Brand Promotion

[Lorien]

Most of you knife makers use your name as your company name.
I think that's a really good idea, for a lot of reasons.

What I'm wondering is, besides your websites, the internet and attending shows, what do you do to promote your brand?

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I'm obviously not a maker, but I know that many of them have dealers selling their knives. Good dealers are one of the best ways to promote their work.

Some makers advertise in the magazines, and more are starting to host hammer-ins that include mini knife shows.

 

[dbl-edge]

I never had any luck with print advertising. I ran ads in one knife magazine from 87 through 95 and another for a couple of years in the mid 90s with very poor results. Well, I did sell a bunch of $2 portfolios! I had the same lame results running ads for my fountain pens in one of the major pen magazines in the last few years. I won't both with paid magazine advertising.

I have had much more success working with a select few dealers for the last 20 years, and attending knife shows. My biggest individual orders have come in because of my web site and my participation on some of the forums.

David Broadwell

 

[ddd]

I never had any luck with print advertising. I ran ads in one knife magazine from 87 through 95 and another for a couple of years in the mid 90s with very poor results.
David Broadwell

Hello Lorien, Keith and David,

Here is the story of the beginning of Edmund Davidson's knifemaking career.
It is the way he told it for his book:

"... I had already acquired basic machine shop skills but learning to make a knife was
quite another matter. Nevertheless, in April 1986 I took the plunge and never looked
back. That was when I met Mike Page, the ultimate fixed-blade aficionado.
From one thing to another we drew the outline for the 6” (152 mm) Military/Camp knife
seen here. I made two of them using S-7 shock resisting tool steel and we booked a
table at the 1987 BLADE Show in Knoxville Tennessee. There I was very lucky to meet
J. E. “Ed” Smith who was producing a book on combat knives and asked to include my
(first) knife in it. Mike put an ad in Blade Magazine with a picture of my knife.
It brought in 99 responses and that was the beginning of the greatest ride of my life!..."

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

 

[Don Hanson III]

I've actually had very good results advertising in Blade for the last 9 years.

And aside from the others you mentioned, dealers were a big help for me.

But the best form of advertising for me, has been word of mouth

 

[jdm61]

Ah, the $25,000 question. I was having a conversation via e-mail with one of my new friends in Belgium and he said that over there, the magazine ads are VERY pricey and most of the collectors go on the web. I contrast that with a talk that I had with a maker at Blade who said that when he ran an ad in one of the mags, he got at least one handwritten letter from a collector who never went on the internet, much less the forums and dealer websites. and didn't really use a computer for much of anything. Perhaps the object lesson is that you eventually need to promote yourself everwhere that you can afford

 

[Kevin Jones]

IMO, there's some maker's that do an outstanding job in promoting their brand (name) and custom knives in general by which ALL makers benefit.

All makers in general have to do is follow these maker's lead.
Most know who these makers are. The ones that consistently attend shows, hammer-ins, belong to knife organizations, advertise, participate on forums, work to get media attention, participate with dealers, have relationships with collectors, think outside the box, demonstrate outstanding business practices and so on, and on.

 

[jdm61]

I've actually had very good results advertising in Blade for the last 9 years.

And aside from the others you mentioned, dealers were a big help for me.

But the best form of advertising for me, has been word of mouth

If anyone needs an example of sticking to your marketing plan, you are it, Don. You aren't even taking orders and yet you still have a 4 color ad But seriously.......I kid, but I think that this is a good thing. You need to keep yourself in the public eye even if you are backed up from now until Judgement Day. How many times have we seen the "next great maker" fade into obscurity over the last 15 years or so?

 

[Don Hanson III]

Like you said, Joe. I've seen too many good makers disappear after getting covered up with orders. After a few years, if / or when they come out of their cave, they have a hard time selling knives. People forget and times change......