I see the way forward for independent foundries as social media marketing linking directly to one’s own ecommerce site
That’s what I assumed would be the way forward a few years ago, but now I am very uncertain of the social media marketing basket into which basically everyone has put all their eggs.
The point isn’t so much that indies are using social media, the point is to have your own shop. Not all socials will collapse at once. Social media marketing is great if done well, but it should only be part of a marketing strategy and effort.
I also disagree with @Ray Larabie shifting landscape observation. There’s more indie than ever and it’s fantastic. Customers aren’t stupid or lazy, they go looking for good new stuff all over the place. Studios will have their in-house type geeks with their own foundry lists of what’s new & interesting. I bet everyone on this sub started out super hungry and eager to find all the foundries and discussed with their mates.
The point isn’t so much that indies are using social media, the point is to have your own shop.
I agree with that. Dependence on platforms owned by other people—and especially dependence on a single platform owned by other people—is not a good idea.
I think 65% for non-exclusive by Font Brothers is the best thing we currently have on the market and it's something that should be mentioned and respected in all similar discussions.
However, I really appreciate Matthew and Roger being here on TD, answering questions and participating in the discussion. All font stores know very well for TD and still, some of the biggest don't feel we deserve their presence and voice here. That's a shady aspect and the first red flag for me. Thanks to all owners who are here, no matter if I/we often strongly disagree with them.
I just want to chime in here and add on to what @Kris Sowersby was mentioning about ownership but I am mostly commenting on the dictation. When you say "Type Network was founded by and remains owned by type designers", in my opinion, it is very misleading and gives the sense that this is a worker owned company. I take it that not every single foundry involved is a shareholder?
When you say "Type Network was founded by and remains owned by type designers", in my opinion, it is very misleading and gives the sense that this is a worker owned company. I take it that not every single foundry involved is a shareholder?
I don't think that's really fair; they've said who the founding shareholders are, some of them are type designers and they are still on the board with shares.
It isn't 100% type designers, but as Joyce has been saying, that's natural for a type business to have leadership who aren't themselves type designers.
That's a big jump to "worker owned" which seems out of left field to me. And it also seems very safe to assume that not a single business partner has shares; it would be if the firm was called "type co-op", but it says network above the door, like "affiliate network marketing". Obviously it's a step above _that_, but still...
It seems plainly truthful and not misleading at all.
I believe that independent foundries should support distributors who offer us respect as partners, more honest agreements and greater participation in company decisions. Otherwise we will be completely in the hands of the ones that do exactly the opposite.
Of course there will always be risks. That is why it is a bad idea not to have your own marketing channels and invest sufficiently in them.
I can't stress often enough that the fixation on the percentage cut is self defeating. The overhead for a font business is high and doesn't scale. I have always thought that the reason companies like font spring struggle is in large part that they are on a starvation diet. What matters is the a combination of the way the do business (do they treat partners well, are they good public reps) and the gross income.
I can't stress often enough that the fixation on the percentage cut is self defeating.
Then each percent taken by the stores must be well justified which is rarely the case. We easily left once a standard of 60-70% going to type designer. And what we got, is it better now than it was earlier?
Circle: The store takes more to invest in marketing, but then other stores have to invest more as well, and then Google and Meta and whoever takes the money for the marketing. Font customer base and purchasing potential are the same as earlier except now we have to pay more to get the same results.
A percentage is important because lowering it easily becomes the standard, and then even the goodwill stores are under pressure to lower the percentage to run with the rest.
Comments
@Ray Larabie shifting landscape observation. There’s more indie than ever and it’s fantastic. Customers aren’t stupid or lazy, they go looking for good new stuff all over the place. Studios will have their in-house type geeks with their own foundry lists of what’s new & interesting. I bet everyone on this sub started out super hungry and eager to find all the foundries and discussed with their mates.
However, I really appreciate Matthew and Roger being here on TD, answering questions and participating in the discussion. All font stores know very well for TD and still, some of the biggest don't feel we deserve their presence and voice here. That's a shady aspect and the first red flag for me. Thanks to all owners who are here, no matter if I/we often strongly disagree with them.
It isn't 100% type designers, but as Joyce has been saying, that's natural for a type business to have leadership who aren't themselves type designers.
That's a big jump to "worker owned" which seems out of left field to me. And it also seems very safe to assume that not a single business partner has shares; it would be if the firm was called "type co-op", but it says network above the door, like "affiliate network marketing". Obviously it's a step above _that_, but still...
It seems plainly truthful and not misleading at all.
Circle: The store takes more to invest in marketing, but then other stores have to invest more as well, and then Google and Meta and whoever takes the money for the marketing. Font customer base and purchasing potential are the same as earlier except now we have to pay more to get the same results.
A percentage is important because lowering it easily becomes the standard, and then even the goodwill stores are under pressure to lower the percentage to run with the rest.
Giving up quickly becomes a habit.