Most people assume their marketing is set and done before they even get to the holiday shows but did you realize you can market right on through the show thanks to the attendees?  Marketing successfully during a show can draw in tons of extra people to your booth.  Plus, once they go home, you’ve done your work to make sure they can find their way back to your shop online.  And since many of your goodies will be shipped off as gifts, you’re also ensuring the happy recipients can find their way to your shop to pick up items of their own.

Here are a few ways to successfully market your business while at holiday fairs:

• Put your logo big and bold on your bags.  That way when your customers continue to walk around the fair, they’ll be mini billboards for your business.  Getting a custom-made stamp or printing onto labels is an easy way to decorate your Kraft bags.
• Buy temporary tattoos of your logo.  Encourage people to put them on while at your booth.  They’ll be walking advertisements for you.  Plus, you’ll draw quite a crowd because it’s a well known phenomenon that the more people you have in your booth, the more people are drawn to it.
• Encourage people to share pictures of your booth or work on Twitter and Facebook.
• Put a limited-time coupon in their bag good through January or February.  This will encourage people to come back to your online shop during the slower months once the holidays have passed.
• Add in a blank note card that your customer can use for themselves.  They’ll spread some holiday cheer AND news of your business for you!
• If you have the time or do offer some sort of ‘wrapping’ of items, be sure to include your business card in the outside packaging.  After I wrap my prints in paper, I tie them up with string and insert my business card on before I tie the bow.  It makes a great ‘gift tag’.
• Have a stack of gift tags that they can pick up for when they want to later wrap your product.  Make sure to include your logo or business name on them.
• Print out some stickers (or buy some from Moo.com) and encourage people to stick them onto their jackets so other people can see them.  Again, make sure it’s your logo or business name.

So add some marketing strategies into your prep for upcoming holiday shows and you’ll have one amazing season!

Got a marketing tip that you use when you’re at fairs?  Share it!  We’d love to know.

{Featured image via Renegade Craft Fair}