You've purchased and subdivided space for a flea and antiques market, but your job isn't over yet. If you want to make money, you're going to have to rent space to vendors. To rent as many spaces as possible consistently, you'll need to advertise through all channels available to you.
Advertise to Attract Diverse Vendors
Entrepreneur magazine recommends that when you advertise, you do so in a way that attracts a variety of types of vendors. Aim for a flea market with a diversity of products, such as clothing, music, antiques, toys for children, tools and kitchenware, books, art and even food items. Specify explicitly all of the types of vendors you are seeking in your advertisem*nts. By building a diverse flea market, you will attract a broad array of shoppers and ensure success for your vendors, which will keep them renting from you in the future.
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Traditional Advertising Methods
Use traditional advertising methods when advertising for vendors. Sonny Griffeth, owner of the Chiefland Farmers Flea Market, reports success with advertising for vendors by radio and newspaper. Many newspaper classified sections have specific listings for flea markets. Radio and newspaper advertisem*nts reach a wide audience, and also kill two birds with one stone in that you can advertise to vendors and to flea market patrons at the same time.
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Advertise on Location
Hopefully, you have rented space for your flea market that is in a visible and well-traveled location. This not only will benefit your business by attracting more patrons, but also will allow you to advertise for vendors on site. Erect a sign, large enough to be visible from adjacent roads, advertising for vendors. List competitive rates so that potential vendors are attracted to your flea market. This is the most cost-effective form of advertising, because you only have to pay for the sign once.
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Advertise on the Internet
Advertise on the web. Many websites devoted to flea markets sell advertising space or contain searchable databases of flea markets by state. Fleamarkets.org, fleamarketsamerica.com and fleamarketzone.com are just a few examples. In addition to advertising on these sites, be sure to build a web site specific to your market to which these sites can link, and post rates for vendors directly on your site. Make sure to include key words, such as "flea market," "antiques" and the names of nearby towns, on your webpage so that vendors searching the internet will find your site.
