Andre The Giant Has A Posse

If you know what this means.....you are automatically cool.

If not, here is what I am talking about.

Once upon a time (1987ish) there was a young girl and her brother was a skateboarder. She was a very crafty, very nerdy, figure skater sort of girl. Her brother was a very cool, very straight edge, very skateboarding sort of fellow. He had some fabric patches, and later some vinyl stickers that had a silk screen print that said "Andre The Giant Has a Posse" with a image and some other stats for the pro-wrestler. The younger nerdier girl said to her brother and his friends "what does that mean?" and they told her if she didn't know, she wasn't cool enough to know..... brothers can really suck sometimes.......

Fast forward 20 years to 2007ish and that nerdy girl is now a rock star crafter, who never forgot how if felt to want to be a part of something so cool, so esoteric, that if you didn't know what it was you probably aren't cool enough to be a part of it. Enter Etsy.com and the CT Etsy Team. Etsy is not so cool that you need a password, but it is still just indie enough to be cool. Oh, and the Andre The Giant and later OBEY patches--they didn't mean anything--just like the name Etsy- doesn't mean anything.

And here is my homage to the OBEY patches:

Not quite Andre The Giant, but cool for sure. I'll have the stand alone patches at the Craftastic on April 13th ($2) as well as a few of the zipper pouches ($8). A portion of the profit will go back to the CT Etsy Street Team to help promote the rad, indie crafters in CT to advertise, host markets, and generally make Etsy as big as Andre The Giant.

Oh, and they were my first trip into the extra cool, extra indie world of homemade silkscreens. I am in love. I used actual silk for the screen, and I think it worked better than tulle or stockings.

Craft Market Tres

It is about 2 days before the market, you have all your pieces done, the tags are on, and you have a plan(ish) for what your display will look like. Now comes the hard part. The part where you have to talk to people you don't know about your work and they either buy it or they don't. This can be more difficult than all the seaming, felting, painting, and exacto cuts combined.





I watched a documentary about buzz marketing a couple of years ago, and it changed my life. Buzz marketing is a style of guerrilla marketing where you create a 'feel' or *buzz* around a product without overtly advertising it. The easiest way to market something to people is if they see someone who they want to be like using, enjoying, or taking part of a product or service.

Therefore; give yourself some buzz.

When I get up and go to work in my crafty studio, I do it in whatever I have been wearing and a paint stained apron. This is not how I dress to go to a craft market. When I am a market vendor I think about who my target audience is, and I dress like them (this is easy, since I'm part of my own target market). If your market is young slightly conservative moms, try to look like someone they would go shopping with, take out your nose ring, and wear a sweater set. If your target market is Brooklyn hipsters, pull out your ironic tee shirt, slap some Vaseline on your tattoos and put on your ballet flats. Remember: part of the 'buzz' is creating 'the image'.

Here is a list of things to remember the day of the market

1. Change. People come shopping straight from the ATM machine, so you should be able to make change for at least a couple of $20 bills.



2. Tape. Something on your display will need to be taped, trust me.



3. Scissors and some string or yarn. Something or someone will need it.



4. Bags or something to put purchases in.



5. Lights, extension cord, table/display and a table covering.



6. Business Cards or postcards.



7. A notebook or sales slip book to record your sales in.



8. A small project to work on. It is a great way for people to strike up a conversation with you.



9. Water and a couple of healthy snacks. It's easy to forget to take care of yourself, but you will feel much better if you can eat something and keep hydrated.



10. Your fabulous products and your smile!









I can't wait to see you all at the Craftastic spring fling.



woot.

Craft Market Dos.

Okay, so you have carefully decided what to make, how it should be priced, and the day of the market is about a week away. It is now time to label and display your work for sale.

I generally use business cards or a nice hand written tag for my labels. On the labels I include my company name, a way to get in contact with me (a URL or email address), and any care instructions, if there are any that apply. I think it is a good way to make your work feel finished, professional and it lends an air of confidence to your work. The more professionally you can present your work, the better.

