Episode 38 - Christine Marvin shares Marvin Windows History, Products, & Marketing Strategies
Episode #38 | Christine Marvin | Marvin Windows History and Marketing Strategies
Christine Marvin discusses Marvin Windows' history starting with her great-grandfather moving to Warroad, Minnesota in 1904. She explains Marvin's product innovations over the decades and how they focus on sustainability. Christine also talks about Marvin's marketing strategies including partnerships, social media presence, and supporting local home tours.
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About Christine Marvin
As Chief Marketing + Experience Officer, Christine fosters innovation by connecting teams with people-centered insights. In this role, Christine drives brand growth strategies that result in new products, enhanced services and experiences, and new ways of going to market at Marvin. Over the last five years, Christine has immersed in the practice of human-centered design and innovation, having co-founded the Marvin Design Lab, and leverages that expertise to lead initiatives that put people at the center in entirely new ways.
Christine is a fourth-generation Marvin family leader and proud resident of Warroad, Minnesota – home of Marvin’s headquarters for more than 110 years – where she lives with her family. A design enthusiast who is passionate about volunteering, Christine also serves as co-chair of the WELL for Homes Advisory.
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Mark D. Williams
All right. Welcome to the curious builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host today we're joined by Christine Marvin from Marvin windows and doors. Welcome, Christine.
Christine Marvin
Thanks for having me.
Mark D. Williams
Thanks for coming on. Well, I just got back from war road about a month or two ago. So the timing of this interview is awesome, because I have all these amazing tour questions to ask you and I think was wandering around town or you're building your own personal home right now. Right.
Christine Marvin
I'm in the building process building for the last 30 days of it. Oh, wow. Okay, so
Mark D. Williams
you're moving in soon. We're
Christine Marvin
nearing the end. I bet. You're really excited. We're really we're really excited. And the boys are excited. So the goal is to get in before Labor Day. Yep. Because school starts the day after. So we want to be moved in to start the new school year. And the new home.
Mark D. Williams
Oh, yeah. Well, that's exciting. Now, you've had other homes up there. I assume. Prior to this home,
Christine Marvin
I am living in the home I grew up in in Warroad. So I been born and raised in Warroad. Went to college, lived outside of world for 15 years. And then when my husband I had our first son, we moved home. Okay,
Mark D. Williams
amazing. It's so funny building homes, obviously, for people myself. It's like, a lot of times you get people that transplant away, and then all of a sudden family starts happening like, hey, I really miss home and like home is you go where all your family is,
Christine Marvin
it's been a big deal for my husband and I to be close to families. I don't know, that you can do it without we're so dependent on friends and family. And it does take a village. It does How many children do you have? Well, it makes it sound like I have 10.
Mark D. Williams
To do, hey, they're very active.
Unknown Speaker
So they're two active, active voice.
Mark D. Williams
That's funny. We were actually just out in Bozeman, Montana for a wedding last weekend, actually an architect friend of mine got married. He's our neighbor as well. And we just love Montana. And as we're out there was just my wife and I, and we have three kids. And I was like, hey, what do you think about moving out here? And we're like, the classic. You're driving down the road, you're kind of nostalgia, like, hey, let's just do a fresh reset. Let's move to Montana. And then we get to the family party. Like, wait a minute, our family is like, you know, 15 hours away. And so anyway, you always come back to you want to go where your family. And
Christine Marvin
that's where the family is and where the company is. Yeah, yeah.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah. So tell us a little bit about for those listening, you know, obviously, we're statewide podcast and now a national wide podcast. As we go on weekly, everyone in Minnesota is going to know who Marvin is. But I suspect there's some outside of Minnesota that probably doesn't know Marvin. So tell us a little bit about the Marvin story, because it's a pretty captivating story.
Christine Marvin
So my great grandfather from southern Minnesota, in 1904, he moved up to the Canadian border. So Warroad Our town is situated six miles south of the Canadian border and like the woods, and he came up there to manage a Canadian grain elevator. By 1912. It was his own lumber and cedar company. And in the 19, late 30s, early 1940s, my grandfather saw an opportunity to expand the business but primarily motivated by giving jobs to friends that were coming home from the war. And war two or World War One World War World War Two, okay. And it wasn't so much about windows and doors. But there was an idea and a capability, we could make barn sash. And that's the birth of the window indoor company we know today. And Marvin has been headquartered in Warroad. Since the beginning. I
Mark D. Williams
mean, it's pretty amazing drive up there. And I mean, the town. I mean, it's not going to get renamed, I assume. I'm sure at some point if people have thought about it, because it's amazing everywhere you look. There's yellow and black branding everywhere. And then obviously, I assume the majority the population, you know, is surrounded in that community works with and for Marvin, is that true?
Christine Marvin
We are one of the major employers up in northwestern Minnesota. And so in a town of I think the sign currently says 1830 residents of Warroad we employ nearly 2000 But you pull in from a surrounding area from the colony and yeah, sir, that's our workforce, but it's now just one of, I think roughly 16 locations across the country.
Mark D. Williams
Right, because you've got your new plant and we will talk about that in a little bit. More of the modern Windows are out of Fargo. Is that right? Or near that area?
Christine Marvin
Correct? Yep. Yep. We have several product lines that are manufactured in Fargo, North Dakota. Okay. Excellent. Fargo and West Fargo
Mark D. Williams
and West Fargo. Oh, yeah. I don't want to offend West Fargo ins. One of the things that I thought was so appealing being up there and going through the museum and learning a little bit more about George's life in history was And correct me on the details here was I think early on was he at the grain mill. Someone asked him if he was that was at the paper mill the pulp or like the tree order, and was a Boise Cascade that said, hey, we need like 30,000 loads. And he basically just said yes. And then figured out how to do it after and basically got his baseball team and everyone in town to help him basically do it. Is that roughly the
Christine Marvin
you know what you may know, our Mervin history better? That sounds familiar. But I think what resonates more than anything is this idea of saying yes, yeah. And then figuring it out. And there's been like a lot of moments throughout Marvins Marvins life where we've we've said yes, and we figured it out because it's something that provided jobs opportunity or it was something that customers requested, right?
Mark D. Williams
I mean, that's true. I mean, even this product As I started the podcast and just started saying yes to every opportunity, trying to figure it out, and I certainly in sales and having my own company, I think everyone can relate to just saying yes. And figuring out on the back end. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that really shows the entrepreneurial spirit. Yeah, I think so too, because it seemed like he had a lot of things he had. I mean, in your grandpa, he had the hardware store. I mean, basically, they just kept expanding whatever the community needed. He kept creating, from what I can tell,
Christine Marvin
yeah, what the community needed, again, providing jobs, but also then it evolved based on what the customers wanted, or even what the customers couldn't communicate they wanted. But I think about dealers who, I mean, they would carry inventory of windows and doors. So this goes back 70 years. And so they're sitting on a lot of cash, a lot of inventory. And so how do you actually help the dealer free up cash flow, and a little bit of that was born the Made to Order story, you know, so instead of a dealer ordering and stocking, it's like, let's not make the windows until the order is placed. And that helps with their cash flow. So there's been a lot of examples throughout history of like listening to your customer, whether it be homeowner, architect, builder, or your dealer, and then designing services experience and products that meet their needs.
