Over the last few years, Charleston has been experiencing a significant business boom, with many new startups establishing the city as their base. Part of the reason for their success lies in the community itself.
Indeed, if you’ve recently started a business in Charleston, it’s likely you’ve already felt the strong sense of local support, and nowhere is this better represented than in the shopping events and markets that take place across the city.
For those who haven’t yet experienced this, participating in one of Charleston’s many pop-up markets or craft fairs can be a game-changer, ensuring not only that your business gets noticed, but you have the opportunity to build meaningful connections with customers and the broader entrepreneurial community.
That being said, it isn’t simply a case of finding the right spot and setting up shop. If you’re planning to do your first pop-up or craft fair, you need to make sure you have a few key things covered to make it a success. Starting with an important safeguard.
Insurance is A Key Safeguard
Another important thing to know is that, while your pop-up is temporary, your business certainly isn’t! In order to protect yourself now and in the future, it’s still important to attain business insurance and ensure you’re covered if anything goes wrong.
Let’s say, for instance, you become a regular at a craft fair, but during one of your events, a customer trips over your display, or one of your products causes damage. A small, isolated incident like that can easily lead to a lawsuit or even hefty medical bills, but with insurance, this won’t necessarily be enough to put you out of business.
Specifically, business insurance by Next Insurance allows you to tailor your coverage, helping you choose a plan that is angled more towards what can go wrong in the craft fair environment, or during a pop-up, ensuring you’re only paying for what your business truly needs.
Whether it’s general liability, product liability, or property damage, having this kind of affordable insurance will help you to focus on getting these events right and give you the peace of mind to make an impact.
Focusing on Event Logistics
Setting up a pop-up or getting involved in a craft fair isn’t something that can be done haphazardly either. Before you even get started, you need to understand the location and do everything possible to make sure you spend as much time as possible selling rather than scrambling!
That means confirming your vendor space ahead of time, knowing where to park for unloading, understanding power or wi-fi availability, bringing all the supplies you’ll need, and much more! Essentially, you need to carefully review the event’s schedule and guidelines, and then do everything possible to make sure you’re prepared and ready to engage with customers and maximise your sales.
Understanding the Benefits
One last thing you need to know is exactly why you’re doing this in the first place. In our last pointer, we mentioned the importance of selling rather than troubleshooting logistics, but making money is just one of the benefits of doing a pop-up or getting involved in a craft fair.
Once there, for instance, you need to take the opportunity to actually talk to customers and get to know them on a deeper level. This is not only going to help with your understanding of your target audience – talking to people face-to-face is always going to be more beneficial from analysing data – but also work to build your reputation and gather more loyal customers who will shop with you again.
As well as this, you also have the chance to network with other vendors, many of whom will be further along in their journey and can offer valuable insights. Especially in Charleston, where word-of-mouth and community support carry serious weight, these connections can be just as important as customer relationships, allowing you to infuse your company more deeply into the local business ecosystem.
These are the things you have to remember before setting out, giving you the best chance possible to really take advantage of what you’re doing and come away knowing it was a complete success!
