This was a great suggestion from @Coco_PMW: lets focus on how to grow framebuilding either as a profession or a hobby.
I can’t say we’ve figured it out, but let’s share some ways. I will start:
Bike Ride Events:
I hang out with the team at Ornot on their weekly ride. They are a small, high-end, domestic clothing company. One common thing I hear from their new customers are “I saw you (the company) at a bike race!”.
It makes sense: someone who pays $200 and takes a few days off work to ride 100 miserable miles will probably also have no problem buying $250 bib shorts. I think they also respect that the owner is out there with them, riding and suffering.
We have gone to Grinduro CA a few times. I don’t know if I can trace any direct sales, but people tell me they heard of us there.
Plus, riding bikes is fun, so is it really marketing?
For me I definitely notice an uptick from being at events and also just being out on the trails especially at focus points, trailhead or meeting points. Someone always asks about the bike Im riding and then its a chance to educate.
Hmm maybe I need to organise a UK bikepark autumn tour…for “marketing”
Seriously though, good thread. Hope people smarter than me can give me some tips.
For me the shows, Bespoked, etc are great for exposure. Everyone there tends to talk about direct sales but for me it’s not about that, not really. It’s about getting my bikes into Pinkbike, Singletrack, etc etc. and just for people to go away and tell their friends about the sick bikes and the nice guy making them (hopefully).
I don’t wanna go there as a salesman to sell my bikes. I just want to create buzz and reach more riders and that seems to work well.
Almost every customer I’ve gotten has reached out because they knew me personally, knew of me through a friend-of-a-friend, or something like that. I guess my main marketing strategy is being really nice to everyone I meet and working to create a kind and caring bike community? That’s obviously not super scalable if you’re trying to make 50 frames/year but it’s worked out well for the 1-2 frames/mo sort of pace.
I think a tricky thing with such a high-ticket purchase like a custom bike frame is that people tend to think about it for a year+ before making a decision so unless you’re doing something to incentivize a more instant purchase (limited time discount, pre-order deadline, limited edition drops, etc), you have a lot of potential customers who may never convert to real ones.
Decades ago I was dipping my toe in the water at Community College. Took a Ceramics class for the hell of it and I remember the Professor saying that a “real” Artist is someone who can make a living (or close to it) on their art. Selling / Schmoozing / Marketing was just as important as creating.
Wasn’t it the late framebuilder, Bruce Gordon who said something along the lines of "making them is easy - selling them is HARD . . .?
I’d suggest getting involved with forums or pages of some kind. Offer suggestions when someone has a bike specific question, especially in situations where a custom option may be better than off the off the shelf type. Don’t say things like “shoot me a pm if you want more details about my offering”. It’s better to say something like “I’ve had great feedback from the custom frames I’ve built for clients to address XYZ issue you’re having”. You’re dropping the cookie crumb to peak someones interest as well as helping the community as a whole. Become the “expert” on the page. I’ve built a very successful mobile bike repair business using this method.
I think bicycles are a little like cars in that you race on Sunday and sell on Monday. Hooking up with a local racing/riding club is a good move. Whether they are just training for the local 50 mile charity ride or are doing all the local crits or gravel races, it’s good exposure to give back to the sport. Offer a team discount if you’re just getting started. Join the club and ride your bike. Or start a club/team to do local rides/races. Racers/enthusiasts tend to have many bikes and ride in many disciplines, and they influence friends.
