It’s hard to say no to your owners. If they think they need a new brochure, email campaign, social approach – whatever – if you don’t answer their need, they will go off and do it themselves. Often the results make a mess of your efforts to build a cohesive brand, they usually look unprofessional and are likely not very effective. It’s amazing how many times a franchisor has started a project with us by sharing what several franchisees have attempted to execute on their own, saying “A number of our locations have this growing opportunity, looks like we need to create a campaign.” Then we find out that they have been striking out on their own for several years pursuing this new profit center or target audience before corporate really decided to take charge.
The point is, this is one of the easiest and most effective areas for corporate to provide the support that can translate quickly to the bottom line. Yet this valuable marketing role tends to fall off our radar in the heat of everyday sales and operations:
- Devote some time every month to identifying new profit centers, new target audiences, new ways to package or pitch products or services.
- Facilitate and take credit for bringing your networks’ best ideas / best practices to the forefront.
- Get enough input and feedback so you know you are creating marketing tools that will work in the real world – so the franchisee is not inclined to try to re-invent the wheel.
- Shamelessly share success stories to reinforce the value of these tools and to encourage slow adopters.
- When it’s time to renew, remind them of each new initiative you have championed!