Mark D. Williams
One thing that's pretty interesting you say about saying, yes. I mean, I was impressed when we went up there, we got to fly up there on because Marvin has a Aviation Center out of Minneapolis that flies up on a wall Road, tell us a little bit about how that came to be. I think it's pretty unique. I mean, for those not familiar with Minnesota geography, you know, Minneapolis, we're probably what a six, seven hour drive
Christine Marvin
well, with kids, I swear, sometimes it's nine or 10 hours. But if you're going the speed limit, it's about six to six and a half hours to the northwest corner. And so when you're thinking about getting out as a sales individual back in the 70s, or 80s, when we were going more national. I mean, we needed a way to transport people down to the cities. But we also wanted opportunities to bring suppliers, but most important, importantly, customers up to world to see how the products being made and to experience Marvin. And I believe that the first plane it was a Piper Aztec, was purchased in July of 1976. The first plane and now 2023. And we have several in the fleet. But you know what we employ 7000 individuals right now, again, world remote, and rural, is still headquarters. And so today we eat, we bring employees, we bring partners, we bring so many customers. Yeah, we're an example. Yeah, up tomorrow to experience it.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah, I mean, kudos to Dale, I'm sure he'll listen to this podcast, he's been trying to get me to go up there for years. And he, you know, he finally got me up there. And it's it is I can see, I was just actually having coffee this morning with a sales rep from Cambria and another Minnesota company, and we were just talking about how impressive it is to see facilities. And I think if there's something I could say to the audience, and just I think anyone that is curious, like spend some time to go see where things are manufactured people that you work with regularly, I've now I've always been curious about it. But now with the podcast, I even have a double incentive both as a builder, but now just to see how people essentially produce with the things that we're putting in our homes. And I'm, I'm just marveling at how amazing these processes are, and like walking through Marvins factories, and you know, seeing, you know, the craftsmanship, and some of the production changes, obviously, you know, how do you keep, you know, you would know how many windows you're producing a day, but the amount of wood that's flying and a fairly clean, you know, very robust cleaning system, how they re harvest the wood, how they use it for heaters, you know, just the assembly lines, mainly because I've just never been part of a, you know, big manufacturing. So to me, it's like really cool to walk in there and be like, Oh, wow, this is American made ingenuity at its best, like how does this all and then as you continue to add on to your facilities, it's just really impressive for especially a small builder, like myself to see, you know, these big companies that support us, and, excuse me make our homes look beautiful. But you know, to see it How It's Made is really interesting.
Christine Marvin
So what was another key takeaway for you from your time in Warroad? Or in the Marvin facilities, something that surprised you that?
Mark D. Williams
Yeah, I couldn't, I think by far the most appealing thing to me, and I'm a sentimental person, I think was just the community aspect. I think that more than anything, I was just impressed at their community web, you know, from your grandfather, to your the family, to everyone in the community. And just the support that you have the small town and you know, just as a business owner, some something logistically, you'd say, Man, at what point you move this company to a place that has a big city center, and obviously somewhere along the line, the family said no, you know, we are wall road and wall road is us and we are going to basically, you know, we're going to put a stake in the ground and make it wonderful. I think that is a really neat Testament because you can't fake that that's real. And I think if you if that's your culture, you know, what does that say about your window product? And sometimes you might not even have to say anything because like just telling your story is I mean that's I keep telling us story because I'm impressed by it in a lot of companies have it. But yours is pretty. I mean, it's pretty amazing how you guys have been able to continue to cultivate that. And then I would say on a production level. I mean, your corporate offices are extremely. I mean, they just got redone, I assume. And
Christine Marvin
they're gorgeous. Obviously, I'm lots of Marvin, that's a product. Yeah, when
Mark D. Williams
you were just redoing all the modern Windows. And so that was really beautiful to see, we actually put those on a project a year and a half ago. So on a lake up here in Medicine Lake. And so it's really cool to see them in the corporate center and have some familiarity with putting them in my own heart, one of the homes that we built recently, but I'd say from a production standpoint, just seeing how, excuse me how the CNC machines are cutting, just the lack of waste, and I've seen it in cabinet shops, you know how they lay everything out. But I mean, you guys are dialing so far into efficiencies and craftsmanship. But one thing that was a little surprising that I think people want me maybe no Is there still a lot of handwork that is done on on Windows. And I think in a day and age where we think everything could probably be print breasted or ejected molded or something like that your window is still, in my opinion, a really highly customized hand made thing now. I know you guys are pre making sashes, obviously we can talk a little bit about glass and where that comes from. But especially when you get into like the arch windows or the specialty windows. I mean, there was like a whole floor a team of these incredible artists working on these windows, you know, like, wow, I mean, I know that, you know, the tree doesn't come in a bend like that. But like to see it being produced is very impressive. So those were the three things I think that really stood out to me.
Christine Marvin
Well, I'm glad you were able to make it up there and during and during the summer. Because it is beautiful up there in the summer months.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah, I mean, the whole area. And yeah, so everyone listening, get out to whoever. Whoever you work with, I think it's just important to see how you know how the soup is made. And I think it's really impressive. One of the questions that I had for you was, how old wood? Did you ever get to meet your grandpa?
Christine Marvin
I did. And it was actually really special. So I worked with my father and my uncles and aunts. So I had that opportunity to work with generation three. And then generation two was my grandfather who started the window indoor part of it. And at the time, when I came back to the company in my 20s. He was in his late 80s and early 90s. So he still went to work every day you read the newspaper, he'd pop into some meetings, but the thing that he did is he spent time meeting with customers. He would someone would push them up in his wheelchair, he would look at everyone's name badges look at their name, where they're from had some questions. And so what I didn't have was those moments necessarily in the board meetings, right, or in a shareholder meeting or in the actual, like business planning meetings. But I did have that that overlap. And I think one of my most special memories was at the International builder show, it probably would have been in 2007 or 2008. And it was one of the last ones he attended. And I have a photo with grandpa and a few of my cousins, you know, at the show, and it was just kind of a kind of a special a special milestone moment. I
Mark D. Williams
mean, that's, that's, that's tremendous. How I mean, total, talk a little bit about that, like when you're a kid growing up, like, obviously, you're in a small town of war road. What's it like to have your name kind of everywhere? And I'm not from a really small town, but I'm guessing I mean, obviously everyone would know everybody. But does it? Does it matter that you're a Marvin or you just become a member of the community? How does that nuance work? When when so much of war road is tied into you know, that Marvin namebrand as a child, did you feel that or you just kind of felt like you were just any other kid? Well,
Christine Marvin
I think as a kid, you don't know any differently. It's this, this is my life. This is my, this is my experience, I had the best childhood. I loved growing up and world and it's actually really special for me to see my children now have so many of the same experiences as well. What I did come to realize is that the building does have your name. And you don't really know what that means except you work hard you treat with people with respect and there were standards or expectations on how you would show up. But I think just being a good person more than anything at the end of the day. But you knew that with the name came a came a response responsibility if that makes sense. But but you don't really fully appreciate it I think until you get a little bit older. Well I look at it from a different perspective.
