One of the old-guard (sounds funny to say but things are different now) American makers pointed me in the right direction a long time ago with this adage: good pipes sell themselves. It's not about photos. Not about hats, hype, beards, a posse, nothing. It's about pipes that are good enough.
It truly is that simple. The difference between "Oh hey bro, that's wicked!" and "Oh my god, take my money." If you can separate those two and hit the latter again and again, you'll make it as a pipe maker. Not to say it's easy or anything, it's not, and the deluge of not-ready-for-primetime pipes on the market these days is proof (and nobody is immune, we've all made stuff we see later and think "Oh my, did I do that?"