Windsor Chair Business Promotion Tips

The following are tips submitted by chairmakers and our experiences in dealing with other artisan/craft businesses.  We hope you find them helpful.  

• Be prepared to loose money for several years. - You must really enjoy it - or you won't be able to work long and hard enough to be successful.
• Seek out places to show your work - it must sell itself. In my case, I submitted to a jury process to get accepted in my State's artisan program and was able to place my work in the program's galleries. Even though the galleries' commission was too steep to result in many sales, people sought me out after seeing the work in the galleries and I made many sales.
• Don't rely on newspaper articles - I've had some big ones but no sales from them.
• GET ON THE WEB!  The days of survival without the internet as a tool are limited.  There is an upcoming generation (with good earnings) that rely almost totally on the internet to find goods and services.  If you do not want to have your own website, then find other sites to list your name & contact information on. State crafter sites, woodworking sites etc.  If you do not have email, get it.  Sign up for a free account somewhere like Yahoo and check your email online at least weekly.  This will make it infinitely easier for folks to contact you.  Using these techniques will make you available 24/7 and it costs absolutely nothing.  
• I can't stress this enough - LINK UP WITH OTHER CHAIRMAKERS ON YOUR WEBPAGE. Don't think that your potential customers will only find your page or that you can prevent them from finding your competitors' pages. YOU ARE LIVING IN THE INFORMATION AGE AND CUSTOMERS WILL BE INFORMED. There are anough different styles and tastes among our customers so that there is plenty of work for all of us. Promote our craft and all of your colleages. Help the customer be informed by linking up with other chairmakers and you will be rewarded. Don't link up the easy way, by paying someone or linking with non-relevant or questionably relevant other sites or mega-link outfits. You will be punished, not rewarded by that. Do it chairmaker by chairmaker.
• Take in all of we pilgrims' opinions and decide on your own route. I doubt that any two of us took exactly the same route.
• Know your market. Identify the people in your area that will be buying your product. As much a pain the butt to deal with as the Architects and Interior Designers are - they have the clients with the interest and budget for custom furniture. A good relationship with the design community will allow you to piggyback along with their promotion of their business. Establish a reliable and timely ability to meet their needs and it can pay off. Do not allow them to rush you into meeting unrealistic deadlines. When you demonstrate you can deliver the articles as requested and on time you have the basis for a good, sane, relationship with the potential for significant revenue. - Joe Barry
• Call up newspapers and offer to give them a story about how you make authentic 18th century chairs by hand. I have seen many of these articles and its tough to buy better advertising, only you get it for free.
• I have gone to local heritage festivals and 18th century reenactments, and have worked on the shaving horse demonstrating green woodworking. There you have a crowd of people interested in 18th century things, and who recognize the value of hand work, & authenticity.
• If you donate a chair to a charity for an auction or raffle you will earn lots of good will, some publicity, and a tax write off. The right organization (be smart about who you donate a $1K chair to! Or donate a something simpler like a stool.) will work hard to promote the value of your chair, to advance ticket sales, giving you lots of good will from a well respected third party.
• Look for publications with your target audience in mind (period or country magazines etc.) Some of these still offer reasonable advertising rates, and a couple of ads at prime times during the year can be well worth it.

Money Savers

Bigger is not always better.  Start your business within your finances.  Advertising is important. Weigh your options and comparative price everything.  We live in the era of the internet, so you do not always have to accept the first high quote.  Here are some tips to save money.

1. Design and print your own business cards, or have someone design them for you and get the template for printing.  This enables you to easily change your email address, phone number etc. as circumstances change.
2. Take (or have taken) a nice photo representing your work.  This can be a display of chairs, one particular piece or even a close up of detail work.  Make it professional because this will represent your workmanship. Use that photo to get postcards printed with the photo and all your relevant information. These postcards can announce your workshop opening , shows, open studio etc.  Take these cards to all shows, and find businesses that may be willing to place them in their shops.  Following is one of many sources to make postcards at very reasonable pricing (they do a great job.)  I got 4000 cards made for under $150 and they have been a tremendous advertising tool.  Overnight Prints.  My personal recommendation is to keep the information to the minimum, so it does not become dated.  You can always print up stickers to announce shows/open houses etc. and attach them to the cards.
3. If you have a color brochure printed, keep your price list as a separate black and white addition. Then you do not have to pay for a reprint everytime you raise a price.

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