How to Set up a Stand to Market Your Holistic Business

If you want to build your local client base, a stand is a great way to build your profile and educate people about your approach. It can be very low cost and because it’s in person, you get to meet and talk to lots of prospective clients. It’s a brilliant way to build relationships and market your services

Where to Have a Stand

You can’t just set up a stand anywhere without permission, but you can be creative in terms of where you do. Look out for where other small businesses and charities have stands and approach the venue to find out how you can book a stand there too. Local shows, festivals, artisan markets, craft fairs, open days, conferences etc. can offer good opportunities.  Look for anywhere your favourite clients are likely to be and go there.

One of my clients discovered a supermarket likes to support local small businesses. She was able to secure a stand in the entrance lobby where she could chat with people and invite them along to a talk she was doing locally.

Make Your Stand, Stand Out

When you’re in a busy environment, you need to make your stand visible to attract attention. Try and find out where your stand will be and what is provided by the venue. This way you can ensure you bring along anything else you need.

A plain table can be easily dressed using a tablecloth (or a single sheet, or throw will also work just as well) in your brand colours.

Add height and interest with items that have relevance to your discipline. If you have the time and budget, have pull-up roller banners created – these can be used over, and over again. If not, look at what you have available and be creative using plants, displays of products, models etc., anything that will catch people’s attention.

You Are Your Brand

As a practitioner, you are your brand. Wear something that makes you feel good, fits with your colours and branding and is the sort of item you wear for work. There’s no point changing your style because you’re at an event - people want to connect with the real you and not a masked version.

Set a Goal

Rather than just booking a stand and rocking up to see what happens, have a goal in mind. As with all your marketing, you should always ask yourself why you’re doing it.

By knowing what you want to achieve from your stand, you’ll be able to focus your efforts and get the most from it.

Have a Simple, Clear Message

Being able to simply articulate who you help and what you help them achieve will help visitors to understand what you do. Repeating the message consistently on your stand, in your leaflets, on business cards and through your discussions will help you to be remembered.

If you don’t have a simple message, check out this article – creating a marketing message to attract clients.

Have Information to Give Away

Make sure you have information that you can give to people including how they can contact you. Business cards are a good option but consider creating leaflets including useful tips for your ideal clients which are valuable for your visitors to keep.

See this article on how to write a leaflet.

Collect Contact Details

Have a way of collecting people’s contact details to either get back to them with the requested information and/or add them to your email list (with permission).

This can be as simple as having a notebook, creating an email sign up form or having an iPad or tablet where people can sign up directly for your emails.

Market Your Stand

As you’ll be available to talk, those already in your audience may want to come and meet you too.  Share where you’ll be on social media and talk about it locally to help spread the word.  It’ll help the event organisers attract attention and build your profile as someone they would like to invite again.

Reflect and Refine

Once you’ve done your stand, reflect on what you learned and create a checklist for your next stand.  This will save you a lot of time and effort in the future.

If you’re struggling to find clients for your holistic business, book a discovery call with me and find out how I can help you.