It feels like SHOT Show 2009 was just the other day, but here we are gearing up for the start of SHOT Show 2010 in just 21 days. As the time on the clock ticks down toward 2010, we at Laura Burgess Marketing would like to take a moment to reflect on 2009. It was a big year for our company and we only hope that the impact of 2009 will help us to better serve our customers in 2010 and beyond.
From Sole Proprietorship to a Full Family Run Company
I founded LBM in 2003. At the time, my husband Eric was working as a Director in a local multi-million dollar window design company while our daughter, Ashley, was just starting her sophomore year at Babson College. None of us knew six years ago that by the close of the first
decade of the new millennium that all three of us would be working for the family business.
Eric, always a silent partner in the business, joined the company publicly in January 2009 as the Vice President and CFO. His experience in business management and operations became a quick asset to our company as he discovered new ways to operate LBM more efficiently.
Ashley followed suit in July 2009. Having worked in various marketing departments for corporations on tasks such as direct mail, trade shows and events, social media marketing, website management and public relations, to name a few, she and LBM decided it was the right time to bring her on board.
A Growing Company Leads to New Innovations and Offerings
With the addition of Eric and Ashley to the team, we were able to discover new offerings that would better serve our clients. Ashley introduced the company to social media optimization. Through networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, we learned how to broaden our client’s brand names and perceptions, in addition to reaching the customers directly for feedback, offers and service inquiries. Not only were we able to create our own social networks to better understand what our clients are looking to gain from us, but we now offer the creation, operation and management of social networking sites for our clients.
In addition to social media optimization, we increased our collateral development services. We tripled our design team to provide our clients with the best match for their brand at a more affordable rate. Having always offered press kit development, LBM now goes beyond mere assemblage and distribution. LBM now offers design and print management for various collateral endeavors including, but not limited to: brochures, catalogs, folders, corporate fact sheets, case studies, sales sheets and CD replication.
Finally, LBM now offers the ability to survey our client’s target market, whether that is their customers or their desired vendors or writers. Through a state of the art survey system, we can make your survey as specific as you’d like or as broad as you like. All results are instantaneously recorded and analyzed, giving us the ability to provide our clients with information as soon as they request it.
LBM Discovers New Markets
We’ve always been dedicated to serving our friends in the law enforcement, military, shooting
and hunting sports industry, after all, it’s what has given us our start; however, 2009 brought additional markets to our attention. With Eric’s over 20 years experience in the home building market, in addition to being a life long boater, as well as Ashley’s experience in the marine industry and receiving a USCG license at the age of 16, it seemed natural for us to open our doors to serving companies in these industries as well. While our venture into these new markets is still fresh, we want to assure our old friends in our current industries that we have not, will not, nor can we ever forget about you and serving you with top notch professionalism.
LBM Develops a Pro Team…Well, Sort Of
I’ve been in the law enforcement, military, shooting and hunting sports markets for over 17 years now and have worked with, promoted and watched many pro teams and shooting events during this time. This year, in the spirit of developing our family business, we decided to try our luck at our first Three Gun Match. We set our sites on the Seventh Annual Three-Gun Match Set at the Hartford Gun Club, sponsored by the Shooting Industry Masters, this past July.
Our team consisted of Eric, our brother-in-law Stuart Gagneux, his son and our nephew, Ryan Gagneux and I. We worked well together and each of us excelled in one of the disciplines where the other person (or several people) lacked. While we’re not going pro anytime soon (Max Michel, your title is safe for now!), we did have a great time, got to meet great people and plan to participate in more Three Gun matches (and maybe other events!) in 2010.
While 2009 may have been prophesized as a doom and gloom year from many economists, it proved to be a positive and promising year for team LBM. We’ve tripled our company size, expanded our offerings, redesigned our logo, delved into new markets and have created our own sporting team. Yes, 2009 has been a good year for our company and we hope that the good fortune we’ve seen has spilled over to the service and professionalism that our clients have received. With 2009 wrapping up in just a few short days, we eagerly await to see what 2010 has in store for us.
