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FootSteps Marketing Team Continues to Grow

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 As FootSteps Marketing approaches our third anniversary, we are more than pleased to announce some new additions to our diverse team (and a glowing new staff picture). Joining Teresa, Nick and Patience in the managed service staff are Alissa and Jon. We’re beefing up our sales team headed by Pat with Chris, Pamela and Stefanie. And the very newest addition is three-week-old Dylan Swann, who will be tagging along with his mother Teresa in the office.

Thanks to our dedicated customer base, FootSteps now represents more than 60 individual retailers, spanning 150 retail stores across the U.S. and Canada. As you can see, we’re growing rapidly and adding talented, professional new faces to our team to meet our expanding customer base. We look forward to another exciting and successful fourth year.

In picture, back row: Alissa, Stefanie, Pamela, Nick, Jon, Pat
Front row: Chris, Patience, Teresa and Dylan

 

Filed Under: People

Email Template – 20% Off Bag Sale-Our Thank You This Much Event!

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Ace National 20% Off Almost Anything Bag Sale Event Is
Saturday February 25th!

We have created an email template to announce the sale.  Many have already requested an email for the Ace National Event, but if you haven’t yet – it’s not too late!  (Please let us know soon though – we’ll need time to create your proof and work through any edits.)


Template Guidelines:

  • Preview the template here
  • If you want to add any additional coupons or offers, please provide all details including images, barcodes, description, expiration date and sku numbers.
  • The disclaimer is taken directly from ACE.  If you would like edits – we’d be happy to do so.
  • Please email us your request to opt-in with two days notice (no later than Wednesday the 22nd) at services@footstepsmarketing.com and provide a date and time for release.

Thank you!

Filed Under: Email Marketing, Tips & Ideas

Davis Ace launches custom built website

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Davis Ace Hardware of Davis, California has been serving their local community for three generations.  Recently the store upgraded and updated its website to reflect its true character and position in the town.  Davis Ace has four separate buildings in which it operates – Hardware, Garden & Pet, Rock Yard, and Housewares – all connected but with each building having very different product lines and, almost like being individual “stores within a store.”  Each building wanted to share this new website, yet have their own clear information areas.

With horizontal navigation defining the four buildings, for customers to easily access specific information, and then vertical navigation for overall store departments, services and Ace specials and advice, this new website should help existing Davis Ace customers and also attract new customers with its ease of function.

We hope that Davis Ace is proud of the work they have put into their new website, and also, that their customers will enjoy being able to sign up for email promotions and coupons, and view the latest special offers online.

Filed Under: Web Projects

FootSteps Marketing presents the Retailer Guide to Internet Marketing at Worldwide Distributors Spring Show!

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Worldwide Distributors and FootSteps Marketing partnered in presenting a seminar to the membership of Worldwide at their Spring Buying Show in Reno, NV, February 2012.  The seminar, Retailers Guide to Results Driven Marketing was attended by over 100 independent retailers from all over the world.

The seminar emphasized the key factors of a successful interactive marketing program:

  • Implement a professionally designed, engaging website, that is easy to change and keep current
  • Use consistent outbound email promotions to customers to keep top of mind awareness for the store
  • Ensure the website is built to be “Google/Yahoo” friendly, and submit the website to local search engine listings
  • Integrate Social Media into both the website, and into email promotions to enhance viewer engagement
  • Use all available tools i.e. Google Analytics, email statistical tracking, to measure results.

To view the presentation click here:  Retailer Guide to Internet Marketing

This simple formula will provide measurable customer engagement, i.e. how many times customers sought out the website and reviewed content and participated in promotions.  Then the Cost of Customer Engagement can be determined to find the return on investment for the marketing program.

FootSteps will be working directly with all of the members of Worldwide Distributors to help them implement Internet marketing programs that will drive footsteps into their stores, and have some fun while doing it!  If you are interested in finding out more information, please feel free to contact us.

 

Worldwide Distributors is a dynamic, member-owned buying group that has been supplying independent retailers across the US and Canada with products and services for over 50 years.

Worldwide offers access to over 3,000 vendors in a variety of categories:
• Camping • Fishing •Tackle • Hunting Sports • Clothing • Footwear • Hardware
• Homeworld • Athletics • Lawn/Garden/Patio • Toys/Seasonal

Worldwide is a member-owned, member-directed cooperative.  With your membership, you become a voting member – making your voice count!  To find out more about this unique opportunity to enhance your buying opportunities and increase your profitability, contact us today.

