Darby Asked:
“Is there a special price for ordering more than one of the same photo?”
Hi Darby,
We sure do. When you order multiple copies of the canvas, the additional pieces are all 50% off. It’s done automatically when you change the quantity on the order form. Give us a call if you have further questions.
Best, Tom
Our customers are already getting ready for the holidays. What better gift than a wonderful personalized art canvas? If you’re thinking about giving some away as gifts to those you love, this happy customer will inspire you. Just click below to listen to his testimonial! Thanks, Ron, for letting us know how much you love your canvas! Tom and Joe
Click to Play Audio Testimonial:
Mom loves springing surprises on unsuspecting people. And we love to watch her do it! She just sent us this video below of a surprise Great Big Canvas giveaway in Terre Haute, Indiana. Way to go, Mom! Mom doesn’t let a week go by without surprising someone out there on the road. Joe and Tom
Well, Mom has just presented a new Crazy Challenge to our Canvas Crazies. And they are stepping up to the plate to carry it out. Mom explained to our Crazies that Canvas on Demand has a charitable program called THANKS FOR DOING GOOD that supports non-profit 501(C)3 organizations by giving them a FREE $100 gift certificate to use in their fundraising efforts. Then Mom asked the Crazies to help us get the word out by forwarding information to non-profits in their area.
Within hours of Mom’s request, she was getting replies back from our wonderful Crazies:
I already posted this offer to my FACEBOOK and sent it to all my friends! Hope it helps you get the word out about this program! Thanks, Dawn
This is fun! I just did a quick search and emailed four organizations in my area! Trina
We love all our Canvas on Demand customers…but our Canvas Crazies are especially close to our hearts. Thanks for helping us express our THANKSGIVING to organizations that are really making a difference in our world!
Are you crazy about our canvases? If so, you can be a Canvas Crazy and receive a FREE Crazy Kit too.
Tom and Joe
Mom's Crazy Van is hard to miss!
Joe and I love hearing from folks like Dave. He just posted the comment below on our website saying he learned about Canvas on Demand, because he just happened to be driving next to Mom’s Canvas Crazy Van! Yep, that van is very hard to miss, isn’t it, Dave? Thanks for letting us know that it’s helping Mom get the word out about our great products. I agree, your wife will be absolutely delighted with her Christmas gift! Tom
Hi! Dave here. I was just driving next to “The Van”. What a fantastic idea! I hadn’t heard of you guys before, so I just visited your website. Now I now I know what I am going to give my wife for Christmas. She is going to love it! Thanks, Mom.
Those of us at Canvas on Demand love Mom’s new Canvas Crazy Van! Mom has been zipping around America in it telling everyone she meets about our canvases, visiting our customers face-to-face, and delivering Operation Hi Honey anniversary canvases to the spouses of those who are deployed. She heads for Virginia in the morning.
Mom told me the other day that she loves standing back where she can’t be seen and watching people gather around the van in a parking lot, looking at the images and reading every word on it!
We especially love getting posts from our readers who are dedicated followers of Mom’s adventures, like Gina and Steave:
Gina says: Hey Mom: I love your posts…can’t wait to hear the great stories from each trip. I am one of your loyal followers. Drive safely! Gina
Joe and I are delighted when we get comments like the one that recently came to us from Leslie who lives in Memphis, Tennessee.
Your canvases are the absolute coolest way to show off all of the cool digital photos I love to take. They are really affordable and look a million times better and more modern in my new home than regular prints. My mom even orders them for me as gifts because I love them so much!!! I have been married for just 2 years…and we have canvases of wedding photos, bridal protraits, our honeymoon, and some of the fun adventures my husband and I have had since our wedding. We will be ordering more from our most recent adventure to New Orleans very soon!!! Leslie from Memphis, TN
Leslie, we at Canvas on Demand are grateful for your comments, but even more grateful that you are so satisfied. Our goal is to exceed our customers’ expectations. Tom
The cover of Salute's latest issue
Recently Mom (from On the Road with Mom) and I were interviewed by Salute Magazine regarding Canvas on Demand’s Operation Hi Honey initiative. Salute Magazine is published specifically for our American military. Special features such as Unit of the Month, Singles Scene, and Pet POV offer their readers articles of interest and opportunities to be recognized for their accomplishments.
All of us at Canvas on Demand feel privileged to honor and support our troops with Operation Hi Honey, offering members of our deployed U.S. military a free art canvas, which is presented to their spouse on their anniversary…and we appreciate Salute Magazine for helping us get the word out about Operation Hi Honey. Joe (co-owner of Canvas on Demand)
Learn more about our co-owners, Tom amd Joe, by reading the following article that was just published by American Express…
Marketing Through Customer Appreciation Marcy Shinder (American Express OPEN), Sept. 24, 2009
If you want to hear innovative, inexpensive ideas for marketing, just talk to an entrepreneur. I was reminded of this when talking to Tom Lotrecchiano, co-founder of Canvas On Demand, a Raleigh-based company that takes the photos customers upload and prints them onto canvas, creating artwork out of personal images.
