Gotcha. Well, if anybody could raise the profile of PRS I think you are it! I hope it works out and they finally figure out you are their guy!
I"m an endorsee of Minarik Guitars as you probably already know and that was much less complex as they are a small boutique vendor. I emailed them a few times as I'd like a Minarik I played in a music shop, then emailed them my youtube channel statistics to give them an idea of my audience reach and they sent me a couple of guitars and asked me to make some videos reviewing them. Pretty straightforward.
These two examples hopefully provide some insight for our fellow GMCers.
HOW TO GET ENDORSEMENT DEALS (Broad Stroke)1.) Identify a Vendor (some product you like and wish to represent)
2.) The vendor you approach should roughly match the size of audience you can bring to them. E.G. I approached Minarik ( a small boutique shop) not Ibanez as my reach is mostly through the internet, not on an national touring basis (unlike Cosmin, I'm not touring my country with bands, but that would be spiff!)
3.)Be able to show evidence of your audience reach. E.G. Youtube analytics/views & subscribers, Web site analytics/page views, tour statistics, shows/attendance, unit sales/albums & singles, etc.
Your value to any vendor is tied directly to how much exposure you can provide for their product. This is more important to them in many cases than how well you can play. Even if you can out shred Paul Gilbert, if your audience reach is 2 youtube subscribers, you are not likely to get very far on your own in terms of endorsements. So ....
1.)START BUILDING YOUR AUDIENCE!
-Social Media, Blogs, Myspace, anything.
2.)Track your results
-Be able to show a vendor hard proof.
3.)Always be polite and deferential when speaking with a vendor or a rep. Attitude oftens gets the door closed in your face.
4.)Be persistent. Try onece a year for each vendor you think you qualify for. People change jobs, things change, one NO just means "Next time"!
Todd
QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Jun 22 2012, 03:25 AM)
Yes, I have a very tight relationship with the official PRS dealer in Romania. The man's son was my best friend in the 5th grade and when he returned in Romania after 15 years, his father became the PRS dealer. I already knew the guy (the dealer) from the various instrument oriented events in Bucharest for a long time, but when we discovered that his son used to be my best buddy when I was a kiddo, things went even nicer. Now, with PRS the idea is not so simple.
Ibanez for instance, has endorsement spots for each country and in September usually, when the endorsement contracts are being arranged, they are asking the dealer for endorsers. With PRS, things are trickier - you have to prove yourself first as being a good promo channel for their instruments at local level - some sort of a national endorser, which is done directly with the dealer and only then, if the dealer thinks you are interesting for the company at that level, he will contact them to talk about offering an international contract.
This is what I know so far and at this point, I am waiting for the dealer's new site to come out, so we can work together on a promo campaign for the SE models. They are offering a 25% discount for any model so, hopefully, this will kick some life into the sales, as PRS is a low seller - big prices and a big lack of exposure on the Romanian market - hell, me and another dude here are the only guys playing PRS guitars in quasi mainstream bands. There are others, but their level of exposure is not interesting for the dealer, as they mainly play in cover bands.
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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Jun 27 2012, 02:22 AM
