Integrated Franchise Marketing & Development

Integrating technology with traditional strategies for effective franchise marketing and lead generation… a practical plan for future franchise growth, and in some cases, future survival.

The days of promoting franchise concepts and brands primarily through static, expensive, two-dimensional advertising are rapidly becoming things of the past. Sure, franchising has experienced a great run and will most likely remain the backbone of small business. However, as we continue to recover from a period of economic uncertainty franchisors must continue to explore and utilize more effective methods and processes in marketing franchise opportunities, products and services as franchise growth objectives continue to be on the forefront of franchisors’ minds in the United States and abroad.

Franchise marketing and development efforts, for both today and tomorrow, must be technologically advanced to attract a more sophisticated, educated (and cautious) franchise candidate and consumer than the franchise industry has ever seen before. A trend that is evolving as an increasing number of transitioning, highly-skilled and educated business professionals and corporate executives explore franchising as a career alternative while already successful street-smart entrepreneurs investigate franchising, perhaps for the first time, as part of their diversification and expansion strategies. As well, value-conscious consumers are spending more and more time researching information online before making a purchase, and not only for the best value. Customer reviews, consumer reports, community involvement and professional affiliation are also being considered.

In addition, today’s franchise marketing and development efforts must be an integration of new technology and traditional strategies, creating what I refer to as Integrated Franchise Marketing (IFM). It’s a comprehensive approach to achieving multiple goals and objectives within startup, emerging and mature franchise organizations. IFM directs its focus on creating or improving brand awareness for the franchise organization at local, regional and national levels, driving revenue for franchisees, and generating genuine interest in the franchise concept itself.

The fact is, candidates and consumers alike, are embracing Social Media and complementing technologies in Mobile Marketing, as a way of researching information and exploring opportunities…including today and tomorrow’s franchise brands, products and services. From this diligent research they will make buying decisions, and will network with others and share the information they’ve accumulated along with their experience with the company they’ve chosen to invest in or do business with. Basically, with an organization they’ve grown to trust!

This article was previously posted on this site October 2011.

The Focus on Franchise Marketing is Local, Local, Local!

Local appears to be the common denominator in all discussions about marketing in franchise circles. From mobile marketing to social media to software solutions, the discussion always seems to comes back to “local.”. We have even seen Google’s continued shift to complete emphasis on local which has created what appears to be a whole new segment of marketing, local marketing, complete with its own strategies, methodology and tools.

The following is a guest post by Chris Anderson, Co-founder at Empowerkit. Chris enjoys sharing his perspective, insight, and experience whenever and wherever he can as is apparent by his active participation in various franchise LinkedIn groups.

5 Local Online Marketing Support Mistakes Franchisors Should Avoid

Bringing in new franchisees is how franchise systems grow and maintain financial stability, especially early on, and it’s what most franchisors lose sleep over more than anything. But to maintain steady growth, corporate support to existing franchisees plays an essential role – from marketing and advertising, to operations and ongoing training.

All too often, though, franchise support takes a backseat to sales, leaving franchisees feeling alienated from the franchisor and disenfranchised (pardon the pun).

One thing in particular which franchisees are desperately seeking guidance on is online marketing. More specifically, how they can make sure they’re staying competitive online, attracting as many local customers as possible, and generating leads to grow their sales.

Here are 5 common blunders to avoid in franchise local online marketing support:

1. Static Local Websites

Many franchisors, early in the growth process, publish basic landing pages for franchise locations with very little unique local content, and no easy way for the franchisee to make updates. This results in poor search rankings, pathetic conversion rates, and upset franchisees that often go rogue and create their own sites.

What should you do?

Provide a system like Empowerkit, where franchisees can easily make updates to their own websites, within the brand and content controls you set and can oversee at corporate.  Make sure the system is flexible and can adapt with your changing needs over time.

2. No Business Listings

Franchisees generally don’t know the first thing about submitting and maintaining their business listings on Google Places, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other sites. So, if you don’t give them instructions and best practices, or provide an automated solution, then guess what…there are no business listings for your locations! Complete, comprehensive business listings are a key traffic driver and lead generation source, so don’t make this mistake.

