills
• lack of salesmanship
• lack of customer service skills
• the idea that all home based businesses are MLM
• the idea that it's impossible to make a living selling your own hand crafted arts and crafts.

Many hand crafters make the mistake of posting messages that are self serving with no benefit to the readers of the group. When posting messages on social media sites like Facebook be sure your messages really benefit the reader on their path toward success. Gear posts toward providing value to the readers not toward yourself.

So my piece of golden advice would be to be sure when ever you post on Facebook think about 5 things:

1. Why am I posting here? What am I trying to accomplish? Am I trying to drive someone to visit my website, my blog, get them to follow or like me on Facebook, LinkedIn etc.?


2. Am I in the right place to do that?

Facebook is a great place to drive sales when your posts are providing value to the reader, but will harm your reputation done incorrectly.

Don't try a hard sale with people who aren't interested in your product or service instead try posting in a place where people are looking for your product or service.

Hard sells don't work and that is why so many people receive complaints about the self serving ads. Instead...

Try giving relevant information to the topic at hand tie it into why your product is necessary to the reader and include a link to your site.


3. Have I given the reader information that is valuable to them?


4. Did I include a clear call to action that accomplishes my goal in #1?


5. Am I developing a relationship with the reader or am I pushing them away?

Guide each of your contacts gently to the desired goal. Don't expect anyone to buy from you when they first meet you. Give them several chances at getting information that is relevant and valuable to them with each piece taking them a little closer to the desired goal-making a purchase from you.

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Entry 1 of 5 in the series Social Media Networking for Artists and Crafters.
Use LinkedIn to Build Your Art or Craft Show Business
How to Setup Your Art or Craft Show Booth Facebook Business Page
How Your Facebook Page Helps Your Art or Craft Business Know Who Your Customers Are

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Art and Craft Show Expert Shasta McLaughlin provides articles, hints and tips, checklists and more for artists and crafters that sell handcrafted products who want to save time looking for shows, packing for fairs, and get more sales at festivals. Now she is revealing how to collect your customers contact information, follow up with them and make more money while working less. Go to http://www.extravaganzacrafts.net to get her newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, that will help you avoid mistakes, save time and money when preparing your craft show booth.

Recently I’ve been working to make my craft fair business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

Well last week I worked on catching up on left over unfinished projects from previous weeks to prepare for my 30 days of greater profitability. As usual I accomplished some of the things I intended to do, did some things I planned to do later early, and didn’t accomplish some of the plan.

Here is what I did accomplish.

• I kept up with incoming orders and new requests for information while getting my kids ready to go back to school.
• I published my monthly craft newsletter that I try to accomplish the last week of the month (although it won’t be due out until the next week).
• I learned something new about my email marketing that will keep my messages from being flagged as SPAM as often.
• I worked with a new client doing a phone consultation on building their website (this is a new service I offer).
• I blogged about my experience working toward greater profitability this week.

Here is what I didn’t accomplish.

• I really didn’t get my goals written down on a calendar although I do have them planned out in my head.
• I didn’t get my accounting done and it has been falling behind a few months now.
• I didn’t get my office really clean (instead I worked on my daughters room and it is greatly improved).

I hope that this series is inspiring you to work along with me to improve your businesses profitability by doing something each day that will make your business stronger. I know that I’m a bad example but I would really suggest that you write your goals down on a calendar. This way you can truly see what you did accomplish and will remember what you didn’t get done so you can work on it in your spare time or in your next 30 day plan.

The plan for the next 7 days:

• Day 8 -Get my coupons sent out that I mail to show promoters each month.
• Day 9 -Call the people I just mailed free newsletters to in the last few weeks. Ask them what they thought of the newsletter and if I can sign them up for a free report and to receive further information from my company. Sign them up as prospects in my email marketing system if they say yes.
• Day 10 -Do my accounting.
• Day 11 -Create a few articles to send to show promoters that will encourage them to list their shows with me.
• Day 12 -Start calling my huge list of show promoters and ask them if I can send them free articles that will help make their businesses more profitable as well as articles that will make their vendors businesses more profitable. Sign them up in my email marketing system.
• Day 13 -Continue calling my list of show promoters and sign them up for the articles in my email marketing system.
• Day 14 -Contact PowerPay about getting a system in place to be able to accept credit cards.
• Day 15 -Continue getting PowerPay set up and blog about my experiences this week.

