Get Attention with A Banner!

Banners are a cheap and easy, attention-getting detail to add to your booth.  They can be made in a style to suit your booth - kitschy, shabby, sophisticated, natural... whatever!   Remember, you need to get and keep a customer's attention before you stand a chance of getting them to come into your booth.  The longer you keep their attention, the more likely they'll see something worth a closer look.

Here are some inspiration photos to give you some ideas.  Since Valentine's Day is close, I've included a bunch for that holiday, but the way they are made could be adapted for lots of other seasons or themes.  Enjoy!

Photo Sources -  All of my sources for the inspiration photos in this post can be found on my Pinterest Board - Vintage Show Off Posts.  Now I have two boards that will help you.  I have a feeling I may need to add more as time goes on.  I'll be adding links to any I create on my sidebar.

This is one of my all time favorite photos showing a banner used well in a booth.  Without the banner, the booth would still look nice, but the banner grabs your attention, establishes a theme for the vignette and creates a memorable look.

The rest of the photos are just to inspire you with banner styles.

Quality and Quantity Before Beauty

Getting a customer in your booth is an art you need to master in order to have a successful booth. As much as it saddens me to say this, a booth doesn't have to be pretty to be successful.  I have seen some booths that are hot messes - I call them stalls - that sell just fine.  The vendors just dump things in.  It drives me insane.  However, the best way to get customers in your booth is simple - have lots of things that people want! 

You need QUALITY - that would be interesting things people will want.  Cool vintage things.   Items that are seen in magazines and on Pinterest, where customers are getting their decor inspiration.

QUANTITY is important, too.  When you have more in your booth, you increase the chances that a customer will see something they want.  Don't go overboard.  It shouldn't be so crowded that your booth is uninviting.

Which brings us to the BEAUTY part - Why is beauty AFTER quality and quantity???

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I have stopped and stared at a beautiful booth without walking into it.  I have admired the colors and the decor and the creativity.  But, no matter how pretty the booth, if I scan it from the aisle and see nothing I'm interested in, I move along to the next booth.

On the other hand, I have stared at a stall, thinking how that lazy vendor should clean up that booth and how he/she is bringing down the look of the store.  And then... I spotted something interesting, so what do I do?  Despite my disgust, I wade through the debris to get to my new found treasure.

I found this photo on Pinterest.  It was linked to a totally un-related site.
If anyone finds the true link, please let me know!

Why bother decorating and creating a beautiful booth, when you could easily sell from an ugly stall?  Don't misunderstand!  Beauty IS important.  I plan a million posts on this site about making your booth look pretty.

People may buy items from a stall but they expect to pay less. You can charge a slightly higher price for things in a pretty booth.  Generally speaking, if you can't charge MORE than double what you paid for something, you will NOT be making money.  See my SCARY post on this for the full explanation.

If a booth is pretty, a customer may stare at it longer, increasing the chance of seeing something they like.

If a booth is pretty, it gives the buyer the feeling they have a chance to buy something special and valued.  A pretty booth can gain a following of customers who return often to see what's new.  A pretty booth can show things in a way that makes a customer want them even more to achieve a similar look.

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But really, a pretty booth is only good if the booth has things people want.  If the booth is pretty but is decorated with too many not-for-sale items and/or with things that are nice but wouldn't work in most people's homes, then sales for that booth will be poor.

When you set up your booth, make sure you have plenty of things that might catch a customer's eye from the aisle.  Make sure there are good-selling items visible that many people with different styles will be attracted to. I worry about vendors who create booths that are only interesting to a small group of customers.  A broad appeal is best for most vendors (unless you are famous and are in an extremely popular mall). I plan to elaborate on this in a future post.

I thought about saying Quality would get you the sale, but that's not actually so.
There are a number of other factors that come into play at that point - like price.

* Note about the photos - None of the photos used in this post are meant to make a statement one way or another.  All three are photos of booths that seem to have the quantity part taken care of.  As for quality, that's in the eye of the beholder - you.  You'll likely have style preferences between the three, but that's not quite the point. Go back and take a closer look at all three and see if anything catches your eye that would make you want to go in the booth or go check the price tag or go take a closer look.  If so, in my opinion, that's a winning booth.

Patio Umbrella as a Booth Anchor Piece

It's a good idea to have something fabulous in your booth to make it memorable and to create a wonderful first impression.  I have heard this type of item described as a booth anchor piece.    It's usually one fantastic piece of furniture, but sometimes it's a unique prop.  In this case, it's a patio umbrella.

This is the Faded Charm booth at the Farm Chicks show this past summer.  Even without the umbrella, you'd want to walk into this booth.  The set-up is very nice and most anyone who loves vintage would see something that would entice them in for a better look.  But the use of the umbrella brings the style perception of this booth up into the stratosphere!

I skimmed the comments on her post and plenty of them mentioned the umbrella.  Yep.  It's a showstopper.

After you read this post, I highly recommend checking out the full post - Faded Charm - The Farm Chicks Adventure.

On a similar note, A year or two ago, I was part of a team of five vendors who shared a theme booth.  Nicole was one of the very talented vendors in the team.  She and I worked together to create this fun vignette with a picnic table and clothes line she brought in.  Note the crows perched on top - it was a late September or early October vignette.  That vignette got so many compliments while it was up.  Unfortunately, both the table and the clothesline sold really fast.  That booth was fairly popular and it had to be reworked constantly.  That's a good problem to have.

This post will be categorized using the label, anchor pieces.  I feel certain that I will have plenty more posts in the future showing interesting anchor pieces.

One more idea with umbrellas - If you find one with a good frame, but the fabric is awful, you could re-do it with fabric strips like this one from Vintage Whites.

The Money Wall

In many stores, there is a path customers typically walk... a direction they follow.  I highly recommend that you learn which direction customers are usually heading when they come to your booth.  Stand off in a distance and observe customers as they walk to your booth. If they come from one particular direction the majority of the time, then whatever part of your booth they see first is what I call "THE MONEY WALL".

The money wall is where you need to create a strong first impression.  You need to use that wall to catch the eye of anyone passing.  It's where you put things that will grab their attention and help lure them into your booth.  If you have a large item that you want to sell, you might want to put it on that wall and make it look fabulous.

This is key - a pretty vignette on your money wall is not enough.  Pretty will get you a glance, but it might not get a customer into your booth.  You have to have special things that customers will want to check out.  A glance is good.  Entering your booth is better.  Picking something up or checking a price tag is best because that's getting much closer to actually making a sale, which, after all, is the main goal.

There are booths all around you competing for attention.  Your booth needs to at least look as good as the others.  If you notice that customers stare longer at the booths around you, you need to step up your game. Or, if they go into surrounding booths more often that yours, you need to step up your game.

Here are some examples of displays that would CREATE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION.  I tried to include a variety of styles.

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There are tons more  inspiring booth photos on Pinterest.  That's where I found most of these photos.  You can start exploring booth photos on Pinterest (if you haven't already) by taking a look at my Antique Booths board.