How to set up for an Art/Craft Show- Checklist
by Victoria Case

There's nothing worse than setting up a great booth, and right before show time, realize there's something you have forgotten. So, I created a checklist for myself which I recommend for anyone planning to attend an event. Of course, depending upon what you sell, yours will have other items to add.

My list begins with money and promotion(after all, that's what it's all about). I usually bring $100 worth of bills/change in a small box or "fanny pack". And the following items:

• receipt book
• business cards (don't forget to advertise your website!)
• large sign with name and/or logo
• easel for large sign
• two lined paper pads for writing orders, names, phone numbers
• several pens
• calculator
• bags for items sold (with a business card inside each one)

Next is my display(some items are adjusted for indoor or outdoor shows)

• 10 x 10 tent (I recommend a white tent)
• buckets with sand for weight
• pre-formed concrete filled buckets for tent poles (especially useful when setting up on asphalt)
• safety pins (for anything)
• large white sheet/material for sun protection pinned to tent back wall or sidewall (if needed)
• display tables
• material to cover display tables
• small broom/dust pan
• several garbage bags
• Windex and other cleaners (jewelry, wood, etc.)
• card racks or picture holders (mannequins, boxes, items used to hold your crafts for sale)
• display signs with item categories and prices
• tape (for anything)

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A Marketing Plan for Your Craft Business

By James Dillehay

Do you have a marketing plan for your craft business? I am not speaking of a business plan, which is a more formal lengthy manuscript used mostly when attempting to raise money from lenders or investors. Instead of a multi-page document, the marketing plan consists of seven sentences which guide your progress in the coming months and years. The seven sentence plan can be drafted on one or two pages.

1. What is your most desired result to be achieved from your marketing activities?

The first part of creating a marketing plan is envisioning what you want the success of your craft business to look and feel like. Start by writing down exactly what you want your craft business to accomplish and by when. If you want $5,000 in sales each month within the next six months, write that down. If you want to get 20 items listed on eBay in the next sixty days, that’s a target. Go ahead and make that list right now.

2. What benefits does your work provide?

The second step is to list the benefits of your art or craft. What do people get by purchasing what you offer? Be careful not to focus on the features of your products. Features differ from benefits. For example, feautures of art and craftwork include dimensions, weight, colors or materials. Benefits to the buyer include escalating value, gratification, confidence, pride, good taste, and satisfaction from owning an original work by a reputable artist. Get specific and write down what makes the benefits of your items unique or different from other artists. What makes your items stand out? What’s in it for the customer? The more benefits the better.

3. Who is your audience?

If you think it’s everyone, guess again. Even if everyone is a potential customer, you can’t possibly reach them all. The purpose of step three is to zero in on your target audiences, thus allowing you to carefully plan how to promote to their specific needs. Experienced artists selling their work already know that women are responsible for most purchases of handmade items. Creating marketing material that appeals to women then becomes a clear necessity. Get as specific as you can about identifying who is your most-likely-to-buy audience(s). Define them by age, sex, race, income, hobbies, purchasing habits, and any other demographic fact that helps you describe them completely.

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Set Goals: Your Rockstardom Wasn’t Built In A Day!

By Sheena Metal

Every musician currently living on the Planet Earth would love nothing more than to wake up tomorrow in the midst of their glorious peak of superstardom. But, as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is the career of any one musician. A musical career is a long, sometimes arduous journey of tiny advances and minor setbacks filling the fragile shell of big breaks and huge disappointments. It’s up, it’s down, it’s all around and hopefully, as time passes, you can see the course of your career building up slowly through weeks and months and years of steady progress.

But how can you tell if your career is actually going somewhere? How do you know if you’re really getting closer to your musical dreams? How can you determine whether or not you’re on the right path? How do you know what to focus on in the immediacy and what paths can be left for another time when you are better equipped to tackle them creatively and concretely? While there is no one set way achieve rock superstardom, the clearest way to realize musical success is to simply set goals.

As mundane as it may seem, setting goals, both long and short-term, for your musical project lends the same kind of structure and discipline to your career that an athlete would use to train for the Olympics. Realistic goals enable you to build your band’s list of accomplishments the way a runner builds his muscles… pumping up your musical achievements as you lift off the weight of each entertainment roadblock. And the good news is that you can start today. At any time you may put into effect a list of goals, large or small, aimed at boosting your career in any given area.

The following are a few tips that will help you to set some goals so that you may get on your way to achieving all that you want from your music and the entertainment industry in general:

1).Set Goals You Can Achieve---Nothing is more depressing for an artist than setting lofty goals for yourself and your music only to bottom out with hopelessness when none of the goals are achieved by the deadline. So, much of what keeps artists plugging away in the industry, against all odds, is the positive re-enforcement of feelings of accomplishment. Keep that upbeat mojo going by setting goals for your band that you can absolutely actualize with lots of elbow grease and some good creative flow. Take a minute to assess each potential achievement and put a realistic time allotment on it so that you’re setting yourself up to succeed and move onto the next musical goal.

2).Keep Your Eyes On The Prize---It’s all well and good to set goals just to see if you can do them, but if you’re ultimate goal is to be a big ole humongous rockstar, then try and set goals that will help you on your way to a Rolls Royce, a Bentley and a 2,000 square foot infinity swimming pool. Set a goal to get one article of press each month, to book a decent gig every two weeks, or to update your website daily. Give yourself six months to finish your full-length album, three months to raise the money for your band’s t-shirts or a year to find a good manager to pitch you to labels. Each one of these goals is a great achievement on its own but also an important piece in getting your band where you eventually want it to be. So it’s a win/win for your career, any way you slice it, and the feelings of accomplishment will certainly empower you to keep pushing on in the ever-frustrating music business.

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How to Sell Items at Festivals in 7 Steps

by Jackie Bagwell

Step 1. Create Your Product

Before you get started on finding a festival, you'll want to determine which of your products you can make easily and quickly, and can set up at a craft show. It's a good idea to choose items that are unique to your style and that you can mass produce when needed. Keep in mind you'll be traveling with this product, displaying it, and will be creating a lot of the product at any given time. You'll want enough items to fill a large (10' x 10') display without running out of items. If a customer is forced to wait for the product until after a craft show, they'll likely lose interest.

Step 2. Find Your Festival

A good way to decide what kind of festival is best for you is simply to go to festivals. Take a look at the vendors that are currently booked at certain shows in your area, and what the attendees are looking for. Keep in mind that you don't want too much competition for your own product, but you do still want to stay relevant to the theme of the festival. Talk to the vendors at the show to see what their experience is. Be sure to do your homework.

Step 3. Get Booked And Get Going

Take a look at the vendor requirements for your chosen festival, and contact the event organizer with any questions. Fill out any application required by the event, and be sure to follow up after submitting via email or phone to check on your application's status. Make sure you have enough time between application approval and the event date to create any product inventory you may need. It's also a good idea to get event insurance. The last thing you need is to be financially responsible for any off-chance accidents that could happen.Sometimes the event offers insurance, most times they do not.

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