Best way to market my handmade knives?

I feel like pictures are the foundation for marketing online. (Obviously, it is based around a good knife, but that goes without saying.) People need to know what you make. Plus smartphones now have some good cameras on them. Coop has a really good tutorial on here on how to do some pictures yourself. Any knife that I am proud of I send to Caleb, Chuck Ward, or Coop for pictures. Simply because they do a much, much better job than I could possibly do.

I hear Facebook is good for marketing as well. I mean it's basically the internet's word of mouth, since it will be your friends and clients talking about you on there. This forum is a perfect place to grow and market, but you should take advantage of instagram, facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, etc. As those are free to use. Most of those come back to the picture thing though. I would advise focusing only on 1 or 2 places though. It is never a good idea to stretch yourself too thin.

Just my thoughts on it. I hope it helps!
 
My pictures are not the greatest, I'm new to the whole forum thing as well, but this is one I finished yesterday
 
I too am a new knifemaker. Started this past January. I try to look at the marketing as part of the knifemaking. I'm planning to be around for a long time and though I don't need the income from knifemaking to survive right now, it makes sense to market for the future. I am currently using this forum, Facebook, Instagram and my own website. I've not attended a show as a seller yet but certainly intend to. I believe people buy a handmade knife because it comes with a story. The knifemaker's story becomes part of the knife and buyers/collectors want to have a piece of that. They need to know you, know you are making a quality product and know that you are going to be around to keep the story going. In order to sell knives, you have to get that story out to as many people as possible and continue to show them.

I post here almost every day. I post new knife related content to Facebook at least twice a week. I'm new on Instagram but, I try to post twice a day there with a WIP, new tool, materials or a completed knife. I currently have a giveaway here on Bladeforums (see signature line) that has helped me sell two knives and who knows how many more will come of it, especially if I keep getting the word out. You will not sell many knives without marketing but, you have to decide what kind of marketing works best for you.

Bob
 
W.L.Coulter said:
My pictures are not the greatest, I'm new to the whole forum thing as well, but this is one I finished yesterday
Click to expand...

This is an international forum......these are hobbyist's knives.....if it was me, I'd limit my exposure to local gun shows and the like until the work improves in fit, finish and design dramatically.

My .02, just might be worth nothing to you.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
wrt facebook- be very careful to keep your politics/religious views etc to yourself and use it only to market your work, or build interest in a general sense.
Don't ask me how I know, lol.
 
Reddit is hit or miss with getting attention, but if you can get a really good first impression on there, that's half a million views.
 
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