Taking the first step into a social media world is the hardest. We started our family discussions about this last summer when we moved forward into the blog world. Our daughter Whitney, our ever so opinionated Oregon State Business student, was hot on the hunt. “Its what everyone is doing”. I’ve got to admit I was not eager to jump into this new platform but decided if I decided to try my best to keep an open mind and try to discover why a business would really need to embrace this strategy.
“It’s so easy” was still not what I needed to move forward. Sometimes being a multi- generational family business forces you listen to ideas, and at least consider them before being negative. So I began to click various businesses facebook pages to see what it was all about. What I discovered was puzzling to me at first. So many businesses had pages that we full of random junk that I couldn’t imagine our customers wanting to view it. But thru a lot of persistence I discovered some brilliant marketing strategists that opened my eyes to the fact that a lot of people are on facebook a lot of hours that may not necessarily be when our business is open. Many of them just want to know what type of company we are and what we are all about, and might even want to ask a few questions in the wee hours of the night, and did I just want to ignore them? We’ll of course not! But I needed to be true to our brand and come up with more than a junkie wall.
So after being inspired by the wonderful Mari Smith, at North Social, we set out to make facebook a place you can find us, see what we are about,see what new projects we are working on or ask questions, and hopefully develop a few people that like us and might be interested in the information or special promotions we try to provide.
After a little collaboration, we finally put together what we think is a pretty good page. Check us out and let us know what you think. We really hope you LIKE us!
Oh one last thing about stepping out into Facebook, sometimes your younger members of the family business don’t always appreciate your sudden interest in what they consider their personal world….
Always check BOTH what the city will let you have for signage AND what your landlord will let you put on the building.
This is one of the most commonly overlooked items before signing a lease. Before you sign a lease you have leverage in getting what you want. After the pen hits the paper you are a victim of a losing battle. Sign codes are very complicated and change all the time. Not only do cities and counties have codes but blocks and districts can have separate codes as well. Just as soon as you traverse those mine fields, incomes the landlord that doesn’t want a particular style of sign on his building. Most landlords have a very clear policy of what they will allow and could care less if isn’t at all what the city will allow you to have. THIS IS A DEAL BREAKER. This is a rookie mistake that new businesses make consistently as they happily sign the lease to a much larger space. Remember exposure is everything. Without proper visibility your business could fail. Just because everyone else seems to have a large sign doesn’t mean you’ll be allowed one.
Sometimes those large signs are grandfathered before a new sign code went into effect. Other times a landlord just decided he didn’t like the look of cabinet signs so wrote a new policy for only channel letter signs be allowed for new tenants. This month alone we have had customers frustrated to discover that a neighboring tenant with a very large sign is using 75% of the alloted signage for the building. Therefore there only option is a tiny sign with virtually no visibility. Another very large non-profit found out that they would only be allowed channel letter signage, which more that doubled their allotted budget for signs. But the best of the month is always the poor soul who leases in a historical district only to discover that every change they want to make to the signage will be disallowed because the previous tenant never got the proper permits and was never really allowed to have any of the visible signage they assumed would be theirs. This is why sign companies live and die by their permitting manager. First Big Tip…this is a free service sign companies should provide their customers upon consultation.
Once you are armed with the proper city code allowance for your space, and you have asked to see the landlord signage criteria you can now evaluate if your new space is really the deal you anticipated. Believe me, no large brand like McDonalds, Starbucks, Best Buy, ever signed a lease without negotiating for better signage viability before signing on the dotted line
California is now the testing ground for new regulations in energy efficient signage. They have put into effect a new energy certification program to ensure all signage manufactured or installed in California complies with the new regulations and certification program.
Since so many of our Oregon customers are already so energy concious, we feel getting on board with this program right from the get go is the right thing to do. It will not only help our National Account clients who do business in California, but with the new LEED certification requirements in the building industry, it will help give our local customers the third party verification they look for in a manufacturer of electrical signage. We want our customers to know when the request energy efficient signage that we have a verifiable program in place to help them with their sustanability goals. We are currently in the certification process and hope to be sporting the new ” UL green leaf “stickers on the majority of our signage soon!
Its official Martin Bros. Inc.’s Philanthropy of Choice for 2011 is The Salvation Army. President and co-owner Mary Meyer was officially appointed to the board of Salvation Army in December of 2010.
When we were setting our goals for 2011, we decided that philanthropy needed to be a bigger part of our organization. We were so blessed to be doing so well in such a turbulent economy, that we should give back to the community that was helping to foster our success. Being a small business its hard to feel that your contributions have much impact next to large corporate donors so we really
wanted to find a way as a company we could step up and make a difference somewhere. We decided that making our employees feel connected and part of philanthropy would actually be the goal of the organization we choose. So we began to think more about the community they live in and we work in. Once we were focused, an amazing full circle moment hit us and we knew exactly what organization to choose!
