How To Market To Leatherworkers

[EmbossingDieCompany]

Hi Ray,

I agree with you that Tandy has has created a standardized form of stamp......and I'm certainly not trying to re-invent that. The majority of the Tandy stamps are less that 1" and very generic.......if you want a 3/4" shamrock stamp or a 1" stamp using one of their six available fonts, then Tandy is the way to go, no doubt about it. But what if you want a 4" letter using the Walt Disney font........or an 8" company logo.......or a 4" Damask pattern......or a whole poem? Tandy doesn't offer those......and never will. And if you want to spend $200 or more, then a metal stamp is also the way to go. But my dies are low-cost and designed for limited use or unique projects. Also, my dies do not require a mechanical press (although that would make it easier to use).......some of those pictures I posted were made using a mallet......and almost any of my dies can be used that way......just use the double sided tape technique to mount it on a small piece of stainless steel that I provide.

For the "craft pasta machine".......just type that into Google and you will see a ton of them for sale for less than $25. They're usually sold to people using them for polymer clay.......but in effect, they are a small table top press......you can place one of my dies against a piece of leather (ie. like a coaster shape or a bookmark shape) and run it through the pasta machine......and in less than 2 seconds, your image is embossed on the leather. You could take that same die and run off 100 coasters in less than one hour. It's a neat little machine....but again, limited to six inch widths.

You mention the "hobby press".......I guess that was kind of what I was looking for........the names of some of the publications that leathercrafters read and trust.

Edited September 17, 2010 by EmbossingDieCompany

[Johanna]

Ummmm...the way you get the word out to your target market is to advertise here on leatherworker.net! I'll be happy to set up an account with you that matches needs to budget.

Why do people think of the magazines first when we get over 50,000 unique visitors a week? We're not even in the same ballpark, and we have (I am repeating myself) your target market, right here. Best advertising value for the buck

Johanna

[Spinner]

Ummmm...the way you get the word out to your target market is to advertise here on leatherworker.net! I'll be happy to set up an account with you that matches needs to budget.

Why do people think of the magazines first when we get over 50,000 unique visitors a week? We're not even in the same ballpark, and we have (I am repeating myself) your target market, right here. Best advertising value for the buck

Johanna

Johanna's right. I own 2 copies of the journal (don't even know how I got them) and 3 books. The rest of my learning and the list of suppiers/instructions bookmarks I have all came from this forum and the adverts above.

[funnygirl62221]

Hi,

I own a small sign business in NY. One of my customers approached me a few months back about making a sign out of leather. She wanted to emboss her logo into leather, so I came up with a process to make large inexpensive leather embossing dies. Now that I have perfected this process, I would like to market it to other leatherworkers and I'm trying to figure out the best way to reach/find them.

I can make a leather embossing die out of almost any text font (I have over 6,000), any graphic, or any logo and soon......any photograph. I can make dies that are 1"x1" up to 24"x24". Whether it is a wedding monogram, a graphic of a lake for small tourist town, a family crest or a business logo for leather coasters......I think it will be popular with hobby and professional leatherworkers.

So, other than a good website.........how do I reach out and find leatherworkers to target market to? I doubt I could ever get my dies into a Tandy store or their catalog......but their customers are the ones I need to reach. The only leatherworker magazine I have come across is Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal....are there any others? I assume there must be leatherworking groups......but I can't seem to find any locally.

So any advice that anyone can give me on the best way to find and market to leatherworkers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

I saw the Spock stamp and my nerd meter went to def con 3! How much and where do I get one??

Seriously, I would love to know more about your prices and stamps, especially a maker's mark. And to put my 2 cents in on advertising, the place I look for leatherworking goodies besides Tandy is EBAY. I would definitely check out your website if I saw it at Leatherworker.net too.

[Peter Ellis]

I subscribed for several years to LCSJ. It's a good magazine and probably the best print media outlet for reaching this niche.

But, Johanna is absolutely right. This forum - this community - is the place I come to for ideas and advice about equipment, materials and suppliers. I bought a nearly $3,000 sewing machine from a company that advertises here based on reviews and advice I got here. I'll be buying steel rule dies from an outfit recommended to me by people here. I haven't been able to finalize the design for my maker's mark, but when I do I'll order it made by someone recommended here.

See a pattern ?

[UKRay]

Steve,

I couldn't help but notice that you side-stepped my 'type of plastic' and 'robustness' questions? Perhaps that was an oversight?

Ray

[bkingery]

Ummmm Embossing die dude Where did you go????, I dont know if you realize it or not but on this site there are literally THOUSANDS of people from all over the world that are and could be interested in getting your products and you just disapeared into the wild blue. If it were me I would keep in touch with the people on here, try to do some samples try to find out for real what it is we would want, TEST TO YOUR TARGET. I would personnally like to try out some of your stuff,

Bryan