Advertising to Knifemakers

[Greenberg Woods]

Hey guys. As a lot of you probably know, I have been trying to improve my business model lately. I am now doing real, big boy import/ export and have been bring prices down with bulk orders.

The issue is, I don't know how to advertise. The closest things I do are regularly post here, comment and give advice and message and talk to knife makers on Instagram.

What do you feel would be an effective means of advertising? What would reach you, or make you want to try a new buisness? I have a very high rate of repeate customers, so I think my business itself is functional, but I don't know how to reach out.

It's difficult for me to go to shows as I am attending college, but I'm hoping to start going to a few. Magazine ads? Banner ads?

Thanks a ton guys, and have a good one.

 

[Fochops]

While I only took a quick glance at your site from an earlier post I have a little input. I myself have found most of my handle material from instagram. The prices are good and it builds a somewhat personal relationship between buyer and seller. That being said if and when I look at a website I like pictures of actual product with dimensions. Your quality will make or break you as well. Don't EVER skimp there as when we build knives we strive for highest quality and any additional work we have to do with a product takes our time and discourages repeat buying.

As for advertising that's a little tougher. Like I said, I use instagram and it works well for finding material. This forum is great as well. Frequent posts on things you've made show us the quality and style you have. Stand alone websites are difficult because there are a million of them. Make your sight aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. Most people I know go with what their friends use so plant your seed everywhere.

Have good customer service and comparable prices. I know some people say they will pay more for good customer service but that's the exception to the rule. You MUST be competitive in this market. Also find a niche by experimenting with your products. Just my 10¢

 

[Greenberg Woods]

While I only took a quick glance at your site from an earlier post I have a little input. I myself have found most of my handle material from instagram. The prices are good and it builds a somewhat personal relationship between buyer and seller. That being said if and when I look at a website I like pictures of actual product with dimensions

I do have products and dimensions. Every block is individually photographed and listed with dimensions

 

[Fochops]

While I only took a quick glance at your site from an earlier post I have a little input. I myself have found most of my handle material from instagram. The prices are good and it builds a somewhat personal relationship between buyer and seller. That being said if and when I look at a website I like pictures of actual product with dimensions

I do have products and dimensions. Every block is individually photographed and listed with dimensions

As I said, quick glance. I didn't have time to peruse. I was at the main page where there was info on the different woods/stabilizing. Maybe I have the wrong site and if so I apologize. I guess I was just giving insight into what I look for.

 

[Fochops]

While I only took a quick glance at your site from an earlier post I have a little input. I myself have found most of my handle material from instagram. The prices are good and it builds a somewhat personal relationship between buyer and seller. That being said if and when I look at a website I like pictures of actual product with dimensions

I do have products and dimensions. Every block is individually photographed and listed with dimensions

Ok so I spent a little time looking around. Prices are great and selection is pretty good! Though I was having a little trouble navigating with my iPhone. I will certainly be trying some of your handle material.

 

[12345678910]

Magazine advertising is out of the world expensive.


Have you tried all the other forums.
Of course you will have to read the rules but


Knifedogs
Jerzee Devils
Usual Suspects
British Blades
knifeforums
kitchen knives = easy to get banned there

plus others

a dozen different facebook pages

pretty wood porn is important.


Plus think about expanding to woodturners / pen turners
There are more of them by far

 

[Ken H>]

Ben, I've looked at your site some and think you're on the right track. Allow me a bit of time to look around a bit more and see if I can come up with any ideas.

On advertising - I agree with Count - hit the other forums, every knife forum possible as well as the pen making and other wood working forums. I agree, magazine advertising is too expensive for the return you'll get. While it does seem instgram and facebook are popular, I am NOT active at all on social media and I do believe there are lots of other folks like myself who have no use for social media. While I would recommend a vednor who's actively trying to sell making full use of social media, don't forget to have a valid website also. I'd think using social media to generate traffic to the website would be very useful.

