Tag Archives: franchising

Traditional Media and Content Marketing

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It probably comes as no surprise that the printed newspaper and magazine industries are shrinking. Less and less people are reading printed articles, and more and more are turning to online media for their news. It is interesting to learn in recent studies that the trust of your targeted audience may be diminishing as well. Recently in a Gawker.com article, an executive from Chipotle said that Millennials “are skeptical of brands that perpetuate themselves.”

There is a decreasing number of future customers who have no desire to see commercials or ads that they don’t believe are true. Traditional marketing strategies as a whole just don’t seem to be getting the job done anymore when it comes to younger generations. With social media, we are bombarded daily with a surplus of news, opinions, and advertisements. The key to successful public relations strategies now is understanding what to share and how to share it.

Which leads to content marketing.  Content marketing is created when a company develops its own content in the form of articles, blogs, or videos featuring the business. The content must be professional, honest, and not self-serving. Bloggers, specifically, are becoming increasingly credible and popular influencers and can help drive products while not appearing as self-promoting as other forms of advertising.

What is your business doing to reach you target audience? Leave comments below!

How Creative Initiatives Can Fuel Growth

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Through challenging economic times, franchisors have developed new ways to fuel growth and development in their business. When it comes to finding qualified, well-funded prospects for franchising, usually portals, franchise consultants, and advertising & networking all are strong factors in growing a franchise. Lead-generation sites, like Franchise Clique, play a huge role in connecting qualified clients to franchisors and consultants. Beyond these necessary tactics, franchisors are branching out further, and bringing creative ideas to development.

From the patterns I’ve observed, this is happening in several ways. Parent companies of franchising brands are now taking new approaches to their stores – in locations that offer opportunities for food-court style eating, such as hospitals, malls, and airports where normally one brand would be placed in a store, developers are bringing three or four of their brands to the same location. Both dual-brand storefronts and co-branded store partnerships are certainly on the rise in the franchising market. Providing two goods or services in one location offers customers more of a variety, and targets a wider range of customers altogether.

In addition to multi-brand locations, I continue to see a growth in social enterprise within the franchise industry. Non-profit organizations such as Affordable Homes of South Texas, Inc., Dale Rogers Training Center, and the National Christian Foundation are all teaming up with major franchises like Great Clips, Papa Murphy’s, and Blimpie, bringing franchisee profits straight to these organizations.

These partnerships are doing well because they solve fundamental issues that both franchisors and non-profits face. On one hand, franchisors benefit because they are launching a new location, which is owned and managed by a non-profit group that possesses strong and favorable community reputation, while on the other,  the non-profit benefits because it is buying into proven concepts and corporate office teams who are invested in their success. It truly is a win-win.

What are other ways you have seen franchisors creatively fuel growth? Leave your comments below!

Three Tips for Growth in a Sluggish Economy

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  1. LEADERSHIP IS PRICELESS.
    Any growing business needs a strong leader. This holds true especially when a business is struggling. Senior management should play on the strengths of other team members to reinvent old ways and pull from outside sources to evaluate what is and what is not working. As a leader, it’s important to be transparent and honest about the financial stability of the system, yet remain optimistic that positive changes can be made to face economic conditions head on.

2. ACT LOCALLY
National and global goals are certainly something to aspire to; however, market share is won at the local level. A successful and motivated franchisor helps franchisees get active with local businesses, schools, and charitable       organizations. Having a strong brand in a local market can build reputation and lead to potential growth opportunities.

3. LOYALTY IS EVERYTHING
Customer loyalty is crucial during tough financial times. Along with a high-quality product, it is just as necessary to give your customers an awesome experience, consistently. To provide loyalty incentives to your customers is a win, win. For example, this year, the Marco’s Pizza franchise received more than 27 percent of new restaurant applications from Marco’s Pizza customers. Additionally, 30 percent of applications came from referrals of existing owners who sought to share franchise opportunities with ambitious entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Franchising World Magazine‘s January issue for some of this week’s content! Check out more here!

Guest Blog: Top 3 Franchises of 2014

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Upside Group Consulting is this week’s featured blog post! Upside Group provides step-by-step coaching and consulting to franchisors seeking to increase franchise units sold by developing a solid branding platform. This week, as our guest bloggers, they talk about their top 3 franchise picks for 2014.

The Top 3 Franchises of 2014

From fitness to frozen yogurt, the franchise industry has always reflected the ever-popular trends that permeate the business world. And while some concepts seem to last longer than others, it should come as no surprise that it can be hard for many business owners to decipher which trend is lasting versus which is simply fleeting.

