Atlanta Archives • Our Town America, Inc.

Former Parkland Teacher, Now Atlanta Resident, Wins $3K | FOX

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

Atlanta New Mover wins $3K from Our Town America Survey

FOX 5 Atlanta — A former Parkland, Florida teacher, who recently moved to Atlanta is this year’s national winner of the Our Town America New Mover Survey contest. Amy Kleinman-Kenny was randomly chosen from thousands of surveyors to win a $3,000 check. Kleinman-Kenny was teaching at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School on the day of the tragic mass shooting in 2018. Unfortunately, she lost friends and students in the horrible tragedy that killed 17 people. Following the shooting, Kleinman-Kenny quickly became a leader in the community by offering her yoga expertise to the victims. She started the nonprofit ‘Yoga 4 MSD’ to help people heal. Once the Freshman class of MSD graduated, she moved to the Atlanta area to start a new life and continue her path forward after that horrific day. Shortly after moving into her Woodstock, GA home, Amy received the Our Town America (OTA) New Mover Welcome Package loaded with free welcome gifts from local businesses and a letter from the local franchisee, Chris Beer. Woodstock Furniture & Mattress Outlet, Vingenzos & Vintage Barrel, Woodstock Car Wash, and Buffalo’s Cafe were among the many local businesses to extend housewarming offers within the OTA package. “I was really excited to try all the new places! There was so much money to be saved from this package!,” Kleinman-Kenny said. OTA has been welcoming new movers and helping businesses find new, loyal customers for over 50 years. “We love the sense of community our program helps facilitate,” said Beer, the Atlanta OTA franchise owner. “Not only do we offer free one-time offers within our new mover package, we now also give businesses the option to welcome customers in via digital advertising as well – further extending the invite and strengthening these B2C relationships”. Woodstock Furniture & Mattress Outlet has been advertising via Our Town America’s New Mover Welcome Package for 24 years and counting — gaining new customers monthly. FOX Atlanta met Kleinman-Kenny and Beer at Woodstock Furniture Outlet to hear more about this heartwarming and inspiring story. Amy was presented with her $3,000 prize. Kleinman-Kenny is currently teaching part-time at Woodstock Middle School, continuing to inspire students through yoga and plans to allocate some of her winnings to her non-profit. Press play below for full FOX News interview. Our Town America supports small businesses across the nation 365 days per year. Local Atlanta area businesses looking to gain new customers via direct mail or digital advertising, please contact Chris Beer, our Atlanta franchise owner, at 800-887-9364. If your business is outside the Atlanta area, contact Our Town America corporate at 1-800-497-8360 to be connected with your local representative. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

Out-of-the-box Marketing to Increase Revenue & Help Locals

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

Out-of-the-box Marketing to Increase Revenue & Help Locals Our Town America

CBS Atlanta — With the holidays around the corner, many people will be spending a large portion of their hard-earned money on gifts while attempting to save the rest for bills. Our Town America, a national marketing franchise, wants your local business to know you can lend a hand during these trying times while simultaneously increasing your revenue. Our Town America connects people who have recently moved with established local businesses looking to increase their foot traffic. We provide one-time housewarming gift certificates from partnered local businesses enabling new residents to try various businesses at lower cost (or cost-free!) upon move-in to their new home. Our Town America of Atlanta owner, Chris Beer, has been helping local businesses gain new customers for 23 years and says the concept has never worked better. “As we talk about inflation, stress and needing direction — our package really helps, because right at the new movers fingertips is a reason to visit a pizza restaurant, get a car wash, and hopefully develop a real positive relationship with these local businesses,” says Beer. Beer sat down with CBS Atlanta to divulge just how this unique marketing strategy works. Press Play for full CBS interview. — Our Town America supports small businesses across the nation 365 days per year. If your North Georgia business is looking to gain new customers, contact Chris Beer at 1-800-887-9364 or complete a Contact Form.‬ If your business is located outside North Georgia, please contact the Our Town America corporate office at 1-800-497-8360 to be connected with your local representative. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

