You’re passionate about blacksmithing. So much that you’re thinking about turning your hobby into a full-time income. But how will you market your blacksmith business to get paying customers?
How to market your blacksmith business. There are several ways to get the word out about your new blacksmith business. Word of mouth is an excellent place to start. There are lots of other free options like posting on community boards, Google Maps, and Craigslist. If you’ve got a bit of a marketing budget, you might even want to pay for some advertising.
Starting a blacksmith business can be hard work, but it’s definitely possible. In this article, I’ll talk about ways to gain new customers for your blacksmith business, as well as keep old ones.
Word Of Mouth
In any new business, word of mouth is a powerful form of marketing.
Satisfied customers will be your best word of mouth. They’ll recommend you to everyone you know if they like your work. But what about before you have any existing clientele to sing your praises?
You can start off by telling your family and friends about your new blacksmith business.
You can get them to recommend you to their own friends and coworkers. If everyone tells five people they know, and those five people tell another five people, soon everyone in town will know about you!
When you do get your first paying customer, be sure to give it 100% effort. Be as nice to the customer as possible, and go that extra little step, maybe even throwing in something a little extra.
Be sure to ask them to tell their friends about you too! It doesn’t hurt to ask, and they probably won’t think to do it without a little nudge.
Community Boards
Put up posters advertising your new blacksmith business wherever it’s allowed.
You can find community boards where people put their business cards and advertisements at grocery stores, hardware stores, building supply centers, libraries, and more.
It only costs you some paper and ink to get advertisements around town that will stay up for months and probably each be seen by hundreds of people.
Even if you only get one lead from each flyer you post, that can still be hundreds of extra dollars in your pocket for an afternoon’s work driving around to various places.
Social Media
Make yourself a social media account on any visual platform. Blacksmithing is kind of a rare art, so people might be very interested to see your work and share it with their friends!
Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are all great places to start.
You don’t need to be a professional photographer. Just your phone camera and some good lighting will do the trick.
Try to include a variety of pictures, including action shots of you working at the anvil, progress shots, and detailed photos of completed work.
For maximum benefit, try to be active and post at least a few updates per week. That way people will get hooked and keep coming back to see more. Eventually they might want to commission a piece of their own from you!
Forums and Online Communities
If you’re serious about blacksmithing, you’re already probably a part of forums and other online communities for blacksmiths.
We often like to support each other, so don’t be afraid to show off your work to other blacksmiths and perhaps drop a hint that your work is for sale.
Just don’t get too spammy with it. A simple link in your signature will do. Make sure you contribute answers and take part in conversation before jumping into a forum to hawk your wares.
Aside from making sales, this is just a great way to network with other blacksmiths and people in your line of work.
List Your Blacksmith Business on Google Maps
Let Google go to work for you!
You can list your blacksmith business on Google Maps so that you’ll show up when people search for you. It’s free and doesn’t take much work to set up.
Then when people search for blacksmiths in your city, they’ll see you.
Make A Website
Even a simple website showing off photos of your work and your contact details is better than no website at all.
For people in my generation, the first thing we do when we need to hire someone is to do a Google search. Hardly anyone uses the Yellow Pages anymore.
When I needed to hire someone to build a fence for me last summer, I searched online and found the website for a few contractors in my area to investigate further. The best builder in my city wouldn’t even show up on my radar if they didn’t have a website!
If you don’t have a website, you might be missing out on tons of potential customers. Especially since many older blacksmiths might not have a website of their own, so you’ll get all the traffic.
I don’t recommend paying for an ad in the Yellow Pages. For a fraction of the cost (only about $100 per year) you can have a professional looking website for your blacksmith business.
Hold A Contest
Giveaways are an awesome way to get exposure for your blacksmith business.
You can hold a giveaway on your Facebook page where people need to like your page and share in order to be eligible. Or you could give a piece of your work to a charity auction as a way to advertise if you don’t want to run the contest yourself.
You could also have a contest where you give away a prize at a craft fair or county fair. To enter, all people need to do is sign up using their email. You can give everyone who enters a coupon for 10% off a purchase to try and drum up some interest in business. And you can always use their emails to send them promotions later on. Just make sure they know they’re agreeing to that!
