About the Customer

Ted’s Rental and Sales is 4th generation family-run equipment rental store serving Durango, Colorado, and the surrounding area. Founded in 1971, with little more than a lawnmower, rototiller, weed eater, and some hand tools, Ted’s Rental has since grown to become Durango’s oldest and largest equipment rental store. Ted’s Rental is now in its 4th location with a showroom that is more than 6000 square feet, more than six times the size of its original site. Since first opening their doors more than 50 years ago, Ted’s Rental has added more than 1,000 items to its product offering.

Business Challenges

Ted’s Rental now occupies its most prominent location since it first opened. This move presented an excellent opportunity to expand its product base to serve its customers better. However, the location change also made it difficult for some customers to find them.

“We are currently in our fourth location in more than 50 years. But with the moves, we have seen a drop in floor traffic over the past few years with some of our customer base not knowing where we went and where we are,” said TJ Hermesman, Ted’s Rental General Manager.

Part of the unique charm of Ted’s Rental is the feeling of stepping back in time to a family-run business where knowing their customers and treating them with superior customer service is the rule, not the exception. The desire to keep things running as they always have left the team at Ted’s Rental knowing they needed modern digital marketing solutions to reach customers.

“We were an older family business trying to break into the 21st century,” Hermesman said. “With all that is part of updating our store, the digital world has been the most untouched for us.”

Unfortunately, it’s not an uncommon story for independent retail stores. Many deal with the fact that local customers sometimes miss that a great independent store exists in their community to provide them with the solutions they need.

Solution

After consulting with Ted’s Rental, it became clear that they needed a modern digital marketing approach that would draw more customers to the store while enhancing their online presence. Hermesman and his people worked closely with the New Media Retailer (NMR) team to implement email marketing and social media tools.

“It was important to get in front of customers especially using new marketing tools and techniques that may not have been available when the store first opened.,” Hermesman said.

Outcome

After launching this new online digital strategy, it didn’t take long to see its impact on the business. Hermesman and his team saw a noticeable increase in foot traffic, calls to the store, and, most importantly, sales.

“It provided us a massive influx of new customers,” Hermesman said.

He credits the new digital approach with reaching new customers in a way they simply couldn’t before.

“Email marketing and social media have allowed us to connect with a different and new customer base that will allow our company to thrive for many years,” he said. “The results keep pouring in, and we are excited to see where we can go from here!”

Hermesman credits the NMR team for creating a comprehensive plan to reaching more local customers and increase sales at the store.

“In working with the New Media Retailer group, their expertise has enabled us to reach out to our local market with email marketing, social media, and so much more.”

Conclusion

Ted’s Rental is an equipment rental business that has created a brand that stands for quality and service for more than 50 years. To keep up with the modern business landscape, they partnered with New Media Retailer to launch a new email and social media campaign. This campaign brought customers back to the store and bolstered their online presence. This new approach immediately made a massive difference in the business. Ted’s Rental increased local store traffic, calls to the store, and overall sales. The new digital campaign brought a modern touch to a traditional, down-home business.