Manko helps Burkholder Brothers, a premium landscape design/build firm, enter the the high-end pool market.

Established in 1992, the company had spent a decade building a reputation for quality and reliability.

In many instances, their landscaping contracts were integrated with a pool construction contractor that the client had hired. Seeing this as an opportunity, Burkholder was confident they could simplify the client's contruction process and more intimately blend the pool and landscape design. In short, a simpler process and a better result.

"We first decided to update our marketing materials," says Barry Burkholder, founder and president. "We wanted our clients and prospects to see right away that we're not the everyday landscaping firm." Burkholder Brothers hired The Manko Company to design and print a high-quality presentation folder. The presentation folder features photos of completed projects, their credentials and affiliations and company history. Barry went on to say "...the folder makes a great impression when I deliver a proposal."

Burkholder also noted, "we wanted to stay in touch with our clients, position ourselves as the experts and separate ourselves from any competition." So we developed a newsletter in a unique format that was easy to bulk mail, but once opened offered a presentation more memorable than a simple letter-sized sheet.

The first newsletter featured helpful information and introduction to the new service: swimming pool construction and design. It was mailed in March and quickly the company recouped their investment, when an existing client contacted them to discuss their pool restoration project.

The second newsletter was published in the summer and showcased a pool project and helpful tips for managing your landscape in the heat of summer. "We can always tell when a client has read the newsletter - sometimes they mention it outright, or they want to discuss the "tips" we include in each issue.

Overall, a newsletter is a great way to communicate in today's market. Many larger organizations have dropped their printed newsletters in favor of a less-expensive (but more intrusive) electronic newsletter. Studies are proving that this actually diminishes your relationship with your customer. They value the printed communication more. And -- it is blended into their leisure time which is where you would like to spend time with them anyway.

Even business-to-business newsletters end up tucked into briefcases and bags to go home. The object is to make it worth taking home in the first place - and that's where Manko can be so valuable.

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