The Next Big Breakthrough?

Meh, bundled soap/AS seems to work for PAA.

Would seem somebody associating too closely with academics. Have experienced tonnes of wasted resources directed to areas that achieved quite the opposite effect of that intended, literally driving highly profitable firms into cashflow crises leading to consolidation. Simply because one has an idea that fits nicely into a deck doesn’t mean it has merit even on a tactical level let alone a strategic.  Many a functional innovation award winning idea/recipient has led directly to a firm’s decline and failure - in a word suboptimization: what is good for the individual is bad for the team. Could delve into the specifics if desired.

Stirling has seen the most repeat business from me because of bath soaps/other products. If artisans only make shaving soap there is only so much that I need. I have enough shaving soap to last me the next 30+ years. When you offer other consumable products that people use faster you are going to see more repeat business.

Stirling has seen the most repeat business from me because of bath soaps/other products...

Stirling is shrewd in their offering of generous slice size samples that don't come in a microscopic tub. You can get the same surface area lathering as a regular puck and the economical price allows you to sample the fragrance. Everyone comes out a winner.

We already have lots of great wetshaving options at every price point.  I think that the next big thing will be marketing those products to people outside of the current traditional wetshaving clientele.

That is going to be tough as no artisan has the kind of capital needed to advertise say on TV. A national 30 sec. TV ad starts at appox. $350K.

Yep. I like to think I'm one of the more successful artisans. At least at or near the top 5 in volume. Perhaps not revenue due to our prices, but I digress. Anyway, I couldn't dream of being able to do a TV ad, or even a full page magazine advertisement at this point. My only real method of reaching new customers is word of mouth from current customers who are happy with what they've bought from us.

Even if I had the capital for a magazine ad, I don't know that I'd do it, not without adding the cost of market research and hiring a Don Draper to do the ad for me. This past November we tried our first real advertisement campaign via the rotating ads you see on some websites. The campaign cost us $1500 and was supposed to run on the Art of Manliness website. Turns out, $1500 wasn't even enough to get our ad to make the rotation with them. So the marketing company did a "make-good campaign" (their words) on some sites like GQ and Men's Fitness. According to the analytics, the $1500 spent netted us less than $75 in orders.

While that may not seem like much, $1400 is huge for me. That nearly a ton of beef tallow I could have bought. Hell, I'm still miffed about it. I still am holding out hope that maybe in 5 years or so we'll have grown enough to do some real advertising, or at least have the ability to reach out and find some customers who would have never heard of us otherwise. In the meantime, Gillette will continue fill the airwaves with drivel about how you can save money buy buying their razors and using them for a month without replacing the cart. Gillette and Schick (and carts in general) will continue to dominate the market and pull in over 99% of the shaving money until someone in wetshaving gets the backing of someone with the capital to flex some marketing muscle.

According to the analytics, the $1500 spent netted us less than $75 in orders.

That is extremely disappointing.

I think part of the problem is that people “on the outside” simply don’t know what to do with real wet shaving products. That’s why word-of-mouth is so important right now.

Another idea that comes to mind is artisans having their interviews published in local media, as sometimes local media is looking for stories to publish. The big benefit to this would be that someone knowledgeable is introducing people to wet shaving.

It’s always disappointing to see when some hipster journalist writes a (well-intended) piece that gets all the facts wrong, and then other hipsters order some supbar razor and soap from Amazon and give up the shaves after one try. (Nothing against hipsters — they’re just the only ones I’ve seen write about wet shaving in mass media in recent years.)

We already have lots of great wetshaving options at every price point.  I think that the next big thing will be marketing those products to people outside of the current traditional wetshaving clientele.

That is going to be tough as no artisan has the kind of capital needed to advertise say on TV. A national 30 sec. TV ad starts at appox. $350K.

Yep.  I like to think I'm one of the more successful artisans. At least at or near the top 5 in volume. Perhaps not revenue due to our prices, but I digress. Anyway, I couldn't dream of being able to do a TV ad, or even a full page magazine advertisement at this point.  My only real method of reaching new customers is word of mouth from current customers who are happy with what they've bought from us.

Even if I had the capital for a magazine ad, I don't know that I'd do it, not without adding the cost of market research and hiring a Don Draper to do the ad for me. This past November we tried our first real advertisement campaign via the rotating ads you see on some websites. The campaign cost us $1500 and was supposed to run on the Art of Manliness website. Turns out, $1500 wasn't even enough to get our ad to make the rotation with them. So the marketing company did a "make-good campaign" (their words) on some sites like GQ and Men's Fitness. According to the analytics, the $1500 spent netted us less than $75 in orders.

While that may not seem like much, $1400 is huge for me. That nearly a ton of beef tallow I could have bought. Hell, I'm still miffed about it. I still am holding out hope that maybe in 5 years or so we'll have grown enough to do some real advertising, or at least have the ability to reach out and find some customers who would have never heard of us otherwise. In the meantime, Gillette will continue fill the airwaves with drivel about how you can save money buy buying their razors and using them for a month without replacing the cart. Gillette and Schick (and carts in general) will continue to dominate the market and pull in over 99% of the shaving money until someone in wetshaving gets the backing of someone with the capital to flex some marketing muscle.

for small companies, $1,500 is a lot. your ads are performing pretty well here. I might try to get the plugin we use tweaked so it can email monthly or quarterly reports so everyone can see how their ads are doing on the site.

have you tried advertising on social media, like facebook & instagram? what about posting videos of your products on youtube on an aptly named youtube channel like Stirling Soaps?


