Official 2025 SHOT Show Thread

[NateChrony]

Respectfully, didn't you know all this before you sent products out for review? Typically when entering into an agreement it's protocol to have a contract so everyone is on the same page.

100% good call out
I was a little old school/naive on this one - I spoke with all of them - had some good back & forths, they all agreed to receive the product & do a review, I offered full support etc at my end to help. I didnt want to burden them with written contracts & T's & C's.
Since then i've told a few people that if they want a free product for a review, then they purchase the product & upon publication of a review that i'll do a refund. Given my products are some of the cheapest around - having them risk $100 shouldnt be a huge ask IMO.

 

[Pumacarl]

Different forums have different rules, I respect the forums & unless explicitly allowed (i.e. trade areas & sponsored sections) I dont do sneaky advertising.

Its incredibly hard to build brand awareness - maybe a write up on this later...
Influencers are HORIFFIC, so many are just shills for specific brands & produce nothing...

Its hard to find the right balance - but i've given up on influencers & will be focusing only on paid places which guarantee that content is produced, instead of throwing out $5k of product with no results!

I understand what you're saying but I don't agree with it, you promoting your own product, is in no way equivalent to a paid advertiser showing up to work and being given something to talk about and sell. One of, what I perceive to be, one of the biggest problems in this industry is how companies only engage through proxies, and paid relationships, so that they can't be held to anything. You have to advertise but you are not an advertiser, you're the manufacturer. When a product manufacturer shows up, in person, to something that you are interested in, do want to talk to the advertiser he hired, or him? Talking about products is what these forums are about and when there's an individual owner/manufacturer involved, who else would we want to talk to, or here about the product from?

Post all you want, maybe other owners/manufacturers will join you. I think that all of these forums should have an open thread available to any actual owner, or head, of a company, to make comments or introductions on, if they want. My only stipulation would be that it would actually have to be the head person writing it, and owning what they say. Rare today, what use to be so common.

 

[hameditor]

My perspective is this...

Many people working in the airgun industry do so because they love airguns. They often start their own companies. Many of these companies started small and in a "part time" manner before expanding to become larger. Sometimes they become quite large - AoA follows exactly this path, for example.

I am also one of these people - starting with an interest, part-time - before going full time many years ago. So I understand the struggle of founding a small business and running it.

This means that I am very sympathetic to others starting out and running small airgun-related businesses.

So what do I do? I give new, small players a chance to promote themselves in our Community. Particularly if they are polite enough to approach me privately first before first posting.

Nate is one of these and - in my opinion - gives a masterclass in how to do this! He contributes positively to HAM, answers questions and generally makes himself an asset to our group. He is not plugging his product at every possible opportunity. But we all understand his passion, knowledge and talent. We all understand that he has stuff to sell.

So Nate gains a lot of interest in the HAM Community and I hope it results in many sales for him.

I apply the same approach to other startup businesses owners too - so long as they play the game and behave reasonably in the HAM Community. Hopefully they'll become successful and end-up advertising with me in the future!

There's no doubt in my mind that direct posting by business owners - or designated key employees - is the absolute best way for these companies to engage in our HAM Community. Obvious examples are AAA, H&N, Mountain Sport Airguns, KalibrGun and AoA. There's more too. I encourage this and feel that everyone benefits.

FYI, I also refuse plenty of offers from so-called "influencers" and other paid promoters to get into HAM and our Community. These people we do not want...