Each year, in an effort to continue tweaking the marketing and advertising efforts for the big rod building expo, we count up the registrations and then tally the blocks where folks told us where they heard about the show. This year, after removing all duplicates, we were left with 1879 registrations, of which there was an even 1580 from folks who said they were rod builders. Working with just those so far, the answer to the question about where they learned of the show from, broke down as follows:

RodMaker Magazine - 687 (44%)

Direct Mail - 452 (29%)

Rodbuilding.org - 296 (19%)

All Other Mediums (other websites, word of mouth, radio, newspaper, etc.) - 126 (8%)

A handful did not bother to list how they had learned about the event.

In a nutshell, this breakdown reveals that RodMaker Magazine is still the heavyweight in terms of reaching rod builders and spreading the word about any rod building event. In fact, it's apparent that it's easily the most productive medium for advertising to custom rod builders, particularly on a cost basis.

Our direct mail campaign was actually pretty good. Costly, but worthwhile in the long run. The magazine and direct mail campaign are the bread and butter of all the marketing efforts we've done. They produce. Without them it would have been a lean event.

This website actually drew more than I would have thought. Not bad, but certainly not nearly enough coverage on its own. But not bad at all.

The remainder came from all the other ads and marketing efforts - all other rod building websites, radio ads, word of mouth, etc. Not many came in from these efforts so not much money will be spent on them in the future. Just not productive enough.

We'll break down the general fishermen's registrations later this week and see where those folks learned of the show.

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So should, the site now be slated for 19% of the projected advertizing dollar expenditure at least, for payback for the job it is doing to then reinvest in site upgardes?

Not that postage has gotten any cheaper for the direct mail advertizing. Are You sending out letters? Don't know, but a pared down POST CARD was once cheaper to mail and most likly still is, but the price has still went through the roof, I have stretched the alloted direct mail advertizing dollar that way before. Show a nice pic of the event and where, when , who , how, details on the back. Talk to the Raddisson, maybe they will pony up some direct mail advert dough if their name is on there too

No, the amount I already spend on the site doesn't justify it. The 3 full page ads taken in the magazine only run about 20% of what this site does and those ads resulted in much, much greater results.

The fact is, rod building websites are not exactly top notch places to advertise such an event. At least not compared, dollar for dollar, against something like RodMaker. Keep in mind that a large portion of the folks who use websites do so precisely because they don't have to spend any money to use them. Your target market is not going to be among those folks.

The postcard mailing worked very well. The card I designed and printed is a first class UV coated affair, large format, etc. It did a great job, again this year, and I suspect when we look at the specifics we'll see that the direct mailing resulted in over 85% of those general interest fishermen who attended. But you have to play a numbers game - it takes tens of thousands of cards to get a few hundred people to turn out.

I do know a little bit about what I'm doing here - keep in mind that no one else has ever been able to draw even 200 rod builders to an event - most draw 100 or less. The most recent ICRBE drew 1500+ rod builders and a few hundred more general interest fishermen. We had a great turnout, as we have each of the last 4 years. We just keep tweaking and tuning things so that each successive year is better than one preceeding it.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2007 08:40PM by Tom Kirkman.

tom would you ever want to tie it in to a fishing show

Not sure. Tying to a fishing show won't bring in more rod builders, in fact it could have the opposite effect. The past 3 years we were tied to a fly fishing show and now that we're on our own we had a larger attendance and the booths and admission fees were lower all the way around. It was a better event and one of the reasons is that we weren't tied to any other show.

I have a lot of options to consider in the next 30 days. Several fishing shows want to be connected to the ICRBE now but I have to be careful. Bill Batson made a very good point on Sunday evening - he told me that Batson Enterprises did exceptionally well this year primarily because everybody they talked to was a buyer. The previous years, you had a lot of "tire kickers" - guys who fished but weren't really interested in actually building a rod. But they'd come by and take up your time and before you know it, 20 minutes was gone talking to someone who didn't spend a dime with you and wasn't likely to begin with.

But... there will always be a certain number of fishermen who might see what's going on and decide to build or buy a custom rod. Just more options to consider as we plan for next year.

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Tom,How many mailings were there?I recieved a post card about a 2 weeks before the show.To be honest that would not have been enough time to plan to make the trip from 600 miles away.I found it a short notice for someone seeing it for the first time.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

About 50,000 cards went out this year. I did a mailing of roughly 10,000 every month starting in October. When they went and to who was based on several factors which I don't have time and space to cover here. Suffice to say it was well done and quite effective.

My post above was not a complaint - the show was an overwhelming success, we set a new attendance record, the vendors all made money (some reported huge increases over past years) and the venue was vastly superior to where we were before. If I did nothing different next year, we'd have another fantastic event.

I just like to keep tabs on where folks come from, how they learn about the event, etc., etc., etc. It helps me plan for each succeeding year.

...........

Well I was certainly impressed!

