Marketing Franchise Helps Fledgling Firms

PRstore, which is planning eight more Metro locations, aids small businesses with their exposure needs

DETROIT (Wednesday, December 01, 2004) - John Maddox needed help developing a corporate identity for his new public accounting firm, Maddox Ungar in Bingham Farms. Mel Jackson wanted a professional flier and brochure for his sales and marketing efforts at his business consulting firm in Southfield. Both turned to the PRstore in Royal Oak, a franchise operation designed to help small businesses with their marketing, public relations and advertising needs.

"They were able to work with us and get things done quickly," Maddox said. "When we hire people down the road, they will prepare the business cards for them. And when we merge with someone else next year, they will create a new identity for us."

"They did a real good job of interviewing me and understanding what my company was about and what I was trying to achieve," Jackson said.

With one outlet open, J.C. Moore, president of the Appleseed PR Group, the Detroit area franchisee for the concept, plans to open eight more PRstores in Southeast Michigan, including three in 2005, three in 2006 and two more after that.

"Initially, we were looking at Southfield or the western suburbs, but everything we are hearing is to head to Sterling Heights, the Hall Road corridor or Troy," he said about the next location, set to debut in the first quarter of next year.

The PRstore debuted in North Carolina three years ago, and the company plans to have 185 stores open in the next five years. A PRstore already operates in Grand Rapids.

"PRstores are set up in retail storefronts where a small business owner can get immediate service," Moore said. "People can walk in with no appointment necessary."

The 1,000-square-foot Royal Oak store offers a wide variety of services, including help with newsletters, logos, awards, Web sites, letterhead, posters, direct mail pieces and coffee mugs and other items adorned with a company's logo.

"Most of the work, so far, has been brochures and fliers," Moore said. "But we can help develop a corporate identity, and we would like to move into the advertising end of it."

Each store will operate with two employees, and they can call on the experts at Design Central, the franchise's centralized staff of designers, copywriters, printing coordinators and other specialists in Charlotte, N.C. Small business owners can use help like this, according to Thomas DeSalvo, a counselor with SCORE, a nonprofit association dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed in their business ventures.

"Most of them are not experienced in buying advertising or thinking about how much they can spend," DeSalvo said. "These services are certainly needed, especially if it can be done economically. When a business starts, they are usually short of capital. Most of their money goes into the start-up, but just because you start up a store, doesn't mean everyone is going to know where you are."

The PRstore offers an hour of free marketing consulting to help a small business get going, Moore said. Prices for other services depend on the project.

A corporate identity kit, which includes design of business cards, letterhead and envelopes, starts at $175, a Web site design begins at $995, and a trade show exhibit can come in at $3,550.

"We can offer all the elements of advertising and marketing that you could possibly want at a set price," he said.

View all PRstore Press Releases

This article has been read 228 times.

Printer Friendly