11 Freakin Clever Ideas To Brand Your Market Stall

As creatives, ultimately we want to get our work sold. One of the great ways to do that is with a market stall.

When you’re at a market, you want your stall to capture the attention of people walking past, so that everyone sees you in the crowd and wants to come over to buy your magical work.

The best way to make your market stall stand out? You guessed it - branding. Sure, you can just put your work on the table and let it speak for itself, but at a market you need to be able to literally stand out from the crowd - both the other makers at the market and the crowds of people browsing and buying.

You want to be the stall that everybody wants to come and look at, so let’s talk about how you can do that by making sure your market stall is on-brand, aligned, and turning those browsers into buyers!

All photographs in this article were taken by Sam Blyth at Ratbag Market.

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1. Signage

Signage is a big part of having a market stall. It’s something that clearly states who you are, what you’re doing, what you offer and lets people see you from across the way at a market. Some people may even be specifically coming to find you, so having clear, creative, beautiful signage is going to help people recognise you and your brand.

Whether it’s on the front, on top of or behind your table, there are heaps of different signage options to look at and decide what’s going to work best for you, your budget and the market itself. You could have signs on your stall itself, standing behind your table, or set up in front of where you are (or all three if you really want to be seen!) Whichever kind of signage you choose, make sure it’s on brand, using your logo, colours, fonts, and other design elements so your customers can recognise you straight away.

Artist Pepper Raccoon’s on-brand market signage stands out and shows people where to connect with them outside the market.

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2. The Table

At some markets, you’re going to be given a table. At others, you’re going to have to bring your own. In either case, you can decide how you’re going to brand the table itself at your stall.

If a table is supplied, you can cover it in an on-brand tablecloth. For me, I used to use brown paper to create a nice simple effect that matched the minimal, plant-filled vibe for my tables. If you have the option to bring your own table, then make sure it’s easy to transport, the design suits your purpose, and if you’ll need to cover it.

Wood Witch Works’ red velvet table matches their brand and shows off their work perfectly.

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3. Stands & Storage

On your table, you’re likely going to have prints to stack, pins to lay out, postcards to spread out or things to hang. Whatever it is, you’re going to need some sort of storage like stands or racks to hold your goodies.

Storage is something that you can choose intentionally. If you have the budget, choose stands and storage that align with your aesthetic. Think about the materials used and the aesthetic they portray. Make sure they’re going to make your work physically stand up and be easy for people to browse through, and consider how it’s going to look when it’s all put together on the table.

The Creative Abditory’s setup with different layers to create depth, create visual interest, show off their work, and allow people to see all of their pieces at once.

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4. Decorations

Decorate your table with anything that’s going to help you to stand out, capture people’s attention from across the room, and of course make your stall look pretty and Instagrammable!

When I was tabling at markets, I used plants to add greenery to my table and stand out against the black and white work I was doing. People would come over to my stall because they liked my plants - but once they were there, they realised they liked my work too!

When it comes to your own stall, you can add anything from fairy lights to fake fur to confetti or any little trinkets that feel on brand for you. Keep everything in line with your brand colours of course, and use all of the levels of your stall to adorn with decorations. Just make sure whatever you use to decorate with doesn’t detract too much from your work – it’s all about balance!

Illustrator & designer Sofilly decorated her stall with bunting on the front, fabric draped over the top, and fairy lights dotted around to add a touch of magic.

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5. Flyers

As well as your work, it’s good to have promotional material with you such as flyers that people can take away with them. It’s up to you what information you include on your flyers - it could be about an exhibition you have, how to find you online or the work you have available for purchase that isn’t at the market. The point is to give the people who visit your stall something to walk away with whether they buy from you or not, so they can remember who you are, look you up later, and hopefully engage with your work in the future.

You can easily design your own flyers in a tool of your choice like Canva to create your flyers in line with your aesthetic, your brand strategy and your brand identity. Once you’re happy with your design, you’ll be ready get them printed with a service like noissue, who offer custom, compostable flyers made from 100% recycled and FSC-certified paper. Then you can give them pride of place on your stall and hand them out to anyone who stops by!

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Ready to be the stand out stall at your next market?

If you’ve read this far down and want some help branding your market set up, consider joining us in The Next Level Creative to design a stand-out, sales-worthy brand that you can apply to your market stall with me and your fellow creatives. Sign up today to start growing your audience, increasing your sales, and improving your opportunities by working on your brand strategy and systems to craft a complete, powerful brand that takes your creative business to the next level again and again.

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6. Business Cards

Sometimes people won’t be able to buy from you at the market for one reason or another, but they want to follow you on Instagram or go to your online store to buy something from you. This is where having business cards with those details is really, really helpful. Just like flyers, business cards are the perfect opportunity to show off your brand and remind the people you meet who you are and what you do.

Make sure your business cards not only have clear information, but also include your logo, and are on-brand and consistent with your brand identity. That way, when someone has your business card and goes to your website, online store or Instagram, they know that they’re in the right place. Moo is my favourite place to get business cards printed, or you could do something fun like using noissue’s custom coasters as your business cards! (That’s one way to stand out!)