The Salvation Army’s Joan and Ray Kroc Center was one of our companies largest and most prestigious projects we have ever been a part of. It truly is a beautiful and amazing center in the Salem Community. We are always proud to show off the projects beautiful signage as part of our portfolio. Everyone of our employees that came back from participating in the project was always amazed by how amazing the center was and how lucky we were to be part of it. We even got national attention when the project won architectural gold award. So when I was taking my new marketing director on a tour of work we had done and I pulled up in front of the KROC she looked almost stunned. I started to explain what the center was, and she stopped me and said she knew all about it. She had worked on the initial grant to bring the project to Salem. She was there for the ground breaking. She and I knew the center was all about everything I was passionate about. But what we discovered was that the center was just a piece of what Salvation Army did in the community. As we looked more in to it we discovered The Salvation Army had touched many of our employees or their friends or families lives in different ways. From the Salem Santas, the Christmas Bell Ringers, the angel trees,the food bank,the homeless shelter, transitional housing,the rehabilitation programs, to the beautiful recreation center they now enjoy with their families. The Salvation Army was an organization we could all feel proud to be apart of.
So this year as we hope to devote some of our time,talent, and treasure this organization we feel does the most for our local community, we hope you think to ask us about how your business too might get involved. We feel small change and big hearts can do a lot if we all do it together.
Being a sign business keeps me very close to the comings and goings of retail businesses. Sometimes I am fortunate enough to recognize a small business that is really doing a great thing. The Delicious Sugar Free Bakery in Clackamas Oregon
Wouldn't it be nice if all your customers were this excited about your product!
is truly one of those businesses. This company makes THE most delicious sugar free treats. That is all they make. So when you go into their store all the wonderful desserts are free game. You don’t have to look at a little section of sugar free products in a side case and imagine what it would be like to indulge like everyone else. They make their baked goods with healthy sugar substitutes instead of the typical sugar substitutes that make us nervous. Their products are low in carbohydrates so people with diabetes or on a weight watchers program can enjoy the simple pleasures in life without any guilt.
This happens to be a subject near and dear to my heart because members of my family and several employees as well as member s of their families have had to struggle with diabetes for years. I am always forced to carefully read labels for sugar and carb counts before bringing baked goods home. I am forever forced to remind (or nag) family members of making good food choice decision. I am here to tell you it sucks! Its terrible to have to offer someone an apple, while you are enjoying a big piece of pumpkin pie or chocolate cake. When I discovered this bakery it was amazing. My family could enjoy cookies, cinnamon rolls, chocolate eclairs, cashew clusters to their hears content. In fact, I bought so many wonderful treats for them that I felt deprived.
Diabetes is a series problem in our country. Helping people live normal lives is definitely worth a shout out.
When I was moving the sign for this company, the wonderful women that own it brought a treat out for me. I shared it with an employees daughter who has type one diabetes. Just looking at her face makes me realize how important one little bakery can be in the life of a child. I mean what did any of us do to put a smile on someone’s face today?
We were proud of out daughter Whitney when she chose to become a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority at Oregon State University, but even prouder when she shared her sorority’s commitment to philanthropy…You guessed it, Diabetes. The Sorority’s philanthropy campaign, Defeat Diabetes One Step at a Time. This is a disease that effects our families and friends, and any one helping my family,friends or employess live a better life might hopefully be able to help your family or friends too.
First off, I think any company still standing in this these tough economic times deserves to take a minute and congratulate themselves. Sometimes I laugh and feel like we are all participating in a business edition of the reality show Survivor. We were given all our existing overhead, reduced credit lines, high salaried employees, new government regulations, more taxes, few customers (half of whom can’t pay their bill….a new twist), and told go be a successful business and compete…But the reality is WE ARE STILL HERE.
I think since we have all made it this far we need to take minute, form some alliances, and share thoughts and insights that have gotten us this far. Here is my tip to offer… YOU CAN’T STAND STILL. Its the old saying lead, follow, or get out of the way. Grow, add jobs, I dare you to step it up. Since the beginning of 2008 I choose to grow and expand services. I went from 24 to 34 employees. We now have more customers and tighter business relationships than ever. People that’s 40% job creation in the worst of economic times. Granted it will never make the headlines since we aren’t offering hundreds of jobs…but think about it, if all of you found a way to create a few more jobs, employ a few more people, we the businesses on this island could change our own economy, without the help of any government programs or breaks (don’t even get me going on that one).
Get creative…excel at what you do…find a way to add one or two new jobs. If more people are working they can spend more money so we can all expand. Consider this for motivation…Creating jobs is the new philanthropy! Now let’s here from you…
Some of the Martin/Meyer journeyman installers particiapating in the certification process 2/10. Every installer at both Martin Bros. Inc and Meyer sign Company of Oregon as well as all or their cranes were certified 2/10
Sometimes it pays to look into the policies and safety programs of the company you hire to install your sign. A company may have been in business a long time, but longevity and rule compliance are two different matters. especially in a tight financial market.
In the sign industry last year the state of Washington adapted a set of rules regarding crane operation in their state. Not only would all sign cranes need to be certified in Washington but all drivers would also have to be certified under a new guidelines. Read the rest of this entry »
Winning photo from OSU's Austin Family business programs"fun in a family business" photo contest
Part of the fun in becoming a multigenerational family business is the reality that you are one. When I joined my husband Denny is this business 10 years ago, I never really thought much about it, but was just interested in the business he had created and worked hard at for 30 years. I became hooked immediately in the industry and had plenty of advice and experience to offer from a large corporation background, as well as many years working with National accounts. Needless to say getting my ideas and excitement into the business were not always met with enthusiasm, and I was frustrated with the “that isn’t how we do things” attitude.
Through the years there has been a lot of give and take of ideas that have led to our company’s success and ever growing presence in the marketplace. My husband has become very gracious in his consideration and acceptance of Read the rest of this entry »
