Re-locators, pre-locators, small business owners and high-income households are the recipe for success for Conway area businesses. At least Jamie Gates, senior vice president of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, thinks so: “By identifying households that are seeking new business relationships or households with high incomes, we can help businesses increase their profits.”
The Conway Area Chamber does this through the publication and unique distribution strategy of the LEXICON, a resource guide for Conway residents new and old. The LEXICON will serve as the Chamber’s membership directory, quality of life publication and local reference guide. The guide will be a high-quality piece that features useful, locally written, information for new residents and advertisements from businesses within Conway’s trade area.
The guide will be mailed to every household of a qualifying income level relocating within Conway’s traditional trade area. It is mailed to new residents quarterly. Gates said that contacting recently relocated families as quickly as possible should be a priority for any business.
“Research tells us that relocating families’ spending may increase seven fold their first six months in a home. They will also establish dozens of permanent business relationships such as health care and finance professionals. It is a critical time to gain their attention.”
Gates said that an equally important, but difficult to find, demographic is the pre-locator.
“We call a pre-locator someone who contacts the Chamber before they ever come to Arkansas. It may be a move they make or their own, or we may be working with a local business to help with transition.”
Gates said that what makes these valuable households difficult to discover is that they haven’t officially made a move that would show up in any traditional marketing lists. “Pre-locators would be impossible for small businesses to identify on their own. These are names that we get by taking the phone calls at the Chamber or by partnering with local industry. We fulfill hundreds of requests each year from prospective residents.”
Finally, the LEXICON will be mailed regionally to high-income households, not only in Conway but in areas that rely on Conway for goods and services. More than 4,000 copies will be sent to the area’s highest income households, some 30 or more miles away. The guide will also be distributed in local hotels.
Any business is welcome to advertise in the LEXICON. To get information about how your business may benefit from advertising, contact Aaron Throneberry at the Chamber at 501-327-7788.