|
 Print Friendly
 Email to Friend
|
|
8 Ideas To Strengthen Your Family-Owned Business
|
|
Article 7: Market Your Tradition—Two Real-Life Examples
Your family firm sells more than products or services. You also sell your family’s values, traditions and stability.
If you’re not marketing those unique aspects of the family business, you’re missing out on a powerful message that can attract and retain customers.
So broadcast your family’s mission to the world. Publicize your company history in your brochures, press releases, catalogs and on your Web site. Build trust with customers by showing that the moms, dads, kids and cousins have an ownership stake in the firm and a passion for seeing the company succeed through the generations.
That’s what clock-maker Howard Miller has done. The Zeeland, Mich., family-owned firm has been in business for 77 years and has built more than 2 million clocks.
Each floor clock is carefully handcrafted to become a valued family heirloom enjoyed by generations to come. Pride of craftsmanship is one of the messages the Howard Miller company uses to market its clocks.
“We understand how homeowners want to live in and enjoy their homes,” says Buzz Miller, president, COO and grandson of company founder Howard Miller. “We pride ourselves on creating timepieces with superb craftsmans
hip and superior design.”
Every floor clock is touched by at least five hands before coming off the production line. The finish is hand-applied on every clock, and each cabinet is completely sanded by hand twice during finishing, says Miller.
That kind of family-oriented marketing has paid off. Howard Miller products can be found at fine retailers nationwide. The company now employs more than 1,500 people at nine manufacturing plants.
Velvet Ice Cream Company in Utica, Ohio, also builds on its family tradition. The company is a four-generation family-owned business now in its 90th year.
In the summer of 2003, it launched a publicity campaign with six of Ohio’s most celebrated inns. Each inn supplied dessert entries for a Velvet recipe booklet and hosted winners of a contest sponsored by Velvet.
“These inns are well-known for their warm hospitality and fine dining,” says Luconda Dager, Velvet’s vice president of marketing.
The joint campaign was good match. Consumers associated Velvet’s brand with the personal atmosphere provided by the inns, thereby building on the ice cream maker’s traditions and values as a family-owned business.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