How to Build a Direct Mailing List that Converts

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

How to Build a Direct Mailing List That Converts Our Town America

An accurate direct mailing list is very important if you want to effectively market your company to both potential and current customers. In the age where digital advertising is very prevalent, studies show direct mail can give your company a distinct and meaningful competitive advantage. In 2019, the U.S. Postal Service teamed up with Temple University to prove this. The study found that printed ads, like direct mail postcards or letters, are the best way to create an emotional connection with a customer. There are various options available for business owners who are looking for an accurate and effective direct mailing list, and they each offer different things. The first, and cheapest, is to build a list yourself. This is done manually by plugging in the address of your business and choosing area routes, streets, and blocks to target. Putting together this type of direct mailing list is challenging and time consuming, and you also have to consider additional costs involved from start to finish including design, print and postage. The most common way of acquiring an accurate direct mailing list is to purchase one from a company that specializes in them. These companies use data to create lists that can target different ages, purchase preferences and even professions. Figuring out the right target audience for your specific business is often a challenge. However, targeting people who have recently moved to a new home is a great way to narrow down your direct mailing list. This method gets your business in front of people who are looking for their new go-to stores, restaurants, hair salons, dentists, etc. near their new homes – a critical target audience for any business hoping to create loyal, long term relationships with customers Our Town America uses a new mover mailing list backed by decades of data that saves businesses time and money. Our associated new mover program takes the guess work out of direct mail and reaches those people who are new to town before they establish a connection with any of your competitors. Our Town America’s new mover direct mail lists are incredibly accurate, making the process more efficient and cost effective. For example, each month, Our Town America gets lists of every individual who has filed some sort of address change in the past 30 days. Our Town America then takes that list and filters out any duplicate names and addresses creating a direct mailing list that is about 95 percent accurate. While mailing lists are never perfect, Our Town America works to make sure its new mover mailing list is as precise as possible, eliminating wasteful spending. Our Town America doesn’t stop once the list is complete. The new mover program includes designing, printing, and shipping each direct mail piece. This amounts to a stress-free process for any busy business owner who doesn’t have the time to stick labels and stamps on hundreds of postcards, or the expertise to design those postcards. Direct mailing lists can be an excellent way for a business of any size to attract new customers and build brand loyalty. Our Town America’s direct mail marketing program is THE all-inclusive program that gets results for businesses while saving valuable time and money. Are you ready to stop wasting time and money on self-starter direct mail marketing campaigns so you have more time to spend on running your business and building meaningful relationships? We’re here to help at Our Town America. For more information, visit ourtownamerica.com today. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

Direct Mail Marketing Options: Saturation Postcards, Targeted Postcards, New Mover Marketing

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

Direct Mail Marketing Postcards

Choosing the best platform to make the most of a tight marketing budget during uncertain times can be daunting for small business owners. Despite the increasing dependence on social media, one-click purchasing and online recommendations, direct mail marketing remains one of the most effective tools for boosting sales and developing loyal customers. Direct mail is said to be easier to understand and more memorable than digital media. It requires 21 percent less cognitive effort to process, and elicits a much higher brand recall, according to a study conducted by Canada Post Corp. Direct mail is also more likely to drive behavior than digital media, the study revealed. At least 70 percent of consumers say direct mail is more personal than online interactions, and 39 percent of consumers try a business for the first time because of direct mail, reported Fundera, a financial resource for small businesses. There are more than 30.7 million small businesses in the United States, according to the U.S. Small Business Association’s most recent report released in 2019. Small businesses created 1.8 million net jobs in 2016 and employed 59.9 million people. Our Town America offers a number of direct mail solutions to help small businesses promote customer loyalty, add new patrons and appeal to new area residents. But maybe you need some direction to figure out which type of direct mail program is best for your business needs. Easy & Affordable Method to Reach Community Members without a Mailing List Every Door Direct Mail® is a complete neighborhood mailer designed to reach every home and address in the selected ZIP codes without relying on a mailing list. EDDM® is a cost-effective saturation marketing method that allows you to filter by age, income and household size. Our Town America’s full-service EDDM® program includes printing, service preparation, postage and delivery. As people have been staying closer to home these days, EDDM® is a great way for local businesses to draw customers by delivering them a message directly to their home. Generate Customer Loyalty by Reaching out to Chosen Mailing List Targeted Postcards help celebrate existing customers by aligning with their motivations and goals. It’s a great method for businesses to send birthday specials, highlight new location openings and offer holiday specials. Targeted Postcards help form a connection between the customer and the business, building brand loyalty. During slow economic times, some customers rely on the brands they already trust, according to Harvard Business Review. It is important for businesses to reward their devoted customers with special offers or a simple holiday greeting or reminder of an upcoming sale. Our Town America uses your mailing lists to send Targeted Postcards. Make New Residents Feel at Home Moving to a new home during a time when social distancing guidelines are enforced can make it difficult to turn a new house into a home, but New Mover Marketing helps businesses make a great first impression on new residents by welcoming them to the area. It also gives residents the opportunity to support local businesses. “People are very loyal to their veterinarians. For us to grow just from people changing veterinarians would be a very slow growth,” said Dr. Sherry Weaver, owner of Animal Hospital of Towne Lake in Woodstock, Georgia. “Really, we’re much smarter specifically advertising to the people who are just moving in.” Our Town America’s New Mover Welcome Packages are filled with hand-selected proven offers. The 48-year-old company prides itself on offering the most accurate new resident mailing list in the country. Each Welcome Package contains only one business in each industry to ensure exclusivity. Our Town America also provides businesses with access to a proprietary mobile app that records redemptions, triggers an optional follow-up postcard and efficiently tracks return on investment. No matter the particular direct mail marketing method you choose, Our Town America will provide your business with an affordable solution to draw customers in. Learn more about how we can help your business grow today. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]

