VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine

Bruce Marion
Marion Music
98 I MUSIC INC. I JULY 2011
ASK THE
RETAILER
Melbourne, Fla.
Having a great product like Paul
Reed Smith (PRS) makes all the
difference. People are always going
to buy quality no matter what.
We put together a letter letting our
PRS a year ago, and some of them
are just now paying off. We sent
the letter out to every single guitar
prospect that we knew of, teachers
and so forth, saying, “We’re a
PRS dealer. Come take a look.”
It was a handy-dandy typed letter
that we did on the computer and
threw in customers’ [shopping] bags.
We also e-mailed them to people who
were former or potential buyers.
>>>
Stu Carter
Fat Sound Guitars
Cary, N.C.
To continue to boost our high-end
business we are constantly on the
from emerging companies that offer
and sonically, and have market staying
power. Consistently offering innovative
keeps our website and inventory fresh
for our long-time customers but helps
us to reach out to new clients, as well.
rently
doing is investing in left-handed
guitars from a wide range of high-end
builders. There’s a huge need in the
marketplace for these instruments.
Other than a handful of left-handed
specialty shops, no one else seems
such a positive response to this new,
niche inventory that we’re having a
From a marketing perspective, we
are using several of the Web-based
networking services to maintain
customers to new products as they
arrive. Actively networking in this way
consumer, it’s also easy, fun and free.
With so little co-op advertising
available to small shops in this
industry, we have found a way
to create long-lasting ads, while
providing a reference tool for our
customers through professionally
produced Fat Sound Guitarsbranded
demonstration videos.
How are you boosting
high-end guitar and
amplifier sales?
We’re actually using
language like “boutique,”
“hand-wired” and
“made-in-the-U.S.A.” in our
radio ad campaigns. Radio
seems to work best.
We advertise on a number
of local stations, but really
the demographic that
we’re trying to get to is current
rock music listeners.
That seems to be where the
market currently is.
Our demographic is so
strangely broad that we can
get a guy in here who’s 60
years old buying a boutique
amp, just like we can get a
40-something hard rocker
who plays classic rock.
We also promote things
via our fan club. When people
walk into our store, they
register for a fan club, and
we send out e-mail newsletters
without being obnoxious
and spamming people.
We try to send something
out every two to three weeks
and might send a photo of
a boutique amp and say,
“You have to check this
out.” The fan club is now
pushing 1,000 [members].
The key thing we want
to know is customers’ interests.
Some people will
say, “I’m really into highend
guitars and high-end,
hand-wired amps.” It sells
from there. It’s key for us
to gather information on
how our customers heard
about us because the touch
points are very important.
Pointing out high-end
>>>
Frank
Cuevas
Music Nation 1
Rockford, Ill.
amps when people walk
in the store is important.
The first thing customers
want to know is what we
have that a big-box retailer
doesn’t.
We are the exclusive
dealer in [Northwest Illinois]
for Nash Guitars. We
try to find lines where we
can be the exclusive provider
and are not found in
a big-box store.
We definitely promote
the boutique and unique
higher-end stuff in our
store [through social media].
We’ve added Facebook
to our business cards, and
we take pictures when a
new boutique amp comes
in and post it on our Facebook
page.