ORIGINAL: quiksilver

My view from the peanut gallery:

This is all just a by-product of a highly shrewd marketing campaign established by Bowtech. Great marketing is subliminal - not "in your face" - and for a company looking to establish a new market base, their ad campaign must target likely or potential customers - not existing customers. So, what better way to connect with the archery public than through an independentinternet forum of 100,000+ members.

"In your face" marketing is a huge turnoff.However, onecan tweak "in your face" marketing to be subtle - and highly effective.

First, let's look at what the competitors are doing:

Compare/Contrast Mathews' marketing approach: Mathews attempts to deluge the consumerby blowing its advertising wad onproduct placement, magazine and tv show ads.Mathews has its own site- and (let's face it) it isn't very likely to attract anything other than existing Mathews clientele. Therefore, Mathews is using their forum to attract and retain existing customers - which is their core customer base. That's their business model. Mathews just isn't a big player in internet marketing.

Martin? They married the top competitive archery site on the internet. They bribe every moderator on the site with free bows and have their banner all over the place. Go to Archerytalk.com- it's Martin Martin Martin. They even have half-naked girls hawking their bows. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

P.S.E. bought the Drury's and Hoyt/Easton/Reflex is all over the place.

O.K., now let'slook at whatBowtech does. They're super slick. They find this forum, which is supposedly an"unbiased" online community ofhunting enthusiasts who shoot a laundry list of brands. They could've just bought the damn site and called it "the Bowtech Forum"(but they didn't).Instead, they allow it to retain its "independent" complexion, but they'vegluttoned up the lion's share of the banner time. Going further, they've successfullyworked into the root system of Huntingnet by tapping several high-profile personalities for corporate/sponsored deals. It's no accident. The result - subliminal marketing. They're making you believe that everyone in the world shoots a bowtech. You come to an unaffiliated website to talk bowhunting - and all you see/hear is bowtech, bowtech, bowtech.

The result? You try a bowtech. Or at least you consider it.

By showing you bowtech/octane/diamond at every turn in the road, and doing it in a manner that the layperson wouldn't necessarily recognize as "in your face marketing," they'reconvincing you, in a subtle way, that bowtech is thecutting edge of archery.

Let's say you bite the hook and buy a bowtech: you get a free stickerand a nicehat to wear. You don't think you're getting those goodies because they like you, do ya? Nope. You're an avenue of free advertising. You'll wear that hat. You'll put that sticker on your pickup truck. They know it. The more stickers and hats that the average guy sees, the more he thinks "Hey, everybody is shooting these bowtech bows nowadays, maybe I should check one out..." It's all by shrewd design.

There's definitely nothing wrong with that...it's business. So it is what it is. But as far as I'm concerned, this is Bowtech's flagship forum beyond a shadow of doubt. They've got their eggs firmly planted in this basket.


As a newer company, Bowtech is looking more to convert existing archers and have their next bow be a bowtech bow. That's why invading an "independent" hunting site is their best approach. Apparently, it's working.