We speak to stallholders on a daily basis, many of whom are either about to sell at their first market, or sell at markets regularly. “What marketing should I do prior to a market?”, is a question they often ask us.
We recently created a YouTube video on this topic, which you can watch below.
Here’s a little summary of the video content below:
What marketing should I do prior to a market?
The three key places you need to shout about your upcoming markets are:
- Social media
- Your email newsletter
- Pedddle
Every time you post about your market (s), make sure you’re including:
- The date
- Time it’s open from and until
- Venue details (include a postcode ideally, and where they can park or how close public transport is to an event).
Make it easy for your customers to shop from you!
Let’s explore these in more detail.
1. Social Media
One single post is not enough! The social media algorithms mean that not every follower will automatically see every single post of yours in their feed. Post about it more than once, both in your grid, Reels and Stories. You could even make pinned posts with your upcoming markets on, or make a Highlight of your Upcoming Markets (which you regularly update), so people can easily find you, and easily shop from you in person (or online, if it’s an online market!).
Prepare posts for the day incase you are rushed off your feet – you never know if you’ll arrive late or the venue is already packed and you’ll be rushed off your feet with shoppers. You may not have time to post on socials or Stories on the day of the market, so consider using a social media scheduling platform.
Ideally, write a piece of text / caption with all market info included i.e. the date, opening times and venue details, and save it in your Notes app. You can then copy and paste this each time you create a social media post or Story, to save you time whenever you post!
2. Email Newsletters
A platform like Mailchimp or Flodesk can help you organise, schedule and send out great newsletters which target your dream audience. Every business should be doing this, but however frequently you send out an email newsletter to your customers, you should ideally be sending one a minimum of once a month.
These emails can then have upcoming market details for the following month listed; and don’t forget to include the date, times and locations!
Personalising these emails with your customer’s names will feel far more nurtured and seen.
You could even include a little extra for your email list – for example, a discount code if they visit you on market day, or some sort of exclusive treat or social media mention if they come to your market and say hello.
3. Pedddle
Did you know that our stallholders can list markets they’re selling at on Pedddle? As a stallholder member, you can also check into markets already listed on Pedddle, so essentially your stall page will have a list with links to all markets that you’re selling at coming up! Click here for an example of how that looks, or check out what else is involved in our membership by clicking the button below.
We are so excited to grow our community even further, and we regularly organise free workshops, IG Lives, membership drop-in sessions, meet-ups and more to help our stallholder members dream big, connect and grow their businesses as much as possible. We’d love to have you join us!