WHERE ARE THE CLOWNS?

Hello everyone

I know it is an odd title and I haven't really been looking for clowns, but I have been looking for entertainers to take part in the April event.  Easy peasy you would think?  No, not at all - out of the six I have contacted so far, only three have replied.  I have to assume they are so busy they are not interested, or just can't be bothered?  Very disappointing really.  The good news is that one of the entertainers that did reply is the one I have booked - so not all disappointment really.

The Surrey Independent Markets website is now up and running and contains details of all of the stallholders taking part in the April event:

http://www.surreyindependentmarkets.co.uk/

Flyers and posters have been sent out to all stallholders who are helping with promotion.  Flyers and posters are currently being distributed/displayed in Chilworth and they have already been distributed in Mytchett.  Over the next two weeks more 'paper advertising' will take place in Compton, Farncombe, Binscombe, Shackleford, Godalming and Normandy.  I am in the process of preparing an advertisement for the Surrey Advertiser which will go out on the Friday prior to the event.   I will also be visiting shops in Godalming and Farncombe town centres asking them to display a poster in their windows and hand out flyers to their customers.  This, together with the flyers taken by helpful friends and the stallholders, means appx 5,000 flyers will have been distributed.  Wouldn't it be lovely if all recipients of the flyers came to the April event?  Okay, half of that number will be fine as 4,500 might be rather cramped in the Borough Hall.

Back to the website now as I am going to being adding photographs of the April event stallholder's work over the next week or so.  As all you website owners know, building your site is a long process - worth it in the end though.

Have a great week everyone - if you would like to be a guest blogger, please let me know.  If you live locally to the Godalming events and would be happy to help hand out some flyers for us, please get in touch.

Jill

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY

Hi everyone

What a gorgeous day after so much miserable weather.  I know we are not completely finished with the grim winter weather, but I understand this coming week is going to be fairly reasonable. Let's hope it gives those people that have been flooded out of their home a break from the torrential rain and wind.

Onwards and upwards with the Surrey Independent Markets and Streetlife has provided me with an amazing number of  people wanting to take part in the markets.  A great variety of items and lots of them have already booked their spots at some of the events.  I am getting communications from at least one potential seller every day and this makes me feel that the Godalming Markets have a lot of interest from both sellers and buyers - thank you Streetlife.

The flyers for the first event have been published and during the beginning of March I will be posting some out to the sellers who have agreed to assist with the promotion of the events.  I am also going to make the flyer available for sellers to add to the Facebook, Blog and websites, so please let me know if you would like to take part in this promotion. Here is the flyer:

I have added our event to the Waverley Borough Council website, and I am working my way through adding the events to other visitor attraction websites.

The items donated for the raffle are increasing and I am pleased to say that a local business has offered a one month free gym pass.  I will be adding a list to a later blog of the names of the businesses who have joined in promoting the Godalming Markets.

I will be back next weekend with an update on the Godalming Markets' progress.  Have a good week everyone.

Jill

BLOG POST NO 4

Hello everyone

I know, not a very imaginative title but I thought it could become a piece of music - perhaps Mozart (my favourite classical composer) would have turned it into an opera? Or my other favourite composer/singer, Freddie Mercury, could have made something great out of it.  Sadly, neither of them are around, so it will have to remain just the title of this week's blog post.

A soggy week for everyone and aren't those pictures of the West Country heartbreaking?  It is hard to imagine what it must be like to lose your home, and for some having to give up their farm animals and their livelihoods, but it is an experience I really want to avoid.  We are lucky in Surrey - yes, I know it is bad in some places and the bottom of our garden is permanently under water at the moment, but on the whole we have faired well.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Welcome to my two new followers: Dawn and Jill.  Both supporters of the Godalming Independent Markets and both create beautiful work.

Another busy week with the Surrey Independent Market events - I feel as though most of the week has seen me chained to the computer.  The new banner has been designed, ordered and is on its way and here is the final design:

This is the banner which will be placed outside of the the Godalming Borough Hall for the week prior to each event.  The date of each event will be added as necessary.

In addition to completing and ordering the banner, I have also designed and ordered 1,000 fliers.  Most of these will be used for letter box drop in the residential area around the borough hall.  Others are destined to be included in goody bags that are distributed at other events - some organisers offer this to other event organisers and for a small fee it is a great way to increase promotion.  Some more will be left at venues that have agreed to hand them out for me.  I have also bought some spotty bunting and balloons - pink, green, yellow and blue.  I will add these to the display outside the borough hall and also in the entrance hall, which always seems rather dark and uninviting.

Details of the Godalming Markets have been added to Streetlife - if you haven't come across this yet, it really is worth a look.  My interpretation is that it is like a very local Twitter.  You can advertise, promote, engage friends and neighbours and find out lots of information about local activities that you might not have heard of.  I have added information about all the Godalming dates and the good news is that the listing will be seen/accessed by just over 2,000 people.  How lovely it would be if they all came to the markets - well, not all at once, but you never know.

Posting today as my 'other me' blog (Christmas Pie Crafts) is written and posted on Sundays and it was getting a little tricky to fit both of them in on the same day.

Time to unglue my fingers from the keyboard - I will be back next weekend with more information on how things are progressing for the Godalming Markets.  Don't forget to leave a comment and do get in touch if you would like to be a guest blogger.

Have a good week everyone.

Jill