Hudson resident co-founds advertising app for contractors, landscapers

by John Benson

Hudson resident Joshua Manley owns Stow-based e-commerce company Iron Fence Shop, which manufactures, sells and ships worldwide aluminum and wrought iron fences and gates.

From his work with numerous contractors over the last decade, Manley discovered a common need for quick, easy and targeted advertising.

“One of their pain points was their inability to send postcards and advertise to neighbors of recently completed jobs,” said Twinsburg native Manley, 39. “The idea for RADMARC just came about from working with the contractors that we deal with over the years.

“I know they’re sending postcards where they do jobs, but they get busy. Also, to send postcards you have to find addresses, get them printed and mail them out. It’s a four-hour process to send 100 postcards. The idea for the (RADMARC) app is they can do that in 30 seconds right from their phone while they’re at the jobsite. And they’re able to include a photo.”

RADMARC had a soft launch in the spring at a realtor convention before it was put in the app store in the summer.

“For example, if somebody is doing a hardscape project with a waterfall in the backyard, they can open our app, upload some photos of the project, choose the home they did the work at as the anchor address,” Manley said.

He added, “If they want to advertise to, say, the closest 100 homes, we have advanced targeting so they can send it to homeowners rather than renters, who aren’t going to put in a $20,000 backyard waterfall. They can look at home value, how long somebody has lived there and hit send.”

The software in the back end gathers the closest addresses that meet the criteria and sends a postcard that’s delivered within a week.

Manley said he’s had the idea for RADMARC for roughly five years, but it was only when he collaborated with its co-founder and software engineer Matthew Bender that the company got off the ground.

“We started to build it at the end of last year,” Manley said. “Iron Fence Shop is a completely separate business; the only connection is I previously worked for a fence company and talked to thousands of contractors over the years.”

Manley said it was a no-brainer for his family to make Hudson their home. “I’m also a member of the chamber of commerce,’’ he said, “and am very much looking forward to getting involved in the local business community.”