[TheForge] Re: Pure Iron Truck Specials.

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

In a message dated 8/21/2002 10:25:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
avida@nautilusgroup.com writes:


> Mike, I was discussing this at Pennsic, with other smiths, and I think there
> is a consensus that the marketing was not optimal. I think you hoped for 
> too
> much, with too little effective effort (notice I'm not saying you didn't 
> put
> a lot of effort into it, it's just that I think it was not necessarily
> directed as effectively as it might have been).
> 
>     Mike, I think Phlip makes a very good point here.  Marketing will often
>     determine success or failure.  If you guys are not born- or trained and
>     experienced marketeers, you may well have expended a whole lot of time 
>     and energy for nothing in terms of results.  A large company would do a
>     thorough market analysis before going into an endeavor such as this, 
> but
>     you're already there.  An analysis might not be a bad idea at this 
> point.
>     You have a lot of sweat devoted to this and to simply drop it without
>     full konwledge of the potential would be a shame.  It could be that an
>     analysis will reveal that there just isn't a market strong enough to
>     support this sort of thing.  Or it may say there is a very good 
> potential
>     market if the product is properly promoted.  If that be the case, then 
> it
>     would behoove you, assuming the interest and desire remain, to hire a
>     marketing firm that would build and launch a campaign.  This would take
>     money, but as the old saying goes (and it's not universally true in my
>     experience) "you have to spend money to make money".  In this case I
>     feel the addage is accurate.
> 
>     This is a material intensive business and stuff on the shelf is eating
>     into profits.  You want to move product as quickly as possible.  Your
>     pricing may be wrong, or you may not be getting your message to the 
> real
>     professional in a manner that will generate the sales you're looking 
> for.
>     For example, you cannot rely on the blacksmiths to  carry the business.
>     We all know what a stingy bunch many of us can be.  Until I got poor as
>     a sewer rat, I was atypical in that I was not afraid to spend money on
>     materials and machinery, but that is uncommon amongst us.  I suspect 
> you
>     need to have at least one prong of a good marketing campaign aimed 
> squarely
>     at the architects and designers.  Such a campaign needs to play on them 
> at
>     many levels, such as purity, exclusivity, durability, beauty, etc and 
> so on.
>     Hammer at them the virtues of PI and why it is to their advantage to 
> demand
>     this material be used in their decorative ironwork.  The smiths have no
>     choice but to comply.  The price is added into the job, but the labor 
> may
>     be a bit less, or possibly even a lot less and it is the labor that 
> costs.
>     Cost of material is usually trivial in comparison to labor, but many 
> smiths
>     cannot see past what they perceive as high material cost.  It's a 
> myopic
>     view and so you have to take the decision out of their hands and place 
> it 
>     into those that carry the cash.
> 
>     The way these tings work out, is once they get used to the pricing and 
> become
>     more familiar with the properties... when they realize that an errant 
> hammer
>     blow at the last minute is far less likely to wreck a piece, causing 
> further
>     loss of time and material, the price issue should go away, but you have 
> to
>     get the trend going first.
> 
>     The other prong of the marketing attack should go right to the consumer 
> and
>     it should go in nice glossy magazines with the right photos and ad copy 
> that
>     explains to the end consumer precisely why pure iron is what they want. 
>  Play
>     on the mystique, beauty, durability... get some ass kicking photos that 
> show
>     the warm, smooth textures of PI... you have to have the wallets 
> creaming in
>     their jeans for something made of this, whether it be a railing, 
> furniture or
>     a fine art piece.  Show mixed media pieces, perhaps something that has 
> been
>     enameled.  Maybe some of the guys could do a few high art pieces that 
> you could
>     have photo access to in exchange for some material.  One hand washes 
> the other
>     and all that. You basically have to wag the dog, and it can most 
> certainly
>     be done, but it takes cashola.
> 
>     It seems to me that you have put entirely too much effort into this
>     endeavor just to walk away.  Your marketing, while noble in terms of
>     enthusiam, heart, and effort, may not possess the polished power that
>     it probably needs in order to make PI a household name.  That would
>     require non-trivial capital, but if there is indeed an untapped market
>     of sufficient mass, and if you still love this product and the whole 
> idea
>     behind it, then I think you'd all be acting prematurely in walking away
>     without at least looking into a professional marketing effort.
> 
>     If you have such an analysis done and put together a good business 
> plan,
>     you can get some pretty serious funding in the way of small business 
> loans
>     and all that.  Most markets are don't exist until someone creates it.
>     The job of the marketeer is to let the buying public know what they are
>     missing and just how badly they need what you have to offer.  This is
>     the way it's done in the serious world of business and if you decide 
> you
>     are also determined, I'd bet you could do it too, all other things 
> being 
>     equal.
> 
>     These are just my random thoughts on the topic.  Whatever you decide, I
>     wish you all the best.  You certainly made a very good faith effort and
>     I like PI a whole lot and will be sorry to see it go.
> 
> I think you need to look beyond your intended usages, essentially for the
> home smith, and think how this might be of interest for other applications.
> The magnetic thing was a start, but who else might use it?
> 
>     You are right on the money.

Oh!


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