PRstore uses central creative services to contain costs

Laurie Englert,
PRstore:

612.869.0090
lenglert@prstore.com
www.prstoreminnesota.com

When Laurie Englert bought rights to open two local outlets of the PRstore, she figured it was a business she would let others operate.

But with one store open and plans for four more in the Twin Cities, she decided to leave her marketing job and do the hands-on management to protect her investment.

“It’s kind of like having a baby, but then you get into it,” she says about her change in plans.

Her cost was just under $60,000 for each of the two initial franchises. To finance it, “I did a business plan, it was Business Plan 101, so I did get money from Wells Fargo,” Englert says.

PRstore is a six-year-old national franchise with more than 41 locations. They offer branding and other public relations and marketing services aimed at small businesses, with an a la carte menu.&nbsp

“We do a market analysis and based on that we come up with solutions. That may be a Web site with four pages for $1,200 to $2,000,” she says, “then adding a shopping cart for $2,500 to $3,500.” Other examples: Six concepts and a logo for $1,600 $495 to write a press release and $180 to distribute it.

She calls it a 30 percent to 40 percent reduction in price from the bigger agencies. “I want someone to spend $5,000 to $50,000 a year” on marketing, she says about her target customer.

A linchpin to the concept is DesignCentral, a group of 19 copywriters, designers and other creative people who work in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the franchise was founded, and who churn out the pieces as the orders come in from outlets around the country. “They’ve got it down to a system,” Englert says. “We know we’ll get it in X number of days.”

She says her ideal franchise owner has both sales and marketing experience, as she does. “Some of the first franchisors didn’t have that, and the outlets didn’t work as well as hoped.”