So what kind of marketing do you do?

I have no clue either, I hope you get some response from this as I would also like to know certain things about this aspect
PEACE!!!

-- Allison, Northeastern Ca. Remember, Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic!

Ah…. that’s the $64,000 question now, isn’t it?

Depends on what you want to do. If you are set up to do cabinetry
it’s a good idea to get yourself known to local contractors and
architectural firms, especially in cases where the architect
supervises his or her own projects. I used a direct mail system
to get clients and it worked well.

When I was doing a lot of woodworking I seldom did spec work and
when I did I seldom sold it. Custom work is often not much fun
because it runs to heavy cabinetry – but that’s where there is
money to be made with the least struggle.

I’ve known guys that did a lot of outdoor fairs and things. It’s a good
idea to put some nice work out there but at the end of the day
people are mostly going to leave with a birdhouse or turned pen…
so make sure you have inexpensive things for them to buy –
jewelry too.

-- http://amherstcabinets.com - also a marketing consultant with expertise in direct response marketing for woodworking and online businesses - http://COPYMATCH.COM

The first thing you need to understand about marketing is that it is voodoo magic. What works today, won’t work tomorrow. It’s a perpetual journey of trying different ideas and mediums while managing the financial success or failure of your efforts. (Yep, it confuses me too, and I’ve been doing this for seven years).

As a cabinet maker with a niche in custom closets, I got my start by advertising in subdivision homeowner newsletters. This let me specifically target high-end neighborhoods for a very low cost. These newsletters are generally published once a month and the cost was $25 – $50 per month for a business card size ad. This is how I started getting my first jobs. The next thing that helped was participating in home shows. Atlanta has two each year that are quite large. The cost ran $1000 – $2000 for a 10×10 or 10×20 booth, but I usually generated $20,000 plus in work from each show that ran four days. I no longer do them because they are a lot of work and very difficult to do with one person. I also have a 6×10 cargo trailer that has graphics on three sides. This continues to pull calls. People will see me going down the road and call me on their cell phone on an impulse.

I wasted thousands on slick, four color, regional magazines with virtually no return on my investment. I did the Val Pac thing (coupons mailed to the home) with no ROI. Newspaper ads suck worst than anything. The experts say that you have to run these type of ads for four or five months straight before you start seeing activity, but this type of advertising is very, very expensive. Direct mail was a hit and miss thing which also has to run continuously to be effective.

By far, the best advertising is word of mouth. Until the economy recently fell apart, I had not spent a penny on advertising for the past three years. My business was growing 30% per year strictly on word of mouth and repeat business. Once you start finding customers, and if you do good work, new customers will find you.

I have recently embarked on a new venture this year to find an additional revenue stream to supplement my cabinet business by making end grain cutting boards and dipping boards. I’ve only been going at it for about 4 months and I intend to start blogging about my adventures later this year. Building and selling “widgets” is a whole different animal than doing $10,000 cabinet jobs. However, the concept of selling a job is no different than selling a widget. You have to generate a lead to close a sale.

I have had limited success on Etsy and my ecommerce web site. I have generated a lot of interest from Flickr posted pictures with sets attached to the appropriate groups. Of course, craft shows are the best. I stay away from “country craft” shows and concentrate on fine craft shows. They do the best. I have had a few phone calls after a show with people asking for a custom item so I always make sure people leave my booth with a business card. It’s real interesting that in these bad economic times, people still pull out $100 bills to purchase my boards rather than use a credit card.

-- I don't make mistakes, only design changes....

My only marketing was making stuff for friends and family as b-day and Christmas gifts. I also used Craigslist but that was hit and miss. I only woodwork for profit very part time but if you’re talking about marketing, you have to think about who your target audience is and think about what marketing venues would appeal to them.
For example, let’s say you want to sell a quilt rack. Who buys quilt racks? If I play stereo types, that would mean I am primarily selling to older women. This means advertising in media for older women such as newspapers and women’s magazines.

I started out by talking to the local galleries (furniture, art, crafts, etc.). I placed a chair in each one that would have one. I also started placing smaller items in them as I got them done. A few of them love to get the “Under $100” items for around xmas time, they sell fast.

I don’t get as much money per project when I sell through a gallery due to their commission, but the gallery is much more visible, and they pay for all the marketing, insurance, etc. Also, once my reputation is created with the gallery, that gallery passes on any custom work they get. I am open to any project idea and if it is something over my head or something I just don’t have time to do, I tell them and they shop it to someone else. Also, people expect to pay more at a gallery since it is now “retail” pricing so the markup doesn’t always hurt me so much.

Through the galleries I have sold about 3 chairs, from word of mouth of those customers I have orders for 4 more, which sold directly through me so I don’t pay the commision to the gallery on those. So it was well worth the investment of the commision for me.

So my keys to success were getting the product out there so it is visible, establishing a reputation with the local places for 1) quality work, and 2) timely work. I have been told that I am the most reliable and schedule concious woodworker some of the galleries have, which means I usually get first pick of the projects, and then providing top-quality craftsmanship and product.

There is enough local work (by local I span a 200-mile radius in western NY to various galleries and customers) to keep me occupied, but the word of mouth thing (and web site) has sent my chairs North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas, and now CA.

Hope this helps, good luck.

-- Rich, WNY, www.nyrockingchairs.com