one year old
Hellooo! It has been slightly more than a year since hchiehart started and it has been a continuous learning journey for me. These learning points have been on my mind for quite some time and I thought it would be helpful to develop it into a blog post. As an individual who is building a brand in arts and design, I have learnt so much through my experimentations, observations and reflections.
This year, I have come across individuals who have just started on their pop-up journey and also some who is looking to embark on this endeavour. Regardless if you’re on your way and planning to begin, kudos to you! I hope this learning points are able to give you some insights on my thought process and what works for me. These are coming from an artist who is primarily selling original art and prints. If you find that these pointers don’t work for you, take them with a pinch of salt. If you have something to add that can be of value to the community, let me know on Instagram or Ko-fi! :)
1. Booth-ing alone
Imagine this scenario:
You’re spending some time walking around town on a weekend and come across a pop up market. Something catch your eye and you are soon walking towards a popup booth with 3 people tending to it.
How do you think you’ll feel and how likely are you to continue browsing the displayed items? If you are alone, it can be especially intimidating to browse the items when 3 people stand observing your every move. When that happens, there’s a high chance a potential customer may spend a shorter period of time browsing despite expressing initial interest. Does that mean it is better to do a pop up all by yourself? In short, yes. This has worked for me and I highly recommend it. Here are the reasons why:
+ More space:
Most times, we may need to bend and move around to get our stocks from underneath the table and extra space to manoeuvre helps.
+ Confidence & ownership:
The more we take ownership over logistic processes, product displays and customer interactions, our confidence increases and that, is always a good thing! When we talk to our customers more, we get a better sensing of what they like and these conversations help to generate new ideas as well.
+ Build your social stamina:
If you haven’t tried communicating for an entire day, you might be surprised at how tired it can be. Build up your social stamina so that you can keep your energy level up when interacting with customers throughout the day (this is important because you wouldn’t want your energy level to be significantly lower at 6pm). If we constantly have someone else talking to our customers for us, our social stamina will be less likely to improve, instead we may feel a sense of resistance for us to make conversations due to lack of practice.
+ Less intimidating for potential customers
There’s a higher chance for customers to stay at our booths longer. If they happen to be the only customers, it is the perfect chance to get to know them through more back and forth questions. This helps potential customers warm up to us and to associate who we are as a person to what we offer instead of: “This is another booth selling XYZ.”
“Huh... does that mean I have to do everything myself?”
Not necessarily! Sometimes there are A. LOT. of things to carry and we really need an extra pair of hands. Do get extra help for that instead of risking an injury (it’s not worth it!) They can help to carry the stocks over, help with setting up and leave after if they are not staying for a good reason. This is one most obvious downside for booth-ing alone that you might want to consider:
+ Toilet and meal breaks
No one to tend to your booth when you hit the restroom or simply want to take a break. After you build rapport with your booth neighbours, you can lookout for one another when one of you goes to the restroom (this is a rather common practice!) For meal breaks, sometimes I do have my very lovely and supportive family and friends who come down to feed me :’) if ya’ll are reading, thank you so much). Otherwise, I have a heavy meal before so there’s no need to bring food and I can lasts till dinner.
I don’t usually leave my booth unless going to the restrooms because I want to maximise my time there, and to grab hold of any possible opportunity and interaction. I know it sound may sound a bit intense, but it has worked for me so far.
The bottom line is -
If someone is:
NOT part of the brand
NOT collaborating with the brand
NOT sure of the pricing of each item
NOT sure of how to communicate what the brand offers
NOT sure of the brand’s values and unique selling points
Do reconsider the need for them to be at the booth. I have seen a fair share of people who accompany someone to a pop up, sit around and use their phones the entire day. Every single person tending the booth needs to be present for a good reason. If it’s for mere companionship, you might want to reconsider how the other person is spending their time at the booth. If they are doing their work while tending the booth, what impression does it give, and if this the best location for them to do their work or are they better off doing it in a nearby cafe or at home?
2. Acknowledge someone’s presence by standing
Regardless if a customer stops in front of your booth, if they simply walk past, if they smile, nod and walk away - acknowledge their presence by standing. If you are a seasoned booth-er, you would know how exhausting this can be. Some people are really just there to “window shop” and sometimes it’s just tiring...
