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Marketing for newer knife makers

darlington.edgecraft

darlington.edgecraft

Gold Member
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 7, 2025
Messages
101
Hello everyone! I started knife making back in march by apprenticing under Andy Roy at fiddleback forge, and I was wondering if y’all had any advice on how to market my brand when it’s still new. I have a marketing team currently and we are working on a couple of things, but it’s hard to get people to view the website!

So I guess the biggest thing I’d like advice on is how do I get more people engaged with my work/view the website? Or what do yall like to see from your favorite knife makers that keep you engaged with them?
 
Mk-211 said:
Social media is your best bet, most sites are free.

Don't just post here, post on all boards, including gun boards, hunting boards, Instagram, Facebook...
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I post to instagram and Facebook pretty regularly, but (shockingly) they don’t like knife makers. I got shadowbanned just about instantly on insta but Facebook has been better
 
My first thought would be to pick a maker whom you admire and look closely at what they do and how that fits (or doesn't) with how you run your business and general approach.

My second thought is, in general it is increasingly difficult to drive traffic to small websites. (Not knife specific; this is everywhere.) You can do it, but it costs either time or money, probably both, and you still need to convert that traffic to sales. Online marketing is brutal.

My third is knife shows is where you meet the folks who are seriously in to them. I don't think you can build the same sense of community with customers strictly over the web. We're all still made of meat that likes to socialize.
 
darlington.edgecraft said:
I post to instagram and Facebook pretty regularly, but (shockingly) they don’t like knife makers. I got shadowbanned just about instantly on insta but Facebook has been better
Click to expand...

It's weird because you do see really popular makers on IG, but maybe they were grandfathered in before they tightened their belt and started shadow banning knife related stuff. When you say shadow banned, are your followers still getting to see your posts? I would try to get creative with tags and avoid the usual suspects.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
It's weird because you do see really popular makers on IG, but maybe they were grandfathered in before they tightened their belt and started shadow banning knife related stuff. When you say shadow banned, are your followers still getting to see your posts? I would try to get creative with tags and avoid the usual suspects.
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Yeah, my followers will see my posts but I cannot for the life of me gain new ones. I use hashtags and all that good stuff but it doesn’t seem to do anything to get new people looking at my work :/
 
Another small suggestion (may seem silly, might need moderator to help): see if you can add a space to your username. Maybe its only on my screen, but with the centering and character wrap, I keep reading it as
darlington.edgec
raft​
I looked all over your site, couldnt find any rafts. The site iself is nice, though. Thank you for no pop-ups.

From my limited view of the market, interaction here on BF seems to be one of the brighter avenues for building recognition. Keep making great things and showing them off.
 
I will volunteer my time!! 🤣. Send me a 4-5” bladed masterpiece and I will post pics and videos. I think I’m followed by my wife and my daughter’s cat, but the word will get out! 🤣

Seriously, I have purchased knives because of Shabazz and Metal Complex’s enthusiastic reviews. Back in the day- If they got excited it makes it an easy buy for me.
 
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