5 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Next Market (for free, or super economically)

Here is a huge mistake I see a lot of vendors fall victim to. They think the event host is the one solely responsible for directing traffic to the market.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen plenty of events where the hosts rely too heavily on their vendors to promote the market. I’m talking about the good markets where the organizers create Facebook events, share on social media frequently and with ample lead time, paid ads, printed marketing materials, email their customer base, radio and news segments, etc. The markets where the hosts truly want an amazing event for their vendors.

You should really get in the mindset of doing events as a business relationship with a two-way street. Not only will this increase awareness for the markets you attend, but it will also strengthen the relationship with your market hosts, really help your business stand out and build rapport with your customers.

Now, I’m not telling you to go drop an arm and a leg on advertising by any means. But you can tactfully share about your upcoming markets to benefit not only you but the event and maker community as a whole.

Post on Social Media

I have a love-dislike relationship with social media. But here’s the deal: it does help to build the know, like, trust factors with your audience. You don’t need to post a ton, but showing up here and there to share some behind-the-scenes market prep and sharing your market schedule can be highly effective.

The great part is that B-roll (unedited video of you doing literally anything) is extremely popular right now and easy to obtain. Simply set up your phone to catch you completing a task (cutting material, organizing your workspace, parts of your creating, packaging, etc.) and post it to your stories. You can add some text over it that says “market prep” and share away! No talking needed! If you really want to get fancy, you can save your stories and create a Reel later. 😊

I also highly recommend frequently sharing your market schedule on socials, especially on stories and at least one static post that can be revisited. You can grab my free Instagram Story Canva Market Schedule Template here!  You'll need a Canva account to edit and use this template, but you can create a free account and customize the template to fit your branding.

Bonus Tip: Always tag the event when sharing on social. They will likely re-share, which will get more eyes on you and will create content for them!  This has always driven traffic to my booth, and event hosts love when vendors get involved in the promotion of their event.

Share to Your Email List

I’ve really been more intentional with my email list growth and use this year. I’ll tell you what, this is a highly effective marketing tool that works when used properly and I’m really kicking myself for not making this a priority from the beginning in 2013.

I like to share 4-6 weeks of my market schedule at a time in my emails. I keep it in each email and update it as needed. This keeps your customers engaged instead of sharing your entire schedule at once.

If you’re completely new to using email marketing for markets, you can join this waitlist for a training that I'm putting together for you. I'll share how I've gained over 100 email sign-ups this season and how to turn them into customers and repeat buyers.

Tell People!

Share with your co-workers, friends, family, your local barista, etc. When in conversation, the topic of “What are you doing this weekend?” always comes up in small talk. So tell people! You can say, “Oh, I’m prepping for my next market,” or, “I’ll be at this awesome market this weekend.” If they engage, you can share more. If not, you can continue your small talk.

I once heard that you should be telling a lot of people a day about your business if you’re a small business owner. That shocked me because if you’re like me, you’re probably hiding your small business. So this is me giving you permission to talk and share about it. I’ve personally found that it’s easier to talk about what markets I’ll be at and then segue into my business and products rather than jumping straight into sharing about me and being sales-y right off the bat.

Flyers

Good old-fashioned flyers, I’m telling you, they work. I don’t print my own for an event but when an event asks if I want any, the answer is YES!

You can put them up in breakrooms at work and bulletin boards at local coffee shops and restaurants (they’re usually located in the back by the bathrooms. Pro tip: bring extra thumbtacks). If you’re shipping orders you can also put flyers in there for anyone local.

This simple tactic can be extremely effective if your customer base prefers physical marketing materials over digital methods (food for thought).

Facebook Marketplace

This is a new method I’m testing, and so far, it has landed extra eyes on my business. I even throw in $10-$20 to boost my listing for some extra viewing power. This year, I’m going to look into doing actual Facebook Ads.

To utilize Facebook Marketplace, create a listing to sell and share multiple photos of your booth setup and current product line. Bonus points if you add a video. Write a description sharing about the upcoming market you will be at (time, date & location). Then, use descriptive words that people would use to search for your type of products when writing about what you will have available (hello SEO!).

Once you share your listing, you’ll see the option to boost your post. If this is something you’re interested in, you can choose how much you want to spend and for how many days.

There you have it! While market hosts relying on vendors to promote events may be a hot topic, I’d love for you to shift your mindset to it being a maker community. Everyone working together to create successful events is a win-win for everyone. I encourage you to add 1-2 of these marketing tactics to your next market prep week. Choose what will be the easiest way to share. Whether it’s posting to social media, sharing on your email list, dropping it in conversations, using flyers, or creating a listing on Facebook Marketplace, you’ve got this! I’m excited to see how these small but mighty methods can increase customer traffic to your booth at your next market.

Interested in standing out and selling boldly at your next market? Grab my Ultimate Guide to Selling at Artisan Markets here!