Mark D. Williams
One imagine two as a parent you can I mean, I mean even now it's funny to me, I don't know if you feel this way but I feel like as a parent now have three kids business changes how I view things totally now through the eyes of having children too and I don't know why that is maybe it's just maturity or age or whatever. But especially in a family run business where you have a lot of other family and I've had other I had a husband or wife had husband and his wives on the on the show. Warren, it's interesting to see how they navigate you know, do you stop talking about it on the nights and weekends? You know, do you take it home with you? How have you guys navigated? You know, as an expansive family in the business, you know, how often you talk about it? You know, is there? It's
Christine Marvin
a good question, it's part of you, it's part of your identity, I think my husband works for the company, okay. And so we don't talk about it too much at night, because it's even though our minds are probably going. But it's important that I think we show up for our kids. And quite honestly, you need to you need a break. And there's other parts and dimensions of your life that are important to nurture as well. In terms of the kids, we we do expose them to the business and we teach them about it, I have my husband's an engineer, and I can tell my two kids are nothing like me. And they're probably a little bit more like my husband, and they're interested. They're interested in how things work. They're interested in my husband designs product, and I think they are just fascinated. So they ask questions. And that's nice when they invited in to be able to share, there are moments in the community where we do volunteer work. And then every day or not every day, one day, every year, we bring G three, which would be my parents generation, g4 analogy, fibers like 40, some in generation five, to world. And it's an opportunity for like social relationships. But it's also an opportunity based on your age, to engage in learning, like this year, actually, on Friday, is our reunion of sorts, but you learn about the family tree, you learn a little bit about the company, if you're 18. And older, you might learn a little bit more in depth about the company and the brands right in the business itself. And so we try to tailor curriculum, and learning opportunities that are fun and informative based on based on your age. So my kids participate in that 100 100% and lean in and love it.
Mark D. Williams
I mean, that'd be amazing, especially the fact that you can do it once a year and keep these cool family ties as people I assume still not every like what percentage of the whole family network would still live in war road versus, you know, I'm sure not every single carbon is obviously in the company. There'd be some that obviously do other jobs as well. Yes.
Christine Marvin
So probably I mean, less than 15% they live in, but my cousin, he's the CEO, he doesn't he has he has six children. So that's it takes a big percentage. But yeah, it's the reason though, that we're really intentional about these moments is because now we have family members that live in work in the Twin Cities, or in Fargo or in Denver, Colorado. And so we're not all growing up in a world anymore. And so it's important that we come back. And what I loved is that we have several the G fives are now teenagers and in college, and several of them came back, Toro took the summer, they lived with grandma and grandpa or, you know, friends and they worked in production or worked as a communication writer. And so they have an opportunity to actually immerse to,
Mark D. Williams
I can't imagine how happy your grandpa would be at seeing that ripple effect of half. Because the one thing that you observe him even at a younger age, I'm 42. But as you look at older generations, the thing that makes them the happiest is just having family together. So they did that you could have a business and a community. And I mean, it would just I mean, it would thrill me. So I can only imagine what it's like for all your family. Oh,
Christine Marvin
it's really special. And one thing just the other day, we had generation five G fives that were interns or worked at Marvin, they did like a capstone report on just what they learned not about maybe the job, but maybe about the importance of trust or social relationships at at work and building a network. I cannot believe every single presentation was incredible. I kind of looked at my cousins, and I said, I don't know if we would have shown up like this. Right, you know, when we were in high school or college. So it's it's really exciting to see the passion and the understanding of the next generation coming in. It's like, okay, we're in good hands.
Mark D. Williams
Right? That is amazing. How have you guys navigated? I mean, you have a legacy now and your family kind of hands it down to the next one. Do you guys have certain principles that have helped usher that that like how do you ensure that people continue to bring new ideas and that the company idea train, what kind of flatline if you will,
Christine Marvin
there's there's two, two things so that maybe I'll go to the first thing as far as like the family succession planning, there's like it from an ownership perspective, but then also from a leadership perspective, and both are important that we stay family owned, and we say, family family LED on the ownership piece, probably the single most important thing that we can point to as to like, why we've we're making it into the fifth generation is that you have to make a decision by the age of 33 whether or not you're going to work for the company full time. And if you're not that is okay. But it also means that you're not a shareholder in the company anymore because the idea of you work full time, and you're invested in, you're invested in the long term. And that's how you participate in ownership at Marvin. So spouses can work there, but they're not owners. But those are some of the I think some of the the factors that have enabled the focus to be like on the business and the business to get passed forward. But then on the I want to call it the management and leadership side of it. And so it's a bigger company now. And so we have a blend of family leadership, and non family leadership at the, for the board. And then with the management and executives that Marvin and, and we say we're better for that. It's really powerful when you can have the blend, because as a company grows, and we don't always have those experiences, you can, you can bring in expertise, people who appreciate the values of the company, what we make love the company as much as we do. And then they can contribute their talents to the company. And so that blend of family and non family at the board, and then at the leadership level is really important.
Mark D. Williams
Interesting. Well, out of curiosity, the 33 years, how has that number arrived upon?
Christine Marvin
I don't know the math and the exact thinking that took place in the it was in the 1980s. So that was established as our generation generation for we are born we were growing up, I think the idea was, it's not mandated, but it allows you to get some experience outside of the company first, and so those outside experiences are invaluable. It allows you to finish schooling, it allows you to start a family and get established. And so why 33 and not 29? I don't know, but they were probably really thoughtful and did some math.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah. Well, it's funny, because the first thing for whatever reason it came to me was, you know, I'm happened to be a Christian, but Jesus was 33 years old, you know, when he when he died? You know, I'm curious, just being a northern town, I assume there's a strong faith in, in small towns. I don't know if that to be true or not. But I'm just curious, like, how far back that because, you know, he obviously was preaching the gospel for a few years before he, you know. So anyway, I don't know, that was the first thought that came to my mind. So it'd be it'd be interesting this Friday, actually, when you talk to your two, G two and G three, throw that out there, see, see what they say. But they say, Well, I could see how that would. Anyway, it just more of a side note.
Christine Marvin
It's actually really interesting. And what's one of my favorite things about this, we call it g five day, but it's not G five that's is that we have our G three. So my dad's generation still around, and they participate and they play window bingo with us. And we have a little bit of history. And it's so it's a wonderful way of sharing and learning and capturing those stories. So
Mark D. Williams
make it to the next generation you so they make it they make it. The reason I brought up the question is we had Mark here from sugar brothers on who you Yes, Mark. And he had told their family story a lot, which I keep saying the story. Because if I ended up having family that was I mean, I'm third generation, but it was like disjointed, oh, there was a skip in there. Just that I knew I did not want to be a builder. Oh, it was a builder. My mom was a designer, like I want nothing to do with being a builder. They retired and four years later, I'm like, oh, I should be a builder. So then I started a company. So like, but each generation has kind of they've kind of needed to do their own thing. So while I have three generations of being builders in our family there, it's like each person had to do it on their own, what kind of I'm not sure what that says about arrive there on their throne journey. And so where I was going with this is sheer Brothers has a deal where they couldn't work for the company for like five years, or like a major promotion. And the whole concept was to increase, you know, outside thought and get a major promotion to bring new blood so that basically just because your last name was Williams or share or Marvin, that you couldn't just come into the company, you had to also do some things. And I think you've kind of sought answered that. But you have the the ownership and the leadership. Those are two different things. And so anyway, that's, that's kind of where I was going out with that.
