Investing in a trade show
I wanted to write this while it’s still fresh in my mind as I’m currently in the process of prepping for my first ever trade show! NY Now Summer show August 13-16th under the Bulletin Incubator program in the gift and lifestyle section.
What follows is what I’ve learned from asking questions to the Bulletin team, NY Now’s online resources, random youtube searches of market set ups, Cindy from Newtown HQ , Brittany from Wrappr (who I finally got to meet in person when I went to her table at NY Now’s Winter show earlier this year) and @illustrating_amy’s advice she’s learned from working in the greeting card industry.
What you need in general:
Business cards: obviously, this is a must. + a sticker or something extra to promote your brand. (I designed a cute give away sticker that showcased some of my products with a QR code that takes you to my social links including my direct wholesale link to Faire.)
Wholesale catalog, best sellers/mural catalog, order sheets, business card and QR code sticker
Order sheets: buyers will be ready to place orders on the spot so you need to have order sheets to take their orders and give them a copy as well as keep one for yourself. Pro tip: staple a business card of theirs on your copy so you remember who they are and you can staple one of yours to theirs. This is just for you to take note of what they want, but they won’ t be taking anything home on the spot. You’ll have to invoice them after the show based on whatever lead times you set for your shop and when they want the order to ship by.
Postcards or some kind of take away for buyers: I’m getting a half page flyer (5.5x8.5”) showcasing my murals as an added take away to give to buyers in the chance anyone is looking for a mural for their shop + my top selling items and little bit about my business. Figured it would be a good idea since I’ve seen people do a one pager of licensing prints or other services their business offers. Shoutout to Sade for the tip on showcasing best selling items.
Wholesale Catalog: This is probably the most important of them all. Your wholesale catalog will showcase all the items you carry, prices, minimums, color ways, and a little bit about your business. And this is also great even after the trade show to mail out to shops you might be interested in working with or even handing out at local shops. I definitely plan on doing this if I don’t hand them all out during the trade show. I also added the digital version to a google drive folder that I added as a link in my QR code ( I use QR code generator, they offer customizable QR codes that even after they are printed, you’re able to change where the link goes to as long as you don’t change the QR design itself. This to me has been a great resource and It’s like having a link tree in QR code form. ) The sticker I’ll be handing out will also have a link to view the full catalog in addition to all my other links.
What I’ve invested personally + my set up.
Through Bulletin’s incubator program, something I highly recommend looking into if you want to try NY Now because it allows you to have a less overwhelming experience than a huge booth or if you’re a part of the GCA (greeting card association) you can also get discounted rates where you split a booth with a fellow member. There’s different booths and prices that Bulletin offers but I choose the cheapest because this gal is on a budget and I already had a lot of other expenses to consider.
Incubator small table booth cost:
$1350 - (cost for 4 days) my small table (39”x19”) I know, it’s super small but I used a table top display I build with the help of my boyfriend to maximize my vertical space and honestly it was more than enough for me especially for my first time. I also paid this in installments which was nice that the Bulletin team works with you to create a payment plan.
Display expenses:
Disclaimer: At the time I was convinced I was going to use a grid wall for my display so these expenses are considered extra since I decided to go in another route. I decided not to use the grid anymore, but I’ll definitely use it for other things. I’m still using the dividers for the crates and honestly it was helpful to have all of this in order to plan out my display before deciding to just build something from wood instead.
$52.52 - (w/o tax) hooks for both my keychains + giveaway keychains, dividers for my crates and a basket: linked basket, long hooks, short hooks, and dividers. Did use the dividers even for my regular markets so this still counts. ($29.99)
$13.18 ($6.59 ea) - 2 Collapsible crate to showcase my prints since I don’t have a lot of space: linked here I also use these for my markets when I don’t have a lot of space so it’s more a general expense really.
$98.43 - Home depot expense of supplies I needed to build the new display. This included the plywood, having someone cut them down for me, hinges, hand saw, wood screws, and clamps to clamp to the Bulletin table.
$15.99 - fire retardant spray (apparently NY Now requires all displays to be fire proof.) so I bought a spray just in case.
$52.29 (circle one is pricier ) + $38.35 for the standard square one 16x16” - Table decals displaying my logo and QR code + a small blurb about my business. The tables at the show are white and plain and I’ve seen others do this and it looks really nice so I got 2 different banners printed with Uprinting and honestly the cost was low it’s just the shipping is like $18 but I will say it’s soooo fast it’s kind of unreal.
Promotional expenses:
$153.07 - Business cards: I ordered 500 because I needed some for markets and other stuff aside from the trade show, but it’s crazy how fast I go through business cards since I also use them for wholesale orders for my prints (going to get a custom stamp to brand my prints in the future). I’ll only have about 230 business cards for the trade show. This time I ordered them from got print - 38pt black trifecta and was able to get the same quality as Moo but for a significant cost savings.
