Seven Small Towns, Seven Local Sites

Charlie's Fast Lube runs seven quick-lube locations across Missouri and southern Illinois — small towns far enough apart that each one is its own market. A single site could not rank in seven places at once, and seven separate sites would have meant seven things to keep current.

PISTn runs Charlie's as an integrated site: a branded parent with a full local site for Jackson, Sparta, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Perryville, Anna and Dexter. Each town gets its own address, hours and offers; the brand, navigation and coupon system are shared.

The platform now holds 100,348 customer records for Charlie's and has issued 64,775 coupons — the largest customer base and coupon volume of any multi-location client on the integrated build.

• A branded parent site. One home for the Charlie's brand, its navigation and its coupon system.
• A full local site for every town. Jackson, Sparta, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Perryville, Anna and Dexter each get their own address, hours and offers.
• Shared where it should be. A brand-wide change is made once and every location has it.
• Local where it matters. Each town competes as its own market, because each one has a site that is about that town.

Small towns far apart are separate markets. Someone in Sikeston looking for an oil change wants the Sikeston shop, its hours and its offer, not a list of seven addresses. A single site cannot be about seven places at once, and seven separate sites would mean seven sets of hours, offers and logins to keep current. The integrated build splits the difference: one system, seven local sites.

Across the seven locations the platform holds 100,348 customer records, an average of more than 14,000 per location, and Charlie's has issued 64,775 coupons. Both are the largest of any multi-location client on the integrated build.

If your locations serve different towns, give each one a site that is about that town. Keep the brand, the design and the coupon system shared, so each new location does not mean another website to run.