Prepping for Fall Market

Ask any designer, and they'll tell you that no pattern, however brilliantly written or conceived, will be successful without a plan to promote it. And it just so happens that I really enjoy working on promotional stuff. It's challenging and also a pleasant diversion from sewing, and in just a few short weeks, we'll be heading to Houston for the "Big Daddy" of our promotional activities, the Fall Quilt Market. No other advertising or promotional activity commands more of our time or our resources than the Spring & Fall Markets, so it's important to honestly assess our display after each event, and strive to improve our impact and success for next time.

Here's how our booth looked at the Spring Market in Pittsburgh, our third such event. In preparation for Pittsburgh, I had spent a great deal of time preparing a Power Point Presentation to run on a continuous loop in our booth. But, best I can tell, it was a waste of time. I'm not even sure anyone noticed it. Oh well, no need to cart my computer back & forth to Market every day this Fall. Live & learn. Some plans work, some don't.

Another thing I noticed in Pittsburgh, was that we have WAY more traffic in our little half-booth (6' X 10") now. So much in fact, that many times I could tell that folks could not get in to either talk to me, or to look at our products. Not a good thing. Due to this and the fact that we now have 21 different pattern designs, it seems we have finally outgrown our half-booth format. So.... we're upgrading our booth size for the upcoming Fall Market in Houston, AND we've applied for a primo corner configuration. The up-side to this configuration is that it will yield a more relaxed & less congested traffic flow, and MUCH more display space for my sample bags. The diagram on the right is how I envision our new larger booth to be configured. As you can see, I'll pick up an additonal 6 ft of table space, PLUS a counter-level table at booth front. Folks will be able to move freely & easily through our booth, and our corner location will increase our visiblity immensely.

The down side is that I now have two more tables to dress and many more supplies to either take with me on the plane or to box up and ship ahead of time. I'd also like to come up with a more sophisticated way to display my bags as well. So I guess I better get busy researching displays and working on these two new table dressings. I'm excited about how our booth will look this fall & I'll be sure to keep you posted as I make progress. Till next time....