First of all, I am still working on getting more & new colors up on Etsy - I've had several craft shows, a friend's wedding and a limping kitty that have been collectively stealing all my time for the last month or so and I've only this weekend had time to start working on photography! They should be up in the next week, assuming the baby shower I'm planning doesn't become too complicated, LOL!
Second, I had posted previously about using battery powered LED lights at shows. I still love the idea of it, however the actual lights I got have that typical blue tint to them and for a jewelry display in a room where the other lighting is incandescent or halogen, it doesn't have the impact I was hoping for. The lights themselves work excellently and I am still glad that I have them as we've had a lot of power outages lately so having six little LED spotlights that I can put in various rooms helps so very much! For that application, they provide excellent emergency light, enough to sit and talk or eat by, and if you have one propped up the right way they can be used to read as well. Even though I won't be using them for my display, I don't regret the purchase because they'll be useful in many other ways.
Instead I have begun looking at portable power packs that can be charged at home and then used at shows to run a few lamps. This seems ideal because I can use any lamp or bulb with it that I like, and it doesn't have any of the downsides (or use restrictions) that a gas powered generator does. It's a bit expensive to begin with, with the cheaper ones at around $150 and prices go up from there, but because it has so many possible uses beyond just craft shows, I don't mind saving up for it.
And the last topic for today is also on craft show displays:
I have both given and received lots of advice about adding vertical height and vertical surface displays to bring your items up to eye level, but from observations I've made I'll have to say that every level of height in your display counts for something!
I have my largest table on risers and on that table is a two foot + system for displaying earrings and creating a backdrop, giving my display lots of height (it's taller than me!) and depth. I also have two additional tables, one which is four feet and one which is two feet. I had items out on both of these tables as well, the four foot table had things laid out mostly flat and the little two foot table had a single bust, my credit card sign and business cards.
The small table with the bust got a LOT of attention, despite it's lack of height and that it was quite near my neighbor's table. It seemed that many people at the show were keeping their heads down as they walked through, possibly in an effort to reduce eye contact and not get into a conversation or receive a sales pitch as they shopped. Because of this, those who didn't notice most of my display would lock on to that tiny table with the bust and many people reached out to feel the necklace on it because it was made with leather. Not long after I sat the bust out on that table, a woman walked right up to it, asked me one question and then said she wanted the necklace and the matching earrings which were also on the bust. Afterwards I put another necklace and matching earrings on the bust and it continued to get more attention than any other part of my display.
So, it's a great idea to add height to your display for the people across the way deciding if they should walk over, and for those who breeze through with their eyes mostly at natural eye level, but it's also great to have something eye catching down low and near the aisle where people are walking to grab the lookers who are focusing down on table level.
Providing your customers with one opportunity after another to fall in love with your work is the best way to close more sales!
No comments:
Post a Comment