HomCo Lumber & Hardware Case Study

HomCo leadership team poses for a photo in the store

Homco Lumber and Hardware in Flagstaff, Arizona is one of our locally- owned and operated independent retail hardware clients who is committed to unparalleled customer service, culture-based team building and aggressive growth strategies utilizing a modern and comprehensive marketing mix.

Like many hardware retailers, HomCo wasn’t sure how to track the ROI for their marketing mix, which relied heavily on traditional tactics. As a data-driven marketing industry, we developed tracking metrics and introduced HomCo’s marketing to the digital landscape, where we could increase brand awareness and track revenue gains.

Summary

Measure Twice, Cut Once. It’s All About the Numbers!

Over the first year, we focused on SEO optimization, geo-specific, and seasonal content, and we brought HomCo into the conversation in the social media space – starting with Facebook. We saw huge gains in engagement and impressions over the first year, leveraging the brand’s exceptional reputation with content marketing. Please see year over year (YOY) analytics for our first year’s engagement with Homco below:

Graphic Showing Marketing Interactions On a Timeline

+36%

Google Search Impressions

+89.6%

NEW WEbsite users

+157%

Google My Business Search Results

and 49% increase in directions

^298

Google Ranking CHange

+967%

Users sent from Facebook to Website

50,000+

Emails Sent

Details

Strengthening local brand awareness while driving in-store traffic and increasing retail revenue

Challenges

  • To vet and rate the efficacy of existing traditional marketing tactics/channels and make data-driven changes to HomCo’s marketing mix
  • Our goal was, and continues to be, to unify and amplify HomCo’s brand across high-opportunity all channels
  • To vet and rate the efficacy of existing traditional marketing tactics/channels and make data-driven changes
  • To create engaging and useful content
  • To continually track and learn from all marketing analytics
  • To increase in-store traffic, increase average transaction amount, and increase overall revenue.

Solution

We started our journey with HomCo by working closely with their team to develop a comprehensive marketing plan. Next, we conducted a full audit on the efficacy of marketing channels and the consistency of branding and messaging. Once we had a solid understanding of HomCo’s brand goals, team, resources, and marketing strategy, we developed creative and thoughtful content in order to launch our new marketing campaigns.

Testimonial

“Towards the end of 2018 we met with Rand and his team at Mountain Mojo to see how they can help us with our marketing needs. Our traditional marketing approach of newspaper display ads, flyers and radio didn’t show any spike in business. We needed to update our website, have more consistency in the social media arena, and then tie all of this together with our in-store signage.  Mountain Mojo did just that and more through 2019. Because they did so much more, we handed our entire marketing budget to them in 2020. The team at Mountain Mojo is professional, responsive, informative, and fun! They are an integral part of the team here at HomCo.”

Todd Callan
Chief Operating Officer, HomCo Lumber and Hardware

Website UI/UX & SEO

Reaching qualified prospective clients in organic search results and streamlining their website experience

Website UI/UX & SEO

When we started working with HomCo, their existing website provided a solid foundation for website and SEO enhancements but, like most hardware retailers, on-page content was lean. Through heatmapping and customer surveying, we also identified a number of opportunities within the UI/UX. In order to improve keyword ranking within our target geos and support the success of paid advertising, we identified a list of target/high-opportunity keywords and landing pages and implemented a strategy for the website that led to more traffic from search, higher on-page times, and a greater conversion rate for both our paid and organic marketing strategies.

In 2021, we worked alongside HomCo’s Point of Sale to develop an ecommerce website, with over 50k pages. The expanded website gives customers the opportunity to browse their inventory selection and shop online, from the comfort of their own homes! In launching the website, HomCo saw huge boosts in organic search ranking, traffic, conversions, and on-page stats for both organic and paid channels. Visitors from Google ads, for example, are staying on the website 108% longer, leading to a better user experience, more conversions, and an overall more efficient ad spend.

Example View of Mobile Paid Ad

PPC & SEM

With a focus on supplementing organic search traffic with paid traffic and to push monthly deal leads into new channels to reach new customers, we shifted our focus to a mix of Google search and display ads that targeted 3 identified target personas. These ads focused on highlighting HomCo’s top differentiators from hardware retail giants – local knowledge, community-oriented, friendly. Through these branding efforts, HomCo’s widely identified as the “Friendliest Place in Town” in Flagstaff. In trying to get keywords to rank for basic and/or loss leader type retail items ranking against and beating the hardware retail giants in town, highlighting the fact that our in-store experts can best explain these products we battled Amazon and with display ads that identified Homco as the ‘Friendliest Place in Town’, we were able to really push branding as well.

Social Media & Videography

Brand Consistency is Key

Videography

“People are watching more video online than ever before – in fact, the amount of online video they watch has almost doubled since 2018. As customers continue to engage with video more widely, we identified DIY-style videos as an opportunity to address popular customer questions, while showcasing HomCo’s expertise within the hardware retail industry. The high cost of video production is offset through intentional scheduling and preproduction planning. HomCo’s videos are used through all channels, to increase their brand’s reach, improve customer engagement, and to provide meaningful value to HomCo’s customers.

Social Media

HomCo’s social channels support our marketing campaigns and brand awareness goals. Through a variety of post types, ads, strategic scheduling, and timely content, HomCo’s visibility in social channels continue to grow. In 2021, our average engagement rate on Facebook was 107% higher than retail averages and we saw a 19.5% increase in page followers.

Mobile Phone with HomCo's Website Pulled Up On It

videography in Social Media

In an effort to provide brand consistency across all platforms and channels including their sales sheet which replaced their monthly mailer, monthly departmental focuses, branding the store with the ultimate goal of increasing brand awareness through social media. Increasing brand ambassadors and evangelists by sharing team content that asks those loyal customers to weigh in and vote on various fun employee contests and in store promotions and giveaways. In rolling out our ‘local experts’ campaign, we knew that we wanted to incorporate some videos to support the claim. We met with HomCo leadership team to identify specific departments that typically had the most questions from everyone, our millennial new home buyer to our tenured professors. Then we met with different department leads to sort through who might work best on camera, then we got to work scripting, shooting, and editing (including some hilarious outtakes) a series of videos that positioned the HomCo team as experts that were knowledgeable, trustworthy, and available (another key point discovered during our surveys and a key differentiator from our other brick and mortar competitors).

^430.6%

Increase in video views on Facebook & Instagram

^92%

Increase in video views on Youtube since 2020

Event Activation

Memories that will last a lifetime 

This needs to be called out, the HomCo leadership team is why these events work. Their planning, coordination, creativity, local networks, and full team buy-in make for extremely fun experiences at their events. Although we have found tremendous success in event promotions led by social media photography, videography, and design, the events were awesome before we even got there. Special events also called for branded in-store signage, event support with sponsorship and partnership outreach, and in-store filming of live events. Some of their events include the Annual HomShow, Ladies Night, and the Young Builders monthly event.

Social Media Promotion Graphic Example
Magazine Advertisment Example
Graphic Flyer with Advertisement

Graphic Design & Web Development

A Unified Brand Message Builds a Stronger Brand Image

HomCo Business Card Design
Example of In-store Floor Advertisement
Monthly Promotions and Ads Flyer
Home Improvement Show Creative
In-store Advertising Monthly Deals
Insert of Monthly Advertising Magazine

Let’s Talk Hardware Store Marketing!

Find out how Mountain Mojo Group can can help take your hardware store to the next level

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