We have just wrapped up the second annual National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Marketing Symposium and once again, LBM is very glad to have attended. This year, we had our good friend Dan Hall, CEO of GunUp.com attend and speak to the attendees on how to engage bloggers and reap the benefits of emerging media journalists. It seems that there is still some resistance on the part of the industry in embracing or at least working with bloggers. Number one fear? Message control. Dan demonstrated with a case study on the Smith & Wesson Governor debut at SHOT Show 2011 by showing how rapidly word got and went viral after GunNutsMedia owner, Caleb Giddings, blogged about it during the pre-show Media Day event. That’s the dream of every manufacturer that attends SHOT!
Also, Rob Southwick unveiled the Southwick Associates Media Monitor (SAMM) – media usage statistics for hunters and shooters. This great new product measures the use of outdoor media; magazines, newspapers, television, Internet and others in the fishing, hunting and shooting communities and matches sportsmen’s purchasing preferences to specific media programs and titles. This should be a prerequisite to any marketing program prior to attaching dollars to loss leaders! Companies and marketing departments often forget that research is the very foundation upon which all other corporate decisions should be made. Too often marketing departments are considered to be sales adjuncts or creative departments. Decisions are often made that can cost a company their future. LBM knows it’s not cheap, but neither is bankruptcy due to bad business decisions.
Be a part of the Shooter/Hunter survey or take the Angler Survey.
Stay tuned for more from the meeting!
