Prep for the Holidays EP8: Applying to Holiday Markets

For Task #8 in our Prep for the Holidays checklist I'm putting the focus on getting your holiday market applications in - for makers, artists and creative service providers (yes, there's room for you, too!).

While it may be too late to apply to some of the bigger craft and maker markets in major urban centres, there's no shortage of opportunities in smaller, local markets. I'm sharing tips for finding those smaller markets because there's a LOT of them and they're looking to fill their vendor rosters now!  Plus, these smaller, community markets can be a great way for newer sellers to get some experience and gain some confidence

Oh... and those big markets that are already full? They often host spring markets and now is the time to research those market application deadlines!

Past episodes you may want to listen to:

EP080: Get Ready for Craft Market Season with Louisa Hrennikoff of Luli Designs Jewelry

This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout

You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.

Chapters

• 0:10 Holiday Market Preparation for Creative Entrepreneurs
• 9:20 Market Research and Vendor Tips

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to the and she Looked Up podcast. Each week, we sit down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. I'm your host, melissa Hartfield, and after leaving a 20-year career in corporate retail, I've been happily self-employed for 12 years. I'm a graphic designer, an illustrator and a multi-six-figure-a-year entrepreneur in the digital content space. This podcast is for the artists, the makers and the creatives who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the and she Looked Up podcast. As always, I am your host, melissa, and this week we're back with another episode in our Prep for the Holidays series. I think we're up to task number eight this week and we're going to be talking about markets. So prepping for markets, applying for markets, all the early stuff that we need to do if we want to participate in holiday markets this season. And if you are a creative services provider, don't go away, because I think that there is a space for you here as well. I think there could even be a space for content creators here, but you might have to get a little creative and find the right market for you. I will also say a lot of content creators I know don't really want to do in-person style markets. They prefer very much being online as opposed to in-person. So if that's you, then by all means carry on with your day. But if you are thinking it might be something you'd be interested in, you might enjoy this episode. So now is the time, if you haven't already, to start researching markets that you might like to take part in Now, if you're interested in some of the really big markets and there are several across Canada.

Speaker 1: 2:15

I don't know them all, but there is the one-of-a-kind market in Toronto. There's the Make it show in Alberta and BC there's Got Craft Circle Craft, both here on the West Coast. Those are all fairly large markets and they are probably already full Not probably, I'm sure they are already full. So you've probably missed the boat if you want to take part in those. But I do just want to say those types of markets tend to fill their vendor roster very early on. They do a lot of planning, a lot of prep. I would also put the Etsy markets. The Etsy hosts markets across the country as well, and they invite some of their Etsy sellers to take part in those markets. Those markets do fill up early because the planners start planning well in advance, and so if those are markets that you're interested in doing in the future, you need to start researching them now and find out what their application deadlines are and what's involved in applying to those markets. I also will just mention that some of those markets I know definitely the Make it Show here in Western Canada and Got Craft and the Etsy pop-ups most of them also do a spring market, usually somewhere around Mother's Day, and so they are probably starting the application process for those markets towards the end of the year. So you might want to take a look and see if you can apply to those.

Speaker 1: 3:53

It can be very difficult to get into some of those bigger markets. Usually you have to have a bit of market selling history behind you, so you may need to start at smaller markets, but I sometimes think if you can get in at the spring market, it gives you a better chance of getting accepted into the Christmas or holiday markets. So that's something to think about, and if that is something, a strategy that you want to employ, you need to start looking very soon. However, there are loads of other markets out there. There has been an absolute explosion in holiday markets. It used to be, you know, pre-pandemic. I feel like there was maybe a handful in each neighborhood every year, but now it seems like they're everywhere. I know in my community where I live, every single elementary school does a holiday craft market. Where I live, every single elementary school does a holiday craft market. There are lots of other sort of what's the word I'm looking for kind of communal markets that are run by a larger entity, but they'll have several markets throughout a certain geographical area. They might run six or seven leading up to the holidays and you can apply to be in all of them or just some of them. So there are so many options out there to take part in if that is something that you want to do. Like I said, some of them are probably already full, but start looking.

Speaker 1: 5:20

One of the ways that I found very effective to start finding other markets was I got served up an ad on Instagram for a market collective here in BC. That was advertising and I was curious and I clicked on it, and by clicking on it, we all know what happens when we click on an ad on Instagram or Facebook, we start getting served up ads by similar people, companies or brands, and that is exactly what happened. I started getting served up ads for all kinds of markets looking for vendors. So that was a really fluky way, but it was. It wound up being a good strategy. So I just started clicking on all of them so that I could see what was out there, and that's how I started to see all the different markets that were in my local area and found ones that I had no idea even existed. So that's a great way to kind of see what's out there. There also tends to be a lot of Facebook groups out there that are specifically for vendors searching for markets or markets searching for vendors, and it is worth taking a look on Facebook to see if there are any near you and joining them, because that is where a lot of market organizers will advertise their markets when they're looking for vendors. And if you have a very specific or unique niche, it's a great way to put it out there that you're looking for markets to sell at and see if anybody out there bites. So it's a two-way street, so that's another great way to find markets If you're just starting out, school markets are a great place to get started.

