Market application info & top tips: How to get your brand noticed

10 Sept

When you come to write an application for a market, it can be overwhelming and daunting! It’s hard to know where to start, what to include, and how to get the attention of market organisers to give your brand the best chance of being chosen.

We’ve been running the market for almost 7 years now and so we’ve probably looked through 50,000 applications at this point! We can get anywhere up to 1000 applications for each market we host, and so we definitely know what makes a compelling application! If you’re thinking of applying to trade at Salad Days Market, or are wondering how to get into Salad Days Market (or any other market really!) then let us share our top tips.

How can I apply to Salad Days Market?

We take applications via our website only. We do not take applications via DM. We will announce dates we are booking via our newsletter so sign up there to be the first to hear! We will also list these on our Applications page. See which date suits you, and then drop us an application via the booking form on our Applications page. Any applications received when we are closed will unfortunately be disregarded.

I applied to Salad Days Market but didn’t hear back, what does that mean?

That unfortunately means we weren’t able to offer you a spot on this occasion. Next time you apply, review your application and check to see if you’ve included all the suggested information below! Tell us what’s different, what’s new, and why we should be excited about your brand. We usually only accept between 10% - 20% of brands who apply so competition is definitely fierce, do apply again because we may be able to work together next time around.

What kind of brands are you looking for?

We are looking for brands with beautiful handmade products, vintage products, and products that can be personalised or customised in some way. We are also specifically looking for brands who can offer live activations for example in-the-moment customisation of products and live portraits. We are always looking for brands who can drop new and exclusive products! And finally we are always looking for people-of-colour-owned brands too. If any of these things are relevant, make sure you include them in your application.

Our top tips for applying to Salad Days market:

Take your time on your application; double check the info is correct and all links work

The most common mistake we see! We see so many applications with the wrong social media accounts, wrong email addresses, wrong websites and links that don’t work. Not only does this look unprofessional it also means we can’t see more about your business. Or painfully if your email address is wrong, it means we can’t get back in touch to offer you a spot! We usually disregard these applications straight away as we can’t see all the info we need. Take time on your application, double check all the information, all the links and all the information is correct.

Keep it succinct; make every word count and cut out the unnecessary stuff

Giant applications with tonnes of writing can be overwhelming and it’s likely that lots of what’s in there is irrelevant to your application and won’t have an effect on whether you get accepted to a market or not. Keep your application succinct, and cut out anything else. Also don’t copy and paste big paragraphs from your website; we can see that there! Use your application to share new information we can’t find anywhere else.

Highlight your biggest successes, sell your brand to us!

We are scanning your application for three things: to check your brand is relevant to our audience, to see if your products are new/different and will be an asset to the line-up, and to get an overall feel for whether we’re excited about what you’re doing and we think our audience will be excited too! Focus your application towards those things, and cut out anything else unnecessary. Focus on selling your brand; highlight any big press features you’ve had, your best-selling product and why customers love you!

Create a new and exclusive product to launch at the market and mention it in your application

As a market organiser, one thing I’m always looking for is a brand who will launch something new and exclusive for the day. It’s an amazing way to drive traffic to the market and also keeps things really exciting for our customers. It may be a new colour way of an existing product, or something your customers have been asking you to launch for ages! Make sure you highlight this early on in your application as it’s really key.

Make sure your website and social media accounts are up-to-date before you send an application

After reading an application, we’ll often check a brand’s social media accounts and websites to read further and see more, so make sure all of these channels are looking their best and are up-to-date before you send off your application. Each one should show off your brand to its best potential, with high resolution images of your products and information about what you offer. Social media is more important than ever before: it’s not about follower number but how you’re engaging the followers you do have. It’s a great place to show that your customers are excited about what you’re doing, and that your products are being received well. If your website or social media has old info and hasn’t been updated for ages it can make your brand seem stale and out of date, and it’s also a missed opportunity to share exciting info!

If you’re a returning brand, share what’s new

We always want our customers to be excited, and so if we’re booking a returning brand we ideally want them to have something new or exclusive to bring with them! If you’re a returning brand, share what’s new and what new or exclusive products you’d bring with you this time. What’s different? What’s changed? Have you improved your table layout and visual merchandising, do you have a brand new product, can you now offer personalisation?

Share your passion and excitement

We want our markets to be the best, and full of the most gorgeous people and beautiful products! We love working with people who are passionate and excited about what they’re doing! So don’t be afraid to share your passion and excitement for what you’re doing in your application! Get the market bought into what you’re doing and desperate to book you for the event!