I've given this some thought over the past couple of days and have a few ideas that I'll share. It seems, to me, that the market is currently moving away from the types of knives that I find appealing/useful; moving more toward a tactical look (which I despise) that – I assume – is driven by younger buyers.
I think that is a key point though – every company must attract new buyers and the best way of doing that is to appeal to the whims of younger generations. They're the owners/users who are most likely to spend gobs of time talking about their knives in some sort of social platform (spreading the word – so to speak).
I suspect that segment of the general market is less likely to have a lot of disposable income though, so items targeted toward that market should probably be on the less expensive side of things, but significantly different and full of attitude. I think those buyers are looking for tools that help them live out fantasies (an indestructible, kill the zombie invasion while looking really cool type of knife).
On the other end of the spectrum is the older – and more likely to have disposable income – generations. I think they're far more likely to pursue the finely finished, work of art that can be used if wanted type of knife. My guess would be that they'd be far more inclined to want the traditional type of knife – though a really, really nice version.
That type of knife – really finely handcrafted and finished – will take a considerable amount of time to make, and should be priced accordingly. Given your success with the Kephart, I think that should be the first model offered in the Super Premium category.
I don't think I'd take orders on the Super Premium category though – as it seems that many people grow impatient in waiting for a good length of time. I would not discount that category either – the price would be the price and until it sold I'd have a genuine work of art to demonstrate the quality of work.
There is a huge segment of the market that doesn't appear to get much attention from makers (production or handcrafted). I'm talking about women – they surely buy a lot of the total knives sold and I would suspect that knives targeting their wants/needs would find a fairly healthy market. You might consider talking to your wife/daughters to see what they like/want and go from there.
I think your design contests are a good source of input and they seem to bring in new blood as well. I also think you are wise to seek customer input.
People seem to love torture tests and videos will only grow in popularity. With that in mind, I think I'd contact a couple of people (who do make videos) that you can trust and send them a knife to be used hard with the understanding that they will upload a video of their testing. Once I got the knife back, I'd clean it up, sharpen it and sell it auction style. And I'd link the video (of the test) in the auction. I would do several of these each year.
I would not discontinue models – unless that model used material that wasn't used in other models, or unless that material (used for those models) was no longer available or cost prohibitive. I would adjust prices as the cost of materials went up and I would require some sort of deposit when a knife requires materials not normally stocked.
I would take a lot of pictures of each knife and upload them all onto my website. I would also use keywords for my website. If Andy was willing – I'd ask him to take pictures of special knives (lots of pictures).
As for new models...
A fillet knife. Fishing fever will hit soon and that might be something that will attract some new buyers.
You might consider some chisels for those who like wood working.
Knives geared toward women and their wants/needs.
Fancy letter openers (don't know if there's a market or not)
Non-knife items...
Metal detecting seems to be a growing hobby and every metal detectorist needs something to dig with. There are companies that specialize in such things (Lesche is one)(Predator Tools is another) but it might be something you could offer. (They're also popular with people who garden a lot)
Ice Cream Spade. I have an old one from Schwan's Ice Cream (don't know who made it for them). The thing just works wonderfully (it's great for rock-hard Ice Cream). I don't know if there's a market or not – but it is something to think about.
Other thoughts...
Start a newsletter.
Offer it for free and push it on your website. Send (email) one out every month, with news about new models and specials. Include pictures of knives made, with some details about that knife.
Download Open Office (openoffice.org) – it's free and you can save each newsletter as a pdf file. That way everyone can open it and read it as you formatted it. Include links to your website and any video reviews. You might even offer “coupons” to be redeemed toward future purchases. Include customer stories and reviews.
All you need is to put the subscribers in a group – then email the entire group all at once.
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