Magazines & Advertising
Even though this is MY Forum, I can't find a better place to put this Thread other than here in the Bull Pit. It IS Bass related but more of a general overall Bass Equipment topic addressing the subject of where one might look for information about Bass products in general.
Decades ago the only two Magazines I was aware of in USA was 'Down Beat' and 'Guitar Player' Magazines. When I started my Bass business there were a few other Music Magazines for Guitar and Music/Instrumentalists in general. To advertise my Basses, Guitar Player was the main Book. Then came Guitar World and a few others which have come and gone, been modified, sliced, diced and sold from company to company that puts out Magazines.
Then came Bass Player (from Guitar Player) and more recently Bass Guitar (from Guitar World). Most companies in addition to placing Ads in the Mags sent out Brochures on request but most of this was before the Internet boom of the last 10 years and mainly the last 5 years if you look at the increase in on-line commerce.
Many printing companies that I know of have either modified their services or just plain closed up and went Out of Business (aka OOB). This is because by the time you make a Catalog or Brochure and distribute it, the information may already be out of date. Also, people picking up a Catalog may not know if the information is current or not.
How do you keep your information current and up to date as well as making it accessible for people to see it without having to wait for it in the mail or next months magazine? <<<INTERNET>>>
I have found that the Web IS the best place to show what you have and the easiest to make changes to. Two years ago we told Bass Player Magazine to take a hike. They had almost the same number of readers for the last 15 years. I was not getting much response from readers from what I could see but did notice that my Website traffic was booming and I didn't have to compete with any other companies once they were on my Website.
So, before I go on and on into todays Music marketing, where do you guys go for information about product?. Do you still buy and read magazines, surf the Net, go to your local K-MarguitarCenter to find your Stradivariouscaster Bass or your Fenderagliano Double Bass w/ Bow (arrows not included) or what?
Where do you look to see what's what??
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