Vintage Shop Hop: Shop Owner Tools

These documents are for PARTICIPATING SHOPS ONLY to use for marketing purposes for the event.

First, you should register your shop by visiting our registration page. Registration is available for the March event on or after January 1, and the fall October event on or after August 1. You can register HERE for the October 4 & 5, 2024 event.

'Early Bird' Rate* runs for the first 7 days until 5pm on the 7th day, and the cost is $45, saving you $20 off the regular price. After that, the Regular Rate* of $65 begins. No deadline extensions.

Registration Dates for 2024:

Spring Event: March 1 & 2, 2024

Early Bird: January 1-7, ending at 5pm

Regular Pricing: January 7, 5:01pm-February 22 ending at 5pm sharp.

Fall Event: October 4 & 5, 2024

Early Bird: August 1-7, ending at 5pm

Regular Pricing: August 7, 5:01pm-September 22, ending at 5pm sharp.

*A processing fee by Eventbrite will be added to the registration fees: $4.75 for Early Bird, and $6.08 for Regular.

COVID REFUNDS: If either state or federal government regulations mandate the closure of "non-essential" businesses for COVID reasons that result in us needing to cancel the event, your shop will receive a full refund. If your town or county mandates you close your business, but not the entire state, resulting in your shop backing out of the event, you will receive a refund less the service & processing fee we are charged by Eventbrite.

OFFICIAL EVENT ARTWORK

The following artwork is for shop owners to use on any promotional item, as a flyer on your Facebook page, or signs. Simply right mouse click on the image and save it to your computer as a file. If you have trouble downloading these, just send me a PM on Facebook so I can send you the file directly.

OFFICIAL EVENT LOGO/FLYERS

for Facebook & Instagram:

Here's the regular logo to use on anything you'd like. It is TRADEMARKED and MUST be used in its complete form. Do NOT cut apart. If you're planning to use it on promotional material such as tote bags, tee shirts or other, please contact Ann directly for a version that will work acampos@charter.net. Do NOT use any logos that you have previously downloaded from us. Each year the artwork changes.

Also, when you create a Facebook post, please TAG our Facebook page so I will be aware of your post. Then I can share it to the event page. As you can imagine, with 400+ shops participating, there's no way I can check all of those shop pages for posts to share!

Please refrain from using artwork or clip art of vintage pick-up trucks you pull from Google. Instead, we provide this artwork to strengthen the "branding" of the event. Thanks.

FULL-COLOR ARTWORK, FOR PROMOTIONAL ITEMS:

If you aren't able to download an image, simply contact me through our Message button on our Facebook page. If you plan to have a 'customized' item for sale and want your store name added to this artwork please get in touch first.

If you plan to sell or give away promotional items such as t-shirts, canvas totes, koozies, or other such items, please use this full-color logo. This is my TRADEMARKED logo, you may not cut the image apart. It must be used in its full entirety as seen here. It can be customized with your store name. If you aren't able to download this image, simply contact me through our Message button on our Facebook page. If you plan to have a 'customized' item for sale and want your store name added to this artwork please get in touch first.

FACEBOOK PROFILE HEADER:

Add this image as your Facebook page COVER PHOTO...it's already sized to fit. Please do not add any type or alter in any way. This is my TRADEMARKED company logo and should not be changed.

DOOR SIGN:

This is designed as 8 1/2 x 11 size, and intended for you to print off your computer to place on doors, dressing rooms, or check out area. Import the image into your software and enlarge to cover the full sheet. This is my TRADEMARKED company logo and should not be altered.

POSTCARD / BAG STUFFER:

This image can be stand-alone or used as a 4-up image so you can print and cut into fours. If you'd like a 4-up image, please contact me directly--I can create it with a more 'generic' image. I design the 4-up so will fit an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper--then you can even design the reverse side with your shop information.

EVENT LISTING ON FACEBOOK:

We strongly suggest you add our official event listing to your business page event tab if you are using the recommended hours of 10am to 5pm on both days rather than create a new event listing. If you are opening earlier than 10am and/or staying open later than 5pm, feel free to create your own event on FB. To "add" our event to your business page, follow these simple instructions:

1) Open the Vintage Shop Hop event tab HERE.
2) Just under the photo you'll see the SHARE button, and to the right of that you'll see three dots...
3) Click on the three dots and choose "Add to Page"
4) Choose your business page from the drop down. Done.

**If you choose to create your own EVENT (rather than using mine) you MUST alter your event name a bit from mine by adding your shop name to the event name. Otherwise the sheer quantity of search results can be very confusing to the shopper. For example, my event name is: Official Vintage Shop Hop Spring Edition - March 1 & 2, 2024. Your event name should be something like: Vintage Shop Hop Fall 2024 @ Your Shop Name.