Christine Marvin
I understand. You know, one of the things that I think was pivotal for me is that I went to grad school in Colorado. And right when I was graduating, our West Coast distributor, purchase the mountain distributor. So what that meant is that there was a new vision, new strategy and their opportunities. And so I ended up working for our distributor that sold Marvin, so I didn't work for Marvin directly. But for several years, I worked in sales in the mountain region as a as a territory manager, and that has shaped my whole career. So while it was outside of Marvin, it was it was close. But you know, I said my last name is Marvin, but guess what? I don't I don't know product to the extent that I can train on it. And they invested in me so I learned our systems. I learned about our product and all of that experience when I came back tomorrow and served. It actually helped me so much think about marketing in a new way, telling the value proposition telling the stories, and I also understood the product And then opened up the door for me to get engaged with product on the product management and product development side. So I, for me, I found a good track that has again served me so well in my career. And so I'm forever grateful for them taking that chance. I'm excited, didn't have to write, but they did. So
Mark D. Williams
you actually touched on something I wanted to ask you later. But I'll ask it now. Someone know companies sell direct, some go through distributors, like you just mentioned? Yes. What what, you know, not being in part of manufacturing or understanding that the kind of the nuances of that? Why does one make more sense than another? Or why walk us a little bit through like, as a business leadership team, why is one fruit for Marvin in particular, you know, like we bought, you know, if we're gonna buy Marvin, we'll buy through, let's say, share brothers, or we'll buy Lumberyard locally here. And I don't know if that changes throughout the company, because can you buy through Marvin directly or only through essentially a district
Christine Marvin
we got, we go through our weight column dealers, dealers, and they can be Lumberyard specialty design centers, excuse me, and the reason for that is that Marvin is as specialized product, you know, we don't do anything in the stack, we don't sell through big box. So the value we extend, is best served through that local dealer who knows, knows their client clients, and they know the market, and they can represent the product well, and find the right product for the right application. And so that's how we choose to go to market across the across the country. Okay.
Mark D. Williams
I was always curious about that. Because, you know, yeah, not being in a, you know, worldwide distribution, how that how that works.
Christine Marvin
Yeah, the independent, the independent dealer is so, so important to to Marvin, it's really an extension of Marvin in the market.
Mark D. Williams
I mean, for lack of a better analogy, thinking back into your grandpa having the hardware store, I mean, I think of these little hardware stores, you know, someone comes in off the farm and wants something like that hardware store owner knows that. That's right, Bob, the, you know, Bob, the builder needs this, that another thing wherever climate he's in,
Christine Marvin
and those are, I mean, for the dealer, those are their customers, because our dealer also packages their own value. You know, Mark is packaging his own value when he's engaging with the with the builder. And we recognize that and value that Yeah,
Mark D. Williams
interesting. Tell us, we'll come back a little bit to business stuff, too, because I always find that our listeners really like to understand business and marketing, which is kind of your expertise to what is you so even your title was interesting. It says chief marketing and experience officer, I think the part that caught me was the experience officer, what does that mean exactly? Well,
Christine Marvin
I'm giving definition to what it means. Okay, as we go here, but so I came back into a marketing role just within the past two years. And I do believe that the role of someone in marketing is marketing plus, right now we're in a world where experiences matter engagement with, with the brand with the company, the products you make, how you reach, but those experiences that you create, as a brand in reaching the dealer, the architect, the builder, and I think there are ways in Marvin, what I'm really excited to do is start to understand the journeys or customers go through when I say customer, there's quite a bit few players in the ecosystem. And I think you know, that I do, I mean, even your relationships that you have with architects and what have you, and, and I, there's such an opportunity to understand the overall experience, how people come together, their separate journeys, their pain points, and for us to ensure that we're delivering upon and reducing those pain points. And we're finding more moments of joy, delight, ease, and frictionless experiences. And so based on some experiences that I've had, and then moving back into the marketing role, I just feel like that's a growing opportunity, just in the world and area that I'd love for Marvin to lean in and amplify the opportunity for service and experience as part of the brand. It's been part of our value proposition. But things have changed, right, the definition of what services are experienced. And so it's on us to activate it. It's very, very important part of our brand in addition to product. I love
Mark D. Williams
I wrote I was curious to see where you're gonna go with that, because I under I wrote test storytelling. So right now I'm really passionate about working with crafters are working something that tells a story. Yes. And I think experience is just another word for storytelling and sets. It seems like correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like experiences you want to gather as a let's say, for me, I'm a custom home builder. So I could share my experience of how, you know, in this case, let's say Marvin Windows supports me and supports our clients or makes them look good or whatever manufacturer I'm working with. And then from the clients point of view, what is their experience because ultimately, you know, a builder may or may not be there depending on how old they are, depending on if they have a legacy. I think one thing that would be very powerful sales tool for Marvin is you know, whether, you know, Mark or his kids or they just keep starting new building companies evidently with without the same name. But you know, Marvin is going to be here continually. And I think any brand that offers that, you know, long jump Buddy, you know, is a very powerful statement. How are you capturing or not enforcing, but how are you leveraging? You mentioned leaning in? How are you leaning in, in a practical way to, you know, experience like marketing that.
Christine Marvin
So marketing, not so much marketing, it's more of the like a doing muscle right now in establishing the strategy of where we think there's opportunity, then operationalizing it. So we have a team at Marvin, it's called the Marvin Design Lab. Yeah. And you could think of it as a, it was a little startup within Marvin innovation hub. And their approach to problem solving and design is it's called human centered. So it's a human centered design thinking, it actually refers to a process where you intimately understand the why or the pain points of an individual. So meeting with you immersing in your environment, right. And in that there's opportunities to design better experiences. And so what they do then, is that they actually prototype and bring solutions to life to address the need, make sure it resonates, meets your need, and then you can actually commercialize it or build it. So it's, like, it's this really specialize team of individuals who don't just daydream, right? They understand these they build solutions. And
Mark D. Williams
will this be like the modeling? Or do you have like 3d printers? And you have especially like, is it how does it correlate with like, a little bit of r&d? I mean, are they trying to solve stuff like your husband like engineering and like solving it? Or is it both experience like
Christine Marvin
experience, too? So it's, it's not necessarily we have industrial designers? We do have r&d people who who work in this space. So yeah, it's product design. But it also could be just how do architects find information better on Mervyn's website,
Mark D. Williams
which by the way, I've been told by a variety of people is one of the best in the industry. 101 of my questions to you actually was, I feel like you guys have a very when I say you guys, Marvin has an incredible website. It's very clean. It's very intuitive. And I've talked to a number of architects. And I've just asked them out of curiosity, from the curious builders point of view. I said, Why do you and I'm, of course in Minnesota, so I can't speak to the rest of the country, right. But we do have a lot of world renowned architects in Minnesota here in Minnesota is interesting. I've had a few architects on and you know, a lot of them 40 to 60% of their work is out of state, which is interesting. And I'll hear often that, you know, they'll spec Marvin, and I asked him why. And they said, because the website is so intuitive. And it's so easy for them to find. And they reference a different window company. And they said, You know, I, that website, as much as they may or may not like the product, it was just too cumbersome for them, because that particular website was maybe geared more towards retail, or whatever it depends. I don't remember which manufacturer they're referring to. And it doesn't matter. But the point was really a compliment to the intuitive and the architects all unanimously said, Hey, Martin is doing a great job with the website, and I had it pulled up earlier on, you know, on the under screen here, and I was just looking at it, it's like it's very clean, it's very well done.