Got to be careful sometimes when you mess with success. Sometimes once you get to a certain point your best bet is to leave well enough alone and just keep on doing what you're doing.

If you can make it better somehow I'm all for it, but to tell you the truth, I still couldn't get around to see everything and see all the seminars in the two days I was there. It's plenty big and plenty good just like it is!

Tom - not advocating for a minute that you change much of anything. However, I attended to do two things:
1) Purchase at least 50% of my inventory needs for the year directly from my preferred vendors, saving me the 15-20% - of - total cost that I otherwise end up paying in shipping, and see the new products and techniques that I might be able to use as we develop Calico Creek Rods.
2) Sell custom rods to "general" attendees, and a few unique items for Builders

I easily accomplished item 1. Item 2 was how I planned to cover the cost of the trip and the table. In terms of Item 2, I broke even, which is pretty good for a first-time go for a relatively unkown maker. Now, I know that there will probably be a few additional hits from the contacts we made, and perhaps another sale or two. Other folks who also sold rods told me that it's worked out that way for them, and of course we're hoping for that to happen for us. But what's already in-hand is really all we can count on, and it was sufficient to justify doing it again; realistically, though, we also need more general interest traffic in order to make that one or two other sales we'd need to come away "clean".

I just wish there was a way to draw that particular segment of attendees withoiut turning it into a "fishing" show. I surely am NOT suggesting that you add general "tackle" dealers or shops to the mix. On the other hand, I know that folks who go to the Fly Fishing show are predisposed to buy custom rods at the high end (and high-dollar "rack" rods at the next level down) because that's the nature of that part of the sport. The offshore folks are also more pedisposed to buy pre-built custom rods for their boats. In the middle, there's everyone else and that's the folks I'd like to see more of. On Sunday, I heard several comments (and mumbles) from folks who were obviously local, that they thought "it was suposed to be a fishing show"). I think they equated that with racks full of bargain rods - at least that was the tone of the comments.

Somewhere in the middle, I would hope there's a way to reach more of that part of the market for those of us primarily selling and custom building services to the "general" folks.

Not a complaint, rant, or criticism. Just some thoughts. I also have to say, it was a great time with great folks. There's nothing else like it. I've just finished the setup of Lib's door-prize rod (for those of you who said "now you have to build another one", you were sooo right! - it suddenly became the next rond on the line, and our other orders slipped a couple days. Who didn't know THAT was gonna happen!)

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

My thoughts run parallel to your own. The fact is, general interest fishermen won't attend a strictly rod building show. Even in Charlotte alongside the Fly Fishing Show, very few of those folks actually bought anything in terms of custom rods. They were there, but they didn't buy custom rods.

Something is getting ready to happen in the next 60 days which will likely solve this one problem area. I won't go into the details just yet because I don't have them all in front of me at the moment. But I think the attendance by general interest fishermen, at least those who are looking for the best in fishing rods, will greatly increase next year. And it will happen without my having to do much of anything. Some things were put in place this year the results of which won't be felt until next year. Wait and see.

I have no interest in running a general fishing show. There are plenty of those around and I want to stay focused on rod building - nobody else is providing an event like this for custom rod builders so it's a niche I want to continue to fill.

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Tom, there are just a few things that maybe you're not quite seeing. There are a good number of rodbuilders who knew of the event from the web site that for one reason or another were not able to attend. I was one of those. And after all the positives, maybe I'll try a little harder to get the time to go, especially when I see it in front of me every day!! Also actually what method did those responders answer who recieve both Rodmaker and are members of the forum? Did you have a both answer? What is the number of Rodmaker subscribers versus the Forum members? What metod reaches the largest number of builders? I think the web site has a lot of potential to reach more builders than the survey suggests. I know that another web site consistently refers to this one when any buiding questions come up that can't be answered on their site. This is more exposure to non-regular board members. Just a thought though.

Smitty

One option for bringing in general Interest participants that I've seen work in other crafts (wood turning) would be to have a display area for custom builders outside of the main show area (say near the entrance) that is open to the general public, possibly for free. It could include some general fishing tackle vendors. It could be open limited hours (say Sat-Sun 1-5pm) and could include rod building demonstrations by local builders (our local turning club gives turning demo's all the time at various events).

Walter,

I'm sure that the number of web site visitors far outnumbers the magazine subscribers. One thing misleading about internet forum visitors is that many of them are there because it's free and they are unwilling to pay for information or put out much effort to obtain it. It's just the nature of the internet. I could be wrong, but I would think that a very high perentage of the forum users attending the show were also RM subscribers.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Smitty,

Thanks for the comments. This particular website gets far more traffic than any other website devoted to custom rod building. Much, much more. But it pales in comparison to the marketing effectiveness of RodMaker Magazine. The two are not even close. There is some crossover, but not as much as you'd think. I'm not throwing off on the value this website provided to marketing the event, but by itself we wouldn't have much of a turnout I'm afraid. For everyone like yourself who heard of the event via this site and couldn't attend, 5 more heard about it via RodMaker and couldn't attend. The bottom line, is that the advertising done in RodMaker reached more rod builders than any other medium and got us the best results, both in numbers and cost effectiveness.

