Apparently I took a couple months off from the blog. But now I should have enough content ideas to keep me posting regularly for a while. You can also see my latest activities on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Anyway, on with the post!
What would your dream weekend look like? A while (months!) ago I experienced something that was pretty darn close for a serious hobbyist potter (like myself at this point). To any full time potter it was probably just another day at the office but for me it was something that I look forward to in the future if I ever go “full time” clay.
Rothshank Woodfire with Troy and Moey
On Friday (May 2nd) after school I stopped at the Rothshank wood kiln and found Troy Bungart and Moey Hart on duty. They were trying to get the back chamber temperature up. I sat and chatted with them for a few hours.
Troy and Moe stoking the kiln
Social media was a big topic. Troy is an Instagram guru and strong advocate for social media. He said that his giveaways on Instagram have generated a lot of interest and at the time had over 800 followers! Todd Pletcher stopped by for a little while so he and Troy discussed the pros and cons of social media. Todd isn’t quite ready for the Troy Bungart level of social media. He said he is still developing his style when it comes to pots so he surely still needs to work on his style for his online presence. That was good to hear from my perspective since I have barely a flicker of personal style in my pots, especially compared to Todd. But I like Troy’s encouragement to just jump into social media and everything will work itself out. I think Troy is more about making conncections and maybe Todd is thinking more about branding at this point. Or maybe it’s just their personalities.
We also talked about how to increase sales. Troy talked about how to put together certain packages so people get more than “just a pot” and I asked him if he ever tried online advertising like Google Adwords. He mentioned Tony Clennell’s book and paintings and I remembered one of Tony’s great tips: sell people an experience. We talked about how Moey can make Northern Indiana Pottery Supply stand out from other supply companies. We talked about how to tell our individual stories and sell people the stories along with the pots. A lot to think about…
Troy has a wireless web cam that he bought a year ago that he uses at work sometimes. He and Moey have big plans to live stream some events. They also told me about their time at NCECA. They both had a good time. Troy’s tools were a big hit. He also mentioned a new project he had planned. He will have other artists design brushes and make some of the parts and then he will assemble them. He also mentioned that I might be able to help him do some writing. Royce Hilderbrand showed up a little bit before I left. He was working for Mark Goertzen but is now heading to grad school.
Moey told me that he is going to have a handful of potters set up at his place for the Michiana Pottery Tour and asked if I wanted a spot. Of course, I said I wouldn’t miss it. That should be a great opportunity.
There were other topics and a lot of fun. I realized that I needed to start carrying my little notebook again so I can remember more important stuff. Or maybe get a smart phone.
(I’m also trying something new. I’m going to split this post into three separate pages. Because it is long and because I’ve never done it and I want to see how it works. So there should be a link to the next page about Todd Pletcher’s Pottery Sale. Fingers crossed…)