Both Tom and Mark made trapping and lure making a career choice and gave up the 9-5 grind that most folks would never do and they made it work. Most people would not take that risk but they went all in, that is a big difference then the average Joe that wants to make some lures and still do the 9-5. IMO (Not that you can't do both)

Went to a few Trappers meets this year have not been to more then 1 other in the last 30 years and there sits a guy I never heard of with a table selling his products, heck I admire that but word of mouth sells more then any sales pitch and a flyer at least to me.

I remember when I came out with the Fox Trapping in and Around Suburbia book (some time ago), there were a lot of interesting comments from the vendors carrying my book as to the color cover on it. A young artist who trapped in NC created that cover and my instruction to him was to be creative and see where it took him... when he showed it to me I thought he had captured the book title theme in a picture and I went with it. It was novel. And the information in that book is more relevant today than it was when I wrote it!

Lure & bait marketing starts with a concept but ends at the goodies in the bottle or jar. If the goodies are no good, it doesn't matter the marketing and if the goodies are really good... as a lure & bait manufacturer, you can go out on a limb a bit and be creative. Why not! We live in America, a capitalistic country (at least for a little while longer) where entrepreneurs should be rewarded if they take risk and it works out (the lure works as advertised).

I know that I personally have never marketed my lures and baits as better then any other particular brand because I don't know how anyone would ever know that conclusion. But I have proudly marketed creative ads and artwork because I was blessed with a business that provided for my family and because I like to market to trappers with all means available. Word of mouth is fine, but heck some trappers DO NOT tell others what works best. Word of mouth would work better if they did!

This whole thread smacks of the "everybody needs a trophy" mentality. If you lack the intestinal fortitude to persevere in the face of naysayers and haters, then you are cut out for success in the first place. Whiners need not apply. Dear Lord.

Agree with you Law Dog.. Word of Mouth spreads like wildfire when you have a good business.
This year I'm trying one of those "Newer" Guys lures and baits, because word of mouth. Kept hearing great things from buddies while discussing trapping.

Drifter - Some of the younger people are calling themselves ''woke'' whereas they think they are more in tune with the social injustices of our times and us old white guys are the problem. I see the ''woke' crowd as out of touch with reality because their reality is their smart phone and the 5 star mentality whereas they are a legend in their own minds. They wouldn't last 1/2 day with many of us and they would be on their phone all of that telling their friends how lame we are and what a good thing they are doing spending time with a crazy old person humoring them. We would look at this like we have a young person interested in trapping and we would try to teach them but they would not be having any of it we would be left wondering what happened. Two different worlds and totally different thought process.

Hey Mark! If I was not so backed up at work I would take you up on the invite! For those of you young people with smart phone addiction disease Mark invited me to breakfast (typically served in the morning when the sun is going up) at a cafe in a small town in Missouri. To me this means Mark would take the time to visit if I showed up and then we might sit under those pines he mentioned and visit some more. We would get to know each other better through conversation which is a thing no longer taught in school as a way to get to know someone better. None of this would involve a smart phone or Twitter or Facebook so it would be a whole new experience for you to try. But it takes time and it is real.

I tell people what works for me but some of them are looking for the magic in the bottle - the secret to success. Who was it that said success follow hard work? Or maybe it was good luck follows hard work? A farmer I used to work for told me the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence but it's tougher to cut.

And my trophy's bigger than yours.

That was a good post Larry.

Thanks - have a good day Brother

I know if your at a meet and guy in the crowd is talking about what worked for him and when he reaches for a bottle all eyes are on what bottle he picked up! LOL Been that way forever.

Whats a Smart Phone?? We dont get signal here.. Hughes net only..

Larry,
The invite would stand and us old-timers would sit down and shoot the breeze as it is called (probably an old saying that has gone the way of the dinosaurs). Good post sir.

Pass-thru - there are those who look at life and situations and in the case of this thread a bit differently and I think in this case you're that one on the fringes.
Who exactly is whining? Not me and not most on here that I see.

Again, my original post and the discussion I was having in Ohio with a bunch of good folks, just shooting that breeze, is why some trappers look down their respective noses at "trappers" who "peddle" product. I maintain that the person who made whatever is by the very definition the one to sell/market/promote their products in an industry.

The whole conversation at my tables started with a nice gentlemen asking if I ever get trappers who give grief to lure makers when we show our catch for the season? I told him it happens but who else should promote my stuff best but me? Then the conversation gathered more trappers who chimed in that word of mouth promotes a lures and I agreed, although tight lipped trappers don't promote what works for them and I asked about 12 trappers standing there, "Do you promote what you have your best luck with to other trappers?" About half the hands went up and said' "Yes". Hmmm.
I then asked, "I wonder if the lure makers of old, the Dobbins and Arnold, and Lenons that we hold in reverence ever had trappers in that era opine to them about their marketing tactics?" I mentioned that I bought a boat load of lure from Ray Milligan before I made lures and I liked his photos and marketing style... he highlighted his accomplishments and as a trapper looking for good smells... I bought his Steppenwolf 1 & 2 by the box full!

