Pop-Up-Booths Are a Great Way to Start a Business But…

Photo by Scarbor Siu on Unsplash.

Don’t just limit yourself to a single source of revenue with your booth - remember to also provide online options.

I’ve written extensively about pop-up booths. Someone even suggested I turn my article, Pop-Up Booth Strategies for Small Businesses, into an eBook. It is chock-full of good advice, much of which I’ve gathered from my interviews and personal experience. The fact is, that for many startups, a pop-up booth is a great way to start a small business. I’ve seen many people turn a hobby into a viable business that way.

What I’ve also seen is people putting all their eggs in the pop-up-booth basket. That is a mistake. There are many reasons why potential customers might walk by your booth without buying your products. They may not want to carry something else that day, or they may be in a hurry to meet up with someone. This does not mean that they won’t purchase something after the fair/show.

Success Is in The Cards

As someone who has sold and attended hundreds of shows and fairs, I can say from experience that if someone asks for a business card and then rushes out that means they are interested. These could also be dealers, interior decorators, caterers, or even a fellow vendor down the row. So, rule number one:

1 . Have plenty of business cards ready

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by a vendor that they are out of cards. Or that they don’t really use cards anymore and direct me to a Venmo link on a flier (“contact info will be on there,” they said). Not only does this introduce extra steps and time-consuming hassles, but as anyone who knows marketing will tell you, this is a sure way to lose the sale and leave a negative feeling about the business. It’s a brush-off and that’s the last thing you want to do.

Another important point to remember is that a big reason people come to shows is because they want to touch and see your products, and meet you. The underlying message you should take from that is that this is the opposite of an online/digital/tech meeting. A customer who asks for a business card is not going to scan your QR code for contact info. So, make sure you have well-designed, clear, readable cards to hand out.

This leads to my next point about selling exclusively at your booth. While you may be dealing with someone who prefers a non-tech, non-digital transaction, you still need to have an online store. Customers can be picky, and you may have just sold out of the one item/color/size that they wanted. Oops. So, rule number two:

2. Have an online store

By an online store, I’m not talking about an Instagram or Facebook store. If your customer doesn’t use that social media platform, you’ll lose the sale. A Website, on the other hand, is much more universal. Customers also tend to prefer a standard shopping cart experience and don’t always trust social media platforms to be a safe place to shop and store their bank info.

Yes, I know it’s trendy to sell products between posts, but if someone is coming to your booth or asking for a business card, then it’s a good bet that they tend to prefer a more traditional way to buy. By the same token, Zelle, Cash App, and Venmo may be hip, but many of your customers won’t use or trust them.

So have a decent website-based online store. There are many ways to create these using Shopify or Etsy easily. If you’re particularly frugal there are much less expensive options too. Recently, I wrote The Absolute Least Expensive Way to Set Up an Online Store, which shows you how to do this for just a couple of dollars per month. So yes, even struggling artists can get a website and an online store. By the way, that web address should be clearly written on your business cards, too.

Speaking of business cards, I’ve already mentioned that they should be clear and legible – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to use a magnifying glass and still could not make out the letters and numbers on a card. Business cards should also have, at a minimum, the info that customers expect to find on them. So, rule number three:

3. Make sure your business card has the right info

There was a time when business cards used to have the standard contact info. These days, though, people often leave this info off and they focus more on creating attractive cards rather than functional ones. At a minimum, your card should have:

• A picture of your product or you

• An email address

• Your web address

The reason that these should be on there is because a Google search likely won’t reveal these. So if a potential customer doesn’t have your card and is trying to remember who you were or what you sell from the dozens of other booths they visited that day, they won’t find it easily online. Yes, even your website, because getting to the top of search engines is reserved for big-money bidders these days, and that’s probably not you.

I’m amazed how many times I receive a beautifully designed card and it doesn’t have a pic on it. If I’m holding a stack of two dozen cards from that day walking the show/fair, then that is a crucial piece of info that would have reminded me why I picked up your card. So don’t forget to include an image that reminds me of what you are selling.

As for an email address, the bare minimum is a Gmail address, but finding a unique one of those is becoming harder every day. Gmail also does not suggest professionalism, special attention, or trust. Those are all the details a customer is looking for when they make the decision to purchase something.

It is much better to have a more personal email address tied to your business’ web address, such as Mary@YummyChocolates.com – good luck trying to find something that catchy on Gmail. A personalized address helps people remember who they spoke with, what your product is, and how to get to your website.

What about Social Media?

I’ve spoken to and interviewed hundreds of small business owners. The ones who are very successful simply don’t have the time for social media. Unless they outsourced it to someone else, there are much more productive things they have found to focus on instead.

The key point about social media is that it’s “social.” People go there to chat and scroll, but buying is still something that most people will hesitate to do. I’ve even had business owners tell me that spending time on social media can send the wrong message, that the business is not serious and more of a hobby.

That is not to say that social media doesn’t have a place in some businesses. I’ve also talked to business owners who do sell on Insta and FB. Many owners also tell me that they generate interest before a show/fair with their social media. However, few of them can quantify that – it requires a much deeper level of analytics that most of them don’t have time to do or learn.

It should also be pointed out that many business owners tell me that what they generate with social media is just a fraction of the business they generate on a single day at a pop-up booth. Owners also tell me that social media quickly becomes a repetitive chore and much more time-consuming than they would like, especially if the posts need to be replicated onto several platforms. Which leads to the final rule:

4. Only use one social media platform

Marketing and advertising using social media can become very complex, time-consuming, and also expensive. So if you are going to spend the time and resources on it, then pick one and become good at that. Don’t try to spread yourself thin over every platform – it will take too much away from running the business.

You might ask what about that customer who just happens to only use the one platform you don’t use? There’s always going to be one platform that you can’t cover, so even if you do all the major ones, you can still run into this. The solution is simple: point them to your website. That is the one constant standard platform everyone has access to.

In closing…

I wrote this article because I am still stunned by how many small businesses insist on just selling via their booth, or not providing enough information to customers who visit the booth. Pop-up booths are undoubtedly the best way to get started for most small businesses, I don’t disagree with that at all.

That said, there will be many times you will lose out on a sale because a customer feels brushed off. More importantly, having other ways to make that sale, from a simple email address on a card to your web store, sets the stage for growing your business beyond the booth. Not only is this more welcoming, but it projects an image of confidence in your products, professionalism, and longevity.

Those are all unspoken qualities will help build trust with your customers, helping to generate more visits to the booth, repeat sales, and also new customers through word-of-mouth. Remember, there is no advertising that is as powerful as unsolicited, genuine, and organic referrals. Those come from beyond the pop-up booth.