Marketing Your Work

TexasActual

TexasActual

Aaron Lawvere - Lawvere & Son Knife Co.
Joined
Jan 16, 2020
Messages
14
I originally got into knife making as a personal desire to make my own. That expanded pretty early on to making knives for others in hunting and cutlery. I'd taken the leap to buy my mentor's knife business, and switch to a model where most of what I make is my own designs, and the rest is furnished by custom work.

Here's the thing. I got way more business doing purely custom work than my own designs. As a result, I've wanted to bolster my online presence to float my products to a wider audience. This is what I've found:

1. Google is VERY selective about what ads they'll approve for knives. If it has anything they deem a "weapon" you can count on it being rejected.
2. Facebook does not allow ads for anything except cutlery, and if you attempt to market your FB page, under review it'll get rejected if you sell anything but cutlery.
3. You may be able to fly under the radar for awhile, but if you advertise anything that they find against their TOS, they shadow ban you. What was a steady stream of followers trickled to nothing overnight. The only passive subscribers are by networking.
4. Most FB groups do not allow any type of cross posting from your FB page, providing your website link, or selling of any kind. The groups that do, are overly saturated and oft list personal manufactured knives over handmade.

All in all, there is definitely a large market for handmade or custom knives out there. It feeds the beast. But, with all of these avenues for marketing and advertisements drying up, what's surefire anymore? It appears to me that the only one is word of mouth anymore.

Have you encountered any of the same type of issues? How did you overcome it?
 
Instagram keeps me pretty busy. Every post you make is an advertisement in a sense and when customers post about you it reaches a whe new network of people.
I'm just a part time maker but local word of mouth along with Instagram keeps my books full.
 
I have a website and an IG page. I mainly use these as a spots to point people to see options or what I have available. This is a hobby so I don't business coming in from all over the place and not being able to meet demand. Been thinking about putting adds up on Kijiji and plan on attending a handmade market next falls to see what kind of interest is out there.

When I was setting this up, I was told that websites are dead and IG is the way to go. Start following people, they may follow you and there friends may start following you and it can snow ball. It's also really easy to though a new knife up. I do very little on IG so I only have a handful of followers.

Here's what I have but there are many better examples with much more established and qualified makers.

https://www.scottkozubknives.com/

https://www.instagram.com/scottkozubknives/?hl=en
 
For me I get more request via my website vs instagram. I have a friend in online marketing. The way google works is that you have to be active and regularly add a load of content to your website to pop up on the first page (jay fisher comes to my mind...). You could also take a look at addword (you buy specific word that will link to your site). Also reddit could be a good place to reach some people. I keep reading that shows are one of the best place to sell, but I live in Canada and in Quebec or ontario I did not find something that looks like a knife show. For instagram, I know that the hashtag plays alot in how many people you will reach and that not too many will look past the first picture.
 
Never had an issue with FB over knives, EVER. There are several pages, purely selling custom knives that have been going strong for years... I still get ads all the time. You are right about Google Ads, though... they can suck it. Instagram, Etsy, FB, Various Internet Forums including BF, and my website.
 
Find a charity that you like that has a fundraising auction and donate your best piece.

Have lots of cards referrals to your website and items ready for sale.

Sometimes the charity will refuse, but if you donate to the local gunclub, scouts, search and rescue, pet lost and found - ground rescue whatever; you may find the nice people.
 
i am on plenty of knife pages on facebook, for instance knife gods, custom handmade knives for sale page and many others. post your knives, if people like them, they will message you. instagram seems to be "the" place to be.
 
DrFrankenstein said:
OP, I can see you have your own website. Maybe you will become my client and it will help you? Who knows? I'm an SEO specialist from xxxxxx. The thing we do is Crowd Marketing. Did you ever hear about it? We take your site and put a lot of your direct links on different old and trusted forums and blogs. I already had a few clients in your subject and they were all satisfied.

P.S. Yes, this is the direct advertisement. No, I don't feel sorry about it. Because it's a relevant advertisement. I really can help this man. Myself and other members of my team, of course.
Click to expand...

You admit that you're spamming bastards ?
 
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For me it's here on bf, ig, and my website. I am also seeking to develop a newsletter list which is a very smart thing to do for many reasons.
 
