Ten wood product businesses spanning across the Northern Forest region participated in the second round of the “Telling Your Forest Story Marketing Series.”  So far, the Center has worked with eighteen businesses to help them incorporate their “forest story” into their marketing to consumers. Another round will begin in the Fall, giving an additional ten businesses the ability to benefit from this opportunity.

Center Business Innovation Advisor Amy Robinson created the series to help wood product businesses develop a brand narrative that helps increase awareness about the importance of our working forests. “There is an interconnected relationship that exists between managing a healthy forest, harvesting to keep it healthy, and using those raw materials for wood products that we – as humans – use for shelter, heat, and comfort.”

Telling Your Forest Story consisted of six online sessions that included guest speakers, who are leaders within the forest industry. The series looked at the forest industry through four different perspectives: the big picture of the forest economy driven by data, stewardship and forest management and the complexity of articulating the working landscape, chain of custody and certifications and the impact on consumer perceptions, and how wood product businesses put their guiding principles into practice.

“Each of us has a forest story to tell – whether we are just starting a business or have been in business for a few years, or maybe have a long-standing business,” said Colleen Goodridge, owner of Goodridge Lumber. “This marketing series highlighted the importance of telling your forest story – who are you, what are your values and goals, why do you do what you do? As you tell your story, you will connect with customers who share those values, which will result in strong long-term relationships with those customers, who will buy your products, and will help sustain and grow your business.”

In addition to the online component, businesses received up to 10 hours of marketing consultation with a consultant. This resulted in businesses being able to immediately employ their “forest story” into various elements of their marketing strategies. 

Colleen went on to say that “As Goodridge Lumber enters our 50th year in business and updates informational material and our website, we will keep our story up front and center, along with others in the industry that are our partners.”   

The eighteen companies that have completed the series included:  

• Sylvacurl, East Hardwick, Vermont, creates packaging material, which is a market for low-grade Aspen.
• Zero Energy Homes, Millinocket, Maine, which is a worker-owned cooperative that builds affordable, net zero energy homes.
• Tanbark Molded Fiber Products, Saco, Maine, which produces a molded fiber packaging material.
• Vermont Wildwoods, Marshfield, Vermont, which created a proprietary method for intentionally curing and conditioning wood into spalted, wood.
• Goodridge Lumber, Albany, Vermont, which is a sawmill, specializing in white cedar.
• Timberdoodle Farm and Sawmill, Stafford, New Hampshire, which is a sawmill processing all species because the markets rarely reflect the diversity of timber that is harvested from an ecologically responsible cut.
• Better Wheel Workshops, Newfane, Vermont, which produces the Woodzie, a solid wood hand-turned beverage coolie made from VT hardwood.
• Bourgeois Guitars, Lewiston, Maine, whose guitars are built with the same unwavering attention to detail, using the finest tone woods.
• Rockledge Farm Woodworks, Reading, Vermont, which makes handcrafted custom furniture.
• Finger Lakes Wood Products, Dolgeville, New York, which manufactures baseball bat billets, are a supplier of framing for brick companies, and does custom sawing for home projects.
• Vermont Butcher Block Company, Burlington, Vermont, which produces butcherblock countertops and cutting boards. 
• Timber HP, Madison, Maine, which produces wood fiber insulation.
• Treeline Terrains, Middlebury, Vermont, which produces custom 3D wood maps.
• Jones Wood Products, Loudon, New Hampshire, which offers logging services and building materials. 
• Kirby Mulch, Concord, Vermont, which produces bark mulch.
• Vermont Natural Forest Products, Richford, Vermont, which produces wood pellets, wood shavings, sawdust, and bark mulch.   
• Lumbery, Cape Elizabeth, Maine which is a hardware/lumber store that sources locally milled wood.  
• JK Adams, Dorset, Vermont, which produces cutting boards and kitchen products.