Not so obvious luther tools

BR Ukuleles

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Brad Donaldson's thread on his new website got me thinking that there is a lot of stuff that we have to do that is not directly related to building instruments, but does have a great deal to do with how we present and market them. Since so much of this is not very intuitive and lets face it, down right foreign to many that were born more than 20 years ago. So I thought that I'd tell you what I use to get some of that across.

First up, I work on a Macbook Pro so software is Apple centric. But I'm seeing that over 1/2 of the hits on my website are on Apple products, so it seems that the instrument type of people are gravitating to this platform.

For web development I gave iWeb a go, but it was just way too limiting. Dreamweaver I had used for years on a PC but while it does everything under the sun, none of it is easy to do, and learning curve is extremely steep. Cost is way too high as well. I settled on Rapidweaver and use a "theme" that is both iPhone and iPad compatible so I don't need to worry about whether navigation is going to work on those devices. It will publish a web site to just about anywhere and doesn't require any special extensions to work a basic site. It does require php to run some things but my site doesn't use php, so you can do a lot without it.

Images are handled with Apple's Aperture. It supports Photoshop plugins if that is of interest to you. Exports in any format that you can think of.

Movies are handled in iMovie. An Apple program that is part of every system. I shoot them with my iPhone or a Nikon DSLR.
 
Brad Donaldson's thread on his new website got me thinking that there is a lot of stuff that we have to do that is not directly related to building instruments, but does have a great deal to do with how we present and market them. Since so much of this is not very intuitive and lets face it, down right foreign to many that were born more than 20 years ago. So I thought that I'd tell you what I use to get some of that across.

First up, I work on a Macbook Pro so software is Apple centric. But I'm seeing that over 1/2 of the hits on my website are on Apple products, so it seems that the instrument type of people are gravitating to this platform.

For web development I gave iWeb a go, but it was just way too limiting. Dreamweaver I had used for years on a PC but while it does everything under the sun, none of it is easy to do, and learning curve is extremely steep. Cost is way too high as well. I settled on Rapidweaver and use a "theme" that is both iPhone and iPad compatible so I don't need to worry about whether navigation is going to work on those devices. It will publish a web site to just about anywhere and doesn't require any special extensions to work a basic site. It does require php to run some things but my site doesn't use php, so you can do a lot without it.

Images are handled with Apple's Aperture. It supports Photoshop plugins if that is of interest to you. Exports in any format that you can think of.

Movies are handled in iMovie. An Apple program that is part of every system. I shoot them with my iPhone or a Nikon DSLR.
Whooooosh!!!:eek:...Straight over the the top of my head :confused:..Well I was born over 70 years ago.
 
An interesting topic Allen. Stepping back even further, it is important for new or aspiring luthiers to realize that building nice sounding, easy to play and good looking instruments is only about one third of the equation. Time management and marketing are the other main pieces of the puzzle. If you expect to make any money at this you have to be fast and efficient. One of the nicest guitars I ever saw was a first instrument. But it took the person seven years to build! Marketing is even more complex, but vital to anyone's success. I have always taken the easy path and have been a part time luthier, with a real job, or now, with a pension to pay the bills. My early succes was a direct result of having a high end guitar store carry my instruments. The stores owner was very good at pricing and selling instruments, and just having my mandolins there gave me instant credibility. I learned a tremendous amount from that owner in my first years. Granted, he took half of what my instruments sold for, was it worth it, absolutely. Now, it is much easier to sell your things directly, but getting a handle on specific marketing skills is still difficult. Deciding how much to sell your stuff for can be one of the most troublesome decisions one is faced with. Bob Benedetto's book on building arch top guitars has afinal section on marketing. It is short with not a lot of detail, but is well worth studying.

Brad
 
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Pricing and marketing are probably the most difficult thing to come to grips with. Building a quality instrument is a walk in the park compared to them.

I've found that if they are priced too low, then people who are serious about buying a hand made instrument just pass you buy. It's also helped to have Rick Turner look at my instruments and tell me that I was asking 1/2 of what they should be. So prices went up and low and behold they start to sell.