Now that I've had the website and instagram up for about a year the website has done way better. It also looks much more professional. I also registered as a business with Google so I pop up on searches for custom knives handmade knives etc. I have also got some sales from kijiji which is like Craig's list. I put a whack of knives on there as examples. I don't advertise pricing on my instagram. Just pics and video. At 57 followers I'll soon be catching the Kardashians.


razor-edge-knives said:
Well with the censoring that has come out from big tech (Google/yt, Twitter, fb, ig) during the covid-19 stuff I expect this kind of thing to get worse, not better. Once freedoms start getting 'seized' where does it stop?

For me it's here on bf, ig, and my website. I am also seeking to develop a newsletter list which is a very smart thing to do for many reasons.
Click to expand...
 
I've been active on Instagram for the last year, because I'm not a full-time knife maker and I work retail I don't get to post very often. My knives that I've made are artistically inspired and not main stream. As we know main stream stuff is where the biggest market share is but as a part-time maker doing it for the love of it and my artistic expression I don't really mind. To date I haven't made a knife that I feel is of standard to put my logo on and sell (I'm rather strict with that regard because it's my name going out there) but I'm working on getting better with each knife I make. To date I follow 96 knife makers and have 71 followers. However I think some followers follow you so that you may follow them and then just mute you because if I look at my likes more than 70% are from my #tags and people that don't follow me. I think that's why using the right #tags is so important to get a better reach. On Facebook however I only get likes from my friends and family but that's fine at least it keeps them connected.
 
I use Instagram to show my work to the knife making and cooking communities. I use Facebook to sell my work. I've had the most success in marketing and selling this way. I've noticed that Facebook tends to be an older crowd who appreciates and can afford handmade goods. I'm not saying young people (in their 20s) can't afford or don't buy handmade goods, but they seem to be the exception rather than the rule. I believe selling knives is a numbers game mostly. The more people who see it the more likely you are to find a buyer. A knife is very much a commodity to 99.99% of the world. The .01 seems to be knife lovers and makers.

Edit: My objective is to draw people to my profile so they can see a more complete body of work vs. just one or two pics. Its working fairly well because I sell 5 to 10 knives a month doing what I consider the bare minimum for promoting my work.

edit: Another interesting thing about Instagram is that I typically have a 10% - 15% like rate on a photo. This means that if you have 1000 followers you'll get around 100 to 150 likes.
 
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Years ago use to run print ads in magazines. Western Horseman, Sporting Classics and others. Very expensive but in the day it worked. Then there was a gradual shift away folks went other places and magazine ads simply didn't recoup the the expense so we quit em. These days all IG and share to FB and we have a pretty extensive website. Have 27,400 followers currently on IG. Post often and use a wide array of hashtags would be my suggestion. We have in the past had problems with FB. If you try to “boost” a post with them even if it is not knife related and link your website where you do sell your knives the post will not be approved. For instance my wife handmakes purses. She tried to boost a sale post for a sale on her purses linking our website where the purses were for sale. Because that is where my knives or rather weapons as they phrased it are also sold FB would not approve the boost.
 
Guys this isn't rocket science. Want exposure? Partner with an attractive female or alpha-male who runs a hunting/fishing/guns/knives-themed Instagram account, and pay her/him to post some content (e.g. a review) of your knife. For extra points, have her/him do a giveaway with your knife. Find someone with a likes-per-post score of at least 300.
 
TexasActual said:
I originally got into knife making as a personal desire to make my own. That expanded pretty early on to making knives for others in hunting and cutlery. I'd taken the leap to buy my mentor's knife business, and switch to a model where most of what I make is my own designs, and the rest is furnished by custom work.

Here's the thing. I got way more business doing purely custom work than my own designs. As a result, I've wanted to bolster my online presence to float my products to a wider audience. This is what I've found:

1. Google is VERY selective about what ads they'll approve for knives. If it has anything they deem a "weapon" you can count on it being rejected.
2. Facebook does not allow ads for anything except cutlery, and if you attempt to market your FB page, under review it'll get rejected if you sell anything but cutlery.
3. You may be able to fly under the radar for awhile, but if you advertise anything that they find against their TOS, they shadow ban you. What was a steady stream of followers trickled to nothing overnight. The only passive subscribers are by networking.
4. Most FB groups do not allow any type of cross posting from your FB page, providing your website link, or selling of any kind. The groups that do, are overly saturated and oft list personal manufactured knives over handmade.

