2013 Wood Diamond Award

​Category – Advertising/Marketing Design

Project Description – All pictures were taken by me using a Nikon D100 DSLR camera. All advertising copy was written by myself (other than the testimonial which came from a customer). Layout of the advertisement was by myself in conjunction with one of the magazine’s designers.

Unusual Aspects – My main goal with this ad was to create a piece that we could use to build trust with clients. We did get a fair amount of calls from the ad itself. However, it’s use as a sales tool was instrumental in closing about 16 jobs that year. Here’s what I did…
We were a relatively new company when we I had the ad created. We had just completed a nice commercial job for Rahal the car dealer (Very well known in our area, sells Mercedes, our ideal clients!) I got the dealers permission to use there name and logo, using their notoriety to build trust in our work.
The ad was written in an advertorial style so it gave people something to read. I tried to incorporate a little bit about our process and attention to detail as well as a client testimonial. As part of the ad cost, we got several CASES of these magazines.
As I was measuring a job, I would hand the customer the magazine and ask if they had seen the recent article about us in DHL. Also, at homeshows, when someone said they never heard of us, I gave them a little background about us and handed them a copy of the magazine (pointing out the high-profile work.)
Using a combination of homeshows and other events, I was able to get around 50 leads. This article played heavily in giving us credibility and building trust. I was able to book a whole year of work during the months of March and April. (Keep in mind we have no showroom, rarely have had anyone come to our shop, all done through in-home sales.)

Why I like the CMA – Although I have not been a CMA member for long, I have found the information presented in the magazines and forum to be very valuable. I’ll be the first to admit that, by most cabinetmakers standards, I’m a little wet behind the ears (being only 32 years old.) I value having a resource that I can keep on the cutting edge of small shop technology and trends. Although I mostly lurk on the forum, I’ve used the search functions to dig up lots of good information. Also, I think having the CMA membership gives some validation to our companies commitment to pursuing quality. (customers invariably ask about the certificate on display.) We also get some website traffic from our listing on the CMA website. I look forward to participating in the CMA’s training program as well.