Hi Friends! I was wondering, how many of you are selling at craft fairs this fall? That is not the topic of today’s vlog but I am curious. My crafty friends on Facebook have been talking about the fairs they have been selling at and the season is in full swing. I wish all of you folks setting up booths this year the best of luck! Today I want to talk about something that will help anyone’s business, whether you are a writer, artist, crafter…or even a plumber. We have to be reputable. As artists we need to produce high quality that is consistent. It is how we build out reputation. After we build our reputation (which is similar to building our “brand” and as creative people we are our brand) we need to build our authority. But how? I will explain in this weeks art marketing vlog:
I hope that made sense to you. Reputation is what we control and create but authority is bestowed upon us from outside sources. Both are important to our success as creative entrepreneurs. I wish you the best of luck writing that book, getting into that gallery or selling at the next craft fair or art festival. I hope these art marketing vlogs help you in your artsy endeavors. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 
good info and thanks for sharing it with us…and congrats to you…so happy for and proud of you!! 🙂
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OMG, you are NOT a fruitcake who makes crafts in her basement!! LOL!! You are so funny and a goofball (not a fruitcake!!). (I know, I’m goofball too and it takes one to know one!!) Love watching anything you do!!
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Excellent video, thanks!
Are you planning on doing tutorials for all the flower paintings on old book pages you have behind you? I know you’ve already done the bleeding heart one, but I’d love to see the others as well.
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I agree with you on the authority thing. I am doing craft shows and I do think that if your friends come and like your stuff they tell their friends and so on and so on….and that gives you more authority. This is the third year in am selling my handmade cards and mixed media canvases. And each year I do better…I even got asked this year to participate in a craft show because they “heard” about my cards. So, maybe that is authority too. I do want to thank you for your videos and tuts…they have helped and inspire me to get out of my comfort zone and try other things. Such as watercolors. Keep on inspiring us!!! You rock!!
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Sorry that this is so long, but I am “chatty” (much nicer than windy don’t cha think?)
I was at a craft booth in Sept and loving the items I saw. Made out of wood, all cut with a saw and painted by hand—decorative items for the season. Very large items for the porch/yard/door were dirt cheap—$6 for a big candy corn stake w/ raffia and prim fabric ribbon. $10 for a giant pumpkin for the door, that had raffia and black and tan prim fabric for the bow. And free personalization or sentiment could be added while you waited. And a sealer was added to it too, to make sure it would last if it were in the elements.
Everything was wonderful. I was admiring her booth and telling her how wonderful I thought her work was and asking how she could sell them for so little. She laughed—she was gorgeous with a lovely personality—and said ‘well, I don’t make a lot of profit, but I LOVE doing this”.
As I examined her things–being a crafter I’m curious— and asked her a couple of questions (about the decorative painting which I’ve done myself) she very generously shared her knowledge.
As we spoke—she felt like an old friend–she shared a couple of things about being successful making and selling your art/crafts/wares. She said an older gentleman told her when she was starting out (she’s quite successful) to always use quality paint, paint the back side/unfinished side of the wood, etc; seal everything; make sure things are attached and won’t fall off, etc. because repeat business is dependent upon a satisfied customer.
She advised being generous with your knowledge. She also said she’d found that sharing how she did things/made things when asked by a prospective customer, worked in her favor.
And she was right–because even though I could have made all the things myself, I bought hers instead. I realized I probably would never get around to making them in the first place, and in the second place I would not save a dime and in the third place the time involved would put me off.
I spent $50 at her booth (doesn’t sound like much but I bought several items from her. The most expensive was $10, the rest were $2, $4, $8. I got so many wonderful things I was thrilled.
And before I left I made a point to find out where I can get more (she had mostly fall items, and I want some of her things for Christmas). She has a booth year round at an area Farmers Market (one that has indoor as well as outdoor stalls/booths). I will most definitely buy from her again!! I was so very impressed with everything she offered. And she is on Facebook and Etsy, so easy to find, always available. And every piece she sold had her business card for a price tag with her information. And everything was clearly priced.
I think, considering my experience with her success, is to do one thing well, and focus on that. If you branch out and do more, make sure it is very well done. That will draw people. The quality of her items is what drew me in, in the first place. I lingered long at her booth because of the prices and gladly spent my money there.
Price your wares according to what the market will bear at the time and in the location.
Present them in a way that allows the customer to feel free to look without buying. Be friendly but leave your customer to look without scrutinizing what they are doing. Do not pressure them to buy anything. (The above mentioned lady painted while she served her booth—it was fun watching her.)
Be friendly to the people in a way that does not make them think ‘she’s being nice because she wants to make a purchase.”. That makes people want to walk away fast before they feel indebted to you, that they must buy something because you are so nice and they don’t want to make you feel bad. This lady would have been just as lovely if you didn’t spend a dime at her booth. She loved what she did and was so happy it was contagious.
What she promoted were not her wares, but her love of life, love of her art and craft, and it spilled over into her work.
Her products sold themselves is the bottom line.
I speak not as an authority on how to sell at a craft fair, etc. But as a customer. I very rarely buy anything at craft fares, etc because it is all so samey; and not very special. But you can be sure I will seek out this lady next year (she’s at many area events) and you can be sure I, the cheap one, will spend a lot of money. I feel like I am helping a lovely lady continue to be successful and that is in itself quite gratifying. Plus I get good stuff in return.
She reminded me of you Lyndsey! (PS–she was blonde too!) She is the southern version to your New England version. If there were more crafters and artists like the two of you, everyone would want to get high on arts and crafts so they could feel as happy as you two. Maybe there is something to the creed ‘art saves”.
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aww, thanks:)
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Congratulations on the interview! Excellent suggestions. Thank you!
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Hi, first just want to say that I love your youtube videos and tutorials. I paint, and have sold some of them as well. In your video, you mention being rejected and accepted by magazines… how do you figure out what to submit and to whom? Do the magazines ask for specific submissions that you respond to or have just submitted photos of your work without specific requests? Thanks so much… Keep on spreading the light and happiness 🙂
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It depends, usually on a magazines website they will have a list of what they are looking for and when the deadline for submission is, sometimes I sent unrelated stuff and they hold onto it until it is needed.
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