Pioneer Pizza keeps it local with new marketing strategy

Pioneer Pizza is building community this season by partnering with local businesses to keep their marketing dollars in the Valley with their “Keep It Local” project.

By engaging directly with their customers, owners Chad and Christiana Stigen are keeping their advertising dollars in their pockets while generating a positive impact on the local economy.

“I think everybody likes that sense of community, that feeling of community, that feeling that people are working together and caring,” Chad said. “It just creates a good experience for everybody. Everybody wins.”

Before this new strategy, Chad said their marketing budget was going towards services like Google AdWords and Facebook ads. He was concerned about how those dollars were going out of state and not generating the traffic they were looking for. Trying to compete with Doordash has also been an issue, as the service takes a large percentage of each sale. Chad said he had always thought it was necessary to stay with his marketing plan, but was always something that he was frustrated about.

The Stigens and their team received immense support from their customers after responding to a negative review they had received on Facebook. Positive reviews flowed in and the kitchen broke new sales records. Realizing how much support they received, the Stigens began brainstorming on how they could capitalize on their local customer base and continue to grow their business organically.

“We had literally the best week we’ve ever had since we opened it,” Chad said. “Everyday was a record that week. And it was the best week ever. I just started thinking a lot more about, how do I capitalize on this organic traffic and this sense of community we’re building?”

The Stigens came up with the idea to partner with other local businesses to push the sense of community even further. The goal was to provide their loyal customers with fun prizes as a thank you for ordering directly through them. For the first week of their new plan, Pioneer Pizza partnered with Cork’s Auto Inc for two free tire changeovers. Customers that purchased a pizza and signed up for their rewards program were entered into the giveaway.

The announcement of the partnership received more positive feedback on Facebook, Chad said. Doordash sales were down for that first week, which was a main goal, and in-house sales were up with more new customers than ever before. Their organic posts on Facebook performed better and reached more people than any paid advertisement they had ever made.

With their success from the first giveaway, other local businesses began to reach out to join in on the mission. For the second week of their “Keep It Local” project, Pioneer Pizza partnered with AK Lady Barber and Chase N Moments Photography for a haircut and photo shoot. Chad said they have several businesses they plan to partner with through the Christmas Season.

Being a part of the small business community in the Valley is important to Chad. He said it brings him joy to be able to partner with other businesses, especially those that are customers of Pioneer Pizza and the ones that he visits himself.

“It’s something that I didn’t realize I would be so passionate about,” Chad said. “I do find some joy out of being able to connect those dots and do something different for people and hopefully impact their business in a positive way.”

As the holiday season approaches, Chad encourages readers to spend their money locally and support the businesses that are owned or employed by others in their communities.

“Think a lot about it this holiday when you’re spending your money shopping, that when you do spend locally, with locally owned businesses, that money does stay more local and it does make a difference,” Chad said. “It allows them to hire more people and have a better product, better service and it makes a difference.”