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Home Improvement Franchises Retooling PR for Local Angle
Norwalk, Conn. - Fueled by consumers' skyrocketing interest in home remodeling and design, home improvement franchises are spreading the word locally. eNR Grassroots PR, a Norwalk, Conn. firm specializing in local public relations, has recently signed on two additional clients from the sector: Case Handyman Services and DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen (an affiliate of The Dwyer Group, the world's largest franchise organization). Both Case Handyman and DreamMaker have chosen eNR's Grassroots PR Program to bring PR activities to their local operations.
The home improvement sector has shown an increasing interest in public relations. As a result, eNR has carved a niche for itself within the market. eNR reveals it now offers its Grassroots PR Program to 10 franchises from the rapidly growing sector.
"Home improvement franchises truly benefit from local public relations," explained Brian Smith, executive vice president of eNR Grassroots PR. "Through our Grassroots PR Program, these franchise companies know they can generate local news through local media about their services and their business owners. They recognize that local PR reinforces brands, drives new customers to local outlets, and attracts franchisee prospects."
Communities - no matter how small - want to hear news from local businesspeople, explained Smith. And, recent statistics show they want to hear from home improvement companies. According to the Newspaper Association of America (2003), consumers spending $1,000 or more on home improvements tend to read the newspaper more often than any other news source.
Through the Grassroots PR Program, franchise companies can send the local media news from the franchisee's point of view. For example, a localized press release includes the franchisee's name, location and contact information, and quotes the franchisee as well. A franchise company with 100 franchisees will ultimately send 100 personalized versions of a press release to each franchisee's appropriate media list. Media pick-up rates for such releases increase because the news possesses hometown appeal.
eNR will promote Case Handyman to support the franchise's national expansion. Michelle Doischen, director of Marketing for Case Handyman said, "We liked the idea of increasing our exposure as a handyman business in the local and entrepreneurial markets. We very much believe in the power of PR over here at Case Handyman. And, we liked the combination of getting our name into the local markets, to increase our exposure to consumers, while increasing the overall recognition of our company name."
For Case Handyman, eNR will distribute local versions of press releases to the franchisees' appropriate media contacts. The firm will also write, design and distribute email newsletters as well as post and promote Case Handyman's press releases online.
DreamMaker, on the other hand, will use eNR's proprietary online PR management tool. The Web- based interface allows franchisees to select and send press releases themselves.
"We have always encouraged our franchisees to send their own press releases to their community media," explained Amy Brown, director of Marketing at DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen. "But, at the end of the day, they are busy managing their businesses and don't have the time to get it done. We saw eNR's Grassroots PR Program as a vehicle to make sure those distributions happen. The franchisees are happy that they can have this high priority completed for them. And, they see this service as an added value for being one of our franchisees."
Smith adds that the Web-based extranet site will be designed with usability in mind. With a click of the mouse, franchisees can select, edit and send press releases to their own local media list online. eNR has successfully integrated a similar system for the Prudential Real Estate Affiliates. 13.04.2004, eNR Grassroots PR
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