Partnership and Community Relations

Just because your market is run on Thursday afternoons doesn’t mean you can’t schedule an event or two on other days. Take advantage of your community’s events to promote and expand your market by having a “market day” along with your community event. If you can guarantee your vendors that hundreds or thousands of visitors will be coming into town for a Car Show or a 5 K run or a band competition, they will want to take advantage of the opportunity and expand the reach and impact of your market.
First, approach the organizing body of the other event with the idea. Assure them that there is no additional cost to them to host a special market day but that you expect to be part of the advertising and promotion of the event (Yodelers Car Show with Fresh Farmer’s Market, for instance). Once you have their acceptance, ask for their marketing materials. Use their posters, calendars, ads from past events to help persuade your vendors that this is indeed a “special Event” that will bring customers and business their way.
Once your current vendors buy in, approach new and different vendors; folks that turned you down for a year long contract or tried your market for a couple of weeks and then stopped may just want to give it a try for this special event. Charge them a small fee or percentage of sales for that day and stress the fact that their fees will apply if they wish to attend subsequent markets.
For instance, let’s say you charge $20 per week and $125 for a 10 week commitment for your regular vendors. If these special vendors commit to this one time event, charge them $30 and promise they can sign up for ten weeks for $95 if the event is a success and they would want to try it again during your regular market time.
Your regular vendors may come as a “freebie”, keeping in mind that you are probably asking them to give up a market they usually attend (and have paid for) somewhere else. If your event is sufficiently well known or publicized, they will see the value of participating and at no cost, all they are risking is their other market sales, which should be less because your event is syphoning off local business!
Finally, publicize the event at your regular market. This will bring in some of your regular customers to the other event and help prove to the organizers of the special event that you are committed to their success and a valuable partner in the process.
When all is said and done, survey your vendors and your partners to see what was good (and perhaps not so good) about the effort and commit to improving the process and holding the event again next year so that you can build it into your marketing materials to solicit vendors the following year.
Now, it is not foolproof and not every event is appropriate for a Farmer’s Market, but you can determine what might be the “best opportunity ” for your community and vendors pretty quickly and build an additional partnership with little additional energy!

Be well

Bob