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A New Way to Connect with Customers and Fellow Crafters: A Virtual Craft Fair

November 6, 2013 by CreativeIncome 11 Comments

With only seven weeks until Christmas, it’s time to ramp up your exposure so that you can sell more handmade items for the holidays.

Virtual-Craft-Fair

Photograph from WebBusinessAgenda.com

A lot of my clients and readers have said they aren’t doing craft fairs anymore because of the hefty booth fees or concerns that many of the organizers are allowing vendors who sell mass produced products to participate. So how can you get your crafts seen by those buyers who value handmade items, but may feel overwhelmed by Etsy, Artfire and the other mega craft websites?

A simple and fun way to get your work in front of qualified buyers is what I call a virtual craft fair. Basically, you invite a number of fellow artists and craftspeople to join you in an indie online craft show. Ideally, you’ll have friends from different geographical areas, who have a completely different list of friends and followers than you do. The idea is that you will all grow your lists of buyers and collectors by each person promoting the virtual fair to their own lists.

Let’s say you invite 15 other crafters and each of you has a list of 300 friends. You can put up a simple web page with a sampling of images and a brief artist’s bio for each “exhibitor”. You don’t need a shopping cart on the group site. Simply link to each person’s website or Etsy page. Then you each send out an email “invitation” to everyone on your mailing list. That means that your work will be seen by 4,500 people, as opposed to just the 300 people you know.

You’ll introduce your friends to unique handcrafted gifts, help your artist friends to sell more handmade items, and gain more exposure for yourself as well. To get into the spirit of giving, you could all agree to give a percentage of your sales to a specific cause. It will make it easier to share with your friends because you’ll feel good about contributing to a special cause.

Be sure to invite crafters who make a variety of different media. Ideally, your work will all complement one another.

A virtual craft fair can be a fun and easy alternative to a physical show and you’ll all reap the benefits year round. (Of course you’ll be keeping in touch with all these new buyers at Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and other gift giving holidays.)

If you like this idea, be sure to check out the audio class:  “12 Easy Ways to turn your Creative Hobby into an Extra $1200 a Month”  for more creative ways to sell more crafts.

What other ways will you try to ramp up your exposure for the holiday season?

 

Terri Belford has been self-employed for more than 30 years and been on all sides of the art and handmade craft business as an artist, gallery owner and consultant to artists and crafts people. You can follow her on Twitter@craftbizcoach and Facebook. And follow her blog for more craft business articles. 

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Filed Under: Craft Fairs Tagged With: Craft Fairs, Creative Income Contributors, growing your business, marketing, Networking, Terri Bedford

Comments

  1. Scarlet Faith says

    November 13, 2013 at 7:31 am

    I love this idea and I am going to do my best to create one.
    Any one interested can contact me at

    southernlyhaute@gmail.com

    I can donate a free web site, set up, & weekly updating.
    Anyone who wants to help me get it started and organize it is sooo needed.
    Thanks and LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!

    Reply
    • Kathy Robertson says

      November 14, 2013 at 6:17 pm

      I am definitely interested in doing this as well. Would like to connect with out fellow crafters.

      Reply
    • Christina Smith says

      November 21, 2013 at 11:07 pm

      I am definitely interested!!! Can we make a facebook even page?

      Reply
  2. Carolyn Thomas says

    November 19, 2013 at 8:59 am

    Would love to try this. Would any of my fellow show-me crafters from Mo. would like to do this?

    Reply
    • WaggonsWest says

      November 22, 2013 at 8:03 am

      Carolynn, I am interested! Sounds like an interesting idea.

      Reply
  3. vicki giger says

    November 22, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    I would like to participate.

    Reply
  4. pam ocaso says

    November 24, 2013 at 3:52 am

    This is a great idea and I would definitely be interested.

    Reply
  5. Shron Wallacr says

    November 25, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    I would love to be involved. Sign m up.

    Reply
  6. Brenda's Wedding Blog says

    November 26, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    This sounds like an amazing idea – would love to participate. I actually participated in my 1st craft fair this past Sunday. The turnout wasn’t what I expected so I have lots of time spent crafting my paper goods with lots of inventory left over. I am going to set up shop on my blog to sell the left over stock. But, having a virtual craft fair is an amazing idea. I won’t have to spend an entire day away from my family either.

    Reply
  7. Jerilynn Bloedorn says

    November 16, 2014 at 9:48 am

    I am definitely interested in this. Would love to learn more about doing this.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Virtual Craft Fairs – Southernly Haute | Indie Crafts | CraftGossip.com says:
    November 21, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    […] Have you heard about virtual craft fairs? It’s an idea that’s gaining ground in with many crafters who sell online, as a way to promote their products in the increasingly crowded global markets. Virtual craft fairs work via networking and newsletters, promoting a group of artists and crafters who sell complimentary items, to all of their visitors and followers, connecting people who like handmade gifts and items with those who make them in smaller, easily shoppable groups. The nice thing about virtual craft fairs is the lack of booth fees, a cost that has increased dramatically in the recent years. The fairs direct traffic to the online presence you already have, so there’s no extra work or time involved beyond promoting it through your networks. You can read more at Southernly Haute or on the Creative Income Blog. […]

    Reply

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