PRstore in Bonita gives businesses a boost

PHOTO MICHELLE START Debbie and Peter Irberseder look at stock photos that could be used on a brochure at the PRstore. Debbie Irberseder wasn't excited about developing a marketing plan for her husband's production company. She thought it would be a dreadful experience, but instead found herself laughing as she browsed various stock images at PRstore.

"I thought it was going to be stressful, but it is fun," she said.

Debbie and Peter Irberseder started Irberseder Production, a videography and DJ business in Cape Coral as a side project several years ago but made it their full time business 18 months ago.

After hearing several people recommend PRstore, Debbie and Peter Irberseder decided to give it a try.

"I don't want to work this hard for the rest of my life," said Peter Irberseder. "I want people to work with me and for me. This is really our second step. We wanted an image and we wanted it all to mesh."

PRstore owner Vince Modarelli is drawing up the skeleton of the marketing plan, designing a Web site and helping the couple with their logo.

PHOTO MICHELLE START Hats with various logos on display. The PRstore offers businesses a variety of services. "Vince came very highly recommended. We wanted a professional," said Debbie Irberseder. "We wanted someone who knew what he was doing and could do the whole gamut, help us with everything."

The couple also liked that PRstore promised tangible results within a week while other firms told them they'd have to wait up to 12 weeks.

PRstore offers an array of services that can be purchased individually or as a package, ranging in price from $600 to $12,000.

PRstore opened in July in Bonita Springs' Pelican Village Plaza and already Modarelli already has more than 30 clients. PRstore offers a 10-point strategy that ranges from logo design to media relations and developing

sales material. They produce everything from coffee cups and baseball caps to USB ports and calculators bearing a company's logo. The store, which is a national franchise, is aimed at assisting small businesses. The first PRstore opened in North Carolina in 2001.

"We are a full service public relations firm in a very non-traditional format," said Keven Mills, PRstore's marketing consultant. "Our store is designed to elicit ideas. Anything that you can put your logo on, we can supply it to you. We do branding ID to any and all forms you have as far as literature and newsletters. We can parlay that into marketing and Web design. It is a process. We're taking away the mystique of the traditional public relations firm and putting it into layman's terms."

Instead of a traditional office, PRstore is a cross between a retail store and a coffee shop. Red backless bar stools line the counter near the entrance and a large red coffee mug is just off to the right. Stacks of marketing material line the walls. Ball caps, coffee mugs and USB ports line shelves.

"We put small business owners at ease," said Mills.

Modarelli said that building his client base will also benefit all his clients. For example, Peter Irberseder has experience producing commercials and still does so on a freelance basis. Modarelli said that if another client needs a commercial, he would be able to recommend Irberseder's business because he knows it inside and out.

The Irberseders said they also liked that Modarelli did not pressure them to buy anything. In areas where the couple could accomplish a task on their own, Modarelli encouraged them to do so.

"We have a budget and he made it affordable for us," said Peter Irberseder. ¦