Creative Ideas for Selling at Comic Cons

by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor

Creativity is one of my strongest skills.  I just never really knew how to use it in my everyday life. And then I met my fiancé.  He’s really into old school video games and making things, I love pop culture and making things.  And then 8BitFusion was born a few years ago. We never really took it seriously; it was just something fun for us to do together. We opened an Etsy store, sold a couple pieces of Perler bead jewelry, some spray painted designs on records, and a lot of Beatles yellow submarine soap but it was always a fun thing to do and that’s about it.

In the last couple years, we did a couple craft fairs but really only sold a couple pins we only charge a dollar. At the same time we never really put ourselves out there.  I knew that the events we chose to vend at, where the main event wasn’t shopping or it was a mostly older crowd, we really didn’t fit in

This year we have been doing more events and have been more successful on Etsy. We had a lot of Christmas orders this year, more than any other year. We have been coming up with more ideas of things to make and making ourselves more of a store and more professional.

We were invited to sell our stuff at a Comic Con in February, at the Cherry Hill Public Library in New Jersey.  We didn’t know what to expect. We brought the same amount of items we usually bring and made some more items. Our stuff really hasn’t been selling well, but we were ready to put some feelers out there. We created a banner and got some new things to display our product better

The response we received was so overwhelming! Kids, parents, teens, adults, people of all ages were buying our product. We actually sold out of a lot of product and now we have to create more for our next event. Kids were disappointed we sold out of a Ninja Turtles and Mine Craft items, but honestly we didn’t know what to expect.

It also helped that the event was awesome, and had a lot of activities going on throughout the day, which brought a lot in. There was Cosplay, board games, trivia, games, workshops and even more vendors! This is the first event we really had a great time!

Selling at a Comic Con at a library was a great experience for us!

#1 our video game and pop culture references are what kids are attracted too.

#2 Parents like our product because we focus on a lot of old school video games and movies from when we were growing up and it’s a nostalgic experience for them, and they share this with their children.

#3 It helps us network with others who are a lot like us for more events and projects.

#4  Librarians! I get to meet and talk to other librarians and it’s always a great thing for me!

Being a vendor and owning a small business helps expand my creative, communication and networking skills as you can see through my experience. It is something I have definitely learned a lot from, while making some extra cash at the same time.

Here are some ideas on how to get started:

1. Use Pinterest for ideas:  Pinterest is a great social network where people share different ideas and photos on boards. It’s a great place to find crafts to do, recipes to make and/or home improvements. It’s a great place to get started.
2. Once you have an idea, make a website and/or create an online store.  Some great places for websites are WordPress and Weebly and you can create a store easily on Etsy for handmade and vintage items.
3. Make Business Cards- MOO, Vistaprint, or you can event get them done at an office store like Staples of Office Max
4. Get the word out there! The best way to do this these days is social media (Twitter, FB, etc.)  Word of mouth, e-mail and networking works wonders too!

 

Hope you enjoyed reading about my experience and my tips for you on starting a small business!