Case Study: Fast food company seeking local print coverage around store locations

Challenge: In addition to broadcast television, radio and billboards, their aggressive marketing plan lacked direct mail vehicles targeted to each store location. The top line media in their current marketing plan was perfect for branding, but it was not driving efficient sales.

Strategy: Krystal was interested in implementing print media vehicles to target their particular store locations in order to produce a positive lift in sales.

Execution: Echo Media created a presentation highlighting the advantages and strengths of print media vehicles surrounding their many locations. With the addition of print media, they were able to effectively target their fragmented geography in order to increase individual store sales and drive traffic. Conversion to print and couponing, a new approach for the discount fast food chain, was also implemented to drive sales. We addressed Krystal Management’s top three objections to using print media:

• Can you offer 100% coverage of our 400+ locations? We took Krystal's Store zip codes and matched them up with print media opportunities within the Echo Media database.
• Can you get rid of excess waste and have a more targeted launch? We targeted a 3-5 mile radius surrounding each store location within the direct-mailed print media vehicle applicable to each particular store location
• Added value? The direct mail vehicles actually get in your consumers’ mailboxes giving them a call-to-action or coupon to go in and visit their neighborhood Krystal location. Consumers are very cost-conscious and look for value and savings.

Results: Many of Krystal's locations received .35% lift in sales at their stores. With the successful lift in sales from the direct mail campaign, Echo Media was able to help Krystal achieve positive sales results for many of their store locations. Print media has proven to be a compelling and viable part of their overall marketing plan.

Case Study: Store by Store Coverage

Challenge: Large, national optical store needs to drive traffic to stores in “out-of-the-way” markets to help maintain customer volume. Over 555 stores throughout the country need to have coverage options.

Secondary Challenge: Category exclusivity. The vision and optical category has significant competition, which locks US Vision out of some of the print media that cover their locations.

Strategy: Echo Media has access to over 2,300 unique print media vehicles and maintains a database of ZIP codes covered by these media. Using a store ZIP code list provided by US Vision, Echo Media can apply radial counts and assess store coverage. Extending the radius out by ten miles, Echo Media can also make sure that the print distribution encompasses the trade area around the store locations, not just in the store’s primary ZIP code.

Echo Media’s cafeteria approach to multiple print media options allows US Vision to choose from numerous print media vehicles in a market, not just one, so there is always an advertising option with category availability. A mix of newspapers, direct mail and other alternative media are always outlined to suit the varied nature of advertising campaigns throughout the year.

Execution: Market-by-market planning is performed annually and throughout the year to support new locations through grand openings, as well as to support stores with important sales. Within these plans Echo Media incorporates:

• A cafeteria style option presentation for each market with pricing.
• Coverage analysis detailing program circulation coverage around each store.
• Demographic matches using census data for each store.
• Active negotiation of rates to bring pricing in line with media performance.

Results: 100% coverage of store locations in need of support at pricing that makes sense from a return on investment perspective.