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  3. 1035466294

No computer??

I just wanted you all to know an interesting fact that I have recently come across. Our company has advertised in Stereophile, some of you may have seen the ad. I have received numerous calls for literature, which we are behind in printing, and thus are still about 4 weeks away from having any. While the brochure will be nice, there is about 10 times the information on the website, thus I have always asked "have you been to our website?" You can not believe how many people have responded--I don't have a computer. This amazes me, as these are people that read Stereophile. These did not sound like people that were so old they did not ever have access to a computer and thus never tried one, nor did these people sound like finances were any reason not to have a computer. While I can't be sure--it seemed to be more a purposeful decision of "I am simplifying my life--and a computer doesn't need to be part of it." Two of the people said they would go to the library and look me up on the internet connection there. I've suggested that to several--and I kind of got the impression of a deer looking into the headlights--just a long pause on the phone. To me it would be virtually impossible to work without a computer--I would have about 3 miles of paper in my office were it not for my computer--and very little way of keeping the organization I need. For most out there on A-gon (who obviously have a computer--or at the very least access to one) this probably sounds as surprising to you as it did to me. Just thought I would share that--any thoughts or comments would be welcomed.
rives

Showing 2 responses by ozfly

ozfly
887 posts
 
They must be seriously into tubes and eschew solid state ;-)
ozfly
887 posts
 
Let me try a little less tongue in cheek response. Virtually everyone I know in my age range (45-50) uses a PC at home. Either their kids acclimated them to it or they use it at work. My mother-in-law uses it; my own parents do not. There is an age and income distribution around PC ownership. Younger and/or higher income individuals tend to use the PC much more. But, there remain many older (of all income ranges) individuals who don't see the benefits or need to use one and this is true, to a lesser degree, of younger individuals as well.

To answer your question, it does not surprise me that a good number of audiophiles do not use PC's. I believe that virtually all audiophiles who are also technophiles (e.g., have an engineering background or really get into the technical aspects of the hobby) would use a PC. But, many audiophiles are really musicphiles vs. technophiles. That has little to do with age or income (IMO).

I agree with Lugnut that a multi-faceted marketing strategy is the correct approach and you do have one in place. Advertising in Stereophile and hitting the internet are both good tactics. Expanding the referral base is also an excellent idea and that is usually accomplished with happy customers or motivated dealers. One way to motivate dealers is to incent them to cross-sell your services after they sell their wares (not before and not during). A joint mail campaign (signed by both parties with the mail list firmly in control of the dealer and not shared with you) would be a potential way to accomplish this.

I'd be happy to discuss this with you and kick around some ideas. Drop me a note. I spent a couple of decades in marketing and you might get lucky enough to actually get a useful idea or two out of my ramblings ;-)
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