The craft show is over, and it was a success! At your booth you had potential customers, but did you realize, that for every transaction, that you now can call that customer, YOUR customer! What did you do to ensure that they remember y
ou for future purchases? Marketing materials is not just for gaining customers, it is also very effective for customer retention.
Believe it or not, I do not use business cards at the craft shows. They usually get thrown out and are a waste of money. A more effective tactic is to place in their bag of purchases,
this “Upcoming Craft Show” sheet of paper with the dates, times & locations of your upcoming craft shows. If they are at one show, more than likely they will be looking for other shows to attend. I also leave a stack of these sitting on my table for people to pick up.
If I don’t have any upcoming shows, then I will create a “Follow Me QR Code” type of lead magnet. This will contain a little information about my business, any contact information that I don’t mind being public. I caution against adding a phone number if you don’t have a dedicated phone number for your business. I will also include a QR code that will lead them to either my website, Facebook Page, or other social media link. The QR Code generator is free to use.
Another thing you can do is just ask them if they would like to receive updates about new product offerings and show updates. There are a several different newsletter email programs you can use. I have used Mailchimp but prefer Mailerlite. Both offer a free option for up to 2,000 subscribers. I just leave this “Newsletter Sign Up” form by the checkout section for them to fill out if they desire. The download is at the end of this article, along with all the other resource links.
One other form I may take with me is a custom invoice. This is useful if the customers are requesting more than one custom order product, otherwise I just use a custom order form. I would just fill this out by hand. I hold onto it until I completed their custom order and then return it with the product. That way they have record of what they purchased and all my contact information. One question you will ALWAYS be asked is do you take credit cards. I will take credit cards through my card reader. I also will take cash, but I will not take a check, even a local one.
I put this sign up in two different places, one at the checkout section and one at the “Showstopper section” of my table.