Dear Country Fried Family,

You trusted in us and we trusted in you. You believed in us and we believed in you. Together, we make magical things happen.

That magic was recognized in our community when we were awarded the Fayette Chamber 2021 Small Business of the Year Award. You are all part of the “WE” that won that award.

Winning an individual award is not easy, but winning a team award is much harder. Succeeding in an individual award usually requires managing a single person, yourself, to be faster, stronger, more effective, and better than the competitors.

Winning a team award requires an alignment of skills, needs, and effort. In the case of a business, they require a well-functioning team that’s skilled, motivated, efficient, and effective. It also requires great customers who are realistic, responsive, and ready for results.

With the right people in place, employees and customers, anything is possible. Matching customer expectations with team capabilities is probably the most important (and most difficult) job I have.  In an ever-changing world, having the right people, employees, and customers is the most important ingredient for success. Prices, services, skills, tools, and procedures change over time.  If we had built our business on a single tool or service, we wouldn’t still be here. Building a business on people is what’s kept us in business for nearly 20 years.

If you are reading this blog post, then you’re probably working with a winning team – whether you’re part of the CFC Family of customers or considering it. Here are some tidbits about our team that I submitted during the award selection process. Over the last five years, we have accomplished:

• 62% revenue growth
• 75% growth in employee headcount
• 95% client retention rate

Frankly, we don’t measure success in terms of revenue or headcount. I often tell people we’re not doing this for the money. There are much easier ways to earn much more money. We measure success by our clients – whom we were and how well we serve them. We take pride in supporting the local community by serving local businesses and hiring locally. When you hire Country Fried Creative, you  can be assured that they are creating local jobs that keep dollars in our community.

Our Vision summarizes our unique approach to business: Foster meaningful online connections that make the community better for all concerned.

Here are some specific things we are doing to make an impact in the local community:

The norm in our industry of digital marketing is to cater only to the high-end, big-budget companies. We believe it’s part of our commitment to the community to serve EVERYONE to the best of our ability regardless of race, gender, political persuasion, economic means, or industry. We feel that diversity and inclusiveness also mean economic diversity and inclusivity in terms of client base and reach.

In 2018, we launched the Country Fried Express program to help lower the cost of high-quality websites for entrepreneurs and new businesses. This unique “pay by month” program is the only one of its kind in our market.

Since our inception, we have always offered “at cost” discounted digital marketing services for non-profits. We believe it’s important to support those who support the community.

We make every effort to source our own needs locally in terms of vendors for company supplies, specialty contracted services, and other company needs. In short, instead of only going after high-value client engagements, we “try to find a way” to work with just about anyone in our community that seeks high-quality digital marketing services.

We’ve got some big plans for 2022 – a 20th anniversary birthday celebration, some new services we’ll be offering, and much more. I hope you’ll stay on the journey with us. Have a safe and Happy Holiday season, no matter how you celebrate. Congratulations on winning this award with us, and thank you for being part of the Country Fried Family. You can learn more about us and values by clicking here. We are so excited to celebrate this year of wins!