Christine Marvin
I'll have to share that with the team that might hear it on the podcast, too. But, you know, the architect has always been also talking about the it's an ecosystem, right? Have, you have your deal, or you have the homeowner, custom builder, architect. And the architect is very important in the journey as well in specifying helping find the right solutions, and ensuring that we have the right information, the right products, that we're creating frictionless experiences for them matter.
Mark D. Williams
How does that work? Speaking of architects, so I would assume you have an architectural rep. We do. And so how do we have several you have several just for the state or for the country or Ah,
Christine Marvin
sorry, for the for the country, and I don't know how many across the country, but we do have, we call them our APM is but architectural project managers and their their focus is working with working with the architects,
Mark D. Williams
so they're doing lunch and learns. And that's a common thing, what basically they'll take out. That's right, they'll go to an architectures firm, and they'll say, hey, you know, I'd love for a couple hours to bring in lunch. And I just want to show you what our product is answering the questions is that well, technically
Christine Marvin
in order to get credit for the architect, because they need continuing education credits, it has to be brand agnostic. So it's typically on I'm gonna make this up, but on glazing technologies, or energy efficiency, or lighting and wellbeing. So for that session in order to get the credits, it's more of just a generic educational opportunity. Then once it ends, and there's questions on a product, there's the opportunity to, you know, stay after and talk to architects about needs to have challenges or if they have product questions.
Mark D. Williams
Interesting. I know that I've heard that before with designers, I guess. I mean, it makes sense to keep it a licensed I mean, I have to for my building license. We have to keep it up. Yep. I have to keep my licensing up as well. That's really interesting. What one of the questions that I had for you as well is you know, when you're, you know, one things that was really appealing going back to being even in war Road, like when the town shuts down, one thing I really enjoyed was that, you know, everyone turns out for every Thinking like the warlord is very well known for hockey, right? Yeah. And so you know, like, the entire town goes to every event. And so do you take, I don't know how, you know, it's kind of like the chicken and egg or cart in the horse, but like, you have Marvin, and then you have the community, which doesn't seem like you can really take the two apart, which is good. It's not. And so what my question, I guess is this is, how has those community values? Really kind of, cuz I can't, I'm sure I'm not the only one that has made this observation. Because what do people outside of Minnesota who don't know Marvin, what do they say about? Are they able to still feel the community even though they don't know maybe the world story? Or is that even a part of the marketing of their branding? I guess what I'm trying to get at is, how are you able to, I don't want to use leverage in a negative way. It's a positive thing, but like, how are you able to really amplify the community and Marvin together both in taking community values, importing them into Marvin as a company, and then taking that and kind of exporting it across the United States in the world as a positive brand?
Christine Marvin
i It's really interesting, because it's just my cousin, and I talk about this quite a bit. It's part of who we are like, without the community, there would have been no Marvin, the community stuck by us during hard times we stuck by the community or during hard times. And my grandfather always said that, you know, if you have to take care of your customers, and then you know, you will be taken care of right? I mean, profits important, because then you're growing and you need growing to do to do more good, whatever your value creation is you want to create in the world, but you don't take care of your customers, there's no company and if there's no company, there's no community, right? And so there's this dependency, and I think, have a respect on how it all works. And it's just part of our fabric and in the world. Think about it. No, no, it is, it is and world is an important important part of Marvin, you know, where we come from, who we are, and where we're going. And I just want to bring up one of the really important things of why you still headquartered in this, you know, rule tone in northwestern Minnesota, it's, well, it's where we from, where we're from, there's a commitment there. And when you have senior leadership there, it makes it makes a difference. And when a town small, you can see the ripple effect of your decision making. You're not in an office somewhere in a different city. You see it firsthand. And there's just been a number of times to where I see my cousin who CEO, and, you know, the GAO values guide his decision making. But he always thinks, how do I, my decision making, I want to be able to go in the grocery store and look people in the eyes, right? And so, and you can see the ripple effect of the choices you make the decisions you make. And I think it keeps you really grounded on what's important. The difference you make and the difference you want to continue to foster.
Mark D. Williams
That's funny, someone else had had said this, and I believe it very much to be true, but it was just that culture, Trump's strategy. And I think a little bit what you know, the culture that you have developed in the community has developed obviously has done wonders, I assume for the company. I mean, you guys are growing company. And what are my questions for for you, as in maybe this is just because I'm from Minnesota, I used to sue. I mean, I know they know the three main man, you know, you have Anderson Pella and you have Marvin, right. I mean, but it's we have a plethora of world class Windows within here within like a couple 100 miles in Minneapolis. So what my question is, is in May, you know, the answer to this is, why do we have three of the top window companies in the world? It located so close to each other? Was there some unknown advantage that Minnesota had and the surrounding areas because of our climate? And so we had to build windows to a harder degree. Well, any idea why Yeah. So does that the epicenter of or am I wrong? Am I no, no,
Christine Marvin
you're right. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and you know, Pella, Vina and Iowa and then there's one just across the Canadian border. Lowen Yep. north north of Warroad. There's no question though, that if you go back to the to the 1900s, lumber, the lumber industry, and we were leading in it, and white pine was a significant resource that it was used for building materials. And so we had this a little bit of a resource, advantage and opportunity. But I think if you would ask any single one of those manufacturers, their origin story is going to look a little bit different. For us. It wasn't so much going back to the night late 1930s about like making windows and doors. It was okay. There was a resource we had a night an employee who had an idea on how to provide jobs that idea happened to be barn sash. But it was more about job creation than it was the window and door part of it but that was that was the see that then
Mark D. Williams
point I think early on saying yes thing Yes.
Christine Marvin
Right. Yep. Saying yes. And it. It worked. They kept it kept people in war. Oh,
Mark D. Williams
interesting. I mean, it's we don't have to do this on the podcast. I'm kind of curious like outside, because I just I don't know any other window companies than those three minute here are some other ones. Obviously there's others out there. But it'd be curious to know, like if you took the three or four ones that we just named compared to the rest of the world in terms of market share, or us and then and then the world, it'd be very curious to see as a group, like, how what world percentage would they have? Oh, I don't know. I guess I could Google it. Yeah.