Your comment of being able to drop prices and perhaps increase your profit margin is very welcome. I think there are other folks like myself who sell a very few knifes per year and not trying to work up a market are not willing to spend the money for the high end wood. Of course the problem is it takes just as much time 'n effort to sell a $15 block of wood as it does a $60 block and the profit is MUCH less. I think carrying both low, middle, and high end wood makes a lot of sense, and perhaps as has been suggested before, add a few handle hardware type things to the store - pins, corby, mosaic, liner, spacer, etc.

Hmmmm, just looked back and realize I wrote a bit more than the couple of sentences I'd planned. The wife says I gets long winded sometimes. You know the expression, ask me the time and I start giving history of time keeping?

Ken H>

 

[Matt Rochester]

Maybe add a few pictures of finished knives on your site somewhere. Maybe a customer gallery? That way folks can see what the material will look like when shaped and finished. I have 4 chefs I'm finishing up soon with some figured maple from you and I'll send you some pics if you'd like. Other than that I think advertising on other forums would be good but other than that it'll take time. If your product/price/customer service are good, which they are, then folks will find you. It just takes a little time.

 

[HSC ///]

I just got my ABS triannual magazine
there is ad space in the back
I think it reaches 1300 members.

 

[P.Brewster]

As others have said, time is your best ally here. Keep doing what you're doing and let the customers come to you.

Advertising is a black box that you dump money into. It is very difficult to measure the return of your investment and it often feels like a scam.

One idea is to expand your offerings and perhaps change the business name. Sell more than wood and change the business name to reflect this. Composites, pin material, and epoxy might be the next obvious additions. How about Parks 50? I used to sell it and could give you some guidance.

Another suggestion is to hit Facebook really hard, especially groups. There seems to be an endless list of knifemaking groups.

There are thousands and thousands of knifemakers in the US and it seems that most are gripped by obsessive, almost senseless frugality. Perhaps you can figure out how to use that to your advantage - i.e. have one product that is A-minus or B-grade but cheap (or ships free, whatever)?

Another trend I see in the knifemaking community is the lemming effect. Knifemakers seem rather adverse to risk, trying new things, and experimentation. We all use the same basic belt grinder. We all like to buy supplies where everyone else is buying. This is completely understandable - there are obvious benefits in doing things the proven way, but nonetheless, this is a trend that you can't avoid or pretend it doesn't exist. Figure out how to work around this trend and use it to your advantage if possible.

The overall issue boils down to 2 things: either buyers didn't know about you, or they did and chose to buy elsewhere. Have you tried asking direct questions to knifemakers such as:
How much wood did you buy last year?
Where did you buy it from?
Did you know about my website?
What turned you off from buying on my site?

 

[Ken H>]

Ben, I've looked at the site a bit more and do have a couple of suggestions:

1. On the "Cocobolo" page there is a side bar with "shop by price" - that is good, but should be at the top menu bar so it's visible as an option all the time rather than only on this single page. I see this "shop by price" menu on the "shop all" link also.

2. On the "wood-information-and-identification" page - boy that is a LONG page and is a tad confusing to my simple mind when I get down to the photos. My suggestion to keep it simple for simple folks like me, would be to let that link to a page with each wood info, photos of a sample block, and a few knives using that wood on each page. One page for each wood.

3. The first time I was on your site it took me a couple of tries to find the wood for sale - I clicked on the link to woods listed at top of page, it took me to a page with info about the wood which filled my whole screen. I didn't know to scroll down to find the wood for sale. An idea would be to have ONLY wood for sale blocks 'n photos on the page linked from the menu bar at top. I would have an obvious link at top of page with the wood for sale linking to the wood info where I would find finishing info. That would allow the wood that is shown for sale to be the first thing a customer saw when looking at a page, with the link to wood info at top of page. Oh, just like you have on the "Australian Goldfields Burl" page.