What should you do?

First off, lead by example. Make sure your corporate listing is complete and consistently listed in all of the main search engines and directories. Next, decide whether to engage a specialized vendor, utilize an automated service, and/or provide documentation and best practices.

3. Ignoring Social Media

Whether you love it or hate it, social media is here to stay, and franchisees in almost every industry are trying to figure it out. Franchisors who ignore social media are finding themselves chasing down compliance issues, and seeing dozens of disparate profiles and pages that are poorly managed. Translation – a nightmare for your branding. Worse, they’re missing a great opportunity to gain a competitive edge. Don’t let this be you!

What should you do?

Don’t fight social media, embrace it. It’s the only communication channel that let’s a business directly interact with customers and other stakeholders, which is valuable any type of business. Develop a strategy with defined goals at the local level, layout any necessary policy guidelines, and train franchisees on best practices. Consider working with an outside consultant initially, and remain flexible to adapt your strategy based on results and changing trends.

4. No Attention to Lead Generation Optimization
It’s easy to get lost in what to focus on when it comes to local online marketing, and lose sight of the performance metric that matters the most – lead generation (particularly for service-based franchises). Generating leads is a science, which can always be optimized to bring in more, better qualified prospective customers. In most cases, though, franchisees have little more than a Contact Us page or their phone number and email on their website, and research shows this will produce the lowest possible lead generation results.

What should you do?

Have at least two compelling calls-to-action with connected lead captures on each page of your local websites. One for prospects that are just browsing (i.e. “Free Download: Top Tips for X,  Y, Z”) and the other for those who are “sales ready” (i.e. “Schedule a Free Consultation”). Have analytics events set up that track conversion rates, so that you can test and optimize the different lead generation variables over time to continually increase conversions.

5. No Content Marketing Strategy

What’s becoming key to all online marketing efforts is a sound content strategy. That is, understanding what types of content can be created at corporate and the local level to offer customers relevant, valuable answers to their questions, and solutions to their problems, which should directly relate to the franchise’s products and services. Value driven content is what should fuel the ongoing local website updates (and lead capture CTA’s), social media profiles, online ads, and it’s what has the greatest impact on SEO.

What should you do?

Think long and hard about your brand’s culture, story, strengths, and competitive advantages. Then brainstorm your target customers top questions and frustrations as they relate to solutions that your products and services offer. Come up with ideas for content that can address these questions in a compelling way, and that will help amplify your brand online. It may be through blog posts, videos, photos, webinars, or other content, but the point is that you put a strategy in place and start implementing it through your local online marketing efforts.

These are just five common mistakes that franchisors make. Please share other pitfalls to avoid, and let us know if you have any questions!

One-size-fits-all Social Media Solutions… A false prophecy!

As could be expected, many within franchising entered the year determined to make things happen. As also could be expected, many turned to social media, believing it could be the answer to improving sales at the unit level, increasing interest in their franchise opportunity, and considered social media a low or no-cost alternative to what they’ve done in years past.

Unfortunately, many have failed in their social media efforts. The reasons? Well, many did not understand the ins and outs of social media marketing. Some didn’t even understand the basics of the most fundamental social media; Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. And others failed because they were just not 100% committed to the effort. But, are these the real reasons they failed?

Well, as you may have guessed, the answer is, “No!” Ultimately, failure in social media is a direct result of failing to plan. Referring to the old adage, “Failing to plan, is planning to fail” causes me to shake my head in bewilderment at the statements posted in many of the online discussion groups recommending what clearly points to one-size-fits-all social media solutions. How much planning goes into a one-size-fits-all solution? How much commitment actually goes into a one-size-fits-all solution from both the consultant making the recommendation and the client that signs on? How much does a one-size-fits-all solution address outside the realm of the basic social media platforms? I don’t believe it’s ironic or a coincidence that the same questions I pose here are similar to the reasons many fail in their attempt to utilize social media.

