# Marketing your Woodworking Business



## joey (Sep 17, 2007)

I was wondering how some of you guy market your woodworking business, I just thought that maybe if we share some of these thing that worked and didn't work. I am hoping this will help all of us. I know some of my pass failures like fliers, ad on a cable show, door to door cold calls, yeah that was brilliant, the act of a desperate man….lol

I had some successes also I did a demo at scout show, marketed to other woodworkers in my area to do piece work and laminate work, contacted lumber stores and did mill work for them, worked for some local interior designers. I donated a play table for a local library and they ran an article in the local paper about at and I got work from that.

Marketing is much of an art as it is a science, without marketing we don't have any business, and in most case's as a woodworker we have to market ourself more than we do our work, so share please share your ideas about what you think works and doesn't work, and if you feel like it tell us why you think they don't work, and maybe we will all benifit from our shared knowege.

joey


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## DaveHerron (Jan 21, 2008)

You might do a search on business in forums. It's a topic that has been discussed a great deal.


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## Russel (Aug 13, 2007)

Good point Dave, I started going through all the entries and there is a wealth of information there. I even started taking notes. Plenty to work with.


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## RusticElements (Mar 14, 2008)

Ok, for us total newbies here, do you mean a business forum here or off site? If off site, which do you suggest?


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## Russel (Aug 13, 2007)

It's the "Sweating for Bucks Through Woodworking" forum here on the site.


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## christopheralan (Mar 19, 2008)

ABM. Always be marketing!! Whenever I meet someone new, that might be a customer, I try to gather what their intrests are, then figure how what I do could help them, or make them want to buy my stuff. For example, I try to have projects out where people can see them, and hopfully the project becomes a conversation topic, and we then start woodwork talk. I make wooden puzzles and leave them on my desk at work. They are kinda cool looking, and people want to pick them up and play with them. Thus, we talk woodwork. "Yeah, I made that, but I also make…"

Seems to work sometimes. Good luck.


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## ND2ELK (Jan 25, 2008)

Hi Joey

Your best advertising is your work and satisfied customers. It takes time to build up your reputation and clientele. I did some work at my church once. They bought the materials and I donated the labor. Besides feeling good about helping out the church, which was my main intent, I got a lot of business from it. I also donated a gun cabinet to a wildlife club I belong to. Same deal there, they bought the materials and I donated the labor. Once again, I got a lot of business from it and they made money on their raffle. When I built the gun cabinet for the widlife club, I ended up making two. It does not take that much longer to build two. I turned around and sold the second one at full price. Get your work out there!

God Bless
tom


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## joey (Sep 17, 2007)

yeah, I call that cosmic repayment, lol
Joey


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## joey (Sep 17, 2007)

I know some of this may seem like we are re hashing an old subjects but I am sure we have new members and maybe one of them has some enlighten input that will illuminate this ongoing dilemma well probably not, but I'm sure they have some good ideas anyway.

Joey


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## joey (Sep 17, 2007)

I have been reading a lot on marketing this pass couple of weeks, three books, several magazine articles, podcast, lumberjocks forum, I even dug out my college text, I have wrote dozen of pages of notes, and I am still comfundled. its like ice skating on thin ice using a flame thrower to clear the snow in front of you, I guess I just need to go though all of this and try to make some sense of it.
Joey

I guess listening to everyone telling me how I all ready doom to fail is starting to get to me. I know I shouldn't let but it does. I know its not easy. hell I can get by tools out and go back trimming houses for 12 dollars an hour using my own tools driving 80 to 120 miles a day maybe working 40 hours this week, or 80 next week or none at all the next for two weeks after that, no insurance half the time no workman's comp. here a lot of them want to hire you by the hour but put you down as a subcontractor on paper, so they don't have to pay your SSI and there are a lot of young carpenters out that do it. even the union shops have been busted here for using illegal workers off the books paying them 9 bucks an hour and then charging the job prevailing wages. me personally I blame the contractors who are getting fat off of cheating people who are just trying to feed their families and I would rather stock shelves at a local grocery store that drive one nail for them kind of builders. they are the same one that will plead your price down then sell you out the first time they thing they can get a better price then call you back wanting to fix the house that the was messed up from the guy that under cut your price, yes that has happen to me a couple of times. I guess ranting sorry about that any way I do understand all the frustration of marketing your work not just woodworking but carpentry, I worked with builders and homeowners, and would rather the latter esp in this economy. well I am going do a little market research and then I will try to make some sense of all this and write a blog on my marketing plan. Thanks every for your input


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## Catspaw (Dec 15, 2007)

I liken woodworking to all the other artsy-fartsy stuff like artistic painting, musicians, potters, etc.

Most of the success stories I've heard about are of people who do it whether they get paid for it or not. Because that's what they like to do. They're never over-night successes. Some where along the line somebody finds them and they start making real money.

I don't think woodworking is the kind of business where you think up a product, design your ads, and start selling things. I'm not telling you that you will fail, I'm telling you to do it because you enjoy it. If you're good, people have a tendency to find you. Yes, you do have to be good if you want to make real money. You will succeed, one way or the other. You may not have any money, but, you'll have a bunch of wood stuff around the house.


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## Tikka (May 14, 2007)

Hi Joey - Marketing is the biggest part of making a success or failure of a business. You can make "crap", but a good sales man will sell it for you again and again - or you could be the best craftsman in the world making something for the lowest of lowest prices, but if nobody knows about it, you'll never sell it.

I would have to say, that marketing is my biggest downfall and problem with my business - not only am I bad marketer, I also do not speak the local language well enough (double trouble).

I rely mainly on my web site and word of mouth for sales, I have tried news paper advertising , but that did not work, I have had several articles printed about me and my work in local news papers (that just led to many people wanting me to train them and PAY them for the privilege!!)
The next attempt is to give some lectures and demonstrations on woodworking, but that will really be targeting the Breadwinners in the family, not the decision makers (no offence meant to the ladies), but any publicity is good publicity - it just takes time. So many big companies with mass produced, inferior, low cost, imported products to deal with today it is a an uphill struggle all the time. Thankfully we are doing a job we love, not that we have to do!
Good Luck


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