4. On the "Snakewood" page you've got "woo" without the "d" to make wood. Not a big deal at all, but easy to correct.

5. On the Ceylon satinwood page, you mention this block is not stabilized..... is it a wood that normally would not need stabilizing? While on the wood info page do give good detailed info on your woods, when you list a wood for sale that is not stabilized, you might mention if stabilization is needed or not..... OR at least put your asterisk code indicating level of need for stabilizing.

I've rambled on enough - all in all, you've got a good website. As you increase your wood supplies, I'm sure you'll be adding turning blocks for bowls, pens, etc. That will also open up your market a LOTS.

With good service and prices folks will find their way to your website, but it sure does help to have a few signposts (twitter, facebook, instagram, etc) guiding the way

Ken H>

 

[E.Carlson]

You could reach people outside of forums by setting up etsy and ebay stores. I think amazon has even started a handmade area. Like others have mentioned lots of people look for nice wood for other crafts like pen turning and pistol grips.

 

[Randydb]

Your "free give away" thread is smart too. Being able to get links driving traffic to your page helps where you show up in a google search. I'm no expert on how to do it, but I recognize how seldom I move beyond the second page when I search using google.

For a younger fellow you have done a very good job of asking questions, taking the feedback and not being offended, and then making changes that work for you. I truly hope that the changes you are making to your site are resulting in increased sales.
Well done.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Hey guys, I am listening to the advice. I'm sick as a dog and working through midterms. Come wens day I hope to be in a better place As much as I would love to be a park 50 distributer, I can't first the same reason my site doesn't have many low cost blocks. Being in the dorms, I have limited space and often have to lug them back and forth back to my house to limit my site going offline. I am hoping to bring up some more affordable woods, I have a ton of cocobolo to cut as well as kingwood. The thing is, I offered "unselected" blocks of stabilzed walnut, maple, cocobolo and ironwood. That means blocks that are not individually photographed. This let's me keep the costs down. Would you guys be ok with that? Buying blocks for 10-20 bucks without specificly seeing them?

 

[E.Carlson]

Yeah, I bought some sight unseen blocks from you and was more than pleased with the quality of the pieces. I would definitely do it again. I now have confidence that you will send good stuff.

 

[Ken H>]

Buying blocks for 10-20 bucks without specificly seeing them?

Ben, from you I'd have no problem with non-seen blocks. All I'd need is your word they are "decent" blocks for the price.... and since they are priced cheap, I'd not expect presentation blocks of wood. Great idea.

Ken H>

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Ben, from you I'd have no problem with non-seen blocks. All I'd need is your word they are "decent" blocks for the price.... and since they are priced cheap, I'd not expect presentation blocks of wood. Great idea.

Ken H>

The thing is, I think a lot of people THINK they won't get a good block, but as anyone who did get my unselected will say, they were fine. I'll think about a way to work on this.

 

[Randydb]

Sight unseen. I bought wood for pool cues and some stabilized wood from another site, "sight unseen." They had pictures that represented/were similar to what you would get. The pool cue blanks were great, but the stabilized walnut burl was plain at best. Certainly not what I thought I would get or close to the quality that was in the picture. I cut my own wood now so it doesn't matter, but I would be reluctant to order site unseen without knowing the seller well and talking to them in person making sure they sent me something worth while.

 

[Ken H>]

Randy - I understand your reluctance, but in this case we're talking about a person who's been on the forum building a good track record so he's able to fit your ""knowing the seller", and we're talking about budget priced wood, so expectations are not a presentation block of wood.

Sorry about your experience with the walnut burl, If it's "burl", I certainly would expect more than "plain".

A question here to the wood folks - does all burl have figure? OR - is there part of the burl that would be plain?

Ken H>

 

[Greenberg Woods]

There can be very unfigured parts of a burl. It does happen. Burl is one thing I would probably not buy unseen given how many figures of burl there can be.

But I would be selling get figured woods, exotics and the like who's appearance is someone more uniform.