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It’s hard to reach people if, you know, you don’t try to reach people.
The hardcore part of the Second Amendment industry has developed a weird purity test around marketing.
If you do anything beyond organic posts, static carousels, the occasional shitpost, and word of mouth, people start looking at you like you sold out.
Collaborations are suspicious. Paid ads are suspicious. Live shopping is cringe. Trying to reach airsoft guys, casual gun owners, gamers, or people outside the existing tactical bubble gets treated like you’re watering everything down.
I get where it comes from. I also understand that weird populous “anti-consumerism” while actively engaging in consumerism vibe there is.
But it’s also not 2016 anymore.
E-commerce is changing fast, and companies are going to have to use new ways to reach people. That means creators, live shopping, affiliates, short-form video, and reaching adjacent audiences.
You can either grow the culture or keep selling to the same group of people forever.
At some point, you have to leave under ground bunker.