Unlike deep-pocketed companies such as Nordstrom [NOBE] or Spiegel [SPGLA], which rely on national promotions and large catalogs to build their brands, Milwaukee-based Zita, a $5-million-plus fashion retailer, had to find cost-effective and personalized communications vehicle to reach customers.
One of its ongoing tools is a newsletter, which juxtaposes what's been atypical in the fashion industry: photos of real women (in Zita's boutique fashions) that run next to pictures of models in designer outfits.
And last year, its grassroots campaign included renovating one of its store and planning events around a re-launch of the refurbished store as well as capitalizing on its 70th anniversary. Zita's two stores in Milwaukee and its one in Naples, Fla., sell designer clothing, items for larger-sized women to petites, along with bridal salon services.
It's tough to guarantee ROI when your core audience, women 60 and older, is an aging customer base. But marcom boutique Blue House, Milwaukee, found a virtual PR fountain of youth when it helped Zita refocus its target customer to include women 35 and older by launching the newsletter. Blue House's other clients include Sprint PCS and American Family Insurance.
"We had had a 180-degree turnaround," says Karla Meyst, VP and CEO of Zita. "[Earlier management] tried to limit the sizes we sold and to sell merchandise like white-studded leather jackets."
Meyst's predecessor sought younger customers and didn't focus on the older women who had been Zita's first core audience. Meyst, however, has tried to balance courting women 35 and older by varying the kinds and lines of clothes the stores carry.
Today, Zita's promotion budget runs about 15 percent of its annual sales. The total cost of each newsletter issue, including printing and postage, is between $14,500 and $16,500.
The State of Statement
The newsletter, "Fashion Statement," is published three times a year and comes out of the company's annual PR budget, which runs under $100,000. Other monies are earmarked so Blue Horse can cultivate relationships with journalists at regional media outlets, such as Milwaukee Magazine and "Visitor's TV," a local program.
"The newsletter is a consistent anchor and it helps us cement relationships," says Blue Horse's Deborah Unger. That Unger uses the word us typifies how vital Blue Horse has become for Zita and how those in PR are increasingly seeing themselves as partners, as opposed to tactical account managers.
Fashion Statement's PR punch is its profiles of VIP customers like a VP at Northwestern Mutual Life who has been a customer for five years and employees like Mamie Allen, a receiving clerk at Zita.
And to provide consistent messaging, the newsletter is mailed when there is a lull in advertising or when Zita has an influx of new merchandise in the stores. Unger writes the newsletter after she meets with Zita buyers to find out what she can highlight in the issue.
During Zita's 70th anniversary year, the newsletter also helped round out an aggressive three-pronged campaign:
- To create long-term store traffic for the Sept. 8-14, 1997, launch of its newly expanded Peg Bradley/Zita store;
- Increase sales during September and October 1997; and
- Use its historical integrity to build on its future because its founder Peg Bradley, was a philanthropist and fashion votary in the Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton/Green Bay areas.
Key to the campaign was week-long festivities meant to strengthen customer familiarity with the Zita name. An in-store gala included afternoon performances by local arts groups, a fashion show with wives of the Green Bay Packers, a reception with the principal harpist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, a jazz event and a private tour of the Bradley Family Sculpture Gardens.
Results were:
- Sales during the week of the event broke all previous per-day sales records;
- Sales for September 1997 increased 81.4 percent over 1996 and sales for October were up 71.6 percent; and
- In spite of a Green Bay Packers home game scheduled for the same time, all 140 reservations for the Bradley Sculpture Gardens tour were filled within days of the mailing.
Turning them Into Converts
In the past half decade, Zita's customer base has grown from 2,800 to 5,000, with an average of about 100 new customers coming on board every month. Part of that growth has been attributed to the newsletter, which was launched three years ago. But part of Zita's growth has also come from its brand of hospitality: for example, each customer is offered a free beverage.
Zita uses customer information profiles as the building blocks for loyal business relationships. Within a month of becoming a customer, women receive a letter from Meyst and a $25 gift certificate. Mailed questionnaires are also used so Zita can benchmark and track customers' needs. Once a customer's name is in the database, she is sent a copy of the newsletter. Other names are collected from direct-marketing lists.
In addition to mailings, Zita also uses trunk shows at the regional stores (featuring specific designers' creations), ads in trade and regional publications and its $20,000-$30,000 sponsorship of a yearly fashion show to benefit the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to build customer relations. (Blue Horse, 414/291-8045; Zita, 414/276-6827)