All in all, there is definitely a large market for handmade or custom knives out there. It feeds the beast. But, with all of these avenues for marketing and advertisements drying up, what's surefire anymore? It appears to me that the only one is word of mouth anymore.

Have you encountered any of the same type of issues? How did you overcome it?
Click to expand...
For health reasons I have stopped making knives etc until? But one avenue of sales I developed was a local Sunday Farmers Market, In Brentwood Ca, a affluent area. I started sharpen folks kitchen knives And had a display case with my Culinary and Hunter Knives . You’ll meet many people that know even more in the area that tell them that there is a custom knifemaker At the market and wow are they handsome. SharpenOmg is Fairly quick money and you’ll cover expenses for the rent, Tent etc within a few months. Then the sales come in after people have seen you there for awhile & nothing beats meeting folks face to face with a smile & a handshake..Look around in your area. Unless you are in a one horse town with no well to do areas?
 
Im a part time maker of kitchen / chefs knives. I have put a bit of effort into instagram over a couple of years (if you post quite regularly, instagram likes you and it builds quicker)

Im quite well known for forging machinery, so get quite a lot of followers from that aspect of my work, but at approx 2500 followers I have gained enough traction to sell everything knifey I make (which is not a great deal, but I am turning down commissions with every knife post I make)... at pricing I am happy with.

I think my instagram following is 50% forging machinery enthusiasts, 45% other knifemakers having a nosy, and 5% chefs and people who buy knives. Not a big percentage of potential customers, but more than enough.

Interestingly you get as many likes, and follows for pictures of the making process as you do for finished knife pics. People like the process, get involved, and then want to buy it!

Im @non_jic on instagram :)
 
couple months??? Three years, man! I know, time is f-d up these days lol.
I think this thread is a great example of a thread that can and should be brought back from the dead. Good, practical general info, but more importantly it's interesting to get a glimpse back 3 years ago and compare to what's going on now.
I sure would be interested in reading more posts on this topic!
 
Lorien said:
couple months??? Three years, man! I know, time is f-d up these days lol.
I think this thread is a great example of a thread that can and should be brought back from the dead. Good, practical general info, but more importantly it's interesting to get a glimpse back 3 years ago and compare to what's going on now.
I sure would be interested in reading more posts on this topic!
Click to expand...

The best advertisement is a satisfied customer
 
Australia does have a knife show curcuit, the Adelaide one would be my local start.
Adelaide does have a fair few craft/makers markets while mostly for lower value items it does get your brand out there.
My former partner and I had a fixed location business and she put a fair amount of work into Google Maps and reviews/messages and it worked for her.
My local goverment sponsors a website for shop local that is free to list on.
You can make the best knives in the world but if your photos don't cut it, they will scroll past your posts. I have taken on a contract for photography to make me take better photos.
Youtube seems to be my go to place to find out about something I want to buy/make and you need skills apart from knife making to get noticed.
I offer EFTPOS and one of the more popular BNPL schemes, every little bit helps you get past the post.
 
A very interesting thread about a subect that matters to most of us.
I have seen sites become the best way to sell knives then the discussion forums then Facebook and most recently nstagram but all this nonsense about not allowing knives to be advertised seems to be driving people back to the good old discussion forums (the ones that srvived the exodus) and specific groupd on facebook.
Today, I have a page on FB but do most of my sales on the groups where I post. IG used to be interesting - I have over 3.000 followers there but not a retrn of 5% in likes nowadays but still post daily anyway - and the discussion forums are becoming hot again it seems. I also keep two Whatsapp groups of customers - one with interaction and one silened for those who only want to know news about knives - and these are becoming kind of slow but have been very good over the last few years. I also still have my website but at this point it only points people to my IG and Face and Whatsapp (whatsapp is very popular over here).
I am very interested in seeing where this discussion will lead and think adapting to this changing environment will be a matter of survival to all of us.
 
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