Obviously, advertising on this particular custom rod building website is going to be more effective than the same advertising on any other custom rod building website, but it still pales in comparison to the magazine.

.........

Steve,

I also appreciate your comments but again, few fishermen will attend a strictly rod building event. And once you start having tackle vendors then I'm back to hosting a fishing show which I have no interest in doing. We have plenty of rod building events in this area already - I'm sure you have plenty in your area as well.

.........

The marketing and advertising for the 2007 ICRBE was exceptional and worked extremely well. We're not having any problem in getting rod builders to attend and have easily succeeded where scores of others have failed. Getting more general interest fishermen to the event, particularly those who would, in fact, actually come specifically to buy custom rods, is something that we laid the groundwork for this year and which will bear fruit next year.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2007 12:39PM by Tom Kirkman.

Just wondering, because your %'s add to 100,,,,, was a single choice or multiple choice possibility? Would seem to me that there would be a lot of crossovers between the groups. For instance, people who heard about it from the mag AND from the site AND from direct mail.

You mailed 10,000 a month? That's a lot of stamp licking. Tom, your tongue must be a real mess mess :-)

I've gotten a few emails regarding getting more general interest fishermen to attend as well. But that won't necessarily help the custom rod builders there sell more rods. Keep in mind, that only a tiny, tiny percentage of general interest fishermen will ever buy a custom rod. So even if I went into a big time fishing show, with perhaps several thousand general interest fishermen attending, the number would would buy custom rods would only be in the dozens. That's one heck of a lot more work on my part for what would amount to very difference in the number of custom rods that any rod builders at the event would sell. It's important to work hard, but it's more important to work smart.

The key is getting those general interest fishermen who actually are open to buying custom rods to attend, all the while being able to weed out the rest. And this is something we laid the groundwork for this year. They key is in letting that specific segment of the market know that this is the place where they can see the best rod builders in the world and buy the finest custom rods made. Something is in the works that will do just that.

So in 2008, we expect another 1500+ rod builders, plus many new attendees who are specifically there to see and buy custom rods. Sure, tire kickers put $8 in my pocket every time one comes through the door - but they don't do much for the rod builders displaying there. So I'm not really interesting in attracting them. I want fishermen who will buy custom rods and I know how to get them. Next year, they'll be there in greater numbers than they were this year.


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TAke a look at teh minimal amount of views each thread on the board gets. Maybe 500 per post, keep in mind if someone makes a single post tehy will check that thread 5 or 6 times, most guys will can the board and open up 2 or 3 posts, so while you thin there's a lot of board traffic, there really isn't...in comparison to the magazine.

Tom, I think general interest fishermen WILL buy custom rods, but teh rods will have to be priced similar to WAlmart for them to fly off teh shelves, lol.

Right, but it's a matter of numbers versus percentage. The answer for the custom rod builders who display at the event, isn't to just attract more general interest fishermen, but rather to attract specifically those general interest fishermen who are in the market for custom rods and don't mind paying a premium for one (or several). A general fishing won't do that.

You have to target specific areas of any market and that is being done as we speak. Wait about 60 days and what's going on will be a little more clear.

...............

Probably right Billy. Remember when graphite rods really started coming out, and the mass stores were all fiberglass? People wanted graphite, and I bet custom rods and DIY numbers were up.

So much of the custom rod arena is centered on art and fine points. But where is technical innovation that shows a big difference over factory rods in general performance? Something non-subtle anough to pirod the general interest fisherman? Would be a moving target, of course, since once you attract masses the factories would tool up for that market. Same goes for pretty wraps and weaves. If it became a rage, wouldn't you expect someone to automate fancy wraps and weaves, even on a 'custom' basis? For example, automate a wrapper around Visual Wrap. And looms have been automated since the 1800's. Some select few will always want the exclusivity of handwork and will be able to pony up for the cost,,,, but that isn't what drives the general interest fisherman. You need a different lure to catch them, and it has to be apparent.

BTW,,,, I have been quite happy for many years with a tweak and repair here and there on factory rods. What got me doing my own again after 30 years is the spiral wrap. It is that different from the factory stuff. But if it caught on generally, a factory could easily step up to the plate. In fact, the deficiencies in the available guides that I have been trying to correct by hand would probably be addressed by Fuji or someone as soon as the market showed large enough interest.

Dave...1> there is a butt wrapping machine already. Sea Isle rods uses it in Freeport, LI. Captain Neil also has one which he bought from a tackle shop in Maine.
2> TEhre is a factory spiral wrapped rod, fom Shimano. Blue Rose or Ocean Rose or something like that.