COMPANY PROFILE ROTOSOUND
Highly strung
With the newsmen and economists all still wagging fingers of warning regarding the fragility of our economic health, Gary Cooper sees the need for someone to take the manufacturing bull by the horns – someone like Jason How…
Rotosound’s Jason How, who reports that his company is experiencing a record year. A record year? In this climate? What does he think is going on?
A “I think accessories have held up pretty well,
generally,” he says. “I guess guys aren’t buying new guitars, but they are buying new accessories and strings. But that’s only one side of it. A lot of it for us has been the result of working harder on exports and getting the right distributors around the world. We’ve made a lot
“ 38 miPRO
mid all the current economic doom and gloom, at least one UK business chief is sounding positive and optimistic –
markets prove difficult to crack – the US has been particularly tough for them – they have had to overhaul their methods completely, appointing a new sales team in a new attempt to crack the gigantic – and complicated – American market. “We’re still not doing there what we ought to be doing, but it’s all something to work at,” How says. “Mind you, we’ve doubled our German business this year, and that’s certainly not insubstantial.” It probably needs to be stressed – and perhaps only the press can say this – that one of the business skills Rotosound excels at is publicising itself. There are still companies (and
We had a couple of months this year where we invoiced the biggest amounts I’ve ever known – especially in the
summer, which was bizarre. Jason How Rotosound
of progress there – our export manager, Zach Frederick, is doing a tremendous job. Our financial year ends in August and we had a record 12 months in both export and UK sales. “In fact we had a couple of months this year
where we invoiced the biggest amounts I’ve ever known – especially in the summer, which was bizarre. June was our highest turnover month for the company in its entire history.” This doesn’t mean it is universally easy. How and his team are hard workers and where
DECEMBER 2010
a frustrating number of them) that regard communication as an afterthought. Rotosound is firmly in the opposite camp and the recent appointment of an active PR agent, coupled with the fact that magazines are constantly fed news about the company, its products and its particularly active endorsement programme, is one of the reasons Rotosound features so heavily in publications. This isn’t an accident – How works hard at it because he knows the value of free publicity.
Few string brands can offer a range as extensive as this manufacturer
That level of promotion also includes attending the ever-increasing number of shows that seem to be mushrooming around the country.
NEVER MISSING OUT “Since September we’ve done the Manson’s
show, the Bass Day, Acoustic Avalon, Bass Player Live – though that was in Hollywood – and now Guitar Nation. We were a bit pressed trying to cover it all. I love my work, but I also like my weekends – and I’m trying to fit a bathroom at the moment,” he jokes. This is a serious point, however, starting to be voiced by an increasing number of distributors. The plethora of regional shows may be a ‘Good Thing’ in principle, but it can be costly, time consuming and frustrating for the staff of companies that attend them. “That said, you can see why they are
popular, like Guitar Nation, where the stand space is a lot cheaper. I think people got fed- up with coughing-up five grand for a space and not knowing what the turnout was going to be. If you could do the same show and spend so much less, you’d be crazy not to. “We’ve changed our marketing budget quite a bit this year. We’ve dropped back a bit on some of the print advertising and we‘re putting that money into in-store displays, bringing artists over and a lot of online marketing.” A notable feature of the string business is
that, as with the drum and percussion trade, it relies heavily on player endorsements.
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