Christine Marvin
It'd be, it'd be substantial.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah. Very cool. That's what's cool about Minnesota. Right? Yeah. And I, you touched on an important point. In fact, I think I talked about that in the tour, just our propensity for, obviously, wood in natural resources. And so, yeah, I mean, of course, the river system, and we have a lot of lakes. And it would be easy to transport wood back in the early 1900s. Before we had all these developed roads do.
Christine Marvin
Yeah, and you're right. It's a resource. I mean, obviously, if we were in New Mexico, it'd be a different a different business story, you know, so I do think the lumber, white pine, the whole, that whole industry, is kind of behind a lot of the opportunities we saw emerge. Yep.
Mark D. Williams
Interesting. Now of your lumber. Now, out of curiosity, does that come up out of Canada's at the state zone? Like does it come from a variety of swimming? We believe,
Christine Marvin
yeah, it comes from a variety but mainly Pacific Northwest. Yeah. And then no old growth. Trees are used in Marvin,
Mark D. Williams
is that like, is that like a sustainability? Sustainability?
Christine Marvin
And then just, I think, an overall philosophy, but, but it comes the wood comes from a variety of places, but I
Mark D. Williams
mean, it would make sense considering your demands. Tell us tell us a little bit about technology, you know, so like, basically, over the last couple of decades, what are some major evolutions in Windows? I think a lot of people just don't even understand like, maybe windows, right? Like, hey, it's a window. But I mean, the gas, the tinting? Oh, it's insane that I don't hardly even know. But I think for those out there name a few things that we now take for granted that maybe two decades ago, didn't exist. And then my follow up question will be like, where do you see what are the next things coming up?
Christine Marvin
i So can I tell the story really quickly, we have one of our engineers up, up north, he can't he was an engineer at Rolls Royce. And which sounds really fancy. But the point though, is, he saw a lot of ingenuity and design and you know, different complexities. And he's like, Well, I'm gonna come to Marvin, and it's wood and glass. And he came here, and he said, this isn't wooden glass. It's so much beyond that. And I think over the past couple of decades, probably what we've seen most is glass, and the roll glass plays in the overall energy performance and comfort of your home. You mentioned tinting, there are so many tinting options. But as a homeowner, hopefully you don't get overwhelmed because the process is nice, where we can kind of direct you to the right, or the right configuration for your climate and elevation. But just glass, the coatings, the gas that goes inside to keep it comfortable, and to keep your windows performing, believe it or not, sizes, the sizes of windows now, today, compared to 10 years ago, and 20 years ago, it's a different ballgame. Think about those scenic doors, those big doors, you see that open up an entire wall or a partial wall, like the big lift and slide they're called lift and slides are called multi slides by folds. I mean doors are going 1012 feet now. And you're not compromising an energy efficiency. So you're going bigger, but design right in the frame. And the sash and the panels and the glass are allowing you to also have energy efficiency so that you're in northern Minnesota, or Minnesota. Yeah, you want one of those big doors, you still stay comfortable during the winter, right? Door sizing. I mean, even since 2017, or sorry, unit sizing has increased 10% Just since 2017. And products only going to get bigger and bigger. I
Mark D. Williams
think the ingenuity in the engineering department is incredible. I mean, I remember on my dad built far less complicated homes and I build, but you know, I mean, they even have engineers review their plans, you know, you would draw a draftsman to draw your plan, you know, whatever the me you could just make it work. I mean, now everything has to be you know, braced wall paneling. And, you know, most of the homes that we're building now are, you know, a whole wall, you know, might be glass, you know, people were very much so talk about insulation, and you know, the thermal envelope and air penetration but you know, if an entire side of your house, especially facing a lake or something is all glass, there's just not a lot of our value. And so, you know, it's a now it's all engineering and glass and people love that look, but to your point that we also still need to perform, perform, you know, when it's negative 20 In January, which is a prime time to come visit Minnesota and please come it's a
Christine Marvin
special time. Yeah, so I think and the other thing too, in order to get that big, I mean glass is getting bigger. So there's innovation and glass and equipment to make last that's bigger and then composites composites for your panels for your frames, you know, there's aluminum and wood historically. And now we're, we're seeing different kinds of composites that have more structural strength and are allowing you to go bigger. So it's really, really fascinating on that side of it, and then what I see coming and we're seeing it a little bit now with skylights and the larger doors is automation. Oh, yeah. And I think that the window and door side of the bindle building industry has been a little bit lagging. In terms of not innovation, it might be a little bit of market readiness to and costs. But I think now you're seeing not just security systems, but you're seeing the ability with the push on your button on your phone or on the wall to operate large product. And I think it's just a matter of time, too before we see Windows awnings, casements, more standard offerings that have motorisation. And that can be controlled, or the convenience factor with the
Mark D. Williams
I mean, I think you're right, you see in home automation for, you know, securities and campus and all this stuff. I mean, I do see a generation, you know, we I mean, it's a stereotype. You know, I think that's changing. But you know, a lot of the older generation that saw the first gen of automation, you know, the intercoms on the walls and stuff was like, oh, that's just ended up being junk and outdated. I feel like now as long as your hardwiring is good, you can I feel like now the technology is finally in a place where you can rely on clinical stuff, you know, so you could have an entire 16 foot wall window slide, you know, move at a push of a button, and then trust that it would love and
Christine Marvin
trust. Yeah, I think there's a sophistication and maturity that we're seeing with product. And the other thing too. I mean, we're seeing dynamic lazing has been around for a long time, especially in commercial buildings, not so much in residential, but I think what's what's before us, and what's at our doorstep is more dynamic glazing. So what do you mean by dynamic glazing mean? But the flip of a switch, your glass can go to tinted or dark and corporate offices right? There
Mark D. Williams
obviously thing where you would go private, the great
Christine Marvin
thing about being a manufacturer of windows and doors and then being able to renovate some workspaces for employees is that you get to prototype and play with different technologies. But that's exactly right. Oh, cool.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah, I remember I've heard before, I don't know how far they got in development. It was 1015 years ago, I saw this but it was for a home down, like, you know, Scottsdale Arizona or something like that, where, you know, you have solar heat gain, and then maybe, you know, how would the window darkened? Yes or not. Yep, stuff feed. I don't know where that technology is at now. I just remember kind of being like it was an r&d lab. I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. Is did that ever end up taking off across other window brands? Or is that still they're still working on concepts.
Christine Marvin
I think there's still concepts like that. And you'll find homes that have those kinds of technologies, too. But I think what you're going to see is various types. I call it dynamic, lazing, and they all have different configurations. But they're right on there, they're coming coming forward and the residential market for different experience for the homeowner inside and not all homeowners are looking for shades, or curtains or they want something a little bit more seamless. And there's the future's exciting for window indoor, what it means for your comfort and experience in the home. We're
Mark D. Williams
in as far as where Marvin plays. Obviously, being Minnesota, we've already kind of talked a lot about that. But across the country, you know, what are you seeing in terms of trends? I know, you know, we operate in a higher end. So most of our product has to be wood. I know fiberglass, and vinyl are big products across the country. But what do you see in other parts of the country in terms of what you're shipping? And then what do you think that Marvin, you know, really excels at? You know, across the country?
