Things To Do To Make Your Craft Fair Booth Stand Out

Setting up a craft fair booth? Attending a craft fair is a significant investment of time and money, and you want it to pay off to the max. Alas, it can be easy for your booth to disappear into the crowd if you do not put extra thought into how to make it stand out.

A lot of sites offer generic advice like, “Express your creativity and personality through your displays.”

While that isn’t “bad” advice, you can expect that everyone around you will be doing that as well. So while that might make your booth appealing, it will not necessarily make it stand out.

Following are some specific, concrete ideas for making your booth distinctive and effective at driving sales.

1. Set up a canopy tent.

One of the first smart things you can do is set up a canopy tent over your displays. This will give your booth more height, making it easier to see from a distance.

A canopy tent also provides shade, which can be inviting on a hot, bright day. Shade has another benefit as well from a visual standpoint. It makes it easier for you to control the lighting of your booth to highlight your product displays (more on that later).

Is it worth it to set up a canopy tent at an indoor craft show? Actually, this might be extra effective. Other crafters are less likely to follow suit, so the tent can frame your booth and make it stand out even more.

2. Create a bold visual theme.

Unless your products are themselves large and easy to see from afar, they probably are not going to be what draws attention to your craft fairbooth. Small products are really only visible to those who approach in the first place.

That means you are going to need to put some effort into creating a unified visual theme for your entire booth which is itself compelling enough to draw people over to take a look at what you have to offer.

Come up with a concept which is consistent and which translates effectively into a visual medium. Choose a few colors which coordinate well and provide for interesting contrasts. Think about what would look good on Instagram if you need some direction and inspiration.

3. Set up eye-popping signage.

Your displays should evoke curiosity, but they should also answer questions. Make it clear with your signage what you sell, and openly advertise discounts and other special promotions.

Do not treat a sign casually, however. Even though you may think of it as “just some text,” not all text is equal. Carefully plan your phrasing and choose a typeface which is legible and aesthetically appealing. Pick colors for your signage which match the rest of your booth.

4. Use solid design principles.

Unless you yourself are a graphic artist or work in another design field, you may not know much about the principles of design. You may think of design as something entirely subjective.

This may tempt you simply to use elements in your booth that you personally find beautiful, without giving thought to whether they are effective from a design standpoint.

Indeed, design is a subjective art, but it has objective aspects at play. There are patterns to how people tend to perceive visual mediums. If you can master some of these concepts and put them into action, your craft booth will stand out more.

5. Direct the eye.

One important design principle which you should use when planning your layout for your displays is composition.

You probably are familiar with some aspects of image composition in painting and photography. But these are also used in retail display windows, and indeed, in craft fair booth design.

You want to visually frame your displays in a way which draws the eye in, and you want to direct the gaze toward sales as well as specific items using strong compositional lines and flow.

If this is a topic which is relatively new to you, do some research and look up some examples first.

6. Light your booth well.

If your booth is wide open to the sun, you probably have little or no control over how it is lit. But if you have a canopy tent over your display, you may have enough shade that you can set up some lighting.

Like color and compositional lines, lighting helps tell people where to look when visiting your booth. Use several ambient lights to improve visibility in your booth overall, as well as accent lights to highlight specific items.

Note that there are sometimes specific rules about lighting at various craft shows. Look up those regulations before you select lights for your booth.

7. Offer dog treats and dog water bowls.

Many people visit craft shows with their pets in town. One easy way you can attract more customers to your craft booth is to put out water bowls for dogs and to offer treats to dog owners. This should get both canine and human attention. More and more people are bringing their pets with them on daily adventures, so it’s important to offer a pet friendly environment.

8. Check in on social media.

Do not forget that there is a virtual world overlaid on top of the physical one in this internet age. The majority of people have their smartphones on them at all times, and that is something to take advantage of at the craft show.

When you set up your booth, be sure to check in on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. When customers visit your booth and make a purchase, encourage them to do the same. That way, you can be sure that you are making your booth as visible as possible online as well as off-line.

Conclusion: With These Tips on Your Side, You Can Stand Out at the Craft Show

You have some concrete suggestions now for how you can make your craft show booth stand out from those around it. Put these ideas into action, and see what happens. Hopefully, traffic around your booth will increase, along with your revenue. Good luck, and may your next craft show be a major success.

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