Just a good topic to discuss I guess. No deep dark answers. Just friends shooting the breeze.

Another thing to is people just don't like being marketed to. Most people here probably have ad-blockers on their browsers. I custom made even more complicated blockers for certain sites to hide banner ads(in-site not popup) that were either distasteful or annoying. Everyone hates seeing those Google ads that shows you ads based on the last few pages you just saw.

It's a real trick to do marketing today with how easily annoyed people get today.

If someone wants to make and sell lure... Let 'em.

The only opinions that count are the folks spending their money.

Mike

SNIPERBBB.

Yep. The old saying is "People love to buy but they don't like to be sold."

Mark I been trapping 48 years and my son grew up with a trap in his hand and I was find with that. Three years ago he talked me into selling our lure and baits plus a DVD we made to help more southern hunters manage their predators. I had no ideal it would take off like it did. We mail out orders almost daily now and shipping out a pile of reorders which I love seeing. In a little over two years we have had over 15,000 join our FB page, a lot of them are also hunters. We also help hunters, timber guys and land owners find trapper when in need. We work alot with Fish & Game, hunters and landowners in trying to promote trapping mostly in the deep south were trappers are getting hard to find as years roll on. We trap year round so at times this get to be a handful but still enjoy it.

Larry Baer Vince Lombardi said the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary . Of course now he would be label as some kind of bad person due to that statement

Also the ones that say oh your so lucky,,its the harder you work the luckier you get.

Mark I couldn't quote your post and mine, so here's your response.
WadeRyan,
I'm afraid the theme of my OP slide past you if your response is your first paragraph and what one person who is not trustworthy has to do with the OP theme? Mud whoever has been culled from the herd I guess (don't know him).

My theme and the discussion at my booth with other trappers in Ohio was relating to a bigger picture of why trappers view other trappers with a bit of skepticism should they want to start a lure & bait business. And then should that particular trapper prove to be successful due to longevity and other factors, some trappers still shoot arrows. Hmmm...
Mud whoever does not fit that OP scenario and that's not what was being chatted about last weekend at my booth.

I believe my answer was the reason we hold those starting a lure business with skepticism is there are a rash of guys out there that don't have the knowledge or the time in the game to start a lure business. There's also a number of them that are complete crooks. I just gave the one example of how one shady new lure maker can blacken the eyes of all unknown lure makers starting. That one man has ripped off a pretty sizable chunk of people/money in one year. So yes now I see guys coming out with lures/baits and I look into them more than I have before.

There's a lot more coverage out there of guys just starting out, and it has become a harder industry to rise up in because everything is at your fingertips information wise. I don't have a problem with self promotion if that's your way of marketing your product. Personally I prefer the quiet humble guys that I am not even going to mention here because they don't probably want to see their names associated with this thread. They do what other professional lure makers do year around, and their product is all that is needed to sell itself. Once you have it you can't go back.

Recently there was like a 10 page post regarding your cat catch in Nebraska/Texas, and I saw at least once where your own personal lure came out of your own posts. If a number of lure makers would mention their own lure on a post promoting their product it would get instantly hammered for violating the *No Advertising* rule, however, your post continued to ride the trapperman waves. I prefer to be fair to everyone (I don't sell lures or bait) but it turns me off when I see certain individuals favored. I watched a demo you did once until it got to the point where you listed five of your lures, and told the crowd your bait didn't catch "trash." Watched another one a short while later from a government trapper in Texas that didn't sell a single thing, and I learned a lot more.

Nothing in my life has changed to the point where these aren't the same opinions I'd had 15 years ago. Certain experiences have just opened my eyes up to personally what I look for in a bait/lure maker. A picture with close to 100 cats over several months won't cause me to buy any more lure from that man then the next. I guess I might be the minority. I actually love seeing huge catch pictures, and wish I had taken a different life path to where I had more time to trap. That being said if they are used for self promotion of lure or bait it just isn't for me. As many people have figured out large catches don't come about due to what bait or lure was used more so the work ethic of the man in the picture.......

I would like to enter Exhibit A ^^ into the record your Honor.

You’re correct, that statement would hold up in court. Nothing but truth that some people have difficulty with. I will say I went back to your cat thread and it was only four pages not ten, but you mentioned your own lures at least twice so we’ll call it a wash.

im still trying to figure out why you have to be politically liberal to not like someone's marketing strategy?

somehow truth in advertising law has never reached the trapping industry. I suspect it is because the market is so small.