Just looking for some good ideas on how to drum up some business...what are some creative ways you pros do it? Not looking for alot of business right now, but wanting to get my name out there for the future...

Take'er Eazy
Andy Doc

Do good work and the business will find you.

I've done gift certificates as raffle prizes for charitable events, $XX off toward the purchase of a custom rod. Around a 25% use rate so I haven't been bombarded with building a lot of rods with big discounts, does get you some advertising and recognition.

Start with repair work for local shops, put ads on Craigslist for repairs, ask fishing clubs to pass out your repair flyer and ask to post your repair flyer at local bait shops. IMO, the very best starting point will be repairs. You will learn a LOT about rods ... why they break, where they break, how to fix them, what NOT to do when building them and more. Do a good job on each and every repair and a reasonable percentage WILL ask about having a custom rod built. The best part is that you get paid to learn and market yourself.

Identify your target market. Make sure your brand (you are branding your product right?) is in line with that. Once you have identified your target market, cut that in half and narrowing it down further. Example - bass fisherman. Narrows down to tournament bass fisherman or recreational bass fisherman. Totally different groups and needs.

You can now spend your marketing $ on a group that you can specifically market to and you should have a higher % of success. You just have to figure out where that particular group hangs out...

It's a lot like fishing. You don't go after every fish in the lake... just one type at a time.

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I often drum a little business when chatting away at locals camping and fishing stores, often by accident. After chatting, I mention that do rod repairs and if they need any guides repaired etc to let me know. I give my out my no and word spreads from there that I only charge half the price that it cost in a tackle shop. I do mostly rod guide repairs becuase the people I bump into are occassional fisherman and have no need for custom build rods. I tend to avoid doing full custom builds becuase I dont have the time at the moment but I wll do repairs as they dont require as much devotion of my time, now that Im a dad with a 10mth son.

Do you drive? Do you own a car or truck, or boat? Then you should have a decal or something identifying your custom rod business right on your vehicle. That's a moving billboard seen by possibly thousands of people each day you're out and about.

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thanks guys...just the kind of ideas I was looking for. The first reply "Do good work and the business will find you." is the golden rule...

Take'er Eazy
Andy Doc

You may find these bumper stickers helpful as well:

[www.rodmakermagazine.com]


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That's a great gesture and resource to offer up predesigned bumper stickers. Good idea as well with the stickers also. Free or at a reduced cost would be a good motivator to use those.

The way I see it, if I am paying to have my own stickers printed, I'm not being saavy with my marketing dollars if I am promoting a logo other than my own. Sure I can put both logos on a sticker... but then you are essentially paying to promote this other entity for them.

Stickers are great. I sell stickers. Each rod comes with one and additional stickers are $5. Little extra money maker and GUYS BUY THEM. But you have to create a brand image and something that is appealing. You don't have to have something complicated. Some of the simplest are the most iconic... The golden arches, the olympic rings, Apple's apple, MTV, Marlboro - all simple. How many people BUY shirts with various product logos because it's cool? (FYI - I sell tshirts too)

Here are some examples of things you can do with a small in investment in decals -

Truck window wrap - $90 - Looks like a billboard sitting at a boat landing! (and I'm compensated in some manner for the other logos or they would not be there)
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Decals - Price variable depending on size - 6" for around $2 on up to 12" ones used on boat windshields
[www.rodbuilding.org]

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Good stuff Alex. I have a customer that is so impressed with the two rods I built that he not only ordered a third, but (without my knowledge) he went to a local graphics company and had oval stickers printed on his dime so he could stick them on his vehicles. He gives them to his friends, and he gave me a bag of them.

I went with simple white vinyl on my truck. Pretty good bang for the buck at $65 installed. [www.rodbuilding.org]

Note to Bill Stevens - We can't put vinyl on the back window in MN because we need to scrape ice off all year.

Branding. Glad you brought that up Alex. Here's what my designer came up with: [www.rodbuilding.org] and [www.rodbuilding.org]

Definition: A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign,symbol, color combination or slogan. The word brand began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity - it affects the personality of a product, company or service.

Chuck

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2010 02:31PM by Chuck Mills.

Good looking stuff Chuck!

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Chuck,
With respect to decals on the back windows,

Have some of the decals with the sticky on the face of the decal rather than the back. That way, you can put the decal on the INside of the window and not have to worry about it being scraped off.

Roger

I was referring to custom cut vinyl graphics.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Chuck,
Yes, I know. But the point that I was making is that it is possible to have the adhesive on the face of the graphic rather than the back of the graphic.

Consider any of the face front adhesive products that are given to you for the inside of your windshield for seasonal park entrances, etc. All of these graphics have adhesive on the front of the graphic and are designed to be applied on the inside of the windshield or rear window, depending on the application and need.


Here is a graphic designer which will allow you to have adhesive on the face of the graphic, or back of the graphic. Just cruise down the menu, to see the check box for front or back adhesive application:

[www.instantsignfactory.com]


Roger



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2010 09:23AM by roger wilson.

Interior doesn't work well as most SUVs and many newer trucks have tinted rear windows. That really cuts down the visibility - you can see it, but not nearly as well - even with white.

Also, putting an interior decal over the defroster lines on a rear window can have bad results if you ever were to take it off.

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You're right Alex. In my first link - compare the driver side window with the rear side. This is why I went with simple white graphics.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Yeah it's not much different than mine. Your black background is actually the glass.

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Discounting is the least desirable form of marketing in my opinion. It will drum up business but probably not the kind you want. If you want to ramp up quickly and get a bunch of jobs then discounting can help. Problem is you will have customers always expecting low prices from you. Personally I dont want people to choose me because I can build a rod cheaper than anyone else. My experience with discount marketing is that it attracts the least knowledgable customers who cause more problems than they are worth. I have used targeted discounts for other businesses but I learned a lot from it. It will build loyalty only as long as you continue the discounting, it will not, by its very nature increase profits and it incentivizes other businesses to match or beat your discount which only serves to keep profits low. Thats not something that the custom fishing rod market needs right now.

Building a reputation for quality is difficult. It takes time...and lots of it. It takes comittment every day in everything you do. A solid reputation is not the result of a sharp logo and slick graphics it is the result of attention to detail--every detail. Be prepared to build and donate rods for charity @#$%& or as prizes for tournaments and derbies in order to get them into the hands of the people who know what they are doing with them. Go to these events wearing your logo on your hat, shirt, coat and vehicle and boat while armed with business cards for those who ask.

When you deliver a rod to a customer who represents your target market give them hats, shirts, stickers or whatever so that your brand gets in front of that customers' aquaintances who will also likely be part of your target market.

Very good points.

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