Scored! It's a Winning Outdoor Power Equipment Forum

A couple of weeks ago, almost on a whim, we started a new Outdoor Power Equipment forum. It was a planned whim, as much as whims can be planned, but it had an agenda. A forum's agenda is often to give to the community - the community that is related to a business. So our new forum allows HLSupply to give to the OPE community, by empowering them to help each other and co-mingle with like minded individuals.

The Success of an Outdoor Power Equipment Forum

We have found our little gathering place to be an instant success in both the camaraderie department and in the help department. Many people jumped on right away and began associating with one another, but also talking about fixes and mods to their tools. Some get help with fixes or sourcing parts; some give help in the way of topics, photos or tutorials.

"How did this quick success come about" you ask?
Well, it has been a mixture of good timing, personalities, and marketing.

Good Timing

Apparently the launch of of a new outdoor power equipment bulletin board was well timed. Users reported to us that another well known one has been banning people right, left, and center. Supposedly there had been a growing atmosphere of unfriendliness over there, and several members were looking for something better. Something more fun. More useful.

Good Personalities

Luckily, the folks that came on to chat right away have been good natured, helpful folks. Just like us! We really do like to help. We strive to help actually. Our forum users really seem to also.

Our good humor goes a long way too. This office is far from a really hard core serious place. Well, we're serious about helping, but we're also serious about clowning around. So, the camaraderie came naturally. A big success is to have the forum be an outward projection of ourselves.

Good Marketing

HL Supply customers who have registered to be informed of good things to come, like sale prices, (and forums), were lucky enough to receive an email with advanced invitation to check out the topics that were created. Email marketing is really good marketing. It is important to have several strategies to get people onto a mailing list. We're glad to have a large list of great customers. They're glad to receive our updates too.

Hey, you should get our free ebook on marketing and advertising outdoor power equipment businesses. Emailing is just one of the 25 tips in that book.

Outdoor Power Equipment Business Advertising

Some folks are posting ads. We made it easy, (and free), to post ads about small engine repair businesses and whatnot. People can also post in a classified ad manner: chainsaws for sale, etc.

The overall environment is not about selling though. If you go check it out, you'll see that it is a lot of fun discussion about topics related to chainsaws and other equipment and tools....

....and some forum nonsense!

What do you think?