The following article was posted on Workbench Marketing on September 1st, 2010. Workbench marketing is the blog of online marketing guru Alison Heath. Alison’s blog covers everything from blog optimization to marketing and pricing your work. Check out Workbench Marketing for regular information about marketing for woodworkers. Congratulations and best wishes from me and all of CustomMade.com to Alison on her wedding!
The newlywed! Alison Heath of Workbench Marketing
Hi, this is Alison. I got married last Saturday so while I’m on my honeymoon, I asked a few of my friends and associates to write guest posts for you on topics that I don’t normally cover. Today I’m featuring an interview I did with CustomMade’s Chris Cioffi, the face behind CustomMade’s social media efforts. For those not familiar with the site, it’s a destination site for customers looking for custom made furniture and cabinetry. They maintain a Facebook page, a Twitter presence and a blog that promotes their efforts to the public at large, improving awareness of the quality and availability of custom made furniture. Take it away, Chris!
Workbench Marketing: How did Custommade.com get its start?
CustomMade: CustomMade started over 14 years ago by one woodworker as a community for woodworkers to log on and share their work with their colleagues. Co-founders Mike Salguero and Seth Rosen found the site and noticed it was underdeveloped, but had a good amount of traffic and an enormous amount of potential. As a result, Mike and Seth purchased CustomMade in 2009 and immediately began working on revolutionizing the way custom products are bought and sold. Within a year, a community of 350 woodworkers has grown in number and expanded across mediums to over 1,000 of the highest caliber artisans in the world.
WM: What are the goals of the site?
CM: We are striving to break down the barrier between consumer and creator, exposing and debunking the myths and taboo that typically bar the communication required to have a custom piece made. We believe strongly that custom is a service, not a product. In this spirit, we aim to educate consumers on the process, quality, and other benefits of custom, while at the same time allowing smaller less marketed work, which wouldn’t have otherwise been noticed, to reach a global audience.
WB: Do you have anything new and exciting on the horizon?
CM: At CustomMade we are always trying to better the company and serve the consumer and the artisan better. We are constantly improving our marketplace, with new updates and improvements quite frequently. Another feature we are quite excited about is a whole new section of the site, where consumers will be able to go custom in a whole new way. We can’t talk much about it right now other than that!
WB: Have you seen any change in interest in custom furniture over the past year?
CM: The struggle as people who love custom remains more or less the same battle. While the awareness and recognition for the superior quality of custom made goods is on the rise, and will continue to rise, the same can be said about factories pumping out sub par goods for a cheaper price. We believe in the service that is custom work and will continue to work against the mass production grain.
WB: What does Custommade.com do to promote its advertisers?
CM: We are constantly promoting the idea of custom in all of our efforts. We push our artists personally through our social media efforts and blog regularly. In addition, simply by virtue of our stellar web address, we are ranked decently in search engines. When paired with our search engine optimization efforts, our partnership efforts, our advertisement efforts, we are ranked among the very top and we are always striving to remain there.
WB: What results have you seen from your social media efforts thus far?
CM: Our social media efforts as they are now are relatively young, but off to a great start. We have picked up quite a bit of speed as far as regular visitors and partnerships. A lot of the value remains in relationship, as some of the relationships we are building will remain beneficial as marketing tools and information resources for a long time to come.
WB: What is your best marketing tip for woodworkers?
CM: Other than “Join CustomMade?” Our best marketing tip would be to get involved with the community in which you work. Get on the forums and contribute. Get a Facebook page and add your fellow woodworkers. Create a Twitter and let everyone know what you are up to. Make a blog and update people on your projects. These things go a long way and build relationships! Word travels fast, and word of your work could be the next word to do so!