$114.97 - (took advantage of Sticker Apps mirror sticker sale) 100 promotional stickers with my wholesale / social links QR code (if you want to be able to customize a QR code even after it’s been printed, I highly recommend using QR code generator. I think it’s like $60 a year for 3 QR codes and free for one which is pretty good.)
$43.55 - sample test of my catalog done locally by Triboro printing. I wanted to double check the fonts and pages before sending it to Fireball to save time. (I’m glad I did because I noticed a mistake on one of my pages despite having checked this a million times on the computer) Although Fireball offers a 2 day turnaround for a printed proof for free since I ordered 125 catalogs, so I opted in for their version too since I made some adjustments to the file after seeing Triboro’s sample.
$410.55 - 125 catalogs printed by the lovely Fireball Printing in Philly. Shoutout to Skye for this resource they were so amazing to work with and super quick turnaround.
$300 - Commissioned a talented friend of mine Steph from Studio Nena (we still haven’t met IRL but I’ve been obsessed with her earrings since I won one of her giveaways) to make 50 acrylic keychains I designed with my logo and business information as another giveaway for buyers and an acrylic sign with my business name to use for my tabletop display.
$82.48 - 100 double sided half page (5.5x8.5) promotional flyer (shown below). I used Moo because it was reasonably priced and their quality is always great + they don’t charge extra to have a front and back design. I designed mine to have my top selling items, a little about my business, my ordering minimums and the special promotion I’m doing exclusively for the show.
Front of the flyer
Back of the flyer
Inventory expenses:
$448.56 - 6 stickers that I needed to restock (for online wholesale through Faire + in person markets) + 3 new designs I needed to showcase at the trade show for pre-orders. Also used Stickerapp for this.
$71.04 - new enamel pin backing cards from Moo. I use their square business cards to do these because I can add as many designs as I want at no extra charge and saves me on cost.
$942 - I worked with Your Stuff Made (shoutout to Chanamon for this resource) to get 4 new enamel pins made. This was the cost for 4 new pins, at 50 pins each. (trust me this is pretty decently priced considering other places I’ve tried + the fact that each of my pins have mad colors. This is why I don’t have more pins, because it’s hard to invest this much when I have other products to get made). Pro tip: if you have very fine details, ask them to do enamel + print. That’s how the strawberry lady face and the Sazon pot with veggies is so clear, it’s printed on top of the enamel.
$136.95 - 21 new greeting cards printed by my usual spot Aura Print (highly recommend, they have great quality and you can split your order between many designs). I ordered 100 split between 21 designs, also their recycled paper is great)
$95.70 - branded hang tags for my keychains + giveaway keychains printed on seed paper from Botanical Paper Works. shoutout to (Lemon Water Studios for this resource.)
Misc trade show things:
$76.34 - Customized order forms (minimum was 250) from Uprinting which is definitely excessive but I’m sure I’ll use them again and for the quantity the cost isn’t terrible. What jacked up the price was the almost $20 shipping.
$47.31 - label maker from Amazon (to add my booth number on the marketing materials). I also have been wanting to get a label maker to organize some of my storage in my workspace so this was a double win. But for my table top display I want to get a better label maker to make clear labels that aren’t distracting because I wasn’t aware the one I got is only formatted to make small little rectangles instead of one continuous strip and I have to write a lot of information.
$30.01 - calculator, clear labels, label hang tags to brand my keychains, and keychain rings for the giveaway keychains. All from amazon cause ya girl is in a pinch on both time and money.
Summary:
To conclude this very lengthy post, I just want to add the disclaimer that everyone’s expenses for a trade show would be very different depending on booth size, whether you need to stock up on new products like I did, and many other factors. I personally get super hung up on the details when it comes to my branded presence (I blame my old roomie Nikki for this one 😆 since she worked in advertising and I feel like branding was always such a huge thing) but it does make a difference in how people perceive your brand so I always want to have nice quality things that really elevate my work and are memorable in a sea of thousands of other brands.
I wanted to really make this post to only track what type of investment I’ve made in this experience in order to compare what the return on this investment might look like. It’s important to do these things for your business as unglamorous as it may be, because it allows you to continue to grow and know where to invest your time and money into.
My total investment: $4,550.76
let’s say estimated since some things I wasn’t able to count the tax / shipping. Also this total is excluding the costs of the items I didn’t use.
It’s crazy seeing this number and realizing that somehow I made this work but this was months of planning, setting aside money, using money from markets to slowly make payments on all the things I listed above. So thank you to everyone that’s purchased anything from me in the past 5 months, this is a direct reflection of where a good chunk of my earnings have gone aside from bills.
✌🏽👩🏽🎨
If you find any of this information helpful please feel free to share + here are ways you can support me and my business:
Check out my online shop - although it’s temporarily closing on the 7th of August.
Buy me a coffee (my personal creative beverage is an Iced Chai Latte / Matcha Latte)
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