If you are focusing your tat business on applying tats at fairs and festivals, it’s time to consider developing the private party business. The party business can help sustain you during the winter months when fairs and festivals are nonoperational. What better way to make it known that you do tat parties than to advertise it at your booth during a crowed event. Some of the customers getting a tat for their child are the planners for their company’s Christmas party or church picnic. Parents are always looking for a way to distinguish a special rite of passage for their child, such as a Sweet Sixteen Birthday, Bar Mitzvah, eighth grade graduation etc. People are always looking for something new and unique for youth groups at church or school. They may not make the connection to having tats at their event unless they see the sign. Then it will occur to them “This would be great at our company children’s Christmas event”!

Help your customer make the connection to you and a private party by doing a little advertising. It does not need to be expensive. You could print up care instructions for your tat and on the reverse side advertise your private party business. Use the Care Instruction sheet we give you in the Marketing Portfolio. There are ten care instruction slips to one sheet of paper. On the reverse side, print your party business contact information and get several copies printed, cut them up and give one to each tat customer. You could add an inexpensive banner to your booth. We have them available on our website; check them out on our home page. Under supplies, click on Banners, and then click on party banners. Another way to get the word out is to purchase a magnetic sign for your vehicle. Call any sign shop in your area for a price quote. You could also have some work shirts printed to wear at events advertising your private party business. Your best bet would be to implement all of the above ideas.

Advertising does work but for your small business you need to keep the cost down as much as possible. Inexpensive advertising is good but free advertising is the best. You need to do all you can, as inexpensively as possible to let people know you are available for private parties.

Some of our customers who have started doing private parties have completely eliminated doing fairs and festivals because this is much more lucrative for them. Give it a try; you may decide this is the way for you to go.