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**Austinhomebrew** · 09-17-2009, 05:01 AM

I have never really advertised since I bought the business. Word of mouth has worked very well for me. 30%-40% of our online orders are new customers everyday.

Some of my employees noticed that NB takes out a full page color ad on the inside front cover and MB takes out a full page color ad on the inside back cover of Brew Your Own magazine. They think that this is a wise investment and it will get you to buy from me more than you already do.

The price for these ads is $2200 for each ad! The employees think that the ad would have more impact than me giving away 100 pounds of hops a month. Or 4 14.5 gallon stainless conicals a month. Or 10 kegging outfits a month.

They tell me that this forum doesn't have as much reach or impact as having the full page ad over and over at $2200 per ad. I think that if I were giving 4 conicals away every month instead of the full page ad, word of mouth would work more than the ad. I would think that the 4 conicals would have much longer lasting impact than the 1 ad alone.

There are plenty of people that tried to convince me to advertise. In my first year of owning Austin Homebrew I spent around $20,000 in advertising trying to get people to start brewing. I have found that you really can't convince people to start a hobby very easily. They have to come to it, or have a neighbor or friend or relative show them the ropes.

If you were driving down the street and you saw a new basket weaving store, would you want to start basket weaving? The next week it is 25% off the starter kit. The next week it is 50% off. The next week it was free to start if you bought $100 worth of supplies. When would you want to start weaving baskets?

You can't really pick someone's hobby. I have been letting people come to it on thier own with out any local or internet advertising for the last 10 years and the business has grown 10 fold.

Do polar bears make you want to drink more Coke? Does a full page color ad of an old man standing next to a fermenter they don't even sell, or a illustration of a beer wench really make you want to buy more homebrew supplies?

Forrest

PS: Do any of you use the printed Yellow Pages when it comes to finding your supplies?

**AZ_IPA** · 09-17-2009, 05:09 AM

Forrest, for what it's worth, I shop at your place because of word-of-mouth.

A friend of mine got me into brewing a couple years ago and he bought all of his stuff from you, and I have also (for the most part). He was from Texas before he moved to Arizona, but the flat rate shipping has been a plus.

BarleyWater · 09-17-2009, 05:11 AM

With BYO, 94,500 people get a chance to see your add once every other month (it is bi-monthly right). With HBT, 38,743 people get a chance to see your logo, website, and any helpful bits of wisdom you may be sharing every time you make a new post.

Quote:

You can't really pick someone's hobby. I have been letting people come to it on thier own with out any local or internet advertising for the last 10 years and the business has grown 10 fold.

I think that's your answer right there. Seems like you're doin' fine without, I also shop there because I found you on this site.

**weirdboy** · 09-17-2009, 05:16 AM

I don't think anecdotal evidence or polling is going to get you the answer you're looking for.

I don't know how long you've run the place, but maybe you've got enough numbers to gauge your month-to-month and year-over-year revenue based on seasonal and whatever other factors. Assuming you can come up with fairly reliable estimates in this regard, just do an experiment taking out a print ad just to see if there's a significant impact on sales. The truth is that no, hot girls in lederhosen don't make me want to buy more supplies, but a full-page ad does send a couple of messages to me. First, it reinforces my memory, so I'm more likely to think of that vendor because I've seen it recently. Second, vendors who spend money to put together professional-looking copy and graphics, and operate a professional-looking website to back it up, give me more confidence to trust them with my money.

Of course, the actual ad copy can make a huge difference in sales as well, but I'm no advertising genius.

elmetal · 09-17-2009, 05:28 AM

to be honest, it is a pleasure to have found your website through HBT. I don't think it's as important for me to see a fullpage ad in a magazine as it is to see a forum talk nothing but great things of you and your company and not only that, but to actually talk to you in the forum and see how real and friendly you are.

honestly, I don't think the ad would be worth the price. maybe once or twice. but not every month.

**arturo7** · 09-17-2009, 05:32 AM

Just an idea, and something that I tried with my business.

Try running an ad with a different URL for your site. i.e. austinhomebrewing.com. Run the ad in one publication and track how many hits you get on it.

**Austinhomebrew** · 09-17-2009, 05:48 AM

What I have done in the past for locals is this:

Have a parking lot party with free food, free music, and free beer. All of the customers know about it in advance and all of them have to bring a person that does not homebrew with them.

This usually converts at least 20% of the customer's friends who show up. Still no advertising dollars. Spent the advertising money on food. Good thing this town has plenty of bands to play for free and breweries that give us free beer.

Forrest