The Chances

This weekend was the Christmas in November show in Yuba City, CA where I live.  The first day over 700 people came, but Sunday there were less than 300.  Still, it was a neat show, and I had a lot of fun.  I got to meet lots of people, and certainly got my name out there!  Please forgive the image quality of these.  I was using my cheapie digital camera.

 

There's so much I wish I would have been able to do, but time was going fast, and I didn't have the most money in the world.  Since it was at the fairgrounds, I was under the impression they would have booths like they have at the normal fair... booths already standing.  I was wrong and had to buy the EZ-Up thing at the last minute.  If it hadn't been for my friend letting me borrow a bit, I wouldn't have had a booth at all.

I ended up with 13 8x10's, mounted in Dollar Tree frames.  I also had matted/framed pictures which gave the illusion of them being bigger, as well as an 11x14 mounted larger on an easel in the front of the booth.  I also had a sample Baby Collage on an easel.  This got the most response out of everything.

I had specialty items as well.  I had some photo bracelets, and photo charms, both of which went over a bit TOO wonderfully.  People wanted to buy the charms and bracelets by themselves!  So finally I told them that if they wanted to purchase them outside of a photo session, the minimum order was 5.  I didn't want to become a jewelry dealer.  Another item I had was photo ornaments, which again, people seemed to like.

On one table I had a few copies of Clipper Magazines if people wanted them.  One woman said she had seen the ad and wanted to use a coupon, but didn't know where the ad was.  When we offered her a magazine, she refused.  Refusals seemed to be the order of the day; I was giving away a package of a photo session, 1 8x10, 2 5x7's, and 10 Christmas cards... most people who walked by said they weren't interested!  Still, I did get quite a few people to sign up.

So in the end, I got 31 people to sign up for the drawing, which means I now have 31 people on my mailing list.  The woman who ran the booth next door worked with me about 13 years ago, and ended up booking a photo session.  There were at least 5 or 6 people who seemed excited enough to call me post-show.  While I didn't have flyers or postcards to hand out, I probably gave out 150 business cards.

So for a booth cost of $65 plus $12 insurance, and about $350 worth of booth implements, with the one photo session booked for next Saturday this booth has paid off more than the Clipper Magazine ad.  I think targeted marketing is the way to go!

The next booth will be the Christmas Stroll in December.   That one shouldn't cost much at all, since I outfitted it all for this one.  Hopefully it'll go as well as this did.

Greg