Knifemakers' swag...waste of money or good marketing?

Swag to me is BS, fancy certificates too. If you want to spend your money, a well made hat or Tshirt may work on me. What I get and keep are old fashioned knifemaker brochures. They can be a personal statement of a maker's work and a memory of a great show.

A hand written card (not paper) that fits into the knife's pouch or box (think Chris Reeve) is what I'd prefer to a certificate.

Murray is spot on.
 
Kohai999 said:
Will chime in and make an attempt at being to the point. Marketing and sales is what I have done for almost 20 years, and would like to think that I know some of what I am talking about.

The SHOT Show is in less than two weeks.

Leupold, Remington, Ruger, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Magpul, Emerson Knives, Benchmade......they will all be there and have swag to give away....Patches, pins, stickers, t-shirts in some cases.......

Swag does three things:

1. It leaves a potential buyer with a positive feeling from the company, and this is remembered come purchasing time.

2. It reminds the potential buyer of the company, keeping that company's products in the conscious and sub-conscious, and if used conspicuously, ties part of that buyer's identity to the company.

3. When done right, the higher the quality/value of the swag, subconsciously suggests to the potential buyer the high level of quality of the company's products.

Stickers, pins and patches are excellent for "gimmes" to the general public. They are inexpensive and serve the need of all three points above, but are not very strong on the third point.

Even with great graphics, cheaply MADE products(specifically in this industry-pens, t-shirts, keychains, flashlights, tape measures, pocketknives....) leave the buyer with an impression that the company is trying to cut corners....don't do it!

Challenge coins have been making a real impression at SHOT Show in the last few years, a company like Warrior Chip can have you set up for about $2-3.00, depending upon quantity ordered. This is a good medium-low level bit of swag.

GIVING A CUSTOMER something significant like Horsewright Leather's wallet is guaranteed to make the customer think about them in the future when it is buying time. This is an investment of less than $20.00 in a customer that is very likely to do repeat business....it's smart and it's effective.

I frequently counsel up-and-coming makers to GIVE a customer a quality hat or shirt when a purchase is made....that buyer becomes a walking billboard for the company and has a feeling of being part of that maker's "inner circle".

Hope this was helpful.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...

Very good comments

You would think you would be a better salesman :) only kidding

These are very good comments

Quality is quality ...... If your going to give someone something make it something that says something about you and your product ....

For me I think a well designed t shirt or hat is a solid but rather expensive piece of Swag :)
 
Murray is spot on. I've seen tables that were busy enough that I couldn't slip in a question. A brochure with some specs and prices would ease a lot of frustration. I'll walk around with it, keep looking at it and talk myself into it.

While we're on it, it's also fairly common to see a table full of knives with nary a price to be seen. They might be on the underside of the blade, but you can't see it, and you can't pick it up to look without first getting permission. On a busy table, that won't happen. I don't want to guess your price. I'll go spend my money somewhere else, you obviously don't want me as a customer.
 
I also appreciate the idea of price/spec cards with the knife.

It makes me feel like then price is the price. I don't want to feel like I'm being sized up by a used car salesman. "How much can you afford." Versus "here is the price."

I'm not going to lie, when looking at guns or knives, I really actually want to know the price before I bother the seller.
With guns, I know, for the most part, what market value is, unless it is rare, or unusual.


Knives are a much different beast. For certain makers, I know what the price range is. For others, it is a complete mystery, until I'm told.


Free stuff is free stuff but I'm not going to wear it or put a sticker on anything important unless I like the design.

The useful items are better than non for me.

It may seem simple, but I'm always tickled when I see makers comment on threes with their knives. Be it show and tell threads, or for sale threads of an owner moving a knife. I like to see makers chime in.

As said, the ability to take a decent picture of a knofe, and to know what angles to display are helpful for sales.
 
I think that developing a striking logo would help you a lot. A graphic that's as recognizable tiny as it is large. A good logo will provide the raw material for whatever promotional material you choose to spend $ on, and will ensure the money is well spent, (hopefully).
 
Two comments.

1) Swag can definitely be an effective marketing tool.

2) I don't think I've put a sticker on anything since I used to plaster them on my binders in high school. Had a Farrah Fawcett poster taped to my wall around the same time. I don't really have much use for stickers or posters today.
 
Don't recall seeing it mentioned, but your target demographic will play a huge role. Regardless of your $700 and up price range. Younger and newer collectors are spending this much and much more so on production knives and "custom" knives. So while some may think stickers are irrelevant, quite of few people carrying their range guns in pelican cases have companies they're loyal to slapped on like a walking billboard. Just in the past couple years there's been a large spike because a lot of makers are moving to facebook rather than the forums.

Like Steven said though, if you are gonna do something, make sure it's quality. I've had a shirt from a maker where the printing came off after wearing it once, granted it was a gift, but i would have liked to wear it more than once. If someone likes a maker regardless of what they market/give away, there knives will always speak for themselves. But there are a couple ABS folks that i wish would have some sort other merchandise that i could represent them with, haha :p
 
I was pretty stoked to order some stickers after the feedback I've gotten here...can't find anyone who will make a sticker in an ultra-flat finish (like the cover of "Recoil" magazine). Like Don said, "Don't make no ugly stickers". Now I'm on a mission!

Talking `bout cool swag, David Lisch gave away hand forged money clips at the Fisk show this year and Jerry gave everyone tote bags that said, "All knives matter".

Bob
 
Bob

those bags were a hit for sure...I've gotten compliments even here in " non-knifey" CT!

Bill
 
You should have seen the response at the Safari show. People were stopping and taking pictures of the bags and others asking to buy a bag.
David knows swag.
Swag matters.
 
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