Christine Marvin
It's a it's a good question. So I'll answer it just in terms of like, what are we seeing as far as trends? Yeah, like, and what I would say honestly, is there's we have a strong foothold in wood, traditional offerings, customization. We also see the rise of like clean, modern products. So large windows, large window walls, large doors, and there's also the there's always the like, the black window frame conversation and that sort of thing. We're actually seeing some of that softened to more grays and whites again, so that's more of a trend thing. But like, what are the things that are going to stay? And I think it's in new construction and major remodel, mainly things are things are going bigger, we're seeing more doors per order than we have before. So like, thinking about the seamless connection from inside and out.
Mark D. Williams
And where I was playing with Oh, question, you answered it in a in a way that I do like but one of the questions I had was like you have different lines of Windows. So like, do you See, like an explosion of like, I don't know, just throw out some numbers like, hey, you know, you know, the southern part of United States, because termites or whatever we see a dramatic increase in let's say vinyl or fiberglass products, mainly just curious and it
Christine Marvin
depends on the home actually the style of home typically shapes the look and the look and shape the material. But I would say if we take a step back the largest there's there's the vinyl market in which you know, we don't play but then the aluminum wood clad market from a market share perspective is still significant across the country. It's big, it's not growing as rapidly what the
Mark D. Williams
difference between, let's say, wood or wood, you know, covered aluminum or whatever versus vinyl. Like if you just have to like vinyl versus wood. What would that be in the United States and market
Christine Marvin
share? Yeah, split? Oh, it'd be substantially more vinyl like
Mark D. Williams
7030. I had to know. Oh,
Christine Marvin
I'm not good on the spot like that. But I mean, it's probably 50% vinyl.
Mark D. Williams
And I'm super biased. The reason I'm asking the question is I have no idea because I've never done I think I'm I'm 95% would, I mean, I don't know if I've ever done anything other than that. So I'm just not I just don't have a good perspective of and I know there's other obviously
Christine Marvin
products out there. And it's different based on the segment you play where you see more aluminum clad composites, but we are seeing a rise and composite. It's not as big as aluminum clad, but it's growing and it's growing year after year. And so composite can be we often talked about fiberglass from Marvel, but just in general in market, it's it's just known for being highly thermally efficient, very, very strong materials.
Mark D. Williams
apartment buildings. I've heard something like over four storeys, certain fiber glasses are rated where other kinds of I mean, there's a structural, there's a structural
Christine Marvin
factor for sure. So I would I would say is that we do see the rise, and Marvin is part of it, too, and composites and we're vertically integrated. So we have our own material Innovation Center. And we also create a lot of our own composites, and we have for 2025 25 years, it's one of our core competencies. And so it's it's a growing, a growing solution that builders homeowners are looking for and architects,
Mark D. Williams
how do you handle overseas? I mean, does Marvin end up selling stuff overseas? Or we
Christine Marvin
do when we sell into Canada and overseas, but I would say it's more of a more opportunistic, we have some really creative key partners. But I wouldn't say that's the big focus of us, because there's so much impact to be had even domestically yet. The other thing is that windows and doors are complex. And there's different codes and regulations that drive window design that drive performance in Japan. You know, you're because of density, things need to be fire rated in different ways. And so, you know, the the moment you start going worldwide, and it's if you can take what you make today, and it works in that country. That's fabulous. But it'd be a pretty big investment. I see the truly, it's doable. It's, you know, for us I don't that's not on our near term.
Mark D. Williams
I was curious, because I've never asked the question before and I, again, you know, you know, not knowing how far the window reach you know, right now, we've already talked about Minnesota being the hub of windows in North America anywhere, I think it'd be kind of cool to see how far it goes from there. One thing that's kind of interesting is, I know that the Parade of Homes just celebrated their 75th anniversary. And, you know, a lot of our local contributors have helped be a part of that, you know, certainly Marvin, you know, all the other window companies as well. And just people in general, what has, let's say the artisan tour, in particular done for your brand, and your relationship with builders, let's say in the Minnesota Minneapolis area, because that's the artisan brand for those not from Minnesota is basically a higher end brand. There's maybe 20 homes on tour that range anywhere from a million and a half to let's say 10 million. And I know it's a big part of your marketing campaign, at least from my perspective, because that's the group that I'm in. I was just curious from a marketing strategy, how that came to be and how valuable you find that relationship
Christine Marvin
very valuable. I, you know, I remember it was it's been years ago talking to one of our regional managers, territory managers when it was starting to take root and it for us, it's always been, we're here to support our, our builder partners, our custom builder partners, our dealers, and architects. But what you do is that these programs have merb and product in it. And so we want to be there to show up and support and there's typically several homes that have Marvin, so for us, it's an opportunity to demonstrate commitment, and to be honest, celebrate beautiful construction and beautiful design that raises the bar and elevates it. In the in the state. Yeah,
Mark D. Williams
yeah. No, I mean, I think I can feel that as well. I mean, you see, regardless of I just think we have a lot of pride in these tours right and certain really thankful for Marvin support. And really anyone that supports any of these home tours, regardless of what market you're in, in the country, because it takes a lot to put it on. I think Housing First we had James Phegley on a couple weeks ago. And you know, he's amazing. Now he's the president, CEO of housing first, I didn't realize how long he'd been there, he'd been there for like 15, or 20. really been there for a long time. And he's a great leader. But it's amazing to me just how important homeownership is to the American dream. And it's pretty much it is the American dream is to own your home. And it's just interesting to see how many people it affects. And obviously, there's a construction podcast, so I'm a little biased. But it is really a beautiful thing to watch, you know, kind of just, you know, many hands make the load light. And so it's just I really value those that are committed to whether it's your home tours, your homeowners all realizing that's going to continue to come back to you and support the industry. Yeah,
Christine Marvin
yeah. In the shop and be there for support. I 100%. Agree.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah. What are you seeing in terms of brand relationships? So you, obviously, and I think Marvin is a pretty big brand in terms of Windows? How do you allow? How do you from a marketing standpoint? How do you align yourself with either other builders or talk to us a little bit about brand management? One of the things that I'm just interested in? In those listening sometimes are things like how do we how do we approach a brand like Marvin? So I guess two things. One is how do you seek out brand partners and who you find that represents you and then to, if there's builders out in the community or across the country? How would they interact with their local Marvin teams and Marvin reps to kind of see if their brand works well to kind of work together essentially.
