How to Create and Market a Successful Pop-Up Shop

Pop-up shops are a great way for any business to attract new customers without the permanent cost of a new storefront. Pop-ups have become increasingly popular, especially during holidays and festivals. If you’re considering using a pop-up shop in your business, here are some tips for creating and promoting your pop-up.

What Do You Want the Pop-Up to Achieve?

The first step in having a successful pop-up is to set a goal that can define that success. You can have a specific sales goal, a goal to gain more followers on social media, or a more general goal like getting to know the community. You can use your pop-up as a chance to see the kind of customers that you attract in order to figure out who you want to market to in the future. Once you know what your goal is, you can start to build your pop-up plans around achieving that goal.

What is Your Budget?

The next most important part of making a pop-up is figuring out what your budget for the event is. If you’re only looking to spend a thousand dollars or less on your pop-up, you’re obviously not going to be able to do as much as if you have a larger budget. You should make sure that whatever budget you set will help you to achieve your goal. You can always go for low-budget decorations for your pop-up, but make sure that you’re being smart about what you’re investing in your pop-up.

Choosing a Location

The location of your pop-up can limit or expand the possibilities for your pop-up. If you’re going to be renting a small space, then you won’t be able to make as large of a pop-up experience as if you’re renting somewhere with more square footage. You should base the location of your pop-up on your goal — if your goal is to connect more with the community, think about where you’ll see more foot traffic, even if it means a smaller pop-up.

Some locations may have rules for pop-ups and may already have things like tents or rooms ready for your pop-up to move into. If you have more freedom, you can manufacture more of your pop-up’s physical space — which is also good for the economy, considering every one dollar spent in manufacturing results in $1.40 being added to the economy. If you have already manufactured your pop-up structure, you should make sure your location will accept you using it onsite.

What Legal Protections Do You Need?

Depending on the kind of pop-up you’re doing, you may need certain permits or special insurance. This will completely depend on your location and the type of pop-up you’re creating. Make sure to speak with the site owner as well as your insurance company to make sure that you’re legally allowed to be in your space and you’re not going to be unprotected in case of an emergency or accident.

How Long Will Your Pop-Up Last

While you’re choosing the location of your pop-up, you should make sure that you’re also thinking about how long your pop-up will last. Depending on the reason for your pop-up and the location you could have your shop open for anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. You could also have it on only weekends for a few weeks or even longer. Make sure that when you’re choosing a location you’re choosing one that also aligns with your desired timeline. If you want a pop-up that’s open for a full week and you choose a venue that is only available on weekends, you’re obviously going to have some issues. Make sure to read through your contract with your location to ensure that everything is set to go before you sign anything.

What Will Your Pop-Up Be In?

Once you have your location and duration chosen, you’ll need to make sure your pop-up structure will suit your needs. If you want to have a pop-up for one weekend that you can easily break down and reuse later, a tent might be a better option than a permanent structure. However, if you’re planning to have your pop-up be around for a month or two and it’s in your budget, you can consider a more permanent structure that can still be moved, such as a shipping container. There are approximately 11 million shipping containers that aren’t in use for shipping, so there will likely be one for sale that will fit your needs.

What Kind of Branding Materials Will You Use?

When you’re actually decorating your pop-up, you’ll want to think of branding and how you want your brand presented. Will you have signage with your company’s name? A set color scheme? Business cards? Studies have shown that consistent branding across every business channel can increase revenue by 23%, so make sure that the branding of your pop-up matches with your business as a whole. One great way to increase brand visibility and be consistent with your branding is to give away swag. Anything from free stickers to t-shirts can help increase your brand’s visibility.

How Will You Make an Experience?

One of the best parts of creating a pop-up is that you can create a specific experience for any customers that come through. There are many ways to do this, and you should make sure that the experience you create is in line with the rest of your business’ branding. Some ways to create an experience at a pop-up is to have a photo-op area, unique lighting, certain scents, or a personal connection with each customer that comes through. When you sell a mood or feeling alongside your products, people will begin to associate your business with that feeling, which can be a great step for your business’ brand.

When you’re creating branding for your business’ pop-up, there are many different approaches that you can take, and all of them will depend on your goals for the event. Pop-ups are a great opportunity to create business and increase brand visibility as long as you’re smart while you plan and execute the temporary shop.

Have you ever held a pop-up? How did it go? What do you wish you’d known beforehand? Let us know in the comments!