Franchisee Success Series: Chris Beer on Family-First Culture

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

Family Culture

God, football and his franchise – it sounds like something straight out of a “Welcome to America” pamphlet, but these things are essential to Chris Beer’s livelihood. He has carried a passion for sports, for as long as he can remember. “We are a football family. It stems as far back as my Grandfather who played without a helmet, to my Dad who played with a leather helmet and now I’ve passed it down to my children,” Beer’s passion for football is surpassed by his love for God and family. And it’s his work with Our Town America, the nation’s premier new mover marketing franchise that allows him to fully enjoy his life’s passion to the fullest! The Virginia native graduated from James Madison University with a marketing and business management degree. Beer applied the same discipline and mental toughness needed on the athletic field. He ran track and played football during his high school and collegiate years. Several injuries and a family illness kept Beer from playing his senior year in college. “This is when I decided to buckle down and direct my energy toward gaining success in the business world!” says Beer. “After graduating from college, low on funds, and in need of employment, I had an idea to stand in front of a grocery store and approach every sales representative that walked through the doors,” says Beer. “Thankfully, after telling him I was fresh out of college and in debt, the grocery store manager respected my gumption and approved of my plan. I got a bunch of business cards and made several positive connections. I was really close to landing a job when a headhunter put me in touch with my first employer. It was an experience that taught me, at a young age, that capturing an opportunity is possible through reaching out to people and clearly communicating goals and objectives.” Beer is a proud husband and father of three grown children: two sons and one daughter. He is also the successful owner of Our Town America of Atlanta. For 20 years, he has enjoyed connecting new residents with a wide variety of businesses in the Southeast’s largest city. Beer says his connection with his family has never been stronger because of his Our Town America franchise. “For the first 18 years of my professional career, I didn’t have the opportunity to control my time, my income earning potential or, most importantly, the time I spent with my family and my quality of life,” says Beer. “That all changed when I invested in myself and joined the Our Town America family.” Beer joined Our Town America in 1999, after a nearly two-decade-long run with two prominent consumer products companies. He excelled in corporate sales and marketing, but the job, and the rigors that come with being on the road, were wearing him thin. “There are very few things more valuable than quality of life, but unfortunately, my professional career was interfering with my ability to spend quality time with my family,” Beer says. “I reached a point where I needed to step away from working for corporations and strike out on my own.” The Beer family was quickly introduced to the perils that come with working for big conglomerates. “Two weeks after our honeymoon, I learned I was being transferred from Roanoke, Virginia, to Charleston, South Carolina,” recalls Beer. “We were in Charleston for under a year. Thirty days after buying a house there, I was transferred to Atlanta. That’s when my wife jokingly asked if this is what our life was going to be like forever.” Married for 33 years, Beer credits his wife for his success. “I have the most supportive wife in the world,” he says. “Her belief in me and my desire to be an entrepreneur during the early years is the main reason why I am here today. You have to have a spouse who is supportive because making the transition from employer to entrepreneur is scary.” Family lineage also played a huge factor according to Beer. He is a third-generation American — his grandparents first arrived in the US via Ellis Island. “Both sets of grandparents instilled the need to work hard, set goals and look for opportunity,” Beer says. “My great-grandfather spoke five different languages, but no English. They were humble beginnings, and I learned how to listen and learn from them.” Beer says his dad also played a role in sacking any apprehension he might have had about leaving corporate life to become self-employed. His dad actually left a corporate position in Michigan and moved the family to Virginia in an effort to realize his personal dreams and improve the family’s quality of life. “It was a tough decision leaving a comfortable salary, benefits, and a corporate vehicle,” Beer says. “But I inherited a leap-of-faith mentality from my dad. I knew it was time to better control my quality of life.” After a brief experience as an owner with a different, less targeted direct mail marketing franchise, Beer wasn’t satisfied. That’s when he conducted even more research and got in touch with Our Town America’s founder Michael Plummer Sr. It didn’t take long before he knew he had found the perfect match with the nation’s premier new mover marketing franchise. “I was on the verge of rejoining the corporate work force after my first crack at entrepreneurship didn’t turn out the way I wanted,” Beer says. “Michael and I talked, and he sent me some information. After a lot of soul searching and praying with my wife, I called Michael back and we had a tremendous conversation. Sixty days after our initial conversation, I was signing the paperwork to open an Our Town America franchise in Atlanta.” Beer flew down to corporate headquarters in Tampa, but he wasn’t traveling solo. “My wife and three kids joined me during my first training session,” Beer says. “That’s how amazing Our Town America is as a company. The fact that […]

Our Town America of Atlanta: Helping the Market One New Mover at a Time

Written by Brittany N. Johnson

Our Town of Atlanta on New Mover Marketing Business Radio X

Business Radio X (December 2017) – As one of Our Town America’s longest tenured franchisees, Chris Beer is an expert at helping local Atlanta businesses connect with new movers and create long term, lasting relationships. Listen to the clip below to learn more about New Mover Marketing, why your business should invest in it, what sets it apart from every day marketing tactics, and more! Click play to listen to clip below. Atlanta, GA area businesses looking to team up with Our Town America of Atlanta can contact Chris Beer at 770-655-2116 or complete an online Contact Form. Small businesses in any U.S. market can reach out to Our Town America’s corporate team to get in touch with their local representative. Call by phone at 800-497-8360 or complete a Contact Form. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]