Christine Marvin
And there's a lot that can be done on the local level, as far as brand partnerships to it. I'll pick on I'll pick on Chicago, and if we have a great dealer there, we have a great builder, architectural partner. And there's opportunity, typically, that surfaces through our field marketing teams, through our local territory managers. And sometimes there's just direct our outreach, we have this project, we have this idea. And so there's that, that angle of it, and then there's for, to be honest, we've been so fortunate in that we have the opportunity to work with so many amazing, amazing people in the trade. And we often find ourselves in a position where people are reaching out, I mean, even influencers. You we have this project, we'd love to use Marvin, and if we can make things work, that's always it's always fantastic. We love celebrating architecture design project said feature Marvin, where Marvin was able to accomplish a vision a dream, like the story behind it. So I, I always say Reach, reach out, what does that mean? Reach out to your local Marvin representative, reach out to the marketing team, share your work, share your story. And we often like to push those stories back out through social, get photography, do interviews, maybe not a podcast, we're not you're a little bit ahead of us there. But storytelling, we can capture on video, get people up to world to experience world. They're just there's so many paths. But I would say that the design matters, and then the values alignment to and having an impact and we love shining the light on it
Mark D. Williams
right now. It goes back to storytelling, right? I mean, essentially all these things come back to one thing like whatever brand you are, in this case, Marvin, you're you want to tell your story, and you have a compelling story to share. What, from a social media standpoint, just because obviously, that's the world we live in where, you know, continues. It's like how many platforms can we manage at one time, and at least you have a company we have a team. I mean, I'm like one person, I get this world. And I remember when because I'm not a big Twitter guy. And I'm just like, oh, man, I mean, does anyone does everyone need to think what I need to know what I'm thinking? Like, every 30 minutes? No, they don't. And so but anyway, the point is, is like there's so many different Yeah, we personally do a lot on Instagram and LinkedIn, and of course, our website, but I mean, there's how do you stay on top of that, as a company, the team,
Christine Marvin
we have a fabulous team. So within our marketing team, we have individuals who specialize in social social content, there's metrics, right, there's tracking we do we also work with outside agencies to ensure that we're staying fresh, and that we can see what's coming, what's happening and that we work with them to maximize what our investments are because you can't put everything everywhere. So you have to be strategic and prioritization. It's important that we hear from builder partners that we hear from architects on like when homeowners are showing up what sources are they using and making sure that you know we're there so important platforms are Pinterest Pinterest is still use quite a bit. Instagram is significant LinkedIn for other purposes, especially on the professional side. But it's luckily we have a we have a really strong team there.
Mark D. Williams
Right. That's interesting. You say that about Pinterest because I you know maybe five, six years ago, we used to use houses a lot. And so people would often, you know, I'd often I'd encourage my clients to create a book so that the team, the designers, you know, we'd all kind of have one portal to look at. And obviously, Pinterest is very popular among our clients, especially the female clients in particular, it seems like our women are just like, Yes, this is what we use. And so in some ways, we've kind of gone away from house and Pinterest has been that's a trend. We've seen revelant. And it was interesting. So about six months ago, I didn't even have a Pinterest account. So I'm like, well, we better create one. And I just had someone an assistant basically post, like, 10 pictures a day, we now have 120,000 followers on Pinterest. I'm like 120, though, yeah, that's like crazy. And like in six months, oh, and the but here's what's really interesting, I just did our metrics a couple of weeks ago, 70% of all our website hits are from coming. So I didn't realize that essentially, Pinterest, whether you use it or not, is like a Google engine for searching and a drive and it drives traffic to your website. Now I'm as a small company, I'm not necessarily monetizing my website, it's not really how I'm set up in terms of like, we are developing that, right, we've got blogs, and we've obviously track SEO, but I'm still learning some of this stuff. And it's like, again, I'm a small company. So it's like, how many hats can I possibly wear at one time turns out a lot. But I from a company's point like yours, you know, you have a team that can focus on
Christine Marvin
a team that can focus Yeah. Now are they? Are they
Mark D. Williams
bringing the reports to you? Or like, how does this marketing team look, I was I love marketing. So I love understanding like, how do you how does the how does the magic happen, and
Christine Marvin
the magic happens, because this is what I firmly believe. I just pave the way for the team. So I get out of the way when I need to. And I make sure that I remove barriers and set them up for success. And I hire people smarter, better and stronger than me. And so the magic happens, because we have a wonderful VP of marketing. I have a wonderful PR leader who was here with me. And then the team is strong. We have such a strong team. So like, to be honest, the magic is in the people the magic is in the people. The magic is understanding the brand, the opportunity, you know, thinking bigger, using metrics to drive, right behaving, what works to drive, see what works. But I firmly believe when you have a good team, anything's possible.
Mark D. Williams
Maybe as we go into close, we usually will end the interviews with just a few things. So that was think this is helpful for aspiring entrepreneurs. Maybe is there any thing that if you were to start a business again, or if you were to encourage somebody to, you know, if they're thinking about, you know, basically starting their own business, from what you've seen, because you interact with so many businesses? Is there anything that you would say, Hey, I think this would be a good thing to consider, or this is something that's really meant a lot to you to, you know, when you maybe hit a wall, or when you want a new idea, this is maybe something that helps kind of inspire you that way. There's
Christine Marvin
two things one, and it's the way I'm wired. I, I reach out and I talk to people. Yeah, that's when I asked, I asked for help I get ideas. And I talked to many, many individuals, because not one conversation will solve your own situation. So you have to, for me, it's I have an input, kind of not ability, but the way I'm wired. And so I take it all and I try to make sense for what I have today. The other or what I have in front of me. The other thing that for me just started resonating in the last five years is this idea of like strategy and structure. So you have a strategy and you want to get something done or initiative. But then let's say it's not moving. So do you have the right team members with the right skill sets with the right focus? helping advance it and if you don't, then you have to have a conversation and like that that person matters. And that capability really, really matters. Because either it may not be someone something someone enjoys to do, you may not have the person they may not be the right skill set their skills and gifts lie elsewhere. And so I've really gotten to the point to think about okay, if we're stuck, what's what's getting in the way? The strategy is still good, and we're just not getting movement? How do you get someone or bring in an outside resource from a contract perspective to get get you unstuck and get it moving?
Mark D. Williams
That's good advice. We're actually doing that right now. Oh, are you? Yeah, I mean, just from the standpoint I think what you've just said is analogize with you know, do you have the right people in the right seats on the bus? Or? Or do you need a different person in a different seat? Yeah, there might be on the bus and there might be the right person. So anyway, just trying to figure that out as a business owner. What are some ways that you like to self educate? Or you know, how do you how do you stay kind of fresh on me sounds like you talk to a lot of people get all these ideas, but is there any? I always find it interesting to ask people how you know is it reading is it podcast? Is it travel like what what inspired travel? Oh,
Christine Marvin
I'm it's harder with it with the kiddos. Yeah. Not harder. It's just I want to make sure it's different and I want to make sure I'm showing up for the kids because those years go by quick Buckley and so that's really important. But for me, I am an experiential learner. So I do admit it, like talking to people. I love reading articles and more of a kind of an article person and I, maybe because they're, they're shorter to the point. So I leverage that quite a bit. I love going to different speaking events when there's strong speakers. But for me, it's all about relationships and learning from others.
Mark D. Williams
Yeah. Interesting. Well, thank you very much for your pretty much appreciate it. And yeah, for those that are listening, where obviously we can go to marvin.com. Is that the great website? Yeah, yeah, that were easy. marvin.com. That's pretty easy. So we'll have all your credentials in the show notes as places that they can look in. You know, give them a look. And thanks again for all your time today, Christine.
Christine Marvin
Thanks for having me. All
Mark D. Williams
right. Bye bye.
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