Cosmo Bones had her business cards front and centre on her market stall so anyone visiting her stall could grab one and connect with her and her work later whether they bought something from her or not.

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7. Pricing

The pricing information on your table isn’t just a functional feature to tell people how much things cost - it’s also another part of your market stall that you can brand.

It’s common to have cards next to each type of work you have on your table that display the prices. You could also have one main sign with all of your prices listed as well as your individual pricing labels or stickers so people can see everything in one place.

When branding these, think about the material that you’re using, how you’re going to attach them, the typography you’re using to type or write that information, and what it’s going to look like when people see it from across the room. It needs to be big and clear, easy to identify which label is for which products, and consistent with the rest of your brand identity. All of these things make it that much more likely that people will be compelled to buy your amazing work!

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8. Payment Details

Whether you’re taking EFTPOS, cash or bank transfers, you need to display your payment details at your stall. This makes it clear to people wandering past what methods are available and communicate how easy it is to support you and your work.

These details could be on a poster, a flyer or a sign that show the information, which means you get to make sure they’re beautifully designed and aligned with your brand. Just like with the pricing information, this needs to be super easy to read, and especially if your stall is big, can be repeated in several places. These can be even bigger too, so that customers can spot from afar that your work can be purchased by card or bank transfer and can buy your art even if they don’t have cash on them! Don’t be afraid to loudly and proudly (visually) ask for people to support your work - that’s what markets are for!

Cosmo Bones had clear signage in multiple places about which payment options were available, including Paywave, so customers knew that it was easy to purchase her products.

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9. Packaging

Now that people are buying from you (because they ARE going to buy from you), it’s time to package their product to give it to them.

At a market, some people just take things away as they are, so you don’t have to use packaging. But if you do, what is the packaging going to be? What is it made out of? What does it look like? How is it branded? You can brand all these elements of the packaging to make it a continual experience that they can take with them from the market.

First, design on-brand packaging for your products and then get it professionally printed through a service like noissue who offer a range of options like custom branded tissue paper, bags, boxes, stickers, and totes.

You don’t have to go all out, especially when you’re just getting started, but even something as simple as a small product care card that goes alongside the customer’s purchase explaining how to care for their new item shows an attention to detail, a high level of care, and leaves a positive lasting impression on your customer that they’ll remember long after the market ends. That’s how brand reputations are built. So think about the little touches you could add to your packaging to make it that little bit more special and use your brand to show how much you care about your customers.

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10. Free Samples/Gifts

Another way to leave a lasting impression at markets can be to offer a free sample or gift to people who visit your stall. This should be something small that doesn’t cost you a lot to give away, but that shows off what you make and leaves the customer wanting more when they see how amazing your work is!

Free samples are great for introducing your work to people who have never experienced it before, showing off new product ranges, building relationships with your audience by leading with generosity, and enticing customers to come back and stay loyal to you as a brand.

Some fabulous examples of free samples that won’t break the bank for you but will bring a smile to your customers’ faces include small stickers, custom fake tattoos, badges, patches, or products with minor faults that you can’t sell full price but make great giveaways. These are just a few examples - get creative and think of something small that relates to your specific art or craft that you’d love to get as a free gift, and that you feel good about giving away for free.

Whatever you decide, make sure its branded with your name or social media handle on it so whoever takes it can find you later, and you’ve got a sign up that says something like “take one!” or “free sample,” so people passing by know they can grab one for free.

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11. YOU!

Last but not least, YOU can also be on-brand!

If you’re the one at your market stall, people are going to be coming to meet you - the artist behind all this incredible work. You’re going to be standing there as a beacon that people want to talk to and whose work they want to check out.

Wear something on-brand, wear your own merch if you have it, or sparkle yourself up. Do whatever is going to make you feel good and like you are totally rocking this market (you are!) and that people want to come and talk to you (they do!).

Wear whatever makes you feel freakin awesome and is on-brand as f*ck. Own your brand and rock it.

Victoria Gridley is dressed fully on-brand to host her stall, including her hair and mask, and was wearing her own earrings and beret to show off her merchandise!

Those are the 11 different, freakin clever ways that you can brand your market store. Think about how you can design them and make them really on-brand so that people will flock to your store at the market. I can’t wait to see you designing and branding these elements for your own market store and kicking ass at your next market!

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Let’s make your next market a massive success!

Ready to stop sitting around watching people walk past your stall again and again, wishing you’d be the one everyone crowded around, making non-stop sales all day, heading home sold out, well-paid, and with a whole new group of people who know who you are? Consider joining us in The Next Level Creative to design a stand-out, sales-worthy brand that you can apply to your market stall and entire creative business with me and your fellow artists and makers.

Sign up today to start growing your audience, increasing your sales, and improving your opportunities by working on your brand strategy and systems to craft a complete, powerful brand that takes your creative business to the next level again and again.

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