Our Town America's Retail Sponsors Announce Impressive 2013 Success with New Mover Marketing Programs
Pinellas Park, FL (PRWEB) December 13, 2013 -- Millions of Americans, 40 million a year according to the most recent Census, move each year and are forced to develop relationships with new “go-to” retail options. After a move, new residents are actively seeking replacements for the favorite pizza shop, neighborhood hardware store, and family pet store they trusted in their former town. Their world has been turned upside down and they need help knowing where to turn to find reliable retail business owners who can help them get on track.
Similarly, local retail business owners must find replacements for the countless loyal customers who skip town each year and there’s no better target than impressionable new movers. Where can store managers turn to make an impact on this new group of residents in order to replace loyal customers who have moved away?
Reach Customers in the Mailbox, Not the Inbox
Countless business owners have turned to e-mail marketing, including e-mail related daily deal tactics, in attempting to reach new customers. They have been underwhelmed by the results of those efforts as those familiar initiatives reach existing residents who have already established loyalties to other stores. However, they have claimed to be more impressed with targeted and trackable new mover direct mail programs that welcome new residents to town and inspire long term customer loyalty.
In fact, direct mail programs, like those offered by Our Town America, the nation’s premier new mover marketing franchise, have helped retail store owners from all industries cultivate relationships with countless new movers for a fraction of the cost of most marketing programs. Numerous small business owners, who operate businesses of all ages and sizes from coast to coast, have reported that the Our Town America new mover marketing program has consistently generated monthly response rates well north of 10%. That figure is more than double the 4.4% industry average reported by the Direct Marketing Association in 2012.
Retail Business Owner Success Stories
Four of these business owners discussed their experiences with Our Town America and shared the reasons why the unique new mover marketing program is so effective at cultivating long term, loyal relationships with new movers. These business owners are as follows:
Pasadena Jewelers in South Pasadena, FL:
• Owner – Philip D’Elia has been working with Our Town America for more than 15 years
• New Mover Offer – $10 for free battery
• Response Rate – at least 10% a month
• Long term loyalty – roughly 3 out of 4 customers who redeem the Our Town America certificate come back again
• Quotable – “Just the other day, a man who looked familiar tapped me on the shoulder. He said to me, ‘thanks again for the first wedding ring you gave my wife and I when we first moved to town. We’ll be coming back soon for our 10th anniversary!’ When he moved to town ten years ago, that man had come in to my store with the Our Town America gift certificate in his hand.”
Soldan’s Feed and Pet Supplies in Lansing MI:
• Owner - Kelly Damsen, the assistant general manager who works directly with owner Howard Soldan, has signed up each of the eight stores she helps manage to the Our Town America program in the last year
• New Mover Offer - $10 off any purchase in the store
• Response Rate – Each of her stores see 20-30 new customers each month from the program
• Long term loyalty - Our Town America helps Soldan’s reach back out to each of the customers who redeemed the original certificate with an additional discount inspiring them to come again
• Quotable – “I have never worked with a company as hands-on, personal and honest as Our Town America. They have adjusted the zip codes we target to inspire a higher response rate and worked with us to adjust our offer so it better fit the customers we were reaching with the program. It’s that attention to detail that means the most to us.”
TAGS Ace Hardware in Cambridge, MA:
• Owner -Simon Shapiro took over the family business 42 years ago and they've worked with Our Town America as long as he can remember
• New Mover Offer - $20 off any purchase in the store
• Response Rate - at least 10% a month from each of the 6 zip codes to which they send offers
• Long term loyalty – Shapiro reports that more than 500 new movers have redeemed the certificate this year, many of whom have come back for multiple visits
• Quotable – “This has been a family store for 57 years and we continue to grow our profits each and every year. After all of these years, the Our Town America program represents our ONLY annual advertising spend. The program continues to thrive because Our Town America has worked with us to create a valuable offer that fits the well-educated and high-net worth demographic that surrounds our store.”
Edible Arrangements in Centennial, CO:
• Owner - Richard Folkman has been working with Our Town America for the last year
• New Mover Offer - 6 count box of chocolate dipped strawberries for free
• Response Rate – He reaches hundreds of new movers a month and experiences an average response rate north of 15%
• Long term loyalty – Typically, the customers who come in buy an additional arrangement as they wait for the strawberries to be prepped. Many of those customers who receive the full in-store experience come back again
• Quotable – “My mom used to deliver baskets to new movers, so I have a feel for the emotional impact a personalized gift has on new movers. Our Town America allows us to welcome new movers to town with a warm and valuable offer that they can redeem when they’re ready. The offer is perfect for us because it gets new customers in the door for the full experience. After they receive our personalized welcome to the neighborhood and taste a delicious treat from us, few only come once.”
Our Town America – Modernized Direct Marketing with Traditional Warmth
Retail sponsors, like the four listed above, can report this kind of success with Our Town America because the company has made significant changes to modernize their new mover marketing program. In the early 2000s, CEO Michael Plummer helped implement new digital printing methods, which allow for eye-catching full-color gift certificates and envelopes, and the industry’s first ever 2-D barcode technology, which allows sponsors to better understand response rates and customer demographics.
According to Plummer, these tech-savvy adjustments have been the catalysts for the company’s unprecedented growth in recent years.
“With these technological enhancements, not only can we help our retail sponsors make a quality first impression with the initial personalized gift certificate, but we can supplement that with another valuable offer to customers who redeemed the first offer and enjoyed a positive first experience,” says Plummer. “This allows our sponsors to generate strong customer loyalty because our data helps them deliver follow up experiences that fit their needs and lifestyles. When smart technological insights like that meet the warm and fuzzy feeling our welcoming packages deliver, everyone wins.”
For more information on Our Town America, visit their website at http://www.ourtownamerica.com.
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About Our Town America:
For 40 years, Our Town America has been providing new movers with traditional hospitality by mailing warm gifts from neighborhood businesses in a premium gift certificate package. Since the company started franchising in 2005, Our Town America has consistently been placed in the Franchise Top 50, ranking #8 in 2010 for franchisee satisfaction.
One of the catalysts for this success has been Our Town America’s dedication to the “sponsor exclusivity” concept, meaning they will only recommend one of each business type in any specific zip code. Additionally, Our Town America allows businesses to focus only on the zip codes they’d like to reach, whether that is as small as one or as large as the entire country.
Due in large part to Our Town America’s devotion to those concepts, thousands of satisfied business owners throughout the United States attest to the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, dozens of locally owned franchises validate Our Town America’s concept as a viable business opportunity.
It is Our Town America’s mission to assist new movers adjusting to their community, help businesses gain new and loyal customers and provide franchisees with an excellent opportunity. The eight million households who received Our Town America’s welcoming envelopes over the last year prove that Our Town America is committed to following through on that mission statement.
For more information, visit the Our Town America website at http://www.ourtownamerica.com.
Graham Chapman, Our Town America, http://www.ourtownamerica.com, +1 (919) 459-8157, [email protected]
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