Newton Franchise Sells Pr Products From A Storefront

The retail store comes with bright colors and large posters. The interior features red, modernistic stools to sit in while looking at the merchandise.

But the products aren't jewelry or makeup or furniture. In fact, they're not even tactile. That's because this store sells something not found at any other retail store - it sells marketing tools. Just walk in and pick up a tool, or more accurately, pick out a tool. That company has more than 70 from which to choose.

Welcome to the PRstore, a North Carolina-based company with more than 20 franchises in 16 states, including Massachusetts. Its Bay State franchise set up shop in October at 612 Washington St. (opposite the Whole Foods Market) with Needham native Paul Bennotti as the owner.

The veteran marketer has the first PRstore in the Northeast with a region that, in addition to Newton, includes Waltham, Wellesley, Dedham, Watertown, Belmont, Brookline, Lexington, Needham and Arlington. The Newton store held its grand opening last week.

The company gears its services to small and medium-size businesses looking for marketing services typically offered to large companies but who don't want to pay the hefty price tags the services can cost. In addition to affordability, the firm promotes its customer-friendly approach complete with walk-in service. Unlike many ad agencies, no retainers are required.

Labeling itself ''your marketing superstore,'' the company offers one-stop shopping with its products running the marketing gamut. They range from logo development, stationery, brochures, newsletters, Web sites, mailers and rack cards to press release services, fliers, trade shows, event planning, radio and TV commercials and a variety of advertising products. All are offered on a menu under its slogan ''Wha' Cha Need?'' Bennotti's connection to the PRstore began last spring after he saw a newspaper ad for company franchises in The Wall Street Journal while on a flight to Los Angeles. A marketing director for 20 years in New York, most recently at Interface Inc. and BASF Corp., he was intrigued by the concept. He clipped out the ad and called later.

''Basically, all the skills I had done in my career - brochures, print advertising, event planning, trade shows - was what this store offers,'' says Bennotti. ''I had always wanted to have my own business, my own store. I was at the point in my life to take a chance. I talked to them and investigated further. I had to make a really big decision - do I leave the security of a corporate life after 20 years, or try to do my own business?'' In making the latter choice, Bennotti was also drawn to the company's concept. ''It's never been done before,'' he says. ''If you tell people about it, at first they don't understand, but once you explain it they say there's a need for that. It fills a niche.'' The company was started in 2001 in Charlotte, N.C., by the husband-and-wife team of Kathy and Mike Butler. ''They had public relations and advertising backgrounds and after working for large agencies in those fields, they felt that smaller businesses were being locked out of that professional level of service. It was too expensive.'' So the PRstore was born. ''Everything we do is custom designed and custom written for the client so you get a professionally designed, professionally written piece for a small business at a greatly reduced rate compared to an ad agency,'' says Bennotti.

''We can do that because we have a centralized design center in North Carolina. We have graphic designers, Web designers, copywriters. What each PRstore does across the country is consult with the client. We show them the 70-plus different products we offer. We sell a product, put in the job order and the design center executes the work.'' The concept has appealed to enough marketing professionals that franchises are growing at a brisk pace. When Bennotti saw the ad earlier this year, the company was operating in only about six states. Expansion plans have 17 stores in the process of opening with the company hoping to have about 60 nationwide by the end of 2007. It expects to eventually open more than 350 stores in 50 states.

From the PRstore's menu, customers can pick and choose which product they want and how many they want. Bennotti serves as the salesman-consultant whose consulting services come free of charge. Consider his experience and expertise a bonus.

''When people come into the store, one of the things they ask me is what did I do before,'' says the Newton resident. ''It helps a lot that I understand marketing. I went to school for marketing in New York and I've been a marketing guy my whole career.

''What I tell the clients is in the world we live in you have to be constantly communicating with your customer. Even if your business is really strong, you have to keep marketing all the time ... to keep in front of your customer. It's a never-ending process and there are lots of different tools to use.'' In that regard, the PRstore continues adding new products. It can even create a jingle for a company.

For business owners who want to get their company's name into the marketplace, Bennotti advises establishing a strong corporate identity. ''It starts with your company name and your logo. That's the first tool,'' he says. ''Get yourself a good company name and make sure you buy the domain so you don't open your doors, spend two years building a business and discover you can't do a Web site because the domain name belongs to somebody else.

''Then get a good-looking logo. That's going to be the tool to set the tone for who you are. You'll be using that tool on your invoices, your stationery, print ads, on the Web site, for the life of the business.'' While a Web site is recommended, an expensive one isn't required, according to Bennotti. ''You don't need to put all your marketing dollars into a $50,000 Web site,'' he says. ''Do just an informational Web site - an electronic ad - supplement your marketing efforts with other things. A lot of people tend to think if they build an expensive Web site, that's all they have to do. Not true. You have to market the Web site and you have to do other marketing.'' The PRstore offers a four-page informational Web site design and launch for $995. A typical ad agency's fee for the same product ranges from $5,000 to $7,000, according to Bennotti. Price points for other products are also significantly lower.

With this affordability comes individual attention. ''We offer a one-on-one consulting service,'' says Bennotti. ''I work hand in hand with that client to look at the marketing landscape - what do you have, what have you done before, what has worked, what hasn't worked, what marketing tools should you employ on a consistent basis to round out your strategy.

''We then map out the tools they need. The job order goes in and each one has a creative brief I write up containing all the information I gathered from the client's conversations. If a product needs copywriting, we use a professional copywriter. A conference call is scheduled with the client. The copywriter interviews the client, captures all the information and writes the copy.

''Once the copy is written, it goes to the design function. Once again, my creative brief goes to the designer, who put the pieces of the puzzle together. It comes back and I sit down with the client and we review what we have. The client can make revisions. It then goes back for changes, returns for one last round of revisions, if needed. If not, we have the final product.'' Most design products take three to five days to complete. Copywriting requests can take a few more days.

While PRstore products are ideal for new companies, established firms can use them also, says Bennotti. ''I get calls from companies who have six salespeople in the work force, but they have no marketing tools, no brochures,'' he says. ''A brochure is not just a promotional piece. It's also a selling tool. When your salesperson leaves that client, you want to leave something that's professionally designed, professionally written on the desk of that client because it keeps selling for you. It keeps telling your story once the salesperson has left the office.'' He adds that companies with marketing departments can also use the PRstore. ''We're a good supplement,'' he says. ''We're like an outsource marketing department.'' Bennotti stresses that the PRstore does not use a cookie-cutter approach to marketing. ''We have basic products but we then customize each product for that client,'' he says. ''The copywriting is unique for that client.'' As a franchise owner, Bennotti pays a percentage of his revenues to the parent company. That figure wasn't revealed. He also contributes to a nationwide marketing fund to get company's name in the marketplace. Only seems appropriate.

''We're changing the buying habits of marketing products,'' says Bennotti. ''Who would ever think there would be a marketing store where you could walk in and buy a brochure?'' His goal is to increase business in Newton - six clients have signed on so far - and then open two satellites stores. He also hopes to add a full-time marketing consultant in January.

''There are a lot of businesses out there so there's a lot of opportunity,'' says Bennotti. ''Little by little people are hearing about the store and the concept. They are calling.'' Anyone for a billboard to go?

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