"The Birth of Artemis" - Chronicles of a custom Jay Fisher Chef's Knife. (Product Marketing Example)

Article Link:

http://www.artisansofthevalley.com/docs/The_Birth_of_Artemis_Chronicles_of_a_Custom_Jay_Fishers_chefs_knife_08-2009.pdf

Greetings!

This is a preview – a few changes may be pending to the final release of the article but this is basically the layout, content, images, etc that will be formally broadcast out for the whole world to see shortly.

I figured I’d give the Lumberjocks crew the first chance to scan this most exciting 10-page article and see what your feedback is. This is actually a combined version of what is a two part article in our Artisans Quarterly Review (Link: http://www.artisansofthevalley.com/newsletter.shtml) ... Part I went out for Q2 … Part II actually hasn’t been released yet in the newsletter so I’ll likely hold back the formal release of this until that goes out first.

I decided to combine the two parts into a single feature as obviously this creates a continuity and allows me to greatly expand the images, etc. Our newsletter is primarily woodworking, and a knife isn’t made of wood. I thus had to compact for the format quite a bit.

I’m planning, per the choice and direction of Master Knife Maker Jay Fisher (http://www.jayfisher.com), to submit this article to Blade, Knives Illustrated, or one of those such publications.

We’ve had some discussions going on publicity and starting a business. This is obviously not a project in wood – but it does provide a great example of how to lay out a product feature. We do the same thing with our furniture, woodcarvings, sculpture, antique restorations, etc. We also leverage our relationships and affiliations with other artists to create a mutually beneficial publicity campaign.

Those who can afford a Jay Fisher knife can likely also afford what we offer … accordingly if you can afford our work then you could afford one of Jay’s knives. The pairing of artists also builds credential – quality reflected in a known artists work flows into confidence in the pieces produced by other artists in the same circle.

Nothing stops any of you from setting up articles online, in print, etc … to promote yourselves and your work. Honestly this whole “Survival of the fittest ….” ... yeah that’s part of it. It’s more like “Those who are PERCEIVED to be the fittest …” will be supported. You can be the best-est most fittest woodworker in the world, but if nobody knows you exist you will not survive as a viable business. Counter to this – you can produce crap – but have a good marketing plan, you have a better chance of making a living than the great artist who maintains a truly hermit lifestyle.

Best of all – if you’re good at what you do AND you market yourself well … your chances of survival increase drastically.

Enjoy!

-- Eric M. Saperstein, Master Craftsman www.artisansofthevalley.com