Growing your business at a farmers market!

Here's a "how to" filled with tips and tricks to make the most out of being a vendor and growing your business at any kind of market/event!

Sammi and I started our home bakery business, Three Rivers Kringla, at the Humboldt Farmer's Market 10 years ago. We've done a lot to grow with next to no cost as well as found ways to get the biggest bang for our buck. Best part is, it doesn't have to be complicated to work! You don't need a special class or degree. Although, a Youtube tutorial or 3 will help if you're super unfamiliar with social media or website builder, but I'll try to help here as much as possible without getting too specific. When growing your business there isn't a "one size fits all" method.

If you're going to take the time to grow/make, organize, load, haul, and set up whatever business you have it's worth taking the time to help you succeed! Not every market/event will be the best event you've attended, but making sure people know you're there helps. The cheapest thing you can do for your business is talk to people about it. Word of mouth works better and faster than social media, especially if people like your product. If boasting about your business makes you uncomfy, then boast about the events you're attending. If you're excited about what you're doing and where you'll be, then your customers will be too!

When sharing on social media like Facebook or Instagram be sure to put the exact date/time/location on every post. Don't expect people to dig through your profile to find the bare minimum details. I like to treat every post as if it's the first time someone has seen the details I'm sharing. It keeps us consistent, front-of-mind, and easy to find. On that same note, I always use a similar set of colors when making graphics and the same fonts. This way, if I happen to make a post without our logo on it then it's still within our brand and easily associated with us. While I know other programs, like Photoshop, I do enjoy using Canva to create most of our posts and signage.

Adding your location and contact information to your bios is another way to have information easily accessible. Even if it's in your "about" section it may not pop up on someone's initial scroll. Bios are usually under profile photos, so it's one of the first things people see. Putting those details in your profile or cover photo is also a great option. Even if most of your clientele knows where you're located, new customers will not. If you don't have a storefront, put your city and state. There's a lot of times I find a new business, but their location is nowhere to be found. I personally don't want to reach out to hire/buy from someone if I don't know where they're located.

When it comes to Facebook, be sure you have a page profile someone can follow rather than a profile someone has to add as a friend. It's easier for your consumer to hit like/follow and it gets your information pushed further because it's easier for people to share. If the event you're attending has graphics or event pages set up be sure to like, share, and invite the people on your friends list to attend. Commenting on the event page's posts can also help potential customers find you. Posting photos of your product(s) always makes for a good post and great way to show customers exactly what you offer. In our experience, posting photos on Facebook will automatically get more of a response from followers than a graphic. I'm not sure if that's due to the algorithm or the followers, but I think it's worth noting.

Keep your business name consistent throughout the platforms. For example, we have both Instagram and Facebook handles being @HumboldtIAFarmersMarket. That helps people find you across all platforms. Getting an email and website with your business name is and easy way to keep up the brand recognition. For example, ours are www.HumboldtFarmersMarket.com and HumboldtFarmersMarket@gmail.com. Another easy trick is capitalizing each word. It doesn't change how the link operates, but is a lot easier to read.

While having a website isn't mandatory I do think it's important. It helps get you into more Google searches. It's a lot easier to build websites nowadays if you go through companies like Squarespace or Wix. They do cost money, but they can help grow your business if you're ever wanting to have an online store. Mostly, they're a good way to have all of your stuff in one spot. Facebook and other social media sites aren't guaranteed to be there tomorrow. It's easy to give people your website. Then they can find all the links for your social media platforms from there.

If you have social media or email it's a good idea to be responsive. Even if you don't see it for a day or two, always reply to emails, messages, and comments. With comments, react with a like or other reaction. Engaging back with people encourages more discussion. The more people interact with your posts, the more other people will see your post!

I've talked about marketing yourself online, but there are many things you can do offline, too. We advertise in the Humboldt Newspapers, putting ads in the Reminder and Humboldt Now. For the market we talk on the radio (KHBT 97.7 The Bolt) the Thursday leading up to every market. This is something other businesses could do or have a radio ad. We have posters we hang around town, which may not make sense for most businesses, but we've printed smaller versions and upcoming menus to put into bags when we're selling at events. That way the customers know where to find us again. Sammi and I have a poster of upcoming events on our table too. When we set up at any event we always have business cards on the table to grab. We order brown kraft bags for our customers and put stickers with our logo and contact info. Since our product is food, each package a person buys also has our contact info on them, so no matter how people carry our product home there's a way for people to find us again.

When it comes to events, does how you set up matter? Absolutely! Unfortunately, I don't believe there's a one size fits all setup. It's a lot of trial and error. If it's not working, move things around. If things aren't selling that I think should, I automatically assume it's how the table is set up. Try to keep your table from being too cluttered with your product. I'm guilty of this when I sell at art shows. I sometimes have so much to sell and not a lot of space. The average person doesn't want to dig through your table with you standing on the other side. Having some kind of shelving to make the most of your space can help tremendously. Trying to find a system that works for you to haul and is sturdy enough for outdoor events is a challenge. Having signage at your table/booth/tent is a must have, though. We primarily use vinyl banners.

Something that really helped our table setup was having labels with prices as well as menus for people to read through. Asking the price of things can be awkward. Having our prices out in the open makes it easier on the silent, calculated shoppers. Also, having what kind of payment you accept on signage helps your customers tremendously. Most people know to expect a farmers market as mostly cash, but if you take cards or Venmo, let people know. It could cost you sales if people assume you only take cash, but spent it at the previous vendors. We've always taken cards through Square and really like it. It's easy to create your products in their free app. They do charge a processing fee, but that's kind of part of the game and is something we have built into our pricing.

Canopies can be so amazing! They help keep the sun off you and your products. There's so many different kinds, but we recommend going for the sturdiest and easiest to set up option you can find within your budget. Be sure to do a practice run before any event. You'll thank yourself later, trust us. We plan for each vendor to have enough space for a 10'x10' canopy. Iowa winds come out of nowhere and quickly - we've learned the hard way to always have weights in place, whether it's windy to start or not. A lot of our vendor spaces are on sidewalks, so stakes aren't always the option to bank on. It's not pretty, but most of the time we use empty gallon jugs of sand or water. Hook a long strap or bungee cord to a jug or two on each leg. It's not fool proof, but it keeps your canopy from becoming a safety hazard. It hasn't happened at any of our markets, thankfully, but we've seen canopies go flying at other events before.

One last note that helps at any event is greeting every person. Sammi and I worked in customer service for a long time, so we've learned how to deal with each person. It takes some practice to find the line between talking to your customer and distracting them from shopping at your table. At the very least be present so when the customer looks up you can give them a "hi, how are ya?" I hate nothing more than being told to smile more, but it is important to be pleasant when greeting people. With reoccurring events like ours in our hometown there's a lot of familiar faces. I'm on my phone a lot at events between logging sales and making posts trying to draw more people in. If anyone walks up while I'm doing something on my phone I will say out loud what I'm doing as I greet/talk to them, so they don't assume I'm ignoring them. If I'm scrolling my phone aimlessly when someone walks up I'll put my phone down. Little things like that can go a long way with some customers.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope it helps you have a successful event season! Please email any questions you may have to HumboldtFarmersMarket@gmail.com

If you haven't filled out a vendor form yet and are interested please visit our link below to join us!

http://tinyurl.com/HFMVendorApp

We're excited for our 3rd season organizing the Humboldt Farmer's Market! It's only a month away!

2nd & 4th Saturdays May-September

8am-12pm

Parley Finch Plaza, downtown Humboldt, IA

Until then stay safe, be kind and we'll talk soon!

-Kelsey Flot