Speaker 1: 6:59

They tend to be much more low-key. They tend to accept people right in the community. So if this is your local school district, you probably have a pretty good chance of getting a spot or two, and they tend to start looking for vendors later. Very often, school markets are run by the PAC for that particular school and the PAC doesn't generally get going until the school year starts. So September is the time of year where they're out there making their plans for their holiday market and when they start looking for vendors. So the next couple of weeks is when you really want to start paying attention if school markets are something that you want to try and do.

Speaker 1: 7:41

I found school markets a great way to get started. Like I said, they tend to be lower key. It's a great way to get known in your community. It's a great way to figure out your booth display, your payment systems all those things in a less high pressure environment. Most of the schools in this area will also provide the chairs and tables, like your display tables, so you don't need to have a table necessarily. So things like that can make it a lot easier when you're starting out and just help you build your confidence see what sells, what works, that kind of thing. It's a great stepping stone to doing bigger markets and getting known. And what often happens is when you do a few of those, your local community starts to get to know you. People who are organizing events might contact you directly. Some businesses will do pop-up markets within their business and invite local artists or makers to take part, and that's another great way to get known. So doing those local type of school markets or local smaller community markets is a great way to get your name out there and get known. So doing those local type of school markets or local smaller community markets is a great way to get your name out there and get seen.

Speaker 1: 8:53

And before we go any further, I do just want to recommend one episode that we did earlier, several seasons back. It's episode 80 with my lovely friend Louisa Hrenikoff from Luli Designs. She is a jewelry designer and maker and she is a craft show veteran. She has done the big ones and she does the Designs. She is a jewelry designer and maker and she is a craft show veteran. She has done the big ones and she does the little ones. She does both, and we had a really good discussion in that episode about finding markets that are a good fit for you.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Not every market is going to be a good fit. If you have one bad market, don't let that deter you. It might just mean it's not the right place for you, and that happens. So that is something to keep in mind. Another thing to keep in mind when you're doing your research is that some markets are juried, and by that it means that you will have to apply and there will be some kind of committee or judging group that will decide if you are a good fit for them. So not everybody takes everybody who comes to them.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Most market organizers want to have a good variety of vendors. They like to bring in repeat vendors who've done well, but they also like to bring in new vendors to mix things up a bit, and there's always categories that are very popular, so things like jewelry, candles right now, crochet is hugely popular and so very often what they'll do is they'll only set aside a certain number of slots for those particular niches and they will evaluate all the people who apply and decide who are going to get those slots, because I think it would be entirely possible to do a market that is just jewelry or a market that is just crochet items if it was a first come, first serve basis type of thing. So that is something to keep in mind too. That's why we talked about doing things like mocking up some products, taking some photos and things so you can submit those with your applications when you are looking for which markets to get involved in. So there's a few things there that you want to keep in mind.

Speaker 1: 10:59

You want to start doing this early, and if you want to take part in those big markets this early, and if you want to take part in those big markets but you don't have any market experience behind you, starting now with some smaller holiday markets is a great way to kind of, like I said, build up your confidence, but also your experience, and be able to put that on your market applications come next year when those bigger markets are calling your name. And if you don't get accepted by bigger markets, don't let that discourage you. They can be very difficult to get into and you can be extremely successful with smaller local markets as well. And, frankly, if I was to have done something like Make it or Got Craft my very first time out, I would have been a disaster. So you want to make sure that you're setting yourself up for success. You don't need to apply to everything, but try and evaluate the ones that you think you would be a good fit for.

Speaker 1: 11:58

And there's a lot of other things that can come out of doing these smaller markets. You get to meet a lot of other vendors and you can ask them about the markets they've been in and take notes. They'll tell you the ones that they did really well in. They'll tell you who's a great organizer. They'll tell you who's a hot mess, which ones they try to avoid. All that kind of stuff. It's a great tool to gather more information and do a little more research on what's out there. So in the coming weeks we'll be doing more market specific episodes. We'll get into some things like payment processing, boost setup, all of that kind of thing. So those will be in future prep for the holiday episodes and, like I said, if you are new to markets, go back and take a listen to episode 80. And take a listen to episode 80.

