Spend a few minutes with veteran kitchen and bath professionals, and you’ll come away impressed by their widely varied backgrounds and success stories. They carry the same rugged individualism into their marketing strategies.

Some kitchen and bath firms like to promote in a quiet, understated way, while others seek to rock their customers’ worlds with head-turning, attention-getting promotions. There are dealerships that pursue timeless techniques when publicizing their businesses, while others prefer to tie their promotions to the most topical issues of the day.

Clearly, there’s no one singular route to successful marketing. However, a host of similarities can be found in the strategies of seasoned kitchen and bath professionals. 

Successful dealers have the ability to mold their companies to the changing demands of the marketplace. They have the rare talent of being able to “see around corners,” anticipating how consumer and trade preferences will evolve before they do, and adapting their companies accordingly.

They also believe in the marketing magic resulting from educated designers and very attractive showrooms spotlighting their in-demand products and services in the most appealing ways imaginable. And they are decisive enough to recognize when a selling or business plan isn’t working, replacing it with another tactic more likely to succeed.

Above all, successful marketers are capable of transforming basic products into distinctive home décor pieces that expressly meet their customers’ desires and needs. They are, in the final analysis, artisans who keenly listen to clients, then create precisely what clients want at attractive price points.

Evolving with the Times

From “Ugly Kitchen” contests to a zany promotion that incorporated bright yellow kayaks, Copper River Cabinet Co. excels at evolving with the times, re-inventing itself as needed to stay competitive. Indeed, the Ft. Wayne, IN firm has come a long way from its humble origins back in the late 1960s, when it was known as The Panel Mart.

According to Mike Thomas, who co-owns the company with Bill Pontius, the dealership started out as a cash-and-carry home improvement store selling molding, ceiling tile and paneling. As the home improvement market grew in the 1970s, the owners knew they had to expand, and added kitchens, baths and cabinetry to the product mix. That proved an auspicious move, as cabinet sales ballooned through the next two decades, far outstripping sales of paneling, Thomas recalls.

The surge in cabinet volume spurred the 1991 establishment of a 4,500-sq.-ft, showroom, with multiple home vignettes showcasing the latest and greatest in kitchen and bath cabinets. The same year, the company was renamed The Panel Mart Kitchen & Bath Showroom to better identify its evolving mission.

As this decade dawned and cabinet sales climbed to account for 90 percent of the business, the store re-branded and became Copper River Cabinet Co. The name was chosen as an homage of sorts to the co-owners’ fondest childhood memories. Pontius savored recollections of his youth in Copper Harbor, MI, while Thomas held warm memories of summers spent in the Rocky Mountains of Red River, NM.

The new name was shrewdly calculated to appeal to a more discerning, higher-income consumer base, Thomas recalls. “Panel Mart Kitchen & Bath was perfect in the 1990s, because we were riding on 30 previous years of reputation for being well-known and well-liked,” he says. “But re-branding in 2000 positioned us as a much more upscale company ­– changing the image, the expectations and the buyers.”

Despite the name change, Thomas and Pontius didn’t forget the customers who had helped make their business a success. “The trick from a marketing perspective is to not sound too upscale,” Thomas observes. “Perception of one’s business is just as important as the reality of that business.”

Thomas continues, “One of our suppliers, HomeCrest Cabinets, was a company with products that gave us a lot of options. We took this popularly priced product and did a lot of special design – designs with lots of detail. The result was a cabinet line that might have started as a commodity, but was transformed into whatever customers wanted it to be.”

As Copper River Cabinet Co. has added customers in and around Ft. Wayne, Thomas and Pontius have become known for colorful, even zany promotions. Several years ago, the shop staged an “Ugly Kitchen Contest,” in which contestants were invited to enter photos of their less-than-beautiful kitchens in the hopes of winning the grand prize of a free kitchen makeover. The event was such a success that the company repeated it last Halloween, renaming it the “Nightmare Kitchen Contest.”

Each time they’ve staged the event, the response has been approximately 40 times what was expected, Thomas says. “We invite people to come in and vote for their favorite ugly kitchens, and it drives traffic like crazy,” he reports. “It drives sales, too. If they don’t win, they are still excited about getting a new kitchen. They have ‘mentally won.’ And when they don’t win in reality, they buy anyway.”

Having learned the value of attention-getting giveaways, Thomas and Pontius last February placed bright yellow kayaks on top of all of the company trucks, then affixed on those trucks signs reading, “KAYAK SALE.” This move was accompanied by advertising that informed customers, “Buy Your New Kitchen, Get a Free Kayak.”

“There was no correlation between the products, but I can’t tell you how much traffic it drove,” Thomas laughs. “We had people call and ask, ‘Why are you driving around with kayaks on the roof?’ It created a lot of curiosity, and a lot of buzz.”
Several years ago, Copper River Cabinet Co. opened a second location in Warsaw, IN, 30 miles west of Ft. Wayne. The store’s location was chosen for its proximity to recreational lakes where many new vacation homes were being built.

For six months prior to the store’s opening, Warsaw residents continually noticed signs reading, “Copper River: It’s Not a Sporting Goods Store,” “Copper River: It’s Not a Restaurant,” and “Copper River: It’s Not a Golf Course.” By the time the store finally opened, it was an immediate hit, and has remained so, Thomas says.

“[The signs] created so much anticipation, curiosity and water cooler discussion,” he adds. “That was five years ago, and people are still talking about it.”