Craft Show & Facebook

The retail craft show was this weekend though I hate to use the word "craft" to describe it. More like 'handmade' show. Craft makes me think 4H fairs and kitchens decorated in country-chic style (just so you know, those two words cannot honestly be put together without laughing). This show was more like super talented folks - mainly late 20's to early 40's who handmake their goods. There was some really cool stuff there but unfortunately my husband had to work (at his real job) and wasn't able to come and walk the show or relieve me so I could walk it. So I'll apologize to our relatives for the fact you won't be getting any really cool handmade stuff for the holidays.

All told, my little company did well at the show. I made about 2x more then I made at the summer show which was made even better by the fact that people were really only buying the $3-$10 items and not anything more expensive. So I did have lots of sales - just at a lower price point but that's not totally unexpected given the economy. I also got lots of great feedback, had an opportunity to 'advertise' my company to tons of folks who appreciate handmade goods, and generally had a great time talking to customers and other vendors.

There is another similar-type show in San Francisco in about two weeks but this was the last show for me for awhile. I do have a friend who's going to check out the SF show though and see if that may be something worthwhile going to next year as I really do enjoy these shows and, at the end of the day, they are so less expensive then my big tradeshows (though also less business too).

Speaking of advertising, I've been advertising on FaceBook for the past month and it's scheduled to continue through the holiday season and so far it seems to be bringing a great number of folks to my site. I've more then doubled the number of people visiting my site on a daily basis (thanks to the wonders of Google Analytics) and have been getting some good retail business as well. Not killer retail business, but good enough that I'm happy with what FaceBook is bringing me. I do have a few other irons in the fire as well including two ads in publications which are more or less hitting newsstands now so I'm hoping to see some more good things come out of those.

I did create a new FaceBook ad for Valentine's Day that will run for the month before V-day. Targeted it to single females who love dogs about how they need to get something for the 'true love of their life.' :)