Magic of Creative Advertising Pays Off

Written by Rebecca Jordan
In a previous article, I had talked about some crazy characters we have had in our shop in order to promote holiday traffic. Recently we tried something new and old. Our shop is in the downtown area and our town isn't super window shopping friendly. Not that it's dangerous but it's hot, lately been smokey, and the parking sucks. So we went to the city. No...not to complain, but to get permission to block off a small street next to our shop. Why? Well that's a good question, we are having a craft faire!We put out some flyers at local craft fairs and got a huge response. We on our little road had 75 crafters. We also allowed for a rootbeer float booth, and our local Scout Crew to have a bake sale. In addition to all of this we brought out all of our characters to visit and meet with customers and crafter alike. If people managed to miss all the advertising Mr. Valentine, Mama, Swamp thing, or Poison Ivy, flagged them down!Our shop stayed open until 9 pm when the fair ended each night. It was 3 days and well worth all effort. This way you not only get those coming to the faire into your shop; you get crafters, news reporters, and much more! It was a great time and we made the kind of money any holiday would bring in. It takes some foot work, some paperwork, and money, but well worth it! And the expenses for city permits? All were paid off by the booth space we charged the crafters. Which by the way was only $75. You get more crafter for less money. Crafters have to pay large sums of money to be in craft fairs. If they don't make what they spent on booth space and then some they not only are cranky and mean they won't come back to another event and may trash talk your shop. So happy crafters make for a great time to be had!I strongly recommend you begin to think creative advertising ways to get noticed. With having to compete with $10 dozen roses at Walmart what makes us worth the money and time to come here? A great and fun experience! Good luck and don't be shy.