Do you want your craft show application to stand out from the thousands of other indie business owners who are also vying for a spot?
Here’s a quick guide on submitting a craft show application to make it stand out from the crowd:
Not getting accepted in a craft show or juried show is usually due to photos that are not great quality. Also, vendors sometimes give too much personal information and not enough specifics about the product line in their vendor statements.
Photos
A great quality and well portrayed photo of your products is important. When you apply for shows, take photographs of your work in natural light, with a clean, simple background. If you can’t afford to pay a professional to spend an hour or two shooting your work then you can always get started on your own photography with the basics.
If the organizers ask for web-resolution photos, don’t send images that are 5MB each.
Seek Advice
Ask your friends and most importantly, your fellow crafters what they think of your work. If you’re an Etsian, you may create a discussion on Etsy Forums and get some feedback from more experienced artists.
Don’t take negative comments personally. Being open to hearing what others have to say about your product will help you develop stronger products and marketing lines, and will improve your chances of being a craft show genius.
Follow Instructions
Always follow instructions. Craft show organizers make rules to organize things and make the process easy and if you don’t follow the directions, some shows may simply exclude your application. Don’t screw it up by not doing what they want!
Be Professional
Most craft fairs requires you to add your website on your application. If your main site is a blog linking to your Etsy store, you’d rather send them the link of your Etsy shop. This is not necessarily a general rule, but if it’s hard to see your products on your website or hard to find a link to your shop, that’s not good.
Having a professional looking online craft store will show them that you have a business worth looking at and that you take pride in your work to display it well.
In addition, be consistent on filling out your online application. tHeydOn’TCaReiFYoUNeeDEmpHasis. Use proper capitalization, or organizers might just roll their eyes upon seeing your application.
Keep Your Cool
If you are not accepted as a vendor, sending off an angry email to the organizers is NOT a good move. Don’t take it personally. There are thousands of craft sellers in every city, and craft shows can only take between 50-300 vendors per show.
Many shows have at least one vendor who has to drop out at the last minute for various reasons, so you never know if you might be next in line to take their place.
Check our A-Z Handmade Business Guide for more free tips for your creative biz.
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