E.Lo, I'ts obviouse when reading your posts you havel a very level headed thinking mentality, thumbs up, you reside in the top 10% of the population.
Before I respond with some marketing tips for you let me address a few things if I may.
First, and this is important, be darn carfull selling a product that is less than perfect. This can make or break your reputation in a heartbeat. The first bow I sold went for $375 my cost was about $5,000. Sounds crazy but that is what I spent building and destroying product before going to market. Keep in mind bow building was supposed to be just a hobby, but you know how it goes. I made bows and borrowed them to friends to use and abuse, then brought them back in the shop for destructive testing. Back when I started the internet was just a dream and other bowmakers kept secrets to themselves, so you can imagine how tough it was for me to start out. Now days things are a bit different. I would build a couple of ukuleles and send them to builders with a good reputation and let them give you feedback. As crazy as it sounds, you should do some type of destructive testing after beating up on a ukulele for a while.
Second, I would be a bit shy about building any concept ukuleles until I have the process and fundamentals down perfect. Odds are the more concentrated your effort is in fundamentals, the chances for success increase ten fold.
OK, lets get to the meat and potatos. The fact that you are just starting on your journey as a craftsman is great and in the world of marketing there are only a couple of things to keep in mind from the start. So here we go.
MIKE'S MARKETING RULE ( there is only one rule )
Keep records of everything! If you fail to do this nothing else matters. In business we have three groups of people we market to.
STRANGERS
PROSPECTS
CUSTOMERS
When a billboard is up next to a road that everyone drives by they are advertising to strangers. NO exceptions.
When one ,out of the thousands that see it, call, they are now a PROSPECT. No exceptions.
PROSPECTS create CUSTOMERS. No exceptions.
OK, its a bit booring but very important. So lets figure out what all this means to you. The best way to explain this is by example.
Go to the De Silva ukulele website and what do you notice? A newsletter???? AH! thats because he understands marketing. He knows the rules about STRANGERS, PROSPECTS, CUSTOMERS.
He knows the billboard next to the road very well. X quantity of people go to the site and then X quantity of people sign up for a newsletter. Now as a good marketer he should concentrate his efforts turning a prospect into a customer. The one thing he probably knows is once you have a customer you can sell to him for life. He now does marketing for you ( word of mouth ). Thats it E. Lo. sounds simple.........thats because it is.
Lets put some real life examples into play. From my experience, I bet that the ukulele builders out there spend coutless hours returning e-mails and phone calls. I know its true because its the law of marketing. It's what you do with the e-mails and phone calls that matter most.
Want to know what the toughest thing as a bow builder was for me? It's understanding that customers have a choice and my bows, as much as I loved them, were no different than anyone else who was building bows, in the eyes of the stranger. Thats where marketing comes into play. When a stranger calls what do you tell them????? If you have no plan of attack you will answer calls and e-mails for the rest of your life and like rolling the dice once in a while someone will decide to buy one from you. This is not how a smart business operates. Everyone you come in contact with falls into a category. NO EXCEPTIONS.
People in business who don't keep records of prospect and customers are doomed to the law of averages. If I have a notebook or a spread sheet of prospects ( people who have expressed interest ) it's like gold in your pocket. As a proper business you have an obligation to do the best you can to give the customer exactly what he wants.
Once you understand this concept, NOW you can begin to design a website, logo, etc. Remember this for sure.
Fancy artistic logos do NOT sell product
Fancy artistic websites do NOT sell product
Fancy artistic advertising does NOTHING for a customer
Fancy and artistic things in the world of marketing is foolish and does nothing for a customer in helping him make a choice. Keep the fancy and artistic things on the ukulele only.
Does any of this make sense? This is a good place to stop for now. If you don't understand this with absolute clarity we cannot go any further. Any questions by you or anyone else, let er rip. Mike J