SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA February 2, 2010) – Significant changes in the way consumers prefer to receive information, coupled with an unpredictable economy, have many franchises reexamining their traditional marketing communication plans to gauge effectiveness. Both retaining Clients and attracting new Clients requires applying the latest digital tools to maximize leads received and covert them to sales. To address these goals, Sport Clips, the nation’s leading men’s and boys’ hair care franchise, has partnered with ElementsLocal™ to maximize their online solutions specifically designed for franchises. Using the latest technology, ElementsLocal™ is providing Sport Clips unparalleled abilities to market online and communicate with their existing clients through email and text messages.

Sport Clips searched the existing product offerings for a solution that would support and encourage loyalty among existing Clients and offer innovative ways to communicate with and attract new Clients. After this search, Sport Clips signed on with ElementsLocal™ to significantly improve its online presence and develop lasting relationships with Clients through local web sites and creative email and SMS campaign strategies.

With 90% of online users conducting local online searches prior to deciding where to purchase products and services, a cornerstone of Sport Clips new marketing communication plan is creating a strong, localized search strategy that allows the company to be visible to customers in the hundreds of local markets where its stores are located.

To this end ElementsLocal will create a unique, fully autonomous website for each of Sport Clips’ 670 stores, which increases the company’s rankings in popular search engines, such as Google. Additionally, each website may be updated with local content, ensuring they show up on local search result pages, amplifying the franchise’s relevance in local markets.

“Having a strong online presence is a crucial component in our marketing strategy,” said Martha England, Vice President of Marketing for Sport Clips. “The ElementsLocal software makes it affordable to acquire multiple websites and easily manage the content, and the platform offered the scalability necessary for actual websites, rather than micro sites. Its integrated e-marketing and SMS marketing (text) makes it simple for us and our franchisees to use.”

ElementsLocal is also helping Sport Clips implement an effective and contemporary customer communication plan using multimedia promotions, template-based email campaign programs and SMS delivery.

“Consumers are using the Internet and their mobile phones to connect, search for information and research their purchase options, and franchises must follow this trend to remain competitive in the digital age,” said Jeremy La Duque, president and CEO of ElementsLocal.

In partnering with ElementsLocal, Sport Clips will provide local, brand-compliant messaging power to its franchisees with little oversight. Through a template-based platform, franchisees will be able to initiate local email and SMS micro-scale marketing campaigns and participate in national, broad-scale campaigns initiated by the franchisor.

These campaigns will support the growth of new Sport Clips Clients through SMS and email-based incentives, and establishing existing Client loyalty and retention, through email and text-driven messages for birthdays, client referrals and more.

“We’re excited to partner with ElementsLocal to address our key goals through search engine-optimized websites for each store location and the implementation of email and SMS campaigns,” said England. “It’s an all-in-one solution for us.”

Tags: franchise, online marketing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Clients, Franchise Local Marketing, News, Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.