We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Harmonie Harris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Harmonie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

I’m not the only market director or team captain around so making customer service a top priority is very important to me and the success of our Atlantic Maker Markets do-date. Our Markets wouldn’t happen without our incredible makers and the support of our community, so appreciating them, big or small, is always top of mind! I love providing a cold drink and a vendor snack to our makers in the afternoon on Market Day, as our markets are often very busy making it hard to leave their booth! Feedback from makers has often been that my ‘snack cart’ is the highlight of their day!

I also invest a huge portion of my budget into marketing and giving away thousands of dollars in ‘market money’ to shoppers, in an effort to encourage people to shop the market and support local makers!

I’ve reached out to local companies to collaborate with in an effort to provide a memorable shopping and selling experience for those attending the market. This has increased our grand prize, allowed us to provide a small snack to all attendees and so much more!

Last but not least, our profits from our Markets directly support our Maker grants and local charities. To-date we have given over $20,000 in maker grants and $16,000 to local charities through our markets. We can’t wait to increase this in 2024!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The Atlantic Maker Market (formally Etsy Team PEI) started in 2014 by Suzanne Scott, owner of Village Pottery in PEI, Canada. I’ve been the Team Captain since 2020 and rebranded to Atlantic Maker
Market, in May 2023, to reflect our purpose. We continue to support makers, no matter which
online platform they choose, through onsite markets, workshops and grants in an effort to build
the creative small business community in Atlantic Canada.

We currently have two ‘branches’ PEI (formally Etsy Team PEI) and NS (formally Etsy Halifax).

This year (2024) we hope to offer a minimum of eight grants valued at $750 each, to makers in
Atlantic Canada.

We’re dedicated to supporting Makers in Atlantic Canada through onsite markets, workshops,
and grants.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

This is a great question!

Building a good reputation doesn’t always come easy these days. The best thing i’ve done to build the Atlantic Maker Market reputation is doing my very best to include our makers and customers in our decisions. Listening and implementing feedback is so important to me and has really helped me build trust and a shopping experience tailored to our customers! If vendors and shoppers have a great experience, they share that among their networks, which expands our network! :)

I’m a Change Manager by profession, so when change is required, such as the rebrand to Atlantic Maker Market, increasing prices due to inflation or expanding to include all makers from Atlantic Canada, i’m always thinking of our makers and shoppers first. Putting them first has also helped build the Atlantic Maker Market reputation allowing us to expand our audience!

The second thing that has helped build our reputation is professionalism. I work with many vendors and businesses/corporations – many of which are much bigger than me – and I deal with a lot of customers (event shoppers). Making sure i’m professional with all my interactions, whether that may be in-person, via email or on social media, has helped build relationship with current and future vendors and shoppers and in turn build our reputation.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

While i’m defiantly not a social media expert nor do I have a bazillion followers, I have learned a few tips along the way. I am a HUGE believer in our makers and our markets, they are truly the best in Atlantic Canada (maybe even the best in Canada)! I try to spread that messaging throughout our social media channels. If you, the small business owner, believe in what you do or make that will spread throughout your channels and more people will opt into your product or offer!

Another tip is simply to show up. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but there is defiantly value is simply showing up for your current audience!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/atlanticmakermarket
• Instagram: @MakerMarketPEI
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakerMarketPEI/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AtlanticMakerMarket
• Other: @makerMarketNS

Image Credits
by lucian vasile – https://www.vlucian.me/