Etsy, Artfire, and other crafting sites are not the only means to sell items made by you or your group. Many people will go to craft shows and flea markets to showcase their things and make some extra money. However, craft shows and flea markets are also a excellent place to help promote your team, guild, or group.

 Like I had said in my previous article "Promoting Your Guilds and Teams", flyers are a good way to get your group recognized. You would be far more likely to hand out many more flyers through a craft show than if you send them to just a few customers online. As you are setting up your table or booth at the show, place the flyers where they can be easily accessed by show attendees. Do not put all the flyers out on the table; keep some available to hand out with every purchase that is made at your station. If a friend, or team member, going to a craft show that you will not be attending, try to give or sell them the flyers well in advance of the show.

Another way to help promote your team or guild at a show, is through business cards. Though business cards cannot hold as much information as a flyer, they can still hold all the needed group details. The only information that is necessary on a business card is the guild or team name, the groups website address, group tags, and some bullet points about the team or a slogan. Make sure that the group’s main theme is emphasized on the business card or else show patrons may forget about your group. It’s a good idea to have both business cards and flyers to try to promote your group. Everyone may not have room to carry a flyer around, but a business card is easy to carry or put into a wallet. To make your business card more memorable, turn it into a magnet so customers can place it on their refrigerator for later viewing.

If your team or guild has done, or plans on doing a swap, craft fairs are good places to test the waters of swapping. Swaps can let your customers test out some of your groups smaller items and a craft show would make it much easier to pass out these sample-sized things.  Do not sell them; your group members worked hard on those items and would not want you to make money off of their work. If the last hour of the fair is quickly approaching and you still have a lot of swap items left, start passing them out to people coming to your table even if they do not buy anything.

Wearing a team or guild badge is another way to have your group seen by passers by at a craft show. Buttons and badges come in many sizes, so choose wisely which size would be best for your group’s needs. A smaller badge would not be able to hold as much information as a larger button. Wear the button in a highly visible spot and keep it on during the entire show.   Make sure to know a decent amount of information about your group, in the chance that you get asked about your badge.

To keep your members pleased, allow them easy access to these types of promotional items on your team or guild’s site or shop. If these items are hard to access, your members will not want to take advantage of these helpful items due to the hassle they may have to endure. If they use these items with every show they attend, your group will have a lively stream of potential new customers and, quite possibly, many new teammates.

Photo courtesy of Emily August