I've got a good mate Micheal (Localele) who says it's just as easy not to sell an instrument for what it should be priced at, as one that is 50% less. So might as well get what your time, materials, equipment and tools are costing you. Exact same thing that Rick said to me last year as well.

Now, the marketing is something that I'm sure that everyone doesn't do enough of, or targeted well. I struggle with it constantly and I'm sure there are areas of vast improvement I could pursue. But like you, I don't need to make this job as my bread and butter, and it's still an absolute joy to go out into the shed everyday and work with the wood. Speaking of which, I've got some glue squeeze out to attend to.
 
Thanks for bringing up this topic Allen. It seems that marketing, presentation, and advertising are things we all struggle with.
Unfortunatly, most luthiers don't make very much money, but we can help reduce marketing costs by leveraging social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc.) Of course this is time consuming, but when used properly, they can be quite effective. I havent signed up on twitter yet, but i think its about time.

I just want to build ukes!
 
I hear ya about time. I've only got so much of it, and I've found that I really have to focus where I spend it. And I'm getting more precious about my time the older I get. I've learnt a few things over the last 15 or so years about computers etc. but I'm struggling with all this social media. A lot of it I find is just a colossal waste of my time.
 
A lot of it I find is just a colossal waste of my time.
So little time, so many things to do... Some of these technologies can be useful, but Twitter seems to be a digital variant on writing on bathroom walls. IMO. Not sure how it qualifies as a marketing tool.
 
So little time, so many things to do... Some of these technologies can be useful, but Twitter seems to be a digital variant on writing on bathroom walls. IMO. Not sure how it qualifies as a marketing tool.

Its a marketing to for many reasons. It finds buyers and sellers. It avoids one way targeted marketing by encouraging dialog. It gives you instant feedback. You can post links to websites, news, and videos. And it allows you to reach across the globe to new customers, etc.......this is just the tip of the iceberg. It simply gives you another platform to interact with potential customers. At first glance it may seem like a waste of time, but don't write it off. Whether you like it or not, this is the way the world is going. Even if we don't like it, we should always try to adapt to new market trends.
 
Timely post for me. I have been trying to build a website for the last few days using dreamweaver. If I still had hair on the top of my head it would be gone by now. I haven't built a website in 5 years and have forgotten just about everything. There is a free photo album product if you just want to get your pictures up there called Jalbum. There are a lot of different skins in jabum for doing that. A few of the skins will build small website that would be suitable for luthiers.
 
For the small builder or one man shop there are so many more options for marketing than there ever has been before the Internet. Back in the day, a builder would have to spread the word by mouth, often restricting himself to the few and far between walk-in sales or selling to local shops. As the builder got more funding he might get some brochures printed up and hire a sales rep. Of course that meant the builder was getting paid far less for his work but at least the word was getting around. Now, with the Internet anyone can have a "store". That doesn't mean it'll be successful but at least we all have the same opportunity.
I figure about two thirds of my time is actually working with wood and building ukes. The rest of my time is maintaining the "store" and talking to people. Even a trip to the post office can eat up a good chunk of the day for me. Then there's updating the web site, taking pictures and posting customer updates, doing the books, ordering parts, (looking for parts!) answering emails, paying bills, Internet research, packing and shipping ukes, entertaining shop visitors, attending uke festivals and guild meetings, fixing jigs or building new ones, driving into town for supplies, sweeping the floor, the list goes on. In short, everything you would have to do if you had a brick and mortar store. With every uke I sell there's a minimum of 10 to 15 hours worth of conversation before it gets to the customer. (Sometimes a lot more!) Then there's the time spent on this forum, or others, facebook, whatever. Now that I think of it, maybe I spend half my time doing "other" things, managing the business. But to be successful at this you've got to be able to do it all. (And it almost seems like too much!) The only way I have found to keep my head above water in this business is to work a whole lot of hours. In my case that means an average of 70 hours a week. As stretched as I am, at this point I'd have to hire someone to Twitter for me.
But the point that Jake is making is that business is done very differently these days and you've got to adapt in order to survive. More importantly though I think, is working in harmony with what fits your style. A builder with a shop on Main Street is going to approach it very differently than the guy who lives and works in the jungle. We have more opportunities than ever before to find a way to make it work for us. We just have to wear many hats, even if they don't feel comfortable at first.
 