What are you doing to increase sales in your craft fair booth?

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Entry 2 of 6 in series My 30 Day Plan to Greater Craft Show Profitability. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Customers at craft shows often balk at the price of handcrafted works of art. One reason is they are used to going to Walmart and buying imports at half the price.

Help your customers realize the value of buying arts and crafts by sharing this article I found 101 Reasons to Buy Handmade.

Why do you buy handmade?

Recently I’ve been working to make my business more profitable each and every day. Today it occurred to me that I should share with you how I plan to do that.

• Day 1-Set a goal to do something to make my business more profitable each day for 1 month.
• Day 2-Make a plan. Get out a calendar and write down the goal for each day until calendar contains one goal for each day. Make each goal one that can be accomplished in a time frame of 1 day to 1 week.
• Day 3-Finish writing down goals on calendar. Breaking larger goals down into step by step goals if necessary.
• Day 4-Clean office so I can find everything I need to accomplish goals.
• Day 5-Do projects I’ve been putting off for the past month or so especially accounting.
• Day 6-Finish projects I’ve been putting off for last month.
• Day 7-Blog about my experiences this week.

PS. This is not my office! LOL

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Entry 1 of 6 in series My 30 Day Plan to Greater Craft Show Profitability. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

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Art and Craft Show Expert Shasta McLaughlin provides articles, hints and tips, checklists and more for artists and crafters that sell handcrafted products who want to save time looking for shows, packing for fairs, and get more sales at festivals. Now she is revealing how to collect your customers contact information, follow up with them and make more money while working less. Go to http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com to get her newsletter, The Extravaganza Craft News, that will help you avoid mistakes, save time and money when preparing your craft show booth.

Looking for art and crafts shows occupies a large amount of time for the vendor who makes a living selling at shows. One time saving hint: knowing where to look for shows is the key to saving time looking for them.

For the longest time the only place you could find good shows was to attend a show and talk to the different vendors about the shows they had attended. Unfortunately these show had often happened in the previous two weeks or were about to happen in the next two weeks.  Often there wasn’t time enough to get registered for them and the shared information was already forgotten by next year.

And now a brief message from our sponsor:

If you’re looking for shows in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota or South Dakota…The Extravaganza Craft News is a great place to look!

Okay enough of tooting my own horn, smile!

When I was looking for shows to attend the places I looked were:

The internet-using different combinations of keywords you will come up with all different kinds of results.  Search for combinations of: arts, crafts, fairs, festivals, antique shows, jewelry shows, gem and bead shows, trade shows, farmers’ markets, shows, show listings, bazaars, boutiques and other words to do with your craft to narrow down the search.  Include the name of the city and state to search the area where you would like to sell.  Include Christmas or holiday if you’re searching for seasonal shows.

Many sites will give you sample listings, some will have free listings, and others will have paid memberships, newsletters etc.  Hint:  Find a listing that covers your area and purchase it.  It will help you find the information you need before considering which shows to apply for.  Freeing up your time to do other more profitable tasks.

Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Centers, Community Centers, Fairgrounds-These are either the places local shows are held or they are often the sponsors of local shows.  They will usually know about which shows happen yearly and might have phone numbers for the contacts of many local shows.

Local Newspapers-Newspapers will often carry advertising for shows that are happening in their area of coverage.  Look for call to artists/crafters in the press releases as well as in community calendars, etc.

Grocery stores, gas stations, local restaurants, store windows-You will find bulletin boards in many businesses around town.  Many places will even hang posters in their windows so open your eyes and look.

Ask show promoters-Don’t forget to ask show promoters if they hold other shows or if they know of any other shows they recommend in the area.

Word of Mouth-Word of mouth is still a good way to go.  Ask your friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and church group about their favorite shows/events in your area.  Ask other artists that you meet, attend shows and ask vendors what other shows they know of.  Keep a log and you’ll be prepared to find the shows again next year.