Business is booming at American Fireworks, thanks to catalog

For the last decade, the centerpiece of American Fireworks’ marketing program has been its 16-page annual catalog. This colorful printed piece contains details about its many products, coupons for fireworks discounts and information about its popular Pyro Points membership club. A map on the back page provides convenient directions to its stores.

Recently, the company discovered just how much its catalog means to its loyal customers.

According to owner Heather Siegel, American Fireworks’ annual catalog drives a lot of business to its stores in Big Bend and Genoa City, WI.

“People count on it,” she explains. “Many customers use it as a shopping list to remind them what they want to buy when they visit our stores. And, of course, they bring them to take advantage of our coupons. We frequently see customers strolling through the aisles of our stores, catalogs in hand.”

In 2021, American Fireworks didn’t produce or distribute the catalog. When it didn’t show up in customers’ mailboxes in mid-May, the beginning of the summer season, many of them were concerned.

“We received many phone calls from our customers and they wanted to know what happened to the catalog. That proved to us that it’s really important to them,” she recalls.

In 2022, Heather decided it was time to move the design, production, printing and mailing of the American Fireworks catalog to a new printer. Costs with her existing printer had been steadily rising and service wasn’t as good as she had hoped. The situation came to a head when the artist who designed the 2020 catalog refused to give her the digital files.

“I hated to start over from scratch, but I didn’t have a choice,” she recalls.

Because Heather has a personal relationship with one of Heritage Printing’s employees, she decided to move the catalog and mailing work to this firm. The catalog needed to be redesigned, but the process was easier than she expected.

“The artist was very good at taking my creative direction and translating that into an attractive design,” she remembers. “He was very responsive to my needs.”

American Fireworks was easing back into producing the catalog after a one-year hiatus, so Heather and the team at Heritage agreed on an eight-page layout. Heritage mailed the catalog to 23,000 existing customers in May 2022.

The experience was very positive. Heather says Heritage delivered excellent value for the price: “Even though costs for paper and ink were rising last year, the Heritage team did a good job of holding the line on production costs,” Heather emphasizes.

This year, she plans to expand the catalog to 12 pages. “We want a bit more room to tell our story,” she adds.

Would she recommend Heritage Printing to other business owners? “Yes. Definitely.”