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Might I bring up a kind of difficult point?

If you're going to spend time on "Social Media"...like this very forum or others like it, you might consider spending less time talking to fellow luthiers and more time to potentially paying customers. Preaching to the choir is fun...but it doesn't pay the bills. This is why I've severely limited my on-line luthier forum chatting in the past year or so. We need to convince the playing public that ukes are worth more than a couple of hundred bucks. We don't need to convince one another of that or spend too much time whining about it...

The other thing is that it really helps to get out and play...to be a real part of the uke playing community. My "new" band "Uke Ellington" just played at an event in Carmel yesterday, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, and I intentionally did not make a big deal out of being a uke maker...those that needed to know do know or asked. We're playing a set this week at the Uke Club meeting on Thursday, and again at a party on Friday. We'll record this summer, and at least have an EP of our jazz and standards repertoire, and my ukes will be featured prominently both as audio and in pictures on the cover. I'm hoping that recording will wind up being the best business card I've got to promote the sales of my ukes.

You're just not going to get anywhere unless you get out, show off what you do, yes, play uke reasonably decently and have some little tricks up your sleeve that at least give the impression that you can play well. I gained the respect of our Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz not so much by just showing up with Compass Rose ukes, but by being a player in the house warm-up band about a dozen times in 2009 and 2010. That did more than the previous three years of showing up with an instrument and just being there.

Get out and play your instruments...that's what they're for.
 
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A good website is essential if your local market is limited. Having lived in the US I know that there is a massive difference between buying attitudes there and in the UK where I now live. Like Chuck I spend at least one day a week doing non building tasks - make no mistake, it is a hard business! Social networking will start to yield real results in the future when like the internet, it becomes a 'norm',
 
Hi Rick, good to hear from you mate. And that must be why I've not seen you around much at all.

And everything you say about getting out there is spot on. Just have to get geared up to make it out the door after a long day at workbench. But when I do, it really does work.
 
It simply gives you another platform to interact with potential customers. At first glance it may seem like a waste of time, but don't write it off.

I stand corrected... I really was only questioning Twitter, with it's 140 character limit. But after checking out the Wizards in on-line instrument marketeers, Char and Gordon at Mya-Moe Ukuleles, I have to say I am pretty amazed at what they do with that 140. Didn't realize that you could create such a presence with their wonderful photo gallery and customized presentation pages.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Woof! Or should I say Tweet!
 
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Allen, the other reason I dropped off the map was a prostate cancer diagnosis last February. Got it taken care of...robotic surgery...and I'm doing much better now, though I'm hopelessly behind on way too much. I'm used to being able to work very long hours...and I'm just getting up to regular hours. Learning...the hard way...to say "no" more often; otherwise I just disappoint too many clients who want things faster than I can manage now. Also, yes, playing music a lot more..."Uke Ellington", a duo, trio, quartet depending on... We hope to record at least an EP this summer.
 
Allen, the other reason I dropped off the map was a prostate cancer diagnosis last February. Got it taken care of...robotic surgery...and I'm doing much better now, though I'm hopelessly behind on way too much. I'm used to being able to work very long hours...and I'm just getting up to regular hours. Learning...the hard way...to say "no" more often; otherwise I just disappoint too many clients who want things faster than I can manage now. Also, yes, playing music a lot more..."Uke Ellington", a duo, trio, quartet depending on... We hope to record at least an EP this summer.

Glad you've got that behind you Rick and are doing better. It also serves as a reminder to get that PSA done...... I hate growing up.
Being able to say no is a skill harder to learn than most of the other things we do.
Good luck.
 
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