NOVEMBER 2011

by: Austin White

KNOXVILLE - Today, The Pinnacle Communications announced it expansion of it online marketing program 21st - Century Marketing, stated Brad Pierce, Business Development Director for The Pinnacle Communications.

With seventy percent of all households now utilizing the internet to find local products and services, businesses need expert advise as to how to most effectively spend their ad dollars. With ADlook, you can be sure those local shoppers find their way to you. The Pinnacle Communications advertising executives work with your business to create a custom online ad specifically designed to drive potential customers to your business, and then promote your ad on popular search engines.

The industry average rate to an online ad is about 1-3 customers phone calls and/or emails for every 100 visits but this can very across industries. Although we typically perform better than industry average, stated Brad. We recommend you run your ADlook campaign for a minimum of 90 days to allow the system time to fine-tune your adverising to maximize your results.

“We decided to create a mailing list of people that we knew,” says Pope. “So we comprised the list of family, friends, relatives, and we came up with approximately 300 names that we thought might be interested in purchasing peanuts from us.”
“We also did a catalogue, and I mailed that catalogue to those two to three hundred names that we had and people just started calling in and ordering and then sending Christmas gifts to other people. So our mailing list kept growing, and then people realized we had a website.”
There was a snowball effect created as the website was launched in 2002 and the word was spread about Royal Oak Peanuts.
Stephanie joined several women-owned organizations, one being the National Association of Women Business Owners, where she was able to learn from other women in the business arena. “I would go there and talk with other women business owners and learn from them,” she says. “A lot of them were lawyers, accountants, marketers, and they would basically tell me what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, and answer any type of questions that I had.”

To continue the company’s success and increase their consumer base, Royal Oak Peanuts attends three to four retail shows each year, as well as the Fancy Food Show in New York City. At these retail shows, customers are able to buy products from their designated booth for retail price without having to pay for shipping and handling. “That has been a great educational learning experience in seeing what all is out there as far as packing, what the current trends are, what we need to strive (for) as our next step as growing as a company, and what is acceptable in manufacturing and processing,” says Pope.
Retails shows prove to be a catch-22 as they help to spread a company’s consumer base while costing thousands of dollars to attend. The Fancy Food Show can cost any where from $7,000 to $10,000 and it is very time-consuming, says Pope.
“To be a small company like we are, it’s a very big step to take in hoping its going to pay off,” she says.

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