And I have nothing to do. How can that be? Most of the builders 35 miles north have more work than they can shake a stick at and I am down to building myself more bikes. There's not a lot of profit in those bike ya know.
How can this be? I'm I not cool enough, do my bikes suck, am I not sexy enough on the bike? Maybe, no way and only in the winter. What can I do to generate some business? Should I turn my blog into a shameless promotion machine? Nah. Perhaps more youtube postings would help?
One thing I could do is a little advertising. That's why I'm putting an ad in CX Magazine. They anticipate distributing 2,500 copies of their first issue and I'll have a half page ad in there. I better up the minutes on my phone because it should be ringing off the hook!
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6 comments:
I have found print ads to be of dubious value. And for the record I am absolutely ashamed of the blatant self promotion. I cry myself to sleep every night. Now do a review of the glasses!
Have you ever thought or already thrown one of your cross frames under someone racing in the pro level to get the word out, I have yet to hear of your frames and yet they are quite beautiful!
Racers are a cheap bastards (present company included), but they will jump on a deal. I think you need to focus on a market segment that you can win. Skip race bikes - nobody races steel anymore (sorry) and even all those super-fast Cat4s are on team bikes these days. Target some other markets that are especially popular in the PNW:
Rain bikes
Cyclocross (single speed!)
Commuter bikes
Offer low-margin pricing to teams who can order ~4 frames. Get really competitive on price and you'll make money. I just ordered a single-speed cross frame for ~$400 (no fork) and it's freakin' chromoly! If you could come in at $600 for a stock-dimension frame with decent materials you'd certainly get some customers. Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd - and you need to start one!
(I've been plugging you as best I can on BikeHugger - hopefully it'll pay off soon)
Seriously, I think Andrew has a point. the sports industry is filled with big hitters and being a small shop is all about your niche. what is it? then aim at that crowd with laser like focus.
Anon-It's in the works.
Andrew- I'm certainly open to building any bike a customer wants. SS, MTB, rain...whatever. Although trying to hit a $600 price point is next to impossible. There's a reason your frame only cost $400...but I won't get into that.
I certainly appreciate all your help on bikehugger. That reminds me, I should send you a t-shirt.
P-Dogg- Right now my niche is...not having a niche. But I like the idea of using lazers.
well, what I mean is you have to figure out what you offer that the others don't.
for us it's simple- we offer kick ass lenses that none of the discounters can come close to and a personal connection you can't get from the bigger boys.
the biggest advantage we have is that Carl Zeiss is well known so we can fall back on their name to establish our lens quality.
but, keep in mind that we've been plugging away at the grassroots level for 3 years to develop a core group of loyal athletes to spread the word.
i'd hit the bike custom made for you angle over and over again.x
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