Marketing for newer knife makers

[Crag the Brewer]

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.

Hmmmmmmm?
I know a Lot of us Need to increase our Cat Market.....

 

[Monofletch]

Hmmmmmmm?
I know a Lot of us Need to increase our Cat Market....

That is puuurrrrfect!

 

[abcdef]

Definitely stress the "Darlington Edgecraft's Story" aspect of the business. Search Haley DesRosiers and see if she has any suggestions.

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[scorpnsnake]

Obviously the prudent move would be to either buy up all the Super Bowl commercial time or send a few to scorpnsnake.

 

[mitchnola]

I’m currently doing fixed blades and I’ll do a mix of both custom and production.
All my knives are handmade

This is one I had done recently:

View attachment 2945332

That’s a beautiful blade, very impressive for just starting out. I’m curious why the concern for marketing and social media at such an early stage. Do you have an inventory your sitting on and trying to move? Is this your main job at the moment or are you doing it on the side of your day job?

 

[SharpBits]

She's young, enthusiastic, hungry to learn, and wants to be a success. I appreciate that she's seeking advice from seasoned regulars (crusty old farts ) on how to be a successful knife maker. I wish her much success!

 

[Richard338]

I looked at some of your posts. You have been selling some medium sized basic fixed blades on the lower end of the price spectrum. I see decent execution and interesting handle materials.

What I don't see is a discussion of the design motivation and how it is tailored to certain applications. I don't see any details about the grind, thickness behind the edge, final bevel angle, and reasoning for those parameters. I see little mention of the steel type, and when it was mentioned, it was A2, which is a nice steel, but won't excite many customers. It will help to develop a signature style.

 

[SharpBits]

how do I get more people engaged with my work/view the website

As edgelion said above, add your contact information and web address to your signature. Always make it easy for customers to buy from you.

 

[jbmonkey]

this thread got me to go and search for your website. so thats a win for ya. I now know who ya are and what ya make.

I saw some nice work and decent pricing...but all seemed to be smaller blades and I dont have any interest in smaller than 5" bladed fixed blades, myself. granted im likely in the oddball group.

 

[SharpBits]

granted im likely in the oddball group.

He's one of them!

Some bigger blades would be a good addition to the portfolio.

 

[darlington.edgecraft]

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.

I’m apprenticing at Fiddleback Forge currently and I’m learning what I can from Andy. It seems him and I are in the same boat with marketing, but I did meet quite a lot of people through him while we were at blade show.
I am finding out that, like you said, online marketing is brutal but I’m doing what I can with the resources that I have

 

[darlington.edgecraft]

this thread got me to go and search for your website. so thats a win for ya. I now know who ya are and what ya make.

I saw some nice work and decent pricing...but all seemed to be smaller blades and I dont have any interest in smaller than 5" bladed fixed blades, myself. granted im likely in the oddball group.

Haha yes I do like smaller blades, but I am going to branch out and do some over 4” once I’m more confident in my grinds

 

[darlington.edgecraft]

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.

Any and all reviews are great!

 

[darlington.edgecraft]

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.

Turns out my knives kept poking holes in the rafts!
But yeah, blade forums seems to be one of the best places

 

[A.L.]

Remember that just visibility is not enough.
Don’t sell something that people need - sell something that people want. Emotionality, not rationality.

 

[Comprehensivist]

Put all your info into a signature like the other makers here do. That has been helpful to me, at least.

As edgelion said above, add your contact information and web address to your signature. Always make it easy for customers to buy from you.

Hi Carley,

I looked at many of the threads about you on the forum here and could not find your website anywhere. The above quotes about adding a direct link to your website in your signature line are the best advice you will get to immediately see more traffic to your website. Doing that is a free one and done edit to your profile that will lead people to click for more information anytime something in your posts sparks his or her interest to learn more. I can’t emphasize enough how important this is for marketing. If you make people have to back out of the thread where you have their attention and go on a separate search to find your website, you are losing potential customers interest (maybe forever.). Please edit your signature line ASAP.

I wish you well in your knifemaking career!

Phil

P.S. This advice applies to you as well Andy Fiddleback Congratulations on being back on the forum too.

 

[Valkyr]

I just did a quick look at your website. Nice work that you have displayed there.

I would suggest more text regarding the materials that you use or have available. Some people will search for a specific steel or style.

Design philosophy and other things than a short blurb about yourself at the bottom of the home page might help.

Search engines use text cues and links to dig deeper into a website. Right now it only looks like one or maybe two levels.

Make a gallery of custom work or stuff that you are proud of to show off some. Add more levels to your shop like organization based on length, handle materials or blade style. You can overlap those categories obviously but adding depth might help with the search engines.

Like others have mentioned above, anything you do here with your website in the signature will also drive traffic your way as well.

 

[Drop bear]

That’s a beautiful blade, very impressive for just starting out. I’m curious why the concern for marketing and social media at such an early stage. Do you have an inventory your sitting on and trying to move? Is this your main job at the moment or are you doing it on the side of your day job?

I think everything is marketing now.

I train with fighters. And the ones who can social media get better fights, more support, more money.

So while people might think just being able to beat dudes up is enough. It is less and less the case.

And the sooner they do it. The better off they are

It is almost like. Do a thing and marketing tgar thing is the same skill now.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

I just did a quick look at your website. Nice work that you have displayed there.

I would suggest more text regarding the materials that you use or have available. Some people will search for a specific steel or style.

Design philosophy and other things than a short blurb about yourself at the bottom of the home page might help.

Search engines use text cues and links to dig deeper into a website. Right now it only looks like one or maybe two levels.

Make a gallery of custom work or stuff that you are proud of to show off some. Add more levels to your shop like organization based on length, handle materials or blade style. You can overlap those categories obviously but adding depth might help with the search engines.

Like others have mentioned above, anything you do here with your website in the signature will also drive traffic your way as well.

Something about Signatures...
Mine, doesn't show up on My phone/android.

I only see mine on my tablet, or if I'm on a desktop. I don't think I get Any followers to my Instagram page..... I'm betting a good percentage of people Don't see signatures, on phones? Idk

 

[Blues]

I've heard folks say something about turning the phone sideways and then it shows up. I don't know because I don't use my phone ordinarily to access the site except to answer a DM occasionally.