Filed Under: Industry News

“Have a Heart for Children” – Using email to fundraise for a local hospital

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ace Cherry Creek, Denver, CO recently offered their customers a chance to support their local children’s hospital – The Children’s Hospital in Aurora, by asking customers to make a donation for a “Have a Heart and Win” icon, and in turn, receive a $5 off coupon off their next purchase of $20 0r more, and a chance at winning a $1,000 shopping spree.  Click here to view the email.

Last year, Ace Cherry Creek and their customers raised over $22,000 for their local children’s hospital with this event.

Congratulations to Ace Cherry Creek and their fantastic customers!

Filed Under: Email Marketing

What’s it worth? How do you figure Return on Investment for Internet and Social Marketing?

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

ROI-of Interactive and Social Marketing

If the thought of starting an Internet marketing campaign brings dollar signs to mind, then think again!  Internet marketing, when done correctly and effectively, is low cost and affordable!  Read on, to see how you can have a reaching, engaging relationship with your customers, for less than the cost of a stamp (and none of the printing costs either!)

The most common question that comes from our clients are: “Is the Internet working for me?”, and “How do I know?”

Well, I think we have figured it out.  Internet, or interactive marketing is a direct marketing medium that only works if we directly engage our customers.  If we ask them to do something, do they do it?  What else do they do?

Each time your customers directly respond to any of your Internet-related promotions, website or social media pages, this counts as one customer engagement.  These actions by your customers are indications that they are interested in your business, and would like to do business with you.  But do you know how much these promotions, “likes” and visits actually cost you, per customer?

To calculate the cost per customer engagement, here’s what you do first:

  • Look up your monthly web traffic statistics (if you are not sure how to do that, send me an email)
    • An average FootSteps customer engages 750 customer visits per month
  • If you do participate in email promotions, look at your email results to see how many customers open your emails
    • An average FootSteps customer sends one email per month to approximately 3,000 customers, and has a 20% open rate, which means the email was opened 600 times.
  • Go to your Facebook page and check to see how many customers “engaged” in your site page.
    • An average FootSteps customer with a Facebook page engages approximately 100 customers per month.

Armed with this information, we can now determine the cost per customer engagement:

  • 750 web visits + 600 opens via email + 100 Facebook engagements = 1,450 monthly engagements by customers of your Internet based marketing promotions
  • Monthly cost of FootSteps Marketing services = $395
  • Cost per customer engagement = 395/1450 = $0.27

Some of our more aggressive customers have a cost per customer engagement as low as 4 cents!  Is a direct interaction with a customer who has sought you out, and is interested in doing business with you, worth between 4 and 27 cents?

Contact either Chris Bouchard, Director of Sales and Marketing, or Patrick Curry to have us review your cost per customer engagement, or to get you started generating more business!

Filed Under: Best Practices Case Studies, Industry Trends, Uncategorized

FootSteps Best Practices: The most successful email campaign ever!*

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The case study that was just posted to this website demonstrates the power of effective email marketing!  Colorado-based Alpine Ace (Aspen, Carbondale, Clifton and Redlands) launched an interactive “The 12 Days of Christmas” email campaign mid-December to their email subscribers at all 4 stores.  As you will see from the case study:  it worked!

Basically, Alpine entered the very busy seasonal marketing frenzy and managed to break through the clutter to get their message read and acted upon.  How?  Great deals, variety of products and discounts, and they got the tone and timing of their message just right.  They sent out 2 emails over 8 days and had an incredible open rate of over 30%.  That was matched with the customer looking at each of the coupons at a rate of over 10% each time.  The end product: 600 in-store redemptions. 

Follow this link to get all of the details of the Alpine 12 Days of Christmas Email Case Study.  These promotions take some planning and custom design.  If you are interested in creating one for your store, drop us a line and we can discuss the costs associated with them.  Contact chris@footstepsmarketing.com.

*In the history of FootSteps Marketing and Alpine Ace Hardware.

Filed Under: Best Practices Case Studies, Email Marketing, Winning Campaigns

Alpine Ace interactive email promotion results in 900 in-store redemptions!

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“The 12 Days of Christmas” email campaign sent by Alpine Ace Hardware of Aspen, Carbondale, Clifton and Redlands, CO was sent over 10,000 customers.  This was one of the most successful promotions in the history of their stores.  Take a look at the details below – you are not going to believe them!