From all of us at LBM, we wish you a happy and prosperous new year!
From Sole Proprietorship to a Full Family Run Company
I founded LBM in 2003. At the time, my husband Eric was working as a Director in a local multi-million dollar window design company while our daughter, Ashley, was just starting her sophomore year at Babson College. None of us knew six years ago that by the close of the first
decade of the new millennium that all three of us would be working for the family business.Eric, always a silent partner in the business, joined the company publicly in January 2009 as the Vice President and CFO. His experience in business management and operations became a quick asset to our company as he discovered new ways to operate LBM more efficiently.
Ashley followed suit in July 2009. Having worked in various marketing departments for corporations on tasks such as direct mail, trade shows and events, social media marketing, website management and public relations, to name a few, she and LBM decided it was the right time to bring her on board.
A Growing Company Leads to New Innovations and Offerings
With the addition of Eric and Ashley to the team, we were able to discover new offerings that would better serve our clients. Ashley introduced the company to social media optimization. Through networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, we learned how to broaden our client’s brand names and perceptions, in addition to reaching the customers directly for feedback, offers and service inquiries. Not only were we able to create our own social networks to better understand what our clients are looking to gain from us, but we now offer the creation, operation and management of social networking sites for our clients.
In addition to social media optimization, we increased our collateral development services. We tripled our design team to provide our clients with the best match for their brand at a more affordable rate. Having always offered press kit development, LBM now goes beyond mere assemblage and distribution. LBM now offers design and print management for various collateral endeavors including, but not limited to: brochures, catalogs, folders, corporate fact sheets, case studies, sales sheets and CD replication.
Finally, LBM now offers the ability to survey our client’s target market, whether that is their customers or their desired vendors or writers. Through a state of the art survey system, we can make your survey as specific as you’d like or as broad as you like. All results are instantaneously recorded and analyzed, giving us the ability to provide our clients with information as soon as they request it.
LBM Discovers New Markets
We’ve always been dedicated to serving our friends in the law enforcement, military, shooting
and hunting sports industry, after all, it’s what has given us our start; however, 2009 brought additional markets to our attention. With Eric’s over 20 years experience in the home building market, in addition to being a life long boater, as well as Ashley’s experience in the marine industry and receiving a USCG license at the age of 16, it seemed natural for us to open our doors to serving companies in these industries as well. While our venture into these new markets is still fresh, we want to assure our old friends in our current industries that we have not, will not, nor can we ever forget about you and serving you with top notch professionalism.LBM Develops a Pro Team…Well, Sort Of
I’ve been in the law enforcement, military, shooting and hunting sports markets for over 17 years now and have worked with, promoted and watched many pro teams and shooting events during this time. This year, in the spirit of developing our family business, we decided to try our luck at our first Three Gun Match. We set our sites on the Seventh Annual Three-Gun Match Set at the Hartford Gun Club, sponsored by the Shooting Industry Masters, this past July.Our team consisted of Eric, our brother-in-law Stuart Gagneux, his son and our nephew, Ryan Gagneux and I. We worked well together and each of us excelled in one of the disciplines where the other person (or several people) lacked. While we’re not going pro anytime soon (Max Michel, your title is safe for now!), we did have a great time, got to meet great people and plan to participate in more Three Gun matches (and maybe other events!) in 2010.
While 2009 may have been prophesized as a doom and gloom year from many economists, it proved to be a positive and promising year for team LBM. We’ve tripled our company size, expanded our offerings, redesigned our logo, delved into new markets and have created our own sporting team. Yes, 2009 has been a good year for our company and we hope that the good fortune we’ve seen has spilled over to the service and professionalism that our clients have received. With 2009 wrapping up in just a few short days, we eagerly await to see what 2010 has in store for us.
From all of us at LBM, we wish you a happy and prosperous new year!
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