I need assistance for marketing, especially to Taiwanese.
Most of my marketing consists of taking pictures with a phone, and posting it to social media. But despite my effort it isn’t enough, and I don’t even know how to connect with a Taiwanese, they are an egnima to me.
So where can I find some assistance for this? How does a fledgling business market their services? I mean there are restaurants then there are consultantcy, or there are service providers. But I find social media to be ineffective and it looks like I need to pay to advertise in any Taiwanese platforms.
Or even a listing on ruten or shopee where the listing looks like something good so I get more than 3 views a month?
Google is of limited help but I have gotten a small number of customers through google business.
So let’s say someone wants to open a music store and is looking for investors. How do they market the music store? It has got to be more than “let’s rent a storefront that’s right next to an mrt exit in ximending and pay a million a month for rent”?
Marketing is a process. There is no one-size-fits-all “here’s how to market” that applies to every business.
A lot of marketing efforts fail because business owners skip important parts of the process. For example, a lot of businesses will advertise on Google or jump into social media before they’ve even identified and profiled who their customers are. This is like throwing darts without even knowing where the dart board is.
Hint: if you figure out who your customers are and profile them in adequate detail, it will help you immensely in figuring out where and how to target them.
Mine is easy. Musicians. Not many in Taiwan but they exist. Problem is I don’t know any Taiwanese musicians. Those who are serious don’t mind dropping serious money, but I don’t have a platform to reach them.
So far my customers have been expats who plays music. Covid has unfortunately thinned that herd quite a bit.
I had a couple of Taiwanese customers who I never heard from again. Not sure why because I did exactly what was required. One promised more work then disappeared completely.
Gotten inquiries every now and then but they disappeared as well. So I thought it was because maybe I wasn’t skilled enough or something.
Had one guy who wanted me to do a very extensive MOD on a Gibson les Paul studio then he all of a sudden says he is having a baby and so won’t do it.
I hate those kind of inquiries, because I know 9 times out of ten the customer wants me to do a complete makeover on their old beat up guitar and it will cost more than what they are comfortable with paying. They never go anywhere. I’m very tempted to ignore those types of inquiries because I know they have a budget of 1000nt for work that would have cost over 30,000. Same with “can you craft me a custom guitar” inquiries because I know they’ll have a budget of 3000 but they want Gibson les Paul custom quality. Not going to happen.
I exist because most music shops in Taiwan have little to no interest in offering repairs. In America I’d be getting a job at a music store, who have repair department but in Taiwan most shops don’t do more than change strings.
The market is growing though. There is a jescar dealer in Taiwan. Jescar makes fret wires and luthier tools.
So music shops are subcontracting out repairs to you? If not, have you considered talking to these shops about a relationship under which they refer business to you?
In any case, the key is that you identify who you think your target customers are and profile them. This will help you identify where and how to target them, which will enable you to validate whether or not they’re actually viable customers.
I don’t know anything about your market but if I thought Taiwanese musicians were my customers, I’d find a way to get the names of some of them (Google) and try reaching out. I’d also consider hanging out in places where musicians hang out (there are a number of drinking establishments that have live music in Taipei).
Tried the first. Went to every major music shops in Taipei asking if they could contract repair work out to me. None of them are interested in the least bit. Word is they’d either attempt the repair themselves (and do poorly) or just tell customers to fix warranty issues at their own expense. I don’t know why hasn’t consumer protection people had a word with them if this is what they do because this is very poor customer service.
As for hanging out at drinking establishments… well I don’t drink and I’m not going to spend the cost of a good meal in Taipei on a glass of orange juice. Also I’d have to go when the musician (and their fans) happen to be playing there. I heard bands at Revolver sometimes (I used to meet a customer there for any and all work, he pay the cost for me to get there). But I’m too shy to simply hit up a bar and hope to find someone to talk to. I imagine many of you guys go to bars far more often so you’d be able to tell me more.
Maybe there’s nothing here, but have you tried cutting a deal where you make it financially worthwhile for the shop to work with you?
You have to spend money to make money, and a closed mouth doesn’t get fed.
Trust me. Not everyone is a born salesman, but everyone has the ability to improve their abilities if they’re willing to put themselves out there and try. You probably won’t succeed right off the bat, but you’re guaranteed to fail if you wait for your customers to find you.
Go to a place with live music. Meet a guitar player. Break the ice with a question or comment about their guitar. What do you have to lose?