Success in social media takes hard work. It takes a well-defined strategy based upon a clear, concise understanding of objectives and desired results. It takes a firm commitment of dedicated resources in both time and money. It takes knowing who the target audience is, where they congregate and communicate online, what messages need to be delivered to create interest, and seperately, to create a call for action. It takes full comprehension of a contingency plan based upon what if…? In essence, it takes planning!

Brian Solis, author the best-selling book on social media, Engage!, and Fast Company expert blogger, recently wrote an article on this very subject, In Social Media, Failing to Plan, is Planning to Fail. He wrote, “I’ve received a series of inbound requests for comments based on a report from Gartner, an IT analyst firm, that estimates as many as 70-percent of social media campaigns will fail in 2011. There are a series of discussions hitting the blogosphere and the Twitterverse exploring this very topic, some elementary and others on the right path. I contacted Gartner earlier this week and the problem is, that this data isn’t new at all. In fact, these discussions are fueled by information originally published in 2008 and in early 2010. Yet another example of the importance of fact-checking in the era of real-time reporting, yes, but, when I paused for a moment, I appreciated the timelessness of this discussion.

Are many of the social media programs in play yielding tangible results?

No …

Are they designed to impact the bottom line or are they tied to meaningful business outcomes?

No …

The truth is that you can’t fail in anything if success is never defined.”

To franchisors, I suggest, before choosing what appears to be a one-size-fits-all social media solution, take the time and expend the effort to develop a social media strategy that not only reflects your current status, but one that can evolve as your system grows. And, be sure to involve your franchisees as it is essential that local objectives to drive sales are integrated in the overall plan that may also include franchise development objectives. Keep in mind, many plans will include multiple objectives that may require that different social media be utilized for optimum results. And don’t forget to integrate your social media plan with your overall marketing and development plans!

Solis concludes his article, “Success is not a prescription. There isn’t one way to excel. That’s the point. Success requires definition based on intentions, goals, and mutual value … across the organization from the top down, bottom up, inside out and outside in. Success is defined departmentally and also at the brand level. There’s much to do …”

Read the complete article HERE.

* This post was originally published on this site July 2011

Franchise Social Media – A hot topic at West Coast Franchise Expo

Franchise professionals will again be flocking to Los Angeles for the West Coast Franchise Expo. The popular annual event, sponsored by the International Franchise Association, will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from Friday, November 4th through Sunday, November 6th.

Although the event is primarily for individuals interested in exploring franchise opportunities, WCFE also provides an opportunity for franchise professionals to network and share information with other franchise pros. And, as social media continues to be a popular topic of discussion, many will be exploring ways to effectively use and integrate social media in their franchise organizations. That’s where I come in as during the expo I will be presenting three times within the seminars and in-depth symposia, all about Franchise Social Media.

On Friday, November 4th, I will be presenting at 1PM in Room 507. This FREE seminar, Integrating Social Media for Franchise Lead Generation: An Effective Approach, is being promoted as…

Today’s franchise sales and development efforts should be an integration of new technology and traditional strategies. Integration creates the foundation of a comprehensive approach to achieving multiple goals and objectives within start up, emerging and mature franchise organizations. While focusing on creating or improving brand awareness for the franchise organization at local, regional and national levels, the cross-platform, multi-tiered principles of integrating social media with traditional lead generation strategies results in generating genuine interest in the franchise concept itself. Enhancing and complementing traditional strategies in this manner has proven effective. 

Then, on Saturday, November 5th from 10AM to 1PM, I have been asked to present at Symposium 4, Web 2.0: Social Networking + Data in Franchising. This event is FEE-BASED and is sponsored by Plave Koch LLC. Attendees are eligible for CFE credits. The symposium is being promoted as…

This session will delve into how franchisors and franchisees can protect their brand while making the best use of social networking sites. Among other things, this session will explore some of the do’s and don’ts of setting up social networking sites for an entire system, addressing rogue franchisees and licensees who set up their own sites, and establish a system-wide strategy and policy for social networking and social media. This session will also explore data collection, use, and protection in franchise companies. Finally, this session will address using online tools to manage and enhance your company’s online franchise development efforts.