Art Galleries
If you’re a blacksmith who is more into the artistic side of metalworking than functional, you might want to see if any local art galleries are willing to display your pieces.
Not only will this get you publicity and people contacting you to commission a work of their own, but galleries will often sell your work for you in exchange for a cut of the profits.
Flea Markets, Craft Markets, and Farmer’s Markets
For about $20 per day, you can rent a table at your local flea market or farmer’s market.
People who shop at these places can be a bit thrifty, so it’s not a great place to sell big pieces. But you can sell little trinkets like beer bottle openers made from railroad spikes or decorations made from horseshoes pretty well.
Reserve your spot for a weekend. There’s not much foot traffic at markets during weekdays.
Digital Marketing and Ads
I recommend using digital marketing for the same reason that I recommend getting a website instead of paying for a place in the Yellow Pages.
The days of billboards and television ads are long gone. They’re just not effective ways to advertise anymore.
By advertising on sites like Facebook instead, you can reach your target audience for a fraction of the cost. You can even tailor your ads to only reach certain types of people. For example, if you produce armor, you might target a group of medieval reinactors in your city. Or for something a bit more generic, maybe people who like metal art in your city.
Google AdWords is another way to go. You can pay Google to show an ad for your business at the top of the page when people search for things like machine shops in your area.
Free Online Listings
You probably have multiple free online boards where you can post to buy and sell things. Most of these sites let you advertise your business to local customers for free.
Most countries have Craigslist. Here in Canada we use Kijiji a lot, while the UK equivalent is Gumtree.
Since it’s free, it doesn’t hurt to spend a couple hours making advertisements on all of them that you can find.
Keep Records Of Your Customers
When you do get customers, try to keep track of their contact details including their name, email address, and phone number. That way you can send them updates, as well as let them know about any promotions, new products, or sales that you’ve got going on.
You might even want to get their date of birth so you can send them a birthday email with a coupon.
Related Questions
Can I deduct blacksmithing expenses on my taxes?
As long as you’re seriously pursuing it as a business and not just a hobby, then yes.
Where I live, Canada Revenue Agency defines a business as “an activity conducted for profit or with a reasonable expectation of profit.”
That means you’ve got a business even if you don’t make a single cent in your first year. As long as you’re able to prove that you had a reasonable expectation of profit, like creating a business website or marketing your services.
Once you’re a business you can deduct all kinds of expenses. You’ll want to check with a bookkeeper or accountant first, but some things might include:
- Cost of new equipment like hammers and anvils
- Cost of steel bars, propane or coal, and other raw materials
- Blacksmith advertising and marketing costs
- A portion of your utilities, rent, etc.
- And more!
If you’re serious about having a blacksmithing business, it’s best to have a separate business bank account and pay for all of your expenses out of that. Just to keep your personal and business stuff all separate.
How much should I charge for my blacksmithing work?
It’s really up to you. You definitely want to consider the cost of the raw materials you need to make a piece. You also have to take how much you value your time at into consideration, as well as the large investment you’ve probably made into buying all kinds of tools. Plus the time it took you to learn your craft.
As a general rule, people tend to undervalue how much their skills are worth though. I once heard a blacksmith say that if you don’t feel a bit guilty at what you’re charging, then you’re probably not charging enough. I think that’s pretty good advice and seems to be true.
Do I need any education to be a professional blacksmith?
No. Most modern blacksmiths are self-taught. They start off simply doing it as a hobby in the evenings and on weekends and expand from there if they’re really passionate about the craft.
Some trade schools do offer degree programs in blacksmithing, although they’re becoming more and more rare. But if you’re young and considering a lifelong career as a blacksmith, going to school might be an efficient way to learn many valuable metalworking skills.
You might want to consider being an apprentice for a master blacksmith if you can find one in your area as well. That way you can get hands-on blacksmithing experience from an expert, and often get paid to do it.
Got any tips for marketing a blacksmithing business? Share them in the comments section below!
If you’re too new at blacksmithing to even consider turning it into a business, check out my recommended gear page for help getting started!