My next show is this weekend...exactly five days from today!!
Saturday August 15, 2015 from 9:00am - 4:00pm
It is in Yukon, OK, which isn't that far of a drive from the OKC Metro. (Trust me, if it was "that far of a drive," I would not be doing it... I hate driving!)
Come on out and see me...say hello, give me a hug, bring me a t-shirt and I'll sew it into a pillow right then & there. Getting things now and "on the spot" is awesome. Let me share some of that awesome with you. : )
If you haven't bought a pillow or tote from me before, I'm almost certain you'll find one that you like. I have been shopping around for shirts and sewing like crazy. The new inventory that I have made for this show is not on my Etsy shop, yet. It's for in-person buyers first. I have taken note of what sold at previous shows and what has been selling on my Etsy shop currently. I have tweaked my buying behavior and my new stuff caters much more to you... YOU, dear shopper, will be seeing more of what your previous buying behavior indicates that you like. What doesn't sell at The Summer Show will be put on my Etsy store later, but for now, you get first dibs.
If you have bought a pillow (or tote) from me before, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!! If you just love that pillow immensely and it's gotten a little used and flat, bring it out. I'll re-stuff and fluff it back to life for you for just $1.
About a month before this show, I won tickets to a vendor/small business/crafter workshop. It was hosted by Indie Trunk Show and each winner got to bring a friend. I brought fellow crafter and coworker, Glass Soldier Gifts. She has helped me so much, this was the least I could do as a thank you.
My winning notices.
The title of the workshop was "Visual Merchandising: The Basics". It was a pretty good class & I learned quite a bit. I don't have the means to apply my knowledge to RagsReborn at the moment but when finances improve, I definitely have a to-do list. After the workshop, we had one-on-one time with our instructor and she was really nice and helpful. And, of course, I loved meeting all the other local crafters (our presenter was a crafter herself). We learned so much about booth display, product placement and merchandising/marketing in general. So much so that we came home with an entire packet of information to use as reference for later. The top three things I learned were:
1.
I need to create a visual brand identity. Right now, I have a brand name but its stylized a zillion ways. I have...
RagsReborn Gifts
rags|reborn
Rags Reborn Gifts
I must settle on one (I'm thinking the first one but I need to make sure it isn't already in use). Luckily, I have one definite logo:
r|r. Check that off the brand identity list!
Along with my name, I need to settle on
one font--which I
think I already am doing-- & only use a few colors --which I need to sit down and think about before choosing. Consistency builds brand recognition. Everything will flow... {
blue business cards,
blue logos,
blue flyers. Come to the show and look for the
blue.}
As of now, I have no tax ID number. I am only doing casual sales so it's not necessary. I will be getting a tax ID in January 2016 (I want to take this more seriously), and at that time, I will be picking a company name style, font and 2-3 colors. Then throughout the new year (and forever more), my business cards, flyers, show announcements, etc. will all match. I don't know why I haven't thought about this before. It makes total sense.
This not only applies to my marketing material, it also applies to my booth display. Right now, my booth looks like a garage sale. It's unorganized & unprofessional; it only consists of a few pieces of furniture (one I made myself). I need to focus on getting a theme with consistent colors and shapes. The instructor advised to avoid the same display materials as what you sell. So, I will be getting rid of my cloth clad double-decker couch. I'm not sure how much longer that thing will last so it's just as well.
And, one last thing, I need to dress to match my booth and brand recognition. Once again, I have never thought of this. At the two shows that I have done to date, I just "dressed cute." Companies have uniforms for a reason. Everything matches, everything looks put together, everything will scream, "Rags Reborn is here, come here, come shop!"
2.
I NEED a booth with walls. As mentioned above, my booth is hardly a booth. It's the best I could muster up as a beginner. I am hard on myself a lot but I did just start RagsReborn in November 2014. It's still a baby and I can't expect for it to be completely put together, yet. I have a vision of what I want my booth at shows to look like. Now, I just need to turn this vision into reality. I also need money...lots of money.
The most upsetting thing to me about my Indie Trunk Show experience was how juvenile my booth looked. Everyone around me had much better & more professionally built booths. They had
walls! No matter how awesome your product is, no one will stop by and look if your booth is shitty. It's like dating... personality is great but everyone wants to bang and they ain't bangin' an ugly chick. Well, my booth was the ugly chick of the Indie Trunk Show. My products are good & I am nice to customers; in my mind, my sales sucked because of my booth display.
Our workshop leader spent a lot of time on wall merchandising and directing the flow of traffic. She advised for your walls to be useful: put some shelves on your walls, hang a sign from your wall. She taught us the concept of triangle merchandising and using our space wisely. She also said that displaying items in an odd number promotes more sales. I didn't understand the "why" to that concept but I will definitely try it and see if it works.
I was relieved when she said that only one back wall is needed. She actually said that being boxed up with side walls hinders traffic flow. In the end, I want my booth to look like a lodge or cabin. I sell pillows and pillows are cozy. I want some shelving on my back wall, I want a few benches to display my pillows on and I want a mounted wall-hanging thing for my totes. (I have no idea what those are called... you hang your hats or keys or whatever on them.) I want these items to be made of wood so they look rustic but cozy once my pillows are placed upon them. And I want an area rug. When a customer walks into my booth, I want them to be walking into the cozy bedroom from their childhood vacation. Look, there's your favorite superhero t-shirt turned into a pillow laying on that chair!
I have big dreams and big dreams cost money and SUVs. Seeing as I currently drive a Sentra, my imagined wood structures would never be able to be transported. Reality is a bitch. But I will start small and eventually build up to my dream booth (and eventually buy an SUV).
We got goodies at this workshop. Some samples of our instructor's work (see picture before this one), some discounts and a handwritten thank you note.
3. Offer free stuff. I have always known this works--I'm a major sucker for free and discounts-- and I have been wanting to do it at my shows. Most shows have "swag bags." It's where all of the vendors get to put a sample of their craft in a large bag in hopes of luring customers to their booth and the first 100 shoppers into the show get one of these large bags filled with goodies. For me, two problems arise immediately: 1. I do not have 100 uniformly sewn items & 2. a lot of the time, shows require vendors to pay a fee to participate in the swag bags. I will do this at a future show. I already know what I want my swag bag sample item to be. Once again, this stuff takes time and money...two things I desperately lack as a beginner.
Other ideas our workshop presented were:
*At-show discounts- ex. Buy today at my show and get 20% off!
*Coupons tied to your promotional items- ex. Staple a coupon to your flyer when you hand them out (I really want to do this because it encourages people to take your flyer and then it makes them want to find you at whatever huge show you are a part of.)
*Coupons to use later that are passed out at the show- ex. Don't want to buy now? Take this coupon and get 15% off at my Etsy shop later.
One last thing that I really want to do is to let people know where I will be next. My neighbor at the Indie Trunk Show (who will forever be known as "the onesie lady") told me that she passes out flyers for her next show at the show that she's currently doing. By doing this, she has built up a massive fan base. People drive out from everywhere to attend her shows. She lures them out with promises of more onesie designs, sizes and discounts.
"Come to my next show for this and that...here, take a flyer so you don't forget when & where my next show is."
This idea is brilliant. It takes the pressure off customers having to buy today but if they really want an item, they will come to your next show for it. It is a personalized invitation out to your next show. It shows you're established and actually are do shows on a regular basis.
That is all I have. I really benefited from this workshop and I hope what I learned will help you in your future shows. I hope to see you out this weekend!
