Firing your MBA a Note to your CEO
If you can set up a situation where an expenditure of $X brings in $X+1, you're "in like Flynn," as they used to say. If you can't, then you'd better hope your boss buys the old "we're investing in branding" line, else you're "out the door." The great thing about the net is that, even more so in some cases than junk mail, one can quantify things that in traditional advertising were just wild-assed guesses. But the flip-side is that this puts the campaign-designer's feet to the fire; there's much less "fog of war." Me, I try to make sure that every ad I pay for (or swap) generates more income than it costs, and that they all have my incredibly memorable domain name mentioned on them. That way, any "branding mind share" is gravy.
Today is a sad day for us here at Gunmuse.com its close to the end of 2003 and here we sit on top of one of the greatest resources to the firearm manufactures and we sit here alone. I had conversations with 17 major manufactures who told me that their 2004 plans for marketing were set and for me to send a proposal for mid next year. 17 Companies all sharing the same brain. Because from my end the conversation didn’t change I heard the same programs I heard last year that didn’t work. Wow did that just screw every retailer for yet another year. Why because these same people received a proposal this year and ‘round-filed’ it without even taking a look at what was happening here. No clue that I am THEE premier gun portal for potential firearm buyers. I was having a discussion with Ken at SilverMallard Marketing about this the other day and we came to same conclusion. Educate or FIRE YOUR MBA's.
The information we provide was not available to them in college, your webmaster will B.S. you to keep his job. Frankly your staff's don’t even have the real world time to learn it on their own. These people promote firearm manufactures the same way they would promote car stereos or toasters. I am seeing the same cycle of bad ideas. Hey CEO's you can get the same bad advice for 80 bucks out of any college marketing book. Oh yeah and it was usually written by a liberal and we know how well they handle money. GunMuse brought to the table marketing strategies that were clever, sound, and forward thinking in every way. On top of that the costs were so low they put to shame what you have been spending in the past. The major hunting magazines are not for sale at 10 cents on the dollar because the owners are feeling generous. Your market changed. The Manufacture websites are built with flash and heavy graphic loads that isolate 90%+ of the consumers in our market. Gunmuse is not ‘Ugly’ by accident.
One of my famous saying around here is “Ugly sells”. Offline our industries current actions are a joke to the buyers. As I talk to consumers less than 5% actually believe an article written about a firearm. Why? There nothing bad to say about anything that gun has to offer. Every gun ever built has been flawless and cross-marketable to ALL firearm owners. What’s sad is the writers of this fluff garbage don't even get free weapons only a "Writers Discount". 2 years ago I made the change that if your Multi-million dollar company can't spare me a gun to beat up in an honest review you don't need advertising from my site.
If I were writing articles for a discounts on guns I would never write about what sells only about what I would like to own. How honest is that? Co-op programs have been bunk they haven't included Internet marketing from qualified sites. They are cleverly complicated as to limit the actual payout. Payment is delayed as long as possible. For these reasons very few take advantage of them. So your strategy is put out marketing that doesn’t get to market? Most manufactures are absolutely techno-phobic in their thinking. If you think that online advertising and online stores are hurting you then your afraid of the future.
Do you really expect the consumer who is buying EVERYTHING else online to be inconvenienced because you don’t like it? Hey we know what the problems are with low-ball sales, that there is an amplification of the SAME problems we have with Brick and Mortar. Had your Marketing staff not round filed my report you would of seen a bullet proof plan to fix BOTH. Go all the way back up to the first paragraph if your co-op dollars don't generate actual sales don't spend them. But NEVER limit the creativity of an American to make a buck. Maybe they could show you a place that is worth advertising at. Television ads, I keep hearing more about this. Let me say one thing if you think television is the Outdoor channel your wasting your money. Why? It’s like passing the collection plate only to the choir. Not to mention the Yawn factor of most of those shows. If you’re going to preach say it loud and to a big crowd. We have found that Tales of the Gun on the History Channel and R Lee's Mail Call actually generate TONS of foot traffic, more than any television ads we sampled. Dealers can buy these adds at $9 a spot from local cable companies.
Use your head generate sales for the industry by consolidating those ads. That is why we put the dealer finder into play. So that you could Co-op some national advertising with other manufactures (That was in that proposal you round filed) GunMuse has a 87% traffic response of NON-Gun owners what that means is that 3-7 million people a year that are here are so with a Blank mind about what to do and how to get involved in the sport of shooting. Not ONE NOT ONE let me say it again NOT ONE major manufacture site with MILLIONS Of visitors a year has even taken the effort to ad a link to ORGs like Three-Gun, USPSA.ORG or GunMuse to get folks involved in their community with OTHER SHOOTERS. What a waste of the money you already spend. GunMuse will be adding in a Skeet Range locator, Trap Range locator or Event Locator soon (That was in that packet you round filed) These places become the bragging rights ground of who has the best equipment but hey you wouldn't want anyone to actually go, compete and have fun then leave thinking they need to buy something to be a better competitor would you. GunMuse is developing a youth program to replace 4-H (OUR ONLY NATIONWIDE YOUTH PROGRAM LEFT) Why replace it because its already under attack in some areas. Manufactures are not worried that their average buyer is now 51 years old. I am sure that the younger guys who can afford $30,000 rice burner cars with $5000 stereo wouldn't be interested in competing in any other sports. Especially one you don't seem to outgrow.
When the rest of the industry went down 40% before 9.11 our store was UP 22% that was BEFORE. Why? Our average buyer was 26-35 years old. So manufactures keep following the herd of lemmings with bad advice and our industry will go the way of the Dinosaur. If you think your stock values are bad this year wait until next year when ANOTHER 30% of the home shift from Paper to Computer for their searches of products. It’s estimated that 70% of all US homes will be online in 2004. People with computers don't buy Magazines to read about products. Like it or not your old circles of buying advertising are going to completely change the question is are you going to wait until your stock hits the floor and they hire a new CEO that understands which end of gun is which and has clue how consumers are looking for information and what needs to be done to get in front of them. For you stock holders in these companies I would be happy to send a copy of my resume. But I think a 300% growth while the rest of the industry declined should be proof enough but hey what do I know its only money.
Author: GunMuse Date: Wednesday Sep 22 2004 19:20:44 pm
