March 10, 2010

Tips for applying to a craft market or fair


{image}

I posted this blog post today on the Handmade Market Blog but thought I would share it in my own space too!

What makes an appealing stall-holder application:

  • Supply quality photos of your products
  • If you are relying on your blog, make sure these are quality photos & big enough to enlarge – don’t just use thumbnails
  • Dark photos of your products detract
  • Name your photos and other documents with your business name
  • Sometimes less is more – stick to your genre and do it well, instead of trying to cover all bases or categories
  • Use an email address that reflects your business name
  • Be polite
  • Make sure you read terms and conditions and the application CAREFULLY, you might find this answers a lot of your questions and saves contacting market organizers over and over again!!
  • When you send a link to showcase your work make sure it is a direct link so it doesn’t have to be searched for! This is time consuming and when there are hundreds of applications to go through - yours may get overlooked.
  • Be prepared for rejection
  • There is a difference between persistence and stalking :-)
If perhaps you were unsuccessful:

  • Be polite in your response
  • Shooting yourself in the foot is unprofessional and unwise - burning bridges never helps future applications :-)
  • Try not to take it personally
  • Different markets target certain demographics
  • There may be limits to how many stalls the market accepts, or how many stalls in the one category, get accepted
  • The market may just not be looking for the type of product you offer

2 comments:

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

You totally rock Ros, love it!! Hope tomorrow's Creative Spacers check it out too. Should we expect your pin tuck cushion?? Love Posie

Jordan - Polkadot Prints said...

Thanks Ros. Totally appropriate for me right now!