Time to Celebrate!

Every company hits milestones, such as the number of customers served or amount of products sold, but anniversary milestones are the golden opportunity to communicate your success with your customers and employees. Have you celebrated past corporate anniversaries? There are different approaches you can use to make everyone — customers, the industry and employees — aware of what you’ve achieved.

New logo

When you hit a magic number of years in business, whether it is 10, 25, 50 or 100 years, you can celebrate your longevity. The first order of business is to have a special logo designed announcing your anniversary. This anniversary logo should be prominent on your letterhead, your website and in your email address signature. Use this logo for the entire anniversary year.

Photos

Take this opportunity to find old photos of the company and the products or services. If you’ve been documenting your work over the years (as we hope you are!) you should have a vast array of photos. Use these photos to create a visual timeline of what you have achieved.

History

Research old stories or information about the company’s past, if you aren’t familiar with it. What was the company’s original product or service? Did the company start selling a product and then move into training on how to use it? How has the company’s focus and offerings evolved?

Timeline

Create a visual timeline of your progress. Showcase your products, place of business and clients’ projects using the photos and history information you uncovered. With decorative concrete photos, a visual timeline speaks volumes about your work. Prezi (www.prezi.com) is a great tool to create a moving timeline.

Public relations

Send out a news release and an e-blast announcing how many years you’ve been in business and what you’ve accomplished during that time. In particular, do this for the larger dates, but also for any significant number. This is your chance to briefly showcase your stats — from how you started to where you are now. This could include how many employees you have now and how your customers’ work has evolved.

Video

Create a video that interviews the company’s founder and possibly some notable customers, highlighting what makes the company special. Or, take videos of notable projects and their owners, and talk about the design strategies involved to produce the final product.

Infographic

Produce an infographic that contains all of your company’s stats from over the years. It can showcase elements such as your company’s products, types of projects, charity work and number of employees. Infographics are handy visuals that can be used on your website, on a company bulletin board, in company e-blasts and even sent to various media outlets. You may truly be surprised to find out just how much you have accomplished once you’ve put all the numbers together. Venngage (www.venngage.com) is a free infographic website you can use.

Website

Your website should already include photos of the best projects your customers have done. Now, include the material you developed for your anniversary on your webpage. It’s the best way to reach potential customers as well as current customers.

An important part of celebrating an anniversary is actually celebrating. Bring in cake, host a special dinner for your employees and give out awards for years of service. Remember, an anniversary should be as important an event to your employees as it is to you. Invite some of your customers if appropriate. The more people you share the celebration with, the more people will be invested in the company reaching that next big milestone. Use the occasion an anniversary gives you to truly showcase who you are and all you have accomplished. You won’t have this opportunity every year.

With more than 20 years as an editor for a major construction industry publisher, Kari Moosmann is seasoned in writing and editing on technical topics. Her specialty is the construction industry, particularly the concrete segment. She is senior editorial director for architectural, engineering and construction content and can be reached at wkmoosmann@constructivecommunication.com.