INSTAGRAM sign for your shop:

And if you use Instagram, encourage your shoppers to use the hashtags: #vintageshophop or #vintageshophop2024 or #bestroadtripever

You can print this as well and post it inside your shop. We'd love to see photos of your customers inside your shops with their bags, or loading their cars with all their goods! Encourage shoppers to take selfies...some shops have been successful with setting up an area for shoppers to take their selfies! This is my company logo and should not be altered. We are in the process of trademarking and the image needs to remain as is.

MARKETING TIPS:

Next up, some Facebook marketing tips. Many of you are already experts at posting and using FB to it's fullest potential..but, because the vintage shop world is made up of small, sometimes "one owner" businesses, not everyone is as FB savvy as we'd like to be.

If I could give you just one tip--it's these two things--1) when it comes to promoting the Vintage Shop Hop on your business page...don't simply SHARE the posts from my page to your page. Because of how Facebook works behind the scenes, the algorithms don't allow for as many views when you share a post. Instead, write your own original post, and upload either my Event Logo/flyer or a flyer you've created to your post...you'll see a bigger response. Multiple photos in a post get even better results. AND, don't forget to TAG my page. 2) For added marketing power, I like to recommend that you include the official Event flyer as the last photo you upload every time you're posting photos on your page. For instance, you write a post and upload six photos from your shop...keep the flyer on your phone or pc...and upload it as the seventh photo. That way your followers have all the details every time.

HOW TO MARKET YOUR REGION / TOWN / NEIGHBORHOOD / on SOCIAL MEDIA:

Video is king on Facebook and IG...with all the free and low-priced photo apps and video apps out there, it's not difficult to create a quick video highlighting your town or region. Here are a few towns on the shop hop that do a bang-up job getting shoppers to their area by marketing with a video (these videos are from previous years):

Antioch, IL - town-wide marketing
https://www.facebook.com/familyheirloomantiques/videos/vb.1602365356668571/2950497355008195/?type=2&theater

This was created on an iPhone with iMovie.
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Kenosha, WI - town-wide marketing
https://www.facebook.com/LuluBirdskenosha/videos/624555658341776/

This was created in Magisto: https://www.magisto.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_term=magisto&matchtype=p&distribution=search&ad_id=384770705479&placement=&adgroup=Brand_1_phrase&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqNPyBRCjARIsAKA-WFxaAiWW2BXNmrx3bzGBaupZSH_zDxsFg_4gUFqBUwTdauIsOmee2GwaAq1rEALw_wcB

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ReTwist T - single shop marketing
https://www.facebook.com/ReTwistT/videos/2498477213745177/

This was created on an iPhone using iMovie, the Movie Trailer feature.

Create a "vanity" URL for your Facebook page

--by that I mean this...when you first created your business page, Facebook assigned the URL to it. So, for instance, on the day I created my Vintage Shop Hop page the URL was this:

www.facebook.com/vintage-shop-hop-4847574989030L29M

but now, after creating my own 'vanity' URL it's easier to use it in my marketing and to add it to advertising and business cards. Here's my 'vanity' URL:

www.facebook.com/vintageshophopevent

You can Google directions or video how to...but here's the basics:

-Go to your business page (make sure you are logged in as the business page, not your personal page)

-Settings & Privacy > Settings > Page SetUp > Name > View >User Name > Edit

-You can type in something concise. If it's already taken, you'll get a message to choose another name. Try adding your town name after your shop name, or abbreviate your town, or state. You want it to be easy for you to remember.

IDEAS FOR A CUSTOMIZED FLYER:

Many shops that take part create their own electronic flyer that they then post to their Facebook page. Some also turn it into a paper or postcard version to use as a bag stuffer leading up to the event. If you design your own for your Facebook page, be sure to TAG the Vintage Shop Hop page so we'll know about it!

PLEASE DO NOT use clip art of a generic vintage truck in your flyer. First because it could be copyrighted artwork, and secondly because using our event logo strengthens the effect of 'branded marketing'. We encourage you to use the artwork of our LOGO with the blue truck which is licensed to be used. Contact me through a private message on Facebook with any questions.

Here are some examples of shop flyers from current and previous years--remember, the more you do on your end, the more successful the event will be for you and your town and/or shopping district.

KEY COMPONENTS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR FLYER:

-Your complete street address, city AND state

-Details of your 'in house' promotion--talk about the fun going on in your shop that weekend

-the Vintage Shop Hop event logo

-I appreciate you using the full event name which is three words: Vintage Shop Hop (not just shop hop).