Once everything is labeled I price it all individually. The only time I think it is a good idea to group price things is when you are dealing with 'stocking stuffer' gifts, or jewelry you are displaying on a board. Remember, people are paying you for something unique, so play it up. The more unique the item feels, the better.

Everything is priced, tagged, labeled and ready to go. The best advice I can give anyone about presenting work is merchandise, merchandise, merchandise. Go to a store you think is beautiful. Look at how items are presented, things are presented in a way that makes you want to touch it, try it on, and is visually interesting.

Levels and vertical presentation boards are a great way to make yourself stand out in the crowd. It is really hard to get someone to walk across a room to look at something if they aren't interested. There is nothing more boring than walking into a craft market and seeing flat tables with work lined up in neat rows. Asymmetry, odd numbers, and multiple levels are interesting.

If you need to see an example- go to an upscale, trendy store and take notes. A well merchandised store will always make more money than a cluttered and poorly lit one.

If you are selling wearables, be sure to have a mirror available for viewing. People want to see how great they are going to look in your work before they give you money. You should also be sure to bring additional lighting if the space is dark or if you have something like textiles or jewelry that is better viewed in bright light.


Next post, You and your business image.

Craft Markets. Uno.

Last week Jillian made 2 new posts about what she has learned from her new trip into participating in craft markets.

This weekend I attended a Connecticut Etsy Street Team meeting and am starting to prep for the Craftastic spring fling. As I read Jillian's posts, meet people on my team, and get to know the online community as real people some things have become very clear to me. Etsy is FULL of wonderfully talented incredibly skilled people. Some of them are participating in Etsy with an entirely different mindset than I am. Part of that is the difference in life view and part of it is purely what people want to get out of Etsy as an online marketplace. I am also learning that although I think of myself as a newbie to indie craft, I have a lot more experience than many of my team members.

As I am prepping for the last craft market I will be a vending in for a while I thought I would write a multi-post tutorial about what I have learned participating in craft markets over the last 5 years. Remember, I am writing about small venues with less than 12 or so crafters. If you are going balls-to-the-wall and trying your hand at a giant venue with 30 or more vendors, it is a totally different story.


Here is part uno.


When I am planning what I am going to take to a market there are a couple of questions I ask myself. These include:

Who is my target audience? and what is their income and spending level (realistically)?

For me I know most of my work appeals to educated women in the 24-40 age group who more than likely work in the arts, or are pretty crafty and trendy. I like to think of it as the 'BUST' magazine-reading-smarty-pants-market. So I work on developing products that appeal to these women and fit in their spending patterns.

Can I create this product and still make a profit on it?

If the answer is no, then it's time to re-evaluate how I am constructing something, the materials I am using, and how I am charging for the product.

Has this product sold well in the past?

I always bring some items I call my guaranteed sells. These are items that generally cost less than $15, are good gifts, and would appeal to a broad variety of people. If I make something and it proves to be unpopular I will stop making it. No need to waste my time making something that is unpopular, even if I am having a blast making it. Time to add that item to my 'personal crafts only' list. For me- these things include hand dyed yarn, jewelry, and knitted hats. The market is (in my opinion) flooded with these items and I don't need to try to swim in an already crowded pool. side note- I am still trying to get rid of some of these things, so look for them to be marked down like crazy at the spring Craftacular.

So now you have decided on what you are bringing to the market. Now let's talk quantity. In all the markets I have participated in (some holiday, some not) I have almost never sold totally out of anything. Having said that, I usually try to have a good quantity of items. What is a good quantity? Depends. If it is a holiday market- it could be as much as 20 of one item. For a non-holiday market, I try to have a dozen of my best sellers.

Most people (myself included) were totally overwhelmed by their first market. It is a daunting thing to have to go out and chat with people about your work, look them in the face and on occasion, have them ask really dumb, insulting questions. However, when someone is totally thrilled with your work and is willing to give you some of their hard earned money for something you made -it is worth all the time and energy. Trust me.

Next post- How to display your work.