The purpose of this article is to give flea market vendors some marketing tips that they could use to bring in more traffic to their booths. Vendors should not only rely on the flea market owner’s advertising to bring in traffic. The owner’s job is to let people know about the flea market, the vendor’s job is to let people know about their business and products.
This article will not only give you tips about offline marketing, but will also give you some internet marketing tips that you can use to start your own online marketing plan. By combining the two sources you will be able to reach more of your target customers
Get the Word Out
There are many ways to let people know about your business. As a flea market vendor you have the advantage of the advertising that the owner does to bring in traffic, but how can you bring in potential customers to your booth?
Creating a business card to display your business name and products is a good way to start. Another alternative to business cards is printing fliers or brochures and passing them out. Placing classified ads in your local newspapers can let local people know about your business. Writing press releases can give you some free publicity for your business.
Relationship Marketing
When you build a relationship or friendship with someone, you build their trust in you. People do business with people they like and trust. By applying relationship marketing to your flea market business, you build a loyal group of customers who want to do business with you. How do you build relationships and /or friendships with your customers? You let them get to know you and what you have to offer. You can do this by sharing your knowledge and developing online profiles. Below are some examples.
- Participate in forums.
- Join some social networking sites.
- Attend local seminars.
Create a Buzz with Viral Marketing Strategies
Viral marketing is a cool term for word of mouth on the Internet. It is where people hear about your business or products through other people. Ways to build buzz about your flea market business include:
- Email Newsletters
- Blogging
- Video Clips
- Games, Software, Scripts
- Ebooks
- Articles
- Contests/Giveaways/Prize Drawings
Website Marketing
Using a website to market your business on the Internet allows you to:
- place descriptions and photos of your products or services
- sell your products directly from your website
- reach a large, worldwide audience
- have a storefront which is open 24 hours a day
- build a relationship with your customers
You could also use your website to generate a profit in other ways than through direct sales to customers. Some of these methods include:
- selling advertisings space
- promote related affiliate programs
- sell information products (ebooks, video products, audio products, etc.)
- generate leads for other businesses and get paid
- recommend related service businesses for a referral fee
- place google ads on your site
- put a link to your ebay store or ebay auctions
- many other options…