Title of Promotion: 12 Days of Christmas
Promotion: 12 days of special deals exclusive to email subscribers
Type of Promotion: Click and print coupon/email marketing
Dates/Duration of Promotion: December 13-24, 2011 (12 days)

Alpine Ace Hardware of Colorado, located in Aspen, Carbondale, Clifton and Redlands, recently enjoyed great success with their Christmas-themed email campaign, “12 Days of Christmas” sent to their email subscribers at all four stores.
The premise of the email campaign was that one email was sent with directions to the customer to bookmark a webpage that would be updated on a daily basis during the campaign, with a new daily deal. This advent calendar of sorts, revealed a new offer each day of the campaign, and this daily offer was valid until the end of the promotion.  Therefore, deals that were offered earlier in the campaign had more opportunity for redemption.
The type of deals that Alpine Ace had available for their customers ranged from a discounted gift certificate, sale on Christmas items, to a cutlery pack, and had varying degrees of appeal.
From our email and website tracking, we can see that for all four stores:
  • this email was sent to 10,300 customers
  • the email was opened by 2,230 customers (22%)
  • the call-to-action page, “print coupon” was viewed  4,800 times
  • which resulted 2,675 visits to their websites
  • and the average number of pages per visit was 4 pages
  • and, less than 5 customers per email (one to each of the four stores) unsubscribed.

From Alpine Ace Hardware, we can see that the most popular items were:

  • Day 5: 50% off any one regular priced item under $30 – 586 coupons redeemed
  • Day 1: $100 gift certificate for $50/$50 gift certificate for $25 – 188 coupons redeemed
  • Day 2: Tool Sale – 75 coupons redeemed
  • Day 12: 75% off all Christmas Items – 28 coupons redeemed
  • Day 10: 10% off entire store and double reward points – 15 coupons redeemed

The least popular of the 12 days sale items were:

  • Day 9: Chicago Cutlery 3 Pack for $9.99 ($6 discount) – 1 coupon redeemed
  • Day 6: Grill Sale ($25 off any grill under $200, $50 off any between $200 and $400, $100 off any above $400) – 1 coupon redeemed

In all, 926 coupons were redeemed in the 12 day sale period.

What a fun and successful promotion for both Alpine Ace and the four stores involved.  Hopefully their customers managed to snag some last minute gifts for others, as well as themselves.

Filed Under: Best Practices Case Studies

What’s the buzz: Social Commerce – Flash Deals for Retailers!

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Can Flash Deals work for Independent Retailers?

The following post is about online selling of Keurig Coffee Makers, and that Flash Deals do work and are here to stay! 

Alpine Ace Hardware, with stores in Aspen, Carbondale, Clifton and Redlands, Colorado recently demonstrated that there is a new way for retailers to put their foot into direct selling on their websites.  The concept is called a flash deal and is a part of the growing concept called social commerce.

An example: Alpine Ace rolled out the sale of 5 coffee makers each for two of their stores, and sold all 10 in two hours! 

The offer was extremely aggressive but it did demonstrate that social commerce and flash deals do work, that they get the customers attention and they get customers into the store!  You can check out Alpine’s current deal that is being offered through a local marketing website, www.CommunityFootsteps.com.

Social commerce is selling products and/or services online, in a limited quantity or limited time basis, with aggressive pricing or discounts.  The items need to be promoted via all interactive marketing channels, email, web posting and especially, Facebook and Twitter.  The customer purchases the deal online through the social commerce site (e.g. Community Footsteps) and prints out a voucher, then comes to the store to redeem the voucher and hopefully, buys more products or services!

It’s kind of like owning your own Groupon service and keeping the margins!

You will be hearing more about this on a regular basis as I feel it is the most important new best practice for 2012!  If you are interested in talking about this, drop me a line at pat@footstepsmarketing.com.

Filed Under: Best Practices Case Studies, Industry News, Industry Trends

$60 Keurig Elite Single Cup Coffee and Tea Brewer – 49% Discount!

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Teaming with Community Footsteps, Aspen Ace Hardware, Aspen, CO has entered the social commerce market with a flash deal.  Helping to launch Community Footsteps this week, Aspen Ace and Carbondale Ace offered a limited number of Keurig Elite Single Cup Brewers for $60, a 49% discount.  This offer was published on the Community Footsteps website and also sent out in an email to Aspen and Carbondale’s email subscribers.  And not surprisingly, Alpine Ace sold out of all the Keurigs on offer in less than 8 hours!

This is a great deal, not only for generating sales, but a local non-profit also receives 8% of total purchase price.

Social commerce is a great way to generate new, and retain existing customers.

Filed Under: Community Footsteps, Email Marketing