Consolidated starts ad program for its dealers

EDMONTON, Alberta - In its push to add up to 3,000 accounts this year, Consolidated Monitoring embarked on an advertising campaign for the first time in its history and looks to offer remote video monitoring services within the next few months. “Our growth has always been word-of-mouth, through respect in the industry,” said Gord Willey, general manager at the company. “We’re now focusing on expanding our boundaries.” Founded 13 years ago, Consolidated Monitoring’s business has grown from 1,200 accounts to more than 30,000 at present. The company employs 35 people and works with 150 dealers. “It’s time to move beyond Alberta,” said Willey, who estimated that 95 percent of the company’s business activities are in the province. In order to do this, Consolidated Monitoring plans to start advertising in print publications, targeting the northwestern United States. The focus will be to bring new dealers into the fold. Additionally, to strengthen its position within Alberta, the company started an advertising program to help its existing dealers build out their portfolios. The program enables dealers to advertise their business online and in the 411 directory at a discounted price to reach additional customers. By sharing the cost of marketing with the dealers, Willey will not mark up the cost of the service to the dealers or seek to make any money from the program. “We’re mainly focused on the little guys, those with a few hundred accounts,” he said. If a dealer would like to advertise in all three regions of Alberta, for example, he would expect to pay on his own about $245 a month to do so. By working with the company, the cost will be about one-tenth of that price. It’s not just business promotion that will help the company reach its goal, but also adding new services to help its dealers ink more deals. The company is now in discussion with Calgary-based CVM Smartguard, a software provider of automation and video surveillance applications, to add remote video monitoring. The company has been exploring the technology for more than a year, and expects to have it live within the next few months. The decision to add video services comes from local jurisdictions that either now require video verification or may in the future, Willey said.