Marketing Your Product with Scrapbooking Events

by Sue DiFranco
Copyright 2004 Sue DiFranco/Fun Facts Publishing

Many large scrapbooking manufacturers are constantly being asked to donate product to the hundreds of scrapbooking events that occur every year. Understandably, they can't accommodate all requests, and have to decline some.

However, smaller manufacturers and product designers can capitalize on these scrapbooking conventions, crops, retreats, and events, that occur just about every weekend across the world. Donating your company's products, along with promotional material, can be a fairly inexpensive way of getting the word out about your business, and getting your product into the hands of dedicated scrapbookers!

First, you'll need to locate upcoming events. We launched a new area on FunFactsPublishing.com specifically for event organizers to post their donation requests. They list the date, location, how many attendees are expected, and what they will do to help promote your business. Take a look at these requests, including several for ongoing events, here.

You can also find events listings at the following Web sites: http://www.scrapbookaddict.com http://www.scrap-source.com http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com http://www.scraplink.com http://www.scrapjazz.com

Decide what events are good fits for your product. If you want to appeal to a wide audience, you’ll want events that have many attendees. If you have a line of Christian themed products, you might choose events held by Christian groups.

Contact the event organizer and, depending upon your budget, offer to send promotional product for giveaways. If you can afford to, send enough products for every attendee. If not, send a few "larger" products for door prizes. The biggest thing to remember, though, is to request that flyers/brochures about your product be put into every gift bag, and/or handed out to every attendee.

Flyers can be fairly inexpensive to produce, and combined with the price of the promo products you send and postage, this type of marketing can save you thousands of dollars over expensive magazine advertising. Of course, make sure you include some sort of promotional code on each flyer, such as a coupon that says "Mention Code 444 to receive 10 percent off." This will help you track where your customers are coming from - which flyers are working and which are not. Good luck!

Sue DiFranco is the founder of Fun Facts Publishing and the author of more than a dozen books on building and marketing scrapbooking businesses and services. This article was based on her books, "Secrets of Scrapbooking Success: Making Money, Making Memories," a detailed overview of the business opportunities in scrapbooking, and "Make Money Scrapbooking For Others: The Complete Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams," a 200-page Super-Success manual. Visit http://www.funfactspublishing.com to read a library of FREE information and get started today! 

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