Hello dial makers: Since the List has been almost silent these past few days (probably because everyone is playing around with their new DeltaCad programs!), I thought I'd bring up a topic of great interest to sundial makers: sundial marketing.
I'm often asked how I'm able to sell my sundials with no paid advertising. The secret was to get newspapers, magazines, TV and radio to talk about my sundials as news rather than advertising. In 1995 when I first started making sundials for sale, I contacted local garden centers, art galleries, astronomy supply stores, and clock shops and sold my sundials on consignment. Alhtough this helped to publicize my dials and they sold very well, unfortunately I often had to give the store a customary 50% cut of the sales price. Almost any store will sell your sundials on consignment because they have nothing to lose. Who lost was me! Then a friend recomended that I donate one of my best sundials to a public place with high visibility. Who can turn down a donation? Although my family thought I was crazy to donate a 5000 dollar sundial, in 1997, I contacted a popular local park and they eagerly accepted my offer. I worked closely with them on the design and they footed the bill for a beautiful custom-made pedestal. Their public relations department arranged to have our local television stations and newspapers present for an inaugaration ceremony. The following day my phone started ringing off the hook! Everyone wanted a sundial. Everything snowballed after that. Other reporters for other publications and TV stations read about the Tohono Chul Park sundial and contacted me wanting do more stories on me and my dials. They sent reporters and phtographers to my studio. There's nothing better than getting free publicity, especially when it is treated as a news item rather than a paid ad. From then on, I discontinued all consignment sales and now sell directly to my customers, avoiding the middleman. Local media coveraged resulted in local sales which was great for me because I already had designs worked out for Tucson's latitude and longitude. Selling sundials locally also greatly facilitated packing, shipping and delivery. Also, I got to meet all of my customers and see where my sundials were going. In Febuary I got international exposure for the first time with the publication of an article in "Arizona Highways" which forced me to rethink my sales and delivery policies. Thanks to Zonwvlak and DeltaCad I can now easily calculate and draw sundials for new locations. I charge a little more for non local sundials and the customer pays for packing and shipping. This marketing technique worked well for me and might work for you other dial makers too. Happy dialing! John Carmichael Tucson Arizona http://www.azstarnet.com/~pappas
