PRstore ramps up revenue

BY HANNAH GUZIK
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER
When Ira and Linda Distenfield opened up PRstore on Upper State Street in December 2005 they hoped to have 20 clients by the marketing superstore’s two-year anniversary.
As the husband and wife business duo counted their more than 600 clients Thursday, they spoke with the Daily Sound about how making other businesses profitable has turned out to be a profitable business in itself.
“Our target client group is actually much greater than we thought,” Mr. Distenfield said. “Businesses in Santa Barbara, charities, churches and loads of non-profits are all coming to us and saying, ‘Can you help us ramp up our revenue?’”

The 15-year business and 20-year marriage partners say they’ve developed a unique marketing company because they offer a wide variety of services at an affordable price at their 3609 State St. store.
“This is one stop shopping designed to help small businesses,” Ms. Distenfield said, pointing to the array of coffee mugs, T-shirts, notepads and posters she’s helped to design for local companies.
“I think in Santa Barbara, what motivated Linda and I, is that we’ve seen too many business open and close here, too many great ideas come and go. And they don’t fail just because they provide a product or service that isn’t of value. It’s because they don’t know how to let the world know about it,” Mr. Distenfield said.
“I feel that the PRstore is somewhat similar to a Home Depot. It’s all under one roof,” he added.
Santa Barbara City College marketing professor Julie Ann Brown, said the PRstore discovered a niche in the business world.
“I think it’s a really wonderful concept for entrepreneurial companies that have a limited amount of marketing knowledge or a limited budget. It makes smaller, star-up companies feel they can compete visually in the marketplace,” said Ms. Brown, who asked Mrs. Distenfield to be on the SBCC marketing advisory board.
“With the proliferation of technology, now everyone can become a business owner but not everyone has the marketing expertise to get the word out. It’s better to go to a one stop shop,” said Ms. Brown, who also owns a Web business call archivalart.com. “If I didn’t have my own knowledge of marketing I would have gone to a store like the PRstore.”
But as business grow, so too should their advertising efforts, Ms. Brown added. “As companies become larger and as their needs grow, they need to go from a starter company, like the PRstore, to a more specialized marketing company.”
The PRstore’s success is not unique to Santa Barbara. The franchise, which the Distenfield’s are partners in, has 20 new stores opening in New York and five in Los Angeles in the coming months.
The Santa Barbara shop was the fifth to open in the nation, Mr. Distenfield said; there are now more than 30 PRstore’s across the U.S.
The Distenfield’s drew on the success of the legal documentation preparation service company, We The People, which they started locally in 1993. By the time they sold the company a few years ago, more than 150 stores had popped up across the nation, Mr. Distenfield said.
PRstore has done marketing for several local organizations and businesses, including the Santa Barbara Police Activities League, Star Power generators, Darin Jon hair studio and UCSB.
First Presbyterian Church, at 21 E. Constance Ave., has also been helped by the PRstore, said Rev. Peter Buehler.
“They were affordable for us,” he said, recalling the TV commercial that the Distenfield’s made for the church, where he invites locals to a “Sundaes on Saturday” open house event.
“I had previously visited with a couple of advertising agencies, but when they heard what our budget was, they laughed, and that was that.”
He said church attendance has increased due to the ads, and that – like the free ice cream sundaes has advertised – is “sweet.”