From my experience, I have observed some individuals standing and sharing about their works ONLY when customers show interest. I am unsure how effective that is, but I personally prefer to be up on my feet once I see customers a few booths away. One thing I have learnt from doing is, most customers glance through briefly, if they nothing catches their eye, they’ll most likely walk away. But if you stand and direct them to an item you recently complete, there’s a higher chance for them to be drawn in. If you have prior experience, you would have observed that most times, you are likely not the only one selling a particular thing (e.g. art prints). You’d be surprise, sometimes it’s not the products that stop people on their tracks, its’s your sincerity to share that makes them stay. Unless you are unable to stand for long hours, don’t be stingy with your attention and being on your feet!
3. Importance of story and thought process
Some of the highest form of compliments I have heard while booth-ing is: “I feel like I’m walking through an art gallery” and “I’ve never thought of art this way.” These have highlighted to me the importance of sharing the stories that matter to me. We all start somewhere and in reality, not everything we create hold layers of meaning. Sometimes we create simply because we want to and feel like it, there’s no specific reason. Yet having an answer to why you do what you do is the best starting point. There have been multiple times when after I share about a piece and the customer proceeds to ask me about other pieces. When that happens, you are no longer “hard-selling” or trying to justify why they should buy. Instead, you are telling them the parts that cannot be seen, such as the story and thought process. When they associate these intangible aspects to the item they see or are holding on to, the initially value they have given to this item has shifted significantly.
If you are thinking to join the arts, makers and crafters community, keep in mind that customers are paying for your story and thought process, it comes in a bundle. If you attempt to set them apart, you run the risk of selling an “empty” product when it is in fact, so much more than that. Being able to verbalise why you make certain colour choices, pick certain subject matters, take interests in certain forms can elevate what you bring to the table in ways you may not expect.
4. “Follow us on _ for a 10% discount”
Customers who wants to follow you on social media will:
1. Ask you for it
2. Scan your QR code without being asked to do so
There are also customers whose accounts are private and only want to follow people whom they are close to, which is perfectly reasonable. Don’t pressure your customers to follow you in order to get a discount or for any other reason. In recent years, we have seen an increasing use of “follow us on Instagram to get 10% off your first order.” As a customer, how many accounts have you unfollowed after getting the discount? That’s okay, because these strategies would work best IF the customer already likes the brand to begin with. If not, why would they continue following? It may be effective to a certain extent, but do be mindful how you apply this strategy.
It is also important for us to be wary of how we set the tone when interacting with customers. Once we imply their “follow” or any form of support is transactional, it is an impression that is hard to rid of.
Speaking of discounts, be mindful when giving discounts. Perhaps it’s jumping on the trendy “end of year sale” bandwagon, but every discount you give says something about your products. It essentially means that the product CAN be sold at a cheaper price and that diminishes the initial monetary value you assigned to it. Some customers may start to think: “Well… since there is going to be a sale every now and then, I’ll just wait for the price to drop to buy it.” This mindset will affect your brand in a long term, hence putting more thought into it is required. Quick caution, as a small and budding business owner, don’t jump on trends to give discounts.
5. Sales from immediate family and friends don’t count
This is not 100% true, but I see it as: “monetarily, it counts because the figures need to tally, but in terms of growth and reach, it doesn’t.” The aim is to get a complete stranger to buy your products, with minimal biases based on a relationship. All of us definitely have our biases and based on first impression, we may already have a biased perception of someone. However, the goal is to increase our reach and sales on individuals who have no prior history or any sort of long term relationship with us.
I am thankful for all my family and friends who are my first customers because they lent me the courage I very much need to move forward in reaching a sphere that is outside of the individuals I have built a relationship with. That said, when we look at it objectively, we must be honest in acknowledging our immediate family and friends are individuals who very likely supported because of us, and not so much of the products.
6. You should just sell it online - really?
Imagine a beautiful online store and well updated social media page that no one has heard of. How sad is that? It takes time to organically grow our customer base, very much alike to growing a tree. I mean, we can use fertilisers (ads) to boost our brand visibility online, yet I truly believe to build strong connections with my people, meeting them physically is the way to go. I can say for myself that selling physically has always done better than online.
When a brand has stabilised and has a steady stream of customers purchasing from online, then perhaps selling online is the way to go. However, I still believe there is magic in building connections physically and so far, the data I gathered speaks for itself. Despite being an empty tank when I reach home after a full day of interactions, I see that it has helped and built me up in multiple ways. I have come to realise taking a hybrid (online and physical) approach works the best for me.
I hope this article is helpful and is a fun read. See you soon in another one soon! Till then, take care!
