Forums and Success

Thomas W

Thomas W

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As the person responsible for sales & marketing for Kai USA, I'm curious with the post from another thread below. So not to derail the other thread, I'll start a new discussion here:

orthogonal1 said:
Marketing in ads and such only goes so far. A quality product only goes so far. But a presence gives both a boost.

As an example, lets see how Kershaw is doing in a year or so on the forum.
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I'm hoping you could expand on what you mean, and for discussion purposes would like to hear how the members feel about forum presence(s), and success as mentioned above.

Thanks.
 
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Ken44 said:
Not sure I understand your post...but what in the heck is Kai:confused:
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I believe he is talking about Kai, USA, parent company of Kershaw Knives in Oregon.

I am too new here to comment on what has happened on this forum but even the post quoted by Thomas W has me wondering.
I am not sure what he/she means by that.
 
Thomas W said:
As the person responsible for sales & marketing for Kai USA, I'm curious with the post from another thread below. So not to derail the other thread, I'll start a new discussion here:



I'm was hoping you could expand on what you mean, and for discussion purposes would like to hear how the members feel about forum presence(s), and success as mentioned above.

Thanks.
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Forums and forum related outreach only gets you so far with so many folks. The real way to get the word out on the street is to put a high quality, low priced product in front of the masses where they shop. Kershaw and it's marketing staff seem to be doing a fine job of that.

What you have to realize is that on all of the knife related forums are the same guys (read: us). Don't believe me? Join a few more. All the same guys. You can't expect to build your marketing approach on the backs of the same few thousand people.

As to the quoted portion in ThomasW's post: It has been a while since Kershaw has had a forum here..... they seem to be doing just fine.... even in this crappy economy. They have marketing agreements with UFC fighters, Pro Bull Riders, Wally World, national and regional big box stores, sporting goods stores. I suspect that marketing approach reaches a few more folks than the x-number thousand forumites that make up our little knife world.
 
If I am reading it right, (I could be wrong?) it seems that the original poster is of the opinion that Kershaw might fail/ fall from grace, without having a forum here. I disagree. Thomas checks in just as often as all other company representatives, and Kershaw continues to be innovative, and provide excellent products and services. And that's what counts, it's not about having a fraternity to hang out in. Of course, YMMV.
 
Myself and friends owned and used Kershaw knives long before I knew BF existed. Hell I bought a dozen of them off the "Snap On" trucks that visited my work place 10 or so years ago. "Wall Mart" sells many models and I am pretty sure they have a larger following than any and all forums. I see Kershaw represented here very well! I wouldn't worry about Kershaw or Kai or ZT. Just my two cents...;)
 
It sounds like he is commenting about the fact that there is no longer a Kershaw forum. And as such your sales and exposure will not be as good as the days when you were an active independent forum here at BF.

I cannot see that having any affect on your national sales figures.
You produce an excellent product at good prices and distribute it well.

Speaking for myself I do enjoy interacting with the manufacturers on the various forums. Although I seldom post on anything other than the Busse forum I lurk and read many posts on Spyderco, CRT and others. Indeed it was the Kershaw forum that encouraged me to by my first Tyrade and I now have 5....

Steven
 
A Kershaw forum presence doesn't necessarily have an impact on me. I might be swayed once in a while to make a purchase based on a member's experience with a particular model. I bought my first Kershaw in 2000, I didn't even know about BF at that point in time. I will buy Kershaw for:

1) Superior quality materials at a realistic price point
2) Top shelf customer service and warranty


Given that they've been in business since the 70's (anybody have a year?) I doubt they are losing any popularity by bowing out of the BF subforums.
-just my 2 cents.
K
 
I don't think that a presence here on Bladeforums is required for the success of Kershaw. With that said, I do believe it added a lot to the community here when there was a Kershaw forum.

Tom
 
T Schloz said:
I don't think that a presence here on Bladeforums is required for the success of Kershaw. With that said, I do believe it added a lot to the community here when there was a Kershaw forum.

Tom
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Yeap !

The only 'brand forum' I haunted previously was Kershaw's and I do miss it as Kershaw is my favorite brand of knives.

Bladeforums alone is not going to make or break any company regardless of how important some folks feel their opinions are , including myself :D


Tostig
 
Does he mean a presence as Kershaw being talked about on a forum or presence in the fact that Tom is here representing Kai on this forum.

I believe both to be a boost to a manufacturers success. I just bought a Mini Cyclone based on reading about Kershaws quality and warrantly on this very forum. i also just purchased two Spyderco's based on the same.

