Dan,

Here's a two-part TeleSeminar, with Anthony Coyne.

http://www.engravingetc.org/forum/index.php?webtag=EE&msg=4631.1

Some good info on marketing.

Hey,

Thanx for the link which I found interesting. It does have some good suggestions on there, but I find it to be more about an existing company and how to increase sales.

What I'm after though is somewhat different.

What I'm trying to get at here is how to "find out" about market potential - the interest of your local community, and the competition around you.

It's no good me establishing an engraving company... and then struggling to find any customers - simply because people aren't much interested in engraved products! That's a pretty big risk to take! Is there anyway of researching the market in your local area to find out wether or not people will buy your product? It's a real hard one I know.

When it comes to corporate clients, you can of course send out letters to the company's in your area announcing your interest, and try to get some feedback on wether or not they would welcome the oppurtunity to have engraved items... but with the general public, that ain't possible.

So finding out about the public's interest.... appears to be very difficult indeed - but I cannot surely be the first to consider that aspect (?).

The other problem I mention is about the competition. How do you find out what they are engraving? and what their price list is? The only way I can see... is to literally phone them up and ask them, but that is a bit 'iffy'. It'd be hard to get all the information you are after in one phone call (while trying to act like a genuine customer) - and you cannot call them more than once! - surely they'd recognise you and determine your intentions.

So really, from the experienced out there (of which this forum has many) how have you suceeded in these two areas?

If I'm not making myself clear, please ask and i'll try to explain better.

The best way to gather this information is by using the methods listed below. You can attempt to do these studies yourself, or hire professionals. These studies are much cheaper than the potential investment that can be lost by jumping into business blindly.

Focus Groups
Feasibility Study
Secret Shoppers

This is the type of information that you have to spend time and money to gather. It is very geography-specific, so it's something that will have to be gathered from an accurate random sampling of customers in your market. Unfortunately, these people will have to be given an incentive to donate their time. That again means money.

I appreciate your time in replying to my problems... but I'm a little lost in your answer. Would you please explain a little more about those three points:

Focus Groups
Feasibility Study
Secret Shoppers

I agree with what you're saying - it's worth investing a little into getting the right knowledge before wasting a business oppurtunity!

In my area, there is a jewellery shop (which claims to do engraving) and a signmaking company. I suppose I'd have to go down and order some items from them. (i guess that's what you mean by secret shopping?)

Cheers.

john: unfortunately, i live on a small island. Neither of those companies have websites (i've checked). The Net still isn't that important here for retail, because we are dealing with a more 'local' population.

steve: from what i can tell... neither of these two companies have a 'show area'. Most likely, you have to ask the salesman to retrieve the information! Which makes it more difficult. But I take into consideration those things.

Dan,

In another thread, you mentioned wanting to specialize in "company seals."

The applications for engraving equipment (laser and rotary/drag) are so vast that opportunities exist all around you.

It's not a matter of, "Is there work out there my equipment?", rather which area(s) will you choose to pursue.

For laser equipment, here are some out-of-the-box ideas, from forum member Rodney Gold:

http://engravingetc.org/forum/index.php?webtag=EE&msg=1617.1

Dan,

Here are some helpful links for you.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/AgDM/wholefarm/pdf/c5-65.pdf

http://bestentrepreneur.murdoch.edu.au/Business_Feasibility_Study_Outline.pdf

http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9510.pdf

A quick web search turned up:

(Read the 3rd line from the bottom "We also provide a unique engraving service for gifts, trophies, medals and more")

http://www.castletownpets.com/

It seems a school there has a laser: "Nine students from St Ninian's High School formed Cutting Edge PG engraving plastic and glass using a laser cutter"

http://www.iomonline.co.im/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=880&ArticleID=1947867

Trophies and engraving:

http://www.ghcorlett-iom.com/

http://www.islandengraving.co.uk/

http://www.hersham.co.im/index.php?c=engraving

Jewelry Engraving:

(no web site) P.G. Allom & Co Ltd, 2 Market Hill, Ramsey, Isle Of Man

Industrial engraving:

http://www.laserflex.co.uk/

Ah, you've really stunned me there!!! I've learned two things:
1. I'm poor at searching the net. I only found half those names... and still even. What words did you type in?
2. "Hersham" looks to be BIG competition.

Kind of disappointed really. I'm beginning to wonder if I would be able to compete at all. Really, I had no idea that company existed here - our local business guide doesn't even include them under the "engraver" section.

Got some things to consider now I guess... :-(

Dan,

Hersham looks to me to be a company who is trying to be all things to all people. I would predict that they aren't too big in any of the markets, other than maybe the electrical engineering side. That appears to be where they got their initial start.

Don't make any final judgements until you do your market research. They may not be much of a player at all.

aye, having looked around their site a bit more... i think that may be the case. But on my initial reading of your post, i became very disheartened!! =P realising there was more competition than I thought.

It'll all take time anyhow. I'm in the early stages and trying to take in as much knowledge and advice as I can. I wouldn't be investing for a little while yet - so i've got time to get a good plan sorted out!

Thanks again for all your input.

Dan,

Keep your head up. There is so much opportunity around every corner. It's recognizing it that is the tricky part.

I'm addressing new niche markets now that I didn't even know existed when I got into this business. Thanks to valued members of this forum, their ideas about these markets have contributed greatly to my bottom line. As you can already tell, we're here to help any way we can!

The search I did was quite simple:

isle man engraving

Of course most of the results were mentioning engraved prints or other antique engravings. But it's pretty easy to scan past those and only click on the other ones.

I also tried trophies, but 99% of the hits were about the Tourist Trophy race. Even excluding that term the remaining results were almost all about various organizations giving trophies. THAT showed me that there are a fair number of trophies and awards given out on your island, and somebody somewhere is supplying them.

The places in that first search that offer trophies and awards might simply be buying them engraved-to-order from another company off the island. The industrial engraver in that first search would be no competition to you. They are very specialized.

You might talk to people at your local school, government offices, football club, gokart club, etc... and see where they buy their trophies and awards. Somebody may be offering a limited selection at high prices. As Dave says, don't try to simply undercut prices, but knowing the competition's selections might allow you to offer a much broader choice. People who buy trophies and awards year after year often want variety.

Chances are that a lot of the jewelers on the island offer engraving, and may farm it out to one place on other jeweler on the island. Rather than pay another jeweler, those places might prefer to farm it out to you, since you aren't their competition.

Some other random thoughts:

- An art gallery or frame shop might want engraved plates to mount on the frames. So might local painters or sculptors.
- A boatmaker or repairer might need various brass items engraved
- small manufacturers might need nameplates for what they manufacture
- a hospitals, restaurants, and almost any company in the service industry might need personalized nametags.
- pet shops (other than the one listed in that first search), stables, kennels, etc... might need engraved tags for the animals.

Instead of thinking about individuals needing gifts and personal items engraved, think about small to large businesses that might need things engraved on an ongoing basis.

Also, a business that has an ongoing need can bring in a more predictable and consistent income that the random engraving of gift items.

Of course the business could suddenly stop needing their specific item too, so always best not to rely on only one or two those.