Providing members with information relevant to their manufacturing, marketing, management and resource needs is only half of the Mission of the Hardwood Manufacturers Association. We’re also charged to provide a nationwide marketing-communications effort to increase demand for solid American Hardwood products. And my goal, today, is to share with you the particulars of some of those promotional activities and projects.
It all begins at www.HardwoodInfo.com – The American Hardwood Information Center – sponsored by the HMA and for years the authoritative resource for consumers and building professionals seeking the ‘facts’ about American Hardwoods and the uniquely beautiful and environmentally friendly products made from them. The website, a treasure trove of inspiring articles, imagery, videos, reference sheets, and brochures, welcomes more than 10,000 unique visitors monthly; and also serves as a springboard for promotional projects like these:
Editorial Media Services are quarterly releases geared to inspire consumers to choose American Hardwood flooring, cabinetry, millwork and furniture for their homes or offices. Distributed via our editorial services and delivered to more than 150 million desktops and mobile devices, this content is also posted on HardwoodInfo.com and used for our social media posts.
To ‘set the record straight’ about American Hardwoods to architects, designers and other building professionals, we have developed two Continuing Education Learning Units – “American Hardwoods and Their Role in Carbon Neutral Design,” and “Thermally Modified Hardwood and its Role in Architectural Design,” – which are registered with the American Institute of Architects and the International Design Continuing Education Council, and are available as on-demand, online learning units, via America Training Solutions.
Additionally, sales personnel of several HMA member companies have been registered as ‘lesson providers’ for these CEUs, and thus credentialed to conduct in-person (or zoom) ‘Lunch and Learns’ to architectural and design firms across the country. This has proven to be a winning relationship for all involved, in that the build community professionals are educated about and inspired to use American Hardwood products, and the CEU lesson provider is presented as a potential product supplier.
The American Hardwoods Collection, a sample kit of 20 of the most used Hardwood species, is an excellent tool promoting solid American Hardwoods to the specifying community, students and all industry advocates. HMA provides the kits to participants at educational/learning events, and to colleges and high school libraries. And several industry associations distribute them at their events, as well.
American Hardwds on Social Media allows us to connect with world-wide audiences in a significant way. Daily, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Houzz and Instagram posts are spreading facts and features of American Hardwoods, and I’m quite pleased that our social media presence continues to grow. (A picture is indeed worth a thousand words!)
And because I firmly believe that Hardwood Promotion is everyone’s business, HMA is a founding member (and I am on the Board of Directors and an Officer) of the Real American Hardwood Coalition, a voluntary, industry-wide domestic promotion initiative that is making crucial progress in its efforts to establish and implement a united marketing strategy for the American Hardwood industry.
If you would like to learn more about any or all of these promotional efforts, please contact me at ljovanovich@hardwood.org. Hardwood promotion is everyone’s business.
