Furniture Chain Taps into the Power of Digital Marketing with the mobileStorm 4.0 Platform

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –  Broad River Furniture of Charlotte, N.C. and upstate South Carolina today announced that it had generated $138,460 from a recent four-day “Secret Sale” advertised solely through SMS and email campaigns. The promotion was the latest in a string of campaigns by the independently-owned eight-store chain.

“Using email and SMS as digital marketing channels has really impressed us out of the gate and shown us a clear path to offset declining response rates and poor ROI in some of our other forms of advertising,” said Charlie Malouf, co-owner and COO of Broad River Furniture of Charlotte, N.C. and upstate South Carolina. “The success of the Secret Sales proves just how effective digital marketing can be and we plan to continue to expand such programs in the future.”

To quickly build its database, Broad River Furniture ran contests such as a free gas giveaway and a $500 weekly shopping spree. Both encouraged users to opt into their email and SMS database for future offers. The furniture retailer then promoted a four-day Secret Sale, which ran July 10-14, 2008. Officials at the chain used contact information collected via prior marketing campaigns, sending digital coupons via SMS and email to customers who wanted to receive special offer messages.

Broad River Furniture sent 34,743 messages in all – 6,000 texts and 28,743 emails – on the morning of the first day of the sale. The chain generated revenue of $138,460 in four days.

Jared Reitzin, CEO of mobileStorm, Inc., stressed that digital marketing campaigns that include a solid tie across different message types – SMS, email and RSS – perform even more strongly than single-medium campaigns. “We see great marketers achieve returns like this simply by understanding what their audience wants to receive – and using the correct message type. While traditional advertising is declining, promotions which include contests and coupons are rapidly increasing. The key is offering incentives in exchange for subscriber data and preferences, then
applying messaging to demographics and individual preferences. Digital marketing offers full end-to-end tracking so ROI can be easily gauged.”

Indeed, for every dollar spent, the furniture chain generated approximately $122 with mobileStorm SMS and about $76 with mobileStorm Email.

“With two simple SMS campaigns, we’ve generated over $100,000 in new business. Our efforts with mobileStorm’s permission-based digital messaging platform will increase and continue over time,” Mr. Malouf said. “We’ll not only use email and text messaging as a means to drive business, but in the future, we’ll also use these forms of new media as a way to effectively communicate directly with our customers.”