MKS Supply, a well-known marketer of firearms and ammunition, recognized that first time gun buyers comprised one of the most rapidly growing market segments in the firearms industry. They also realized there was very little vendor-neutral, fact-based information for these buyers to turn to online.
MKS Supply decided to create an online platform to answer frequently asked questions, compare types (not brands) of firearms and ammunition, and address what buyers should consider before making their first firearm purchase.
Very important to MKS was that the website be vendor-neutral, organized in an easy-to-navigate manner, and be written to introduce new buyers to industry jargon.
Our Solution
As marketing professionals who serve the firearm industry, we understood how daunting it can be for first time gun buyers to discern fact from fiction, determine if information is colored by personal preference, and recognize when advertising is veiled as a news piece.
What we did.
- Conducted marketing research to see if other vendor-neutral first time gun buyer resources existed.
- Reviewed content on industry sites and saw that most firearm and ammunition companies, spoke as if their audiences were already familiar with industry terms and acronyms.
- Identified and organized the information a first-time buyer may find useful including: Before You Buy, Safety, FAQ, Firearms & Ammo comparison, At The Range, Other Online Resources and a Glossary of Terms.
- Designed and developed the website using non-proprietary, industry-standard technology and methods to allow the site to be easily moved to another hosting company if the client ever needed.
- Made sure the website was built to automatically resize itself depending on the device used to view it (PC, laptop, phone, tablet).
- Provided copywriting services and intentionally wrote the text using vernacular of someone outside of the firearms industry. By doing this, we presented technical information in layman's terms.
- Provided graphic design and image preparation services.
- Incorporated best practices into the site for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes.
What we continue to do.
- Provide copywriting services as new content is added.
- Coordinate ad placement with site sponsors.
- Provide 2A friendly site management services including:
- Website hosting
- Visitor analytics
- Security patches
- Programming updates
- Scheduled backups
- Monitor search results placement in major search engines and make adjustments as needed.
- When firsttimegunbuyer.com was launched in April of 2021, Google did not immediately recognize its existence. We made many calculated adjustments and within four months firsttimegunbuyer.com appeared on the first page of Google search results for "first time gun buyer."