As far as Kershaw being present ( or represented here by Tom) i'm sure there are different points of view. Based on my limited experiance he has been here to answer questions and help forum members in general. I call that a plus. I suppose there are those (manufacturers) who feel there is a certain mystque is not being present or feel that their presence will only do more harm than good, or create more questions than get answered. There is also the time vs reward. Is it worth it to be present. I don't know the answers to any of these questions but I like to see people like Tom around and I applaud Kershaw for his presence. The same goes for Sal the president of Spyderco moderating his sub-forum.

P.S. Tom You look a lot like Robert Di Niro. lol

Bill
 
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T Schloz said:
I don't think that a presence here on Bladeforums is required for the success of Kershaw. With that said, I do believe it added a lot to the community here when there was a Kershaw forum.

Tom
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+1 on this. I really enjoyed being able to ask a ton of questions in a very knowledgeable crowd and easily find resources and information. It was always exciting being the 1st to find out about new releases and upcoming products, and now I don't know about it till it's released. I would check the Kershaw forum daily and always looked forward to reading up on information and drooling over new prototypes and kept a calendar of future release dates.
 
I think a forum discussion can go either way - help or hurt the company. I tend to think it leans to hurt a company. Most posts about a particular product are about problems. Look at the thread about "Why no Gerber Love?"

Here it is a bit different because people here are knife lovers and they are simple objects with not much that can go wrong with them.
 
I think that online forums are a great way to lasso a niche market, and spread your product/company/info through word of mouth. It can be a great place to showcase positive actions and experiences, but it can also readily expose and publicize negatives. It's a double-edged sword, but in that respect an online presence is no different than a physical "real life" presence -- it just reaches more people, and faster.
 
Have to agree with spiral on this one. Sometimes we get tunnel vision & think our little "knife world" (Knife or other related Forums) are where it's at. I doubt there was any noticeable difference in sales after Kershaw's Forum was gone from this site.

Having said that, I do think the Forum served a purpose, but probably more along the lines of specialty knives, sprint runs, & stuff like that. But, as has been said, a knife company like Kershaw, that makes its $ from the lg. sales of mass produced (Yes, high quality) knives probably didn't get effected, one way or the other, from no longer having a Forum here.

Look at BM. I don't know if they ever had a Forum on BFs, but they seem to be doing fine.

Now, does that mean it doesn't matter if Kershaw or any other knife company doesn't have a Forum here, I don't think so. I think the old Kershaw provided a purpose, but was probably not a big boost in actual $ making.

High output production knife cos., IMHO, aren't effected by Forums like smaller ones, semi-production, & custom knives are. It'd be nice if you came back with a Forum, Thomas, but I'm sure it does nothing to the bottom $ of your sales in the big scheme of things.
 
Thomas W said:
As the person responsible for sales & marketing for Kai USA, I'm curious with the post from another thread below. So not to derail the other thread, I'll start a new discussion here:



I'm was hoping you could expand on what you mean, and for discussion purposes would like to hear how the members feel about forum presence(s), and success as mentioned above.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Great customer service is a selling point. A great product is a selling point. Marketing a product means explaining these selling points. Nothing (in my mind) explains these better then watching a problem be resolved. Looking at CRK, some people had problems and brought it to the forums. Not only do you get the customers side of the problem, but you also get the manufacturers side.

I don't think you need a forum here to be successful, but having a community of brand enthusiasts have their own sandbox is a nice thing.
 
Like many others I had Kershaws way before I ever heard of BF but , by the same token, I doubt that I would have purchased a Skyline if I hadn't read about it here;yes, the Kershaw forum is missed; is it critical, no.
 
I have noticed that my sons, age 20 and 22, rely heavily on peer opinion and group participation via intensive internet networking when contemplating many purchases. They both seem to place less importance on manufacturer generated advertising and information than on anecdotal experience promulgated by their peers. One has a degree in marketing the other is soon to graduate with his marketing degree. Neither appears to place much trust in the honesty or accuracy of corporate controlled copy. It could be a generational trait or perhaps attributable to their environment or education. They are the next generation of consumers and they are on-line and networking one way or another too many hours a day. Just my opinion.
OldDude1.
 
Thanks, now I understand. I havn't met many people at all that have even heard of Blade Forums in my area, yet I know many people around here that like and own Kershaws. I see more Kershaws for sale around here than any other brand (unless Case maybe).


Kershaw is a huge company that does a great deal of advertising, and makes a great product for the price. So, I don't think the lack of a forum here will have any affect on sales.

Individual manufactors rooms are very nice for the ones that come here though.
 
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