Speaker 1: 12:51

Louisa gave so many tips on every aspect of participating in maker markets and I do just want to say, because I mentioned, if you're a creative services provider, don't run away. Do not be afraid to apply to markets as a service provider. There are lots of opportunities for you out there. I've been at lots of markets where creatives who do services have been in attendance. In my community, henna artists tend to be in big demand. There's a lot of them who will attend and do henna live at their booth. I have also seen photographers do take up a booth and do things like offer like really quick and dirty headshots or they'll have a lot of different backgrounds where you can come and do pose and they'll just do kind of you know, really quick five minute sessions and you get a few photos and they just charge a flat rate kind of thing. I have also seen photographers who bring like a wedding lookbook if they're a wedding photographer and show the weddings that they have done and just talk to anybody who might be interested in hiring them for a wedding. Remember, as we get closer to the holidays, people have family and things visiting and they might be interested in doing family portraits. This is a great opportunity for you to market your services. I will say don't necessarily expect to make a lot of money in the moment at the market, but consider it a marketing opportunity.

Speaker 1: 14:12

I have a friend, kristen Rainey. She's been on the show before Shifting Blooms, shifting Roots. She is a flower farmer and she does wedding flowers and so she will often do markets and while she may not book a lot of brides at the markets, she will very often book a lot of brides in the couple of weeks after the market, after they've had time to go home, digest and think about what they saw. So think of it as a potential marketing opportunity for you. So you could also join forces with a local makeup artist and a local hairstylist and come together and get a booth at some of these events as kind of like a whole package deal. Come work with us and there'll be somebody there to do your makeup, somebody to do your hair, and we'll do family portraits or we'll do headshots or, whatever the case may be, glam shots. There's a lot of different ways that you could do that. I have also seen travel agents who specialize in things like Disney vacations for the whole family type of thing, who have done holiday markets and spring markets. I've also seen a lot of bakers. There's usually food at markets, so if you're a baker, you could also do markets with your goodies. Those always tend to go over very well, so there's lots of opportunities there.

Speaker 1: 15:30

If you are a service provider, just think about how you could, how you could sort of rejig and offer something at the market. That's like a smaller version of what you do. So it could be like the fun backdrops. As a photographer, it could be five minute mini makeovers. When I when I worked in cosmetics and in a pharmacy cosmetics in a pharmacy we used to host ladies nights and we would do mini manicures and five minute mini makeovers and stuff like that, and people loved it, and so I think there could be a place for something like that. If you're a hairstylist, you could demonstrate how to do like a 60 second updo or something or how to do the messy bun those types of things. There's always people who are up for that kind of thing, so it's an opportunity to get yourself in front of your local neighbors and let them know what it is that you do. Kind of think of it like a home show or something. When you go to the home show, there's lots to see and do, but there's not necessarily something that you're going to buy right then, and there You're kind of thinking about, like I want to see the guy who does the new windows, or I want to see the landscaping company, or I need new blinds, but you're not buying in that moment. You're gathering information. So I think that's a way that creative service providers can definitely look to markets. Markets may not necessarily have that in their heads. It may be something that you need to pitch to the market organizer, so keep that in mind if you are thinking about doing that as a creative services provider, I think I should call you CSPs. I'm one of you too, so I could be a CSP. It's just easier than saying creative service provider over and over again.

Speaker 1: 17:09

That's it for this week's episode of Prep for the Holidays. I'll be back next week with episode nine and with a little bit of an update. Season six of the podcast is going to be premiering on September 9th, so we are getting really close. That's going to be two weeks away and Heather Travis is going to be back with me for the season opener. We are going to be having a very interesting conversation on how to create your creative process. Sometimes we need to rip apart our process and start over, particularly for certain types of tasks in the creative journey, so we had a really fun recording session during that episode we recorded earlier this week. So it's already done and I'm really looking forward to sharing that with you. I'm looking forward to getting back on the regular podcast season. Path and Prep for the Holidays will still be airing throughout the fall as we get closer to market season. We still have a lot of tasks that have to be done, so we are not going anywhere with this series either. That's it for this week.

Speaker 1: 18:18

Thank you all so much for listening and for watching, if you're over on YouTube, and we'll be back to see you all again next week. Thank you so much for joining us for the Anshi Looked Up Creative Hour. If you're looking for links or resources mentioned in this episode, you can find detailed show notes on our website at AnshiLookedUpcom. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more business tips, profiles of inspiring Canadian creative women and so much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the show via your podcast app of choice so you never miss an episode. We always love to hear from you, so we'd love it if you'd leave us a review through iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Drop us a note via our website at andshelookedupcom, or come say hi on Instagram at andshelookedup. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.