On Sunday, November 6th, in the last seminar of the event, I will be presenting at 2:30PM in Room 512. This FREE seminar, Franchise Lead Conversion: A Smooth Transition from Online to In-person, is being promoted as…

Franchise marketing for today and tomorrow must be technologically advanced to attract a more sophisticated, educated (and cautious) franchise candidate than the franchise industry has ever seen before. An evolving trend highlights the increasing number of transitioning, highly-skilled and educated business professionals and corporate executives exploring franchising as a career alternative while already successful street-smart entrepreneurs investigate franchising, perhaps for the first time, as part of their diversification and expansion strategies. It’s the transition from the virtual world of social media and digital marketing to: email, phone calls and in-person visits that need to be seamless. Franchise candidates should not perceive any variation in messaging when transitioning to one-on-one interaction within the franchise sales process. Key takeaway: people buy from people, and technology does not sell franchises. 

Although my presentations will cover Franchise Social Media from basics and beyond, including specific focus on franchise lead generation AND conversion, it doesn’t stop there. Throughout the event I will be on the expo floor and will be available to discuss how to effectively use social media within a franchise organization, at all levels, and for multiple benefits. If you’d like, we could also discuss my new program, Personal Branding for Franchisees or even upcoming FranSummit events. Just stop me and let’s talk. Or, if you’d like to schedule a one-on-one meeting, please call or text me at (832) 797-9851, or send me a tweet. My Twitter profile is @PaulSegreto.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Los Angeles!

Franchise Social Media Summit 2011 Earns Collective Praise from Franchising Community

Franchise Social Media Summit 2011 made history by being the first-ever social media seminar, exclusive to franchising, to be held entirely online. Today, its organizers continue to receive accolades from the broad audience, residing throughout five continents, who attended the Sept. 21 event.

“Our attendance included c-level executives of franchise companies, independent franchise consultants, franchise attorneys, marketing and development executives and master franchisees,” said Paul Segreto, co-organizer of Franchise Social Media Summit. “All responses have been extremely positive and participants were impressed with the breadth and detail of information.”

Lasting nine hours, the full day agenda of Franchise Social Media Summit 2011 was divided into a consumer marketing and franchises sales track with the option of registering for either track or the full day. As an approved course by the IFA’s Institute for Certified Franchise Executives program, enrolled attendees received 75 CFE credit hours for attending one track and 150 hours for the full day. All participants received a recording of their purchased track and everyone was invited to watch the keynote presentation delivered by Lon Safko, the highly acclaimed author of best selling “Social Media Bible.”

Presentations at the summit were delivered by a comprehensive list of experts throughout franchising. In attendance was BJ Emerson of Tasti D-Lite, David Murray of re:group, Debra Vilchis of Fishman Public Relations, Lee Plave of @Plave-Koch, Nick Powills of No Limit Media Consulting, Jack Monson of Engage121, Joe Caruso of franchisEssentials, and Jon Carlston of Process Peak.

“The summit was a pioneering venture for everyone involved. In fact, Go To Webinar informed us that this was the first nine hour webinar hosted through their service. We’re elated to have delivered audio and visual quality that matched the excellence of our incredible speakers whose presentations were invaluable to the success of the event,” Segreto said.

Taking into account the positive feedback, participation from around the world and expressed interest of presenters to be a part of future events, Paul Segreto and his co-organizer, Jeremy LaDuque, are confident in developing future seminars focusing on social media and online marketing exclusively for the franchise industry.

“Franchise Social Media Summit, as big as it was, is just a teaser for what’s to come. As franchise professionals continue to demand information and training, we know that we have a system in place to deliver and we’ll be announcing new events in the near future,” Segreto said. “We are sincerely grateful to all of the brilliant minds that planned, organized and promoted Franchise Social Media Summit and extend a special thanks to all presenters who shared their invaluable expertise and knowledge to make this event a success for all of franchising.”

Information about future events will be available soon on http://www.FranSummit.com. Be sure to follow FranSummit on Twitter and Facebook, too!