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Over the last 5 years THE SUMMIT OF UPTOWN Retirement and Assisted Living Community has retained the services of Barton Marketing Group to assist with community relations. Throughout this time Summit has been undergoing a major multi-million dollar renovation, coupled with a name change.
Barton Marketing Group has been instrumental in:
- Assisting in maintaining goodwill in the local community for Summit in a particularly difficult construction phase
- Establishing an identity for the retirement communities new name
- Re-enforcing the messages that Summit is a family owned business and oriented to and involved in the grassroots community and its civic organizations
- Creating strategic communication messages and promotions to increase occupancy
- Establishing partnership opportunities with local organizations and events, such as Senior Centers, the Chamber of Commerce, local banks and retailers
- Creating and promoting events, especially the Park Ridge Historic Tours of which Summit is a sponsor and an official tour site. This year long event brought potential clients directly in to Summit.
- Writing press releases, feature stories, newsletters and monthly Senior Advisor articles and distributing and placing these in premium positions through BARTON’ssuccessful media relations
- Promoting educational seminars and special events held at Summit
- Advising Summit of media, promotion and community event opportunities
The staff at Barton Marketing Group are always responsive, engaging and professional, encouraging a friendly and trusting client/agency relationship. THE SUMMIT OF UPTOWN has greatly benefitted by this association with enhanced brand recognition, development of new business relationships and promotion to potential residents to increase occupancy. We highly recommend the services of this creative public relations firm.
Irene Sawka
Director of Marketing
September 1. 2009
To Whom It May Concern:
Please accept this letter as an enthusiastic acknowledgment for Barton Marketing Group from a clearly unabashed admirer. I have worked with Dick Barton and his associates for eight years and say that any firm that teams up with this outfit will be fortunate.
I was the elected Supervisor of Maine Township and I collaborated with Dick Barton on many projects from 1999 through 2008. Once elected I quickly found that my constituents were woefully unaware of the services we provided to our community.
Working with Dick Barton, we established a two pronged approach in public relations. We needed activities that would, a. Raise funds to support our township and, b. Elevate public awareness that would acknowledge our altruistic activities.
For example, one of our charges was to help the underprivileged. To this end we had a food pantry that helped hundreds of needy families each month. My predecessor spent over $20,000 annually to stock our shelves and after discussions, we planned to make this a community supported food pantry. To accomplish our goal we needed to change public perception.
We initiated a series of activities supported by sponsors, contributors and paid attendees. The first community garage sale in our area, a miniature golf outing and a Holiday “Chuck Wagon” food drive were just some our fun adventures. Community participation and individual food contributions in these programs allowed us to reduce our annual food purchase expense by 90%.
Another example would be our commitment to the senior population where recreational activities were the norm. The 4,000 member Senior Division was enhanced by our adding educational sessions. This included an award winning computer instruction class that has become the most requested program by our members. A Senior Expo, intergenerational mentoring programs with local schools and Senior Luncheon sponsors were additional concepts that we initiated.
The township produced a quarterly newsletter that was self funded. Dick Barton’s firm enhanced this media and acquired sponsors who advertised thereby saving us 60% in direct expenses. This allowed us to reduce costs by 30% and we applied the remaining savings to upgrade the quality of our newsletter.
There were many other departments that benefited through working with Barton Marketing Group. Our processes went from idea genesis to actual event realization where Dick Barton would serve as a participant then facilitator. His company quickly grasped our concepts and added greatly to the successes of our goals. They have the reputation of making things happen.
Our partnership with Barton Marketing Group produced results. Through the Press media, our newsletter and planned collaboration with many community groups we exceeded expectations and we saved money. We were award winning and Maine Township became renowned by its peers throughout Illinois.
I heartily endorse Richard Barton and his crew, knowing that whoever acquires their services will surely be successful.
Sincerely,
Bob Dudycz
Maine Township Supervisor
Retired
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