Craft Focus - Dec 2017/Jan 2018 (Issue 64)

ask the experts Leading experts in the industry help with retailing and crafting dilemmas DOMINIC FLEMING, Head of Events, ICHF Events ichfevents.co.uk Dominic leads CHSI Stitches, the UK’s trade show for the creative craft industry. 2018’s event takes place from 18 th - 20 th February, 2018 at NEC, Birmingham. Dominic has many years of exhibition and event management experience, particularly trade show management. He’s passionate about exhibitions and the positive impacts for businesses. “I’ve decided to start selling my craft kits to trade, and have booked a small exhibition stand. Can you give me any tips on stand presentation and making the most of a trade show?” Firstly, well done! A trade show is a big step but, get it right, and it can be an important turning point for your business. I would suggest you focus on three key areas: Make it visual. We work in a creative industry, so use your artistic skills to create a really enticing stand that not only shows your product at its best but also shows retailers how they might display it in store and how attractive it could be to their customers. Make it product focused. Buyers will want to handle and try the products to see how they work and learn first-hand how to demo them to their customers. Make sure you have tester kits, which they can try for themselves on stand as well as product information for them to take away. Make it personal. For a truly compelling sales pitch, add your own personality – this could be the start of a working relationship that will reap benefits into the future. The chance to meet customers face-to-face is rare these days, so make the most of having an audience in front of you ready and willing to order. Good luck! JULIE BONNAR, KD Media Publishing craftfocus.com Julie has worked in the craft industry for more than 14 years on both consumer and trade magazines, designing projects and craft PR. Currently the editor of Craft Focus , she originally trained as an interior designer but found she liked making her own clothes more than she liked making curtains. “As a small business I find social media very time consuming and go long periods without posting. Can you give me any ideas how I can make this less of a chore.” I can sympathise with you, managing social media is in itself a full-time job! Firstly I would suggest you look at all your social media accounts, and indentify the ones that are really working for your business. Most will have analytical reports and you can see from these where you’re getting the best results, and also indentify what’s the best time to post. Secondly, make your life simpler by creating a content calendar of what you want to promote or talk about in advance. At Craft Focus , we concentrate on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep our subscribers up to date with what’s happening in the craft sector, and we aim to post at least once or twice a day. For ideas of what to post, look at what other businesses similar to you are talking about. Try to use your social media channels as more than a promotional tool – your followers want to hear more than just what you have for sale. Give them helpful advice on using products, amusing crafty stories, share other people in the industry posts, and most of all show your followers who you are behind the brand – after all it’s all about being social! Most social media channels have scheduling tools such as Facebook and TweetDeck for Twitter, which are free to use and allow you to schedule posts/tweets in advance. You could use social media platforms like Hootsuite, where you can control all your social media in one place. Using these tools means you can plan for busier days and free up more time. ask the experts craft focus 81