And just like that, craft show season is upon us! Are you looking to create a standout booth? Alex Brookhouse has merchandised product for some of the most prestigious brands and knows all about setting up a knockout display. Today she shares tips on making your booth look amazing and perfect for customers to buy.
You’ve spent hours creating your product, business plan, building your social media following and all the other minutia that goes along with running your dream. So, when it boils down to it, focusing enough thought and energy toward what your booth is going to look like at this weekends market or the next seasonal show may be one of the less important things on your mind. After all, you can just lay it out on a bed sheet right? No! Alex Brookhouse, former merchandiser at Anthropologie and market merchandising connoisseur, is here to give you 5 things to keep in mind when you’re creating your visual presentation.
1. Utilize Display Elements that are Congruent to Your Brand Image and Value
Especially in a flea or craft market you have mere moments to captivate your customer. Customers are more perceptive than you think and process value based upon how your brand is presented as a whole. Assess your product and its relation to the display, i.e. high cost product should be displayed on high quality materials. Utilize signage that states your brand clearly. Make this signage in line with your business cards, price point signage, look books, coupons and shopping bags.
Ink & Smog (#ahasmember) use a display that complements their clean and minimalist design.
2. Clean Straightforward Presentation
Make sure that the way you are presenting your product is as clean, easy to see and as straightforward as possible. Too much fuss gets distracting for the customer to be able to focus on each piece itself. Think: pulling like product together, creating a compelling color or product stories and organizing from warm to cool and shortest to longest (if laying out or hanging) to create visual order. The only time people like to “rummage” is when the product is either: small in size and easy to thumb through or heavily marked down and properly signed.
A Handcrafted Home doesn't overfuss her display, but is still well branded and clear.
3. Isolate Your Show Stoppers
I know that you love all of your creations, but take the best of the best, new designs, or even your best seller out of the crowd. Show it off! Position it either at eye level or pull a sample out as forward as possible. This will draw customers to your booth from afar, and then allow your other product to compel them to stay and buy.
Miriam Dema (#ahasmember) puts her pennants right up front on her display, which area always something people are interested in perusing.
4. Balance
Negative space is your friend. I repeat, negative space is your friend! There is a fine line though. Customers don’t want to “mess up” anything if there is too little product and they can’t focus if there’s too much to look at. It’s okay to put one piece out and you can balance that with putting out multiples (grouped together!) of a best seller. Keep in mind the weight distribution of your product.
The best way to assess this is to simply view the booth as a whole. Step back, maybe close your eyes to reset, and look at your space. Ask yourself: Is the bulk of my product to one side? Am I utilizing the space as best as I can? Is there diversity in the distribution of my product? Does it promote my customer to continually move to see all that I have to offer? These questions and all other assessments will make a huge difference! It’s so easy to get lost in the design of the product, the design of the booth, or the placement of the product. When you get fixated on one aspect you lose sight of the actual function of the space. So take a breather and look at your space in total.
This display by Lusuterd Walnut and Janjoon Jewelry uses negative space to better highlight products.
5. Maintenance
So important! Make sure your product gets put back when your presentation gets shifted ASAP. Likewise, restock your product immediately after it gets purchased. Once you get set on what you want your presentation to look like, take photos! This helps if you have employees so they can maintain standards and for your personal reference of set-up and tear-down. You could also utilize the images as social media engagement and update your following on your presentation to generate hype and traffic.
Now that you know how to present your booth analytically, you’re free to let your creativity flow! This is an amazing application of your talent to truly think outside of the 10 x 10 and leave an impression with your customers. Feel free to contact me further if you have specific questions at brookhousealexandra@gmail.com.
Do you have any tips or tricks for making your booth look stellar? Please let us know in the comments below!