I think a big break might be trying to get products into larger stores, like whole foods, trader joes, walmart, etc., etc...

That is going to be tough as no artisan has the kind of capital needed to advertise say on TV. A national 30 sec. TV ad starts at appox. $350K.

Yep.  I like to think I'm one of the more successful artisans. At least at or near the top 5 in volume. Perhaps not revenue due to our prices, but I digress. Anyway, I couldn't dream of being able to do a TV ad, or even a full page magazine advertisement at this point.  My only real method of reaching new customers is word of mouth from current customers who are happy with what they've bought from us.

Even if I had the capital for a magazine ad, I don't know that I'd do it, not without adding the cost of market research and hiring a Don Draper to do the ad for me. This past November we tried our first real advertisement campaign via the rotating ads you see on some websites. The campaign cost us $1500 and was supposed to run on the Art of Manliness website. Turns out, $1500 wasn't even enough to get our ad to make the rotation with them. So the marketing company did a "make-good campaign" (their words) on some sites like GQ and Men's Fitness. According to the analytics, the $1500 spent netted us less than $75 in orders.

While that may not seem like much, $1400 is huge for me. That nearly a ton of beef tallow I could have bought. Hell, I'm still miffed about it. I still am holding out hope that maybe in 5 years or so we'll have grown enough to do some real advertising, or at least have the ability to reach out and find some customers who would have never heard of us otherwise. In the meantime, Gillette will continue fill the airwaves with drivel about how you can save money buy buying their razors and using them for a month without replacing the cart. Gillette and Schick (and carts in general) will continue to dominate the market and pull in over 99% of the shaving money until someone in wetshaving gets the backing of someone with the capital to flex some marketing muscle.

for small companies, $1,500 is a lot.  your ads are performing pretty well here.  I might try to get the plugin we use tweaked so it can email monthly or quarterly reports so everyone can see how their ads are doing on the site.

have you tried advertising on social media, like facebook & instagram?  what about posting videos of your products on youtube on an aptly named youtube channel like Stirling Soaps?  


I think a big break might be trying to get products into larger stores, like whole foods, trader joes, walmart, etc., etc...

I've seen Stirling on Twitter. I know PAA CaD314 was trying to get their crown king line into whole foods, but I guess nothing ever worked out for whatever reason. I would think volume would be the issue, but I have no idea.

Yep.  I like to think I'm one of the more successful artisans. At least at or near the top 5 in volume. Perhaps not revenue due to our prices, but I digress. Anyway, I couldn't dream of being able to do a TV ad, or even a full page magazine advertisement at this point.  My only real method of reaching new customers is word of mouth from current customers who are happy with what they've bought from us.

Even if I had the capital for a magazine ad, I don't know that I'd do it, not without adding the cost of market research and hiring a Don Draper to do the ad for me. This past November we tried our first real advertisement campaign via the rotating ads you see on some websites. The campaign cost us $1500 and was supposed to run on the Art of Manliness website. Turns out, $1500 wasn't even enough to get our ad to make the rotation with them. So the marketing company did a "make-good campaign" (their words) on some sites like GQ and Men's Fitness. According to the analytics, the $1500 spent netted us less than $75 in orders.

While that may not seem like much, $1400 is huge for me. That nearly a ton of beef tallow I could have bought. Hell, I'm still miffed about it. I still am holding out hope that maybe in 5 years or so we'll have grown enough to do some real advertising, or at least have the ability to reach out and find some customers who would have never heard of us otherwise. In the meantime, Gillette will continue fill the airwaves with drivel about how you can save money buy buying their razors and using them for a month without replacing the cart. Gillette and Schick (and carts in general) will continue to dominate the market and pull in over 99% of the shaving money until someone in wetshaving gets the backing of someone with the capital to flex some marketing muscle.

for small companies, $1,500 is a lot.  your ads are performing pretty well here.  I might try to get the plugin we use tweaked so it can email monthly or quarterly reports so everyone can see how their ads are doing on the site.

have you tried advertising on social media, like facebook & instagram?  what about posting videos of your products on youtube on an aptly named youtube channel like Stirling Soaps?  


I think a big break might be trying to get products into larger stores, like whole foods, trader joes, walmart, etc., etc...

I've seen Stirling on Twitter.  I know PAA CaD314  was trying to get their crown king line into whole foods, but I guess nothing ever worked out for whatever reason.  I would think volume would be the issue, but I have no idea.

yeah, that might be the case.

Rod (ezlovan), it is a shame that you lost so much in advertising.  The sad thing is, when one knows a company like yours produces excellent products and brings them to market at a price point that is open to just about anyone it is sad that the word cannot be spread in a more reasonable way.  

Ironically, slick advertising is more of a turn off to me than a curiosity builder.  I see those slick ads more as snake oil than something genuinely useful.  I always talk up Stirling, Chatillon Lux (hawns), Barrister and Mann (Barrister_N_Mann), and Desmond's Barrow (Scritchnscrub) because of their quality and not through some snazzy advertising campaign.  I have even purchased your products for others and isn't that some of the best advertising (and is completely free )?  I realize that some form of advertising is important and even our merchants' participation here at DFS is, in a way, a form of advertising.  However, that participation makes it "close to home" in that you take the time to care about your customers and you're up front.  Because of that, I have expanded into your other products and have rarely, if ever, been disappointed.  (So, any new scents for your fantastic shampoo bars in the works? )  I hope that the best of our merchants can find a way to get to a wider audience because quality like yours is unmatched.