Tom and his partner, Joe Schmidt, started their company in 2003. Last year, they grew 40%; this year, they’ll grow another 30%. I asked Tom how they’ve been so successful despite the recession, and he told me: “We’ve decided to ignore the recession and strategize for growth.” And their success, I learned, is due to marketing programs centered on customer appreciation:
I asked Tom what inspired such programs, and he said the ideas came from listening to their customers. “We talk to our customers and ask them for help. For example, we got the idea for the Canvas Crazies from reading testimonials. We realized our people are really passionate about their photo on canvas and our company, and we wanted to find a way to help them share their experience with others.”
In our recent results of American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor (Fall 2009), 41% of small business owners said their top priority over the next six months is maintaining current sources of revenue. I hope some of Tom and Joe’s programs give you ideas for developing customer appreciation.
And that appreciation for their customers has had an enormous impact on their growth.
Jeremy wrote this note:
“not a question: Tom and Joe, My name is SGT Jeremy Schmidt, recently you awarded me a free canvas for operation Hi Honey, let me tell you, THANK YOU so much, you two are great, what a boost of morale to hear my wife after just having to put my dog down, recieves the picture the SAME day!!! Thank you so much words cannot express the gratitude I have for your business. we look forward to buying many more canvas pictures for X-mas gifts, birthdays and every ocasion you can think of, once again thank you two SO MUCH you really do make us feel blessed to have people like yall back home, thanks again”
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for your kind words. It’s just one little thing we love to do to show appreciation for you and your family. Thank you and stay safe.
Warm regards, Tom
Tom and Joe, co-owners of Canvas on Demand, share an entrepreneurial spirit, a genuine interest and concern for their customers, and a commitment to their family and friends. Both partners’ exposure to entrepreneurship stems from close relationships with their fathers. Tom worked after school at the family printing business in upstate New York, while Joe was in Indiana working in his dad’s building-supply company. The two would tagalong with their hustling fathers. Joe and his dad traveled by car between cities in the Midwest. Tom and his dad traveled by train to NYC to call on ad agencies.
But Tom and Joe’s fathers could never have imagined a business where thousands of people could go online, upload a sentimental photo, and in a few days receive a beautiful canvas artwork. But the lessons the fathers had taught their sons,to have the perseverance to make the extra call, to be optimistic, and to understand that the real joy in business is developing relationships,are the very traits that have made Canvas On Demand a success.
Tom and Joe knew each other for a few years before taking positions at the same dot.com company as VP of Marketing and Director of Sales respectively. The experience was exhilarating, but the company wasn’t theirs. They had a burning desire to create a business of their own. So they left their secure positions…and launched Canvas on Demand.
THEIR PHILOSOPHY: From the onset, Canvas On Demand worked hard to create direct relationships with customers through their website. One day Tom and Joe saw their FedEx representative, Meghan,who had just received her own order,sitting in her car sobbing. Her canvas had so captured the beauty of her children that she was overwhelmed! The owners were greatly touched, and from that moment on, they created every canvas with Meghan in mind.
They built a website friendly enough that Meghan would feel confident visiting it. With Meghan in mind, they set goals for high customer service. Customers were encouraged to talk directly to their friends at Canvas on Demand for second opinions and advice. Orders were attentively reviewed before processing. Often clients were contacted with suggestions and free upgrades,just as if each customer was their friend, Meghan!
The goal is to exceed customer expectations. They were determined that each canvas would be an improvement over the photo submitted. Orders are carefully packed and shipped within three days. If customers call with an issue, they are sincerely thanked and offered a re-make. The objective is to absolutely delight each customer.
Tom and Joe embrace the concept of “doing well by doing good.” Every product awareness campaign aims at benefiting others. Example: During Operation Hi Mom and Operation Hi Honey, overseas troops are offered,absolutely free,a canvas they can send to their mom for Mother’s Day or to their spouse on their anniversary. In conjunction with Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Canvas on Demand agreed to produce 1,000 mural canvases with all proceeds benefiting Camp Heartland, a summer camp for families affected by HIV. In fact, every 501C3 non-profit in America is eligible to receive a $100 gift certificate for a canvas to raffle or auction as a fundraiser.
Tom and Joe’s personal life motto is a quote by Winston Churchill: You make a living by what you earn; you make a life by what you give.
Tom is a native of Mahopac, New York and a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology. Tom has spent much of his career in business development in the commercial printing industry. Prior to Canvas On Demand, Tom was the Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising for a large online retailer. Tom is proud of his family that includes his lovely wife of 26 years and four great kids. Tom spends his free time on his bike (the kind you pedal), on his kayak, playing golf, or watching ACC basketball.
Joe was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He received his undergraduate degree from Ball State University with a major in entrepreneurial studies. His MBA is from Boston College. Prior to Canvas On Demand, Joe has been involved in numerous successful technology start-ups. He is extremely proud of his family-his lovely wife and their three delightful daughters, Joe enjoys a variety of redneck pursuits including hunting, fishing, and watching Nascar.