Redwood promotions in high gear

THE DEMAND for redwood has I never been sreater.

The species las been a traditional favorite because of its built-in good looks, rot-resistance and dimensional stability. Builders and do-it-yourselfers like to work with redwood because it is easy to saw and handle. Unlike chemically treated products, it needs no special protective or dispos- al procedures. And, despite the proliferation of synthetic, man-made building materials, redwood has a straightforward, organic appeal.

To support this well-established preference, the California Redwood Association has a new marketing program for the year 2000. It is a combination of advertising, publicity and sales aids.

CRA works with consumer, specifier and merchant magazines to place stories and photographs that create demand for redwood products and projects. They have productive relationships with newpaper, radio, TV, Web site and how-to book editors and producers.

The publicity highlight is the national deck contest sponsored by CRA and Today's H ome owne r magazine (circulation 950,000). This on-going event will be announced in the magazine's April issue, then a multi-page feature showing the 1999 winners will appear in the May issue. This, combined with the announcement of the 2000 contest, will give people design ideas and motivate them to get started on deck projects they have been putting off. The contest also encourages them to use redwood so they can enter the contest.

CRA will award a $3,000 first prize, $2,000 second prize, and $1,000 third prize. The deadline for entries will be July 31. 2000. and the winners will be published by Today's Homeowner in a 2001 issue.

CRA will support the magazine's promotion by creating point-of-purchase banners and countertop entry blank containers. These will be available free to merchants from CRA member mills and will fuel the deck building excitement created by the contest. Merchants can also tie into the contest by sponsoring local competitions and encouraging their pro customers to enter.

Inexpensive project

plans make great point-ofpurchase giveaways.

CRA will mail contest entry blanks to selected lists of building professionals and do back-up publicity in newspapers and in building, design and lumber trade magazines.

Another success story has been CRA's Web site at www.calredwood.org. The site receives an average of 500 visitors a day who usually look at about five pages. It is popular with lumber merchants, design and building professionals and consumers. Constantly evolving, current site attractions include a redwood dealer locator, CRA literature that can be downloaded, do-it-yourself plans with 3-D visuals, and two videos that can be viewed online.

To supplement the redwood publicity, Web site and advertising, CRA has an extensive library of literature and merchant sales aids that are regularly revised and improved. In 2000, they plan to add to their on-going series of project plans.

These inexpensive plans are popular with do-it-yourselfers and make great point-of-purchase giveaways. In production are design sheets for planters, a garden work center, and spa surrounds and accessories.

CRA can help merchants create a customized redwood sales program and has photographs, literature and videos available on request.

Er

XORBITANT promotion costs of I/international marketing have curtailed export business plans for many small businesses.

The Internet, however, can help businesses of any size perform low cost, online research into possibilities of selling products abroad. Good trading sites and search engines can lead you to prospective buyers, as well as provide you with details of the companies.

Utilize excellent search engines such as Infoseek, Alta Vista or Web Crawler. Try inputting a combination of words which would lead to information on potential buyers of your products. For example, if you are looking at a specific market such as the Middle East for your building products, then try a combination of words such as "UAE," "Dubai," "building materials," "construction," "trading," etc., and you will get several Web pages of companies, trade bodies, private consultants, and even trading sites connected with your product and target country.

A search might uncover such wonderful sites as www.con-all.com (dedicated to the construction materials business in the Middle East) or www.arabnet.com (focusing on busi-

Good trading sites and

search engines can lead you to prospective buyers. nesses in the Arab world). A similar search targeting Africa might lead you to www.mbendi.com, which features an extensive trading facility for corresponding with thousands of African companies.

General trading sites offering leads on a wide range of products and commodities far outnumber "businessspecific" sites that focus on a particular commodity or a product. There is, however, a tendency among businesses in developed countries to use portals promoted by associations relevant to their trade. Yet, for export, import and third country trading, several "all products" trading sites are at times far more useful than specialized trade sites.

Among the better multi-product trading sites are www.alibaba.com, where thousands of new trade leads get registered daily. There are several product categories, covering almost the entire range of products and services traded globally, and by the second click you can reach your desired product category. Also featured are a search facility incorporating a key word search, a trade lead search, and an "alert" facility, notifying inquiries of your interest by e-mail.

A high number of offers to buy in a wide range of product categories are also registered daily on www.worldbid.com. The site includes a superb "alerl" facility.

You will find a large listing of trade inquiries on www.ec2l.com, which additionally has a great search mechanism. Www.eckorea.net has similar features, plus an excellent trade classification system and a systematic leads posting and retrieval system.

Among the dozens of other great sites are www.swissinfo.com, www.allproducts.com, www.tradezone.com, www.netsource-asia.com and www.digilead.com. One can really exploit the advantages of such sites by posting and updating buy and sell offers, regularly utilizing the search and alert facilities, and posting trade leads under all possible business opportunltles.

Product- or business-specific sites can similarly be located via a search engine by entering words or phrases such as "tiles," "flooring," "stone," or any other building product, along with a combination of words such as "buy," "sell," "trading," "export," "import," "offers to buy," "offers to sell," etc. Typical results would include www.floorbiz.com, www. ceramic-tile.com, www.constructiononline.com, www.buildonline. com, and www.consource.com.

If the results are too voluminous, narrow down your search to sites pertaining to businesses in specific countries and specific products in the countries of your choice.

In fact. when you register your trade inquiries with some trading sites, often you receive mailers from other trading sites, providing a plethora of opportunities for doing business through the Net.

And as the trading community increasingly embraces such sites, the product listings are certain to grow even longer.