Mariana Kosturos from A & R Edelman PR Agency alerted me to 7Mainstreet, a business to business social networking site that allows businesses and organizations of all sizes, from a basement start-up to a global organization, to connect with current and future customers and business partners for free. One of 7Mainstreet’s customers, Bernie Robbins Jewelers has successfully networked on 7Mainstreet to increase sales:
Bernie Robbins, a local Philadelphia jewelry business, had never engaged in on-line social media before joining 7Mainstreet in September. Bernie Robbins feels that it is important to be one of the first on 7Mainstreet. 7Mainstreet as a company is working with small businesses that are the first to sign up, like Bernie Robbins, to create tools that cater to their needs. In the past, Bernie Robbins limited marketing and advertising efforts to TV, newspapers and radio, but has found that traditional vehicles do not go far enough. Bernie Robbins CEO Harvey Rovinsky was drawn to the logic of what 7Mainstreet offers - the business connectivity. He feels that the way 7Mainstreet is building its network lends credibility to Bernie Robbins.
For Bernie Robbins (like most companies), the ultimate goal of marketing is sales. Bernie Robbins measures its marketing efforts by mapping when the company has a promotion to how much traffic they have in the stores and the increase in sales as compared to when there is no promotion.
Traditionally, they did not have as much visibility as on-line engagement allows. With on-line engagement, it has been much easier to see spikes in Web site traffic, click through to purchase and even track that to when people come into the store as a result of on-line marketing. With this new ROI dashboard, Bernie Robbins compares marketing vehicles and examines how they affect each other. For example, they can connect Internet conversation to in-person store traffic.
When asked how the Internet has changed his business, Harvey replies:
“Customers come into the stores a lot more informed. The Internet is the leading encyclopedia today. Our customers are often making a complicated and sophisticated purchase. The Internet not only gives them background on basic jewelry buying information, but it also allows them a greater opportunity for comparisons.
Our objectives are to use 7Mainstreet to increase customers, create a news sales channel and strengthen the current brand experience among our existing customers. We see 7Mainstreet as a way to impact new and existing customers with product and brand messages. That will even entail us encouraging our brand loyalist to find us online at 7Mainstreet.com. It stands to reason that new vehicles on-line will be competing on level ground with the older forms of marketing.”
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