Client Success: Increasing Phone Calls and In-Store Visits for a Southeastern Home Improvement Center

When the pandemic upended daily life with stay-at-home orders and other safety precautions in 2020, millions of Americans responded by taking up home improvement projects to keep themselves busy. Over that same period of time, DIY home improvement has also been a cost-effective option to help homeowners make do with what they have, rather than trying to upgrade in a seller-friendly market.

The rising popularity of DIY projects has been a boon for hardware and home improvement stores selling tools and supplies to those homeowners. But for local businesses, building awareness and capturing sales in the shadow of major retail brands can be difficult.

To beat out deep-pocketed organizations like Home Depot and Lowe’s, one local home improvement store in the southeastern U.S. reached out to Cox Media for help building a strategic campaign that would maximize its exposure and connect with new potential customers.

The Goal

The local home improvement store was interested in an awareness campaign that would drive two specific actions from prospects: inbound phone calls from local homeowners, and in-store foot traffic from customers seeking supplies.

The long-term goal of this awareness campaign was to establish the local business as one of the market leaders in its retail sector, keeping its brand top-of-mind when local residents are in need of a home improvement retailer. The business believed that an ad campaign targeted to its local area could help the company compete with the attention and brand recognition enjoyed by larger home improvement centers with a national footprint.

The Solution

Based on the client’s advertising goals, Cox Media’s experts developed a two-pronged approach to building brand awareness. The first approach was an SEM campaign designed to drive inbound phone call referrals from search and display ads. The second campaign used a geofenced display ad strategy that delivered display ads based on proximity to the client’s store.

These campaigns were launched alongside an existing linear campaign already developed by Cox Media, building out the advertising channels where local residents would be exposed to the client’s brand. These diversified channels and points of interaction offered the multiple touches needed to reinforce brand recognition and keep the home improvement store top-of-mind for relevant consumers.

The Results

After running the new awareness campaign for half of a month, the local home improvement store achieved the following results:

• 110 inbound calls in a little more than two weeks of advertising;
• 623 click-thru referrals to the company’s website;
• Seven walk-in visitors who had been referred by a delivered ad—an impressive number considering that local stay-at-home orders were in place at the time of the campaign;
• A total of 59 ad clicks through display ads targeted to specific keywords.

Although the client had an existing advertising relationship with Cox Media, the strong results of this campaign convinced the client to move to Cox as its primary advertising partner. This expanded relationship then made it possible for Cox Media’s experts to coordinate campaigns and spending for optimized ad performance in the future.

Ready to find out how a digital advertising strategy can help your local business compete with the retail giants? Contact us today to learn more.