While unfortunately, there’s no foolproof plan, there is a way to test the franchise waters: by looking to this year’s most successful franchises businesses. Selected from the Entrepreneur 2014 Franchise 500, here is a list of three of the year’s top franchises – and just what exactly you can learn from them:

1. Anytime Fitness: Anytime Fitness combines access with affordability to appeal to both customers and employees alike. From New Year’s resolutions to a multitude of 24-hour locations, gyms like Anytime Fitness successfully capitalize on the growing trends of health and convenience.

2. Hampton Hotels: Coming in at number two, Hampton Hotels places an impressive emphasis on fostering a franchisee support system. With ongoing support offered through use of newsletters, meetings, and security procedures, in addition to a multitude of marketing support, Hampton Hotels works hard in every aspect of its business plan to promote franchisee success.

3. Subway: Since 1965, the successful sandwich shop has transformed itself into a powerhouse thanks to an emphasis on solid marketing. By taking advantage of a wide variety of different tactics – from spokespeople to healthy living initiatives – Subway combines the ease and convenience of a fast food establishment with the attractiveness of an on-the-go lifestyle.

Whether your franchise has been growing steadily for years or you’re just beginning to consider the idea of expanding, by looking to this year’s top franchise businesses, you can take away a series of important lessons that can help you find success – from management to marketing.

Learn more from 2014’s top three franchises by contacting an experienced franchise consultant at Upside Group today.

Setting New Year Resolutions For Your Business

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I read a great article last week on Forbes, here. It got me thinking… we often set personal goals for the new year (which is great – January is a good time to reflect on the year’s past and prepare and set goals for the year to come,) but not so often, perhaps, do we set goals for our businesses.

The author in the Forbes article, Drew, mentions great overarching goals like following a content marketing plan, utilizing apps that can make life easier, and showing customer appreciation. The ways you go about fulfilling your goals is obviously entirely up to you. I have found in my personal experience with New Year’s resolutions that it is easier to break goals down into more detailed “mini-goals”, so to speak.

For example, if your business goal is “to have a greater social media presence in 2014”, it may be easier to make your resolution something a bit more tangible – “We will post 200 Facebook statuses this year” or tweets, or Instagram pictures, or blog posts or… you get the point. Having a more specific goal, in this case a specific number you will reach, will probably help you better keep track of that progress and feel success at the end of this year when you reach your goal.

What are your business goals in 2014? Share them in the comments below!

Being Mobile-Friendly and Why It’s Important

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Mobile communication is now an imperative part of a business’s marketing strategy. People are using smart phones and other mobile devices now more than ever. They are using their mobile technology to find shops, restaurants, and services in their area, and it’s important that when they search, they find your business.

If your website is not mobile-friendly, it will most likely lose you business. Anyone searching your business from their smart phone wants to quickly and conveniently access your contact information, purchase your products, or both. If the customer can’t find information, or the layout of your site isn’t compatible with his or her technology, they may become frustrated and bring their business elsewhere.

Additionally, your emails and newsletters must also be mobile-friendly. If people are reading your communications on-the-go, they want to be able to read the email free of excessive scrolling, pinching, and squinting at their touch-screen device. An annoying-to-read email will quickly be sent to the trash bin, or worse, unsubscribed from.

By creating a shorter, more condensed version of your website for mobile-users, you keep current customers happy and new customers coming. You can find more information about making a mobile friendly site in Franchising World’s current online magazine, found here.

Hyperlocal Marketing: What is it and how can it help your business?

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There has been a lot of talk recently in the marketing world about a new concept: hyperlocal marketing technology. Hyperlocal marketing uses the GPS feature and a mobile app on your smartphone to send targeted messages from a nearby franchise. The marketing is hyperlocal because the messages are for a small, specific area. This specific area can be specified through setting virtual perimeters around a specific location, an action referred to as “geofenching”.

Geofencing technology allows businesses to track when customers enter a defined area nearby their location through the GPS software on a person’s smartphone.

This technology means big things for a franchise.

Say you’re a Papa Murphy’s franchise in the Charleston,SC area. You can set up specific perimeters around your location so that when someone enters your virtual “fence”, you can send that discounted pizza coupon directly to them via their mobile phone. As they are within say one mile of your business, they will receive an alert on their phone with the pizza coupon and, hopefully, stop in at your shop. The key here is that these are also customers who have opted-in to receive offers; therefore, you are reaching a market of people who are already interested in special deals and offers.

The rapid growth of smartphone technology has delivered an entirely new platform to marketers. Businesses are now reaching customers in ways never thought possible in the past. How can this be translated to your business?

What are your opinions on hyperlocal marketing? Do you think that this could lead to an overflow of information to customers, causing them to become disenchanted, or is it an effective marketing tool that has an ever-growing presence in our future?

Are You Using Environmentally Responsible Pest Control Services?

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Are You Using Environmentally Responsible Pest Control Services?

It is not breaking news that many of the products that are used for pest control in our homes are toxic to both humans and pets. Most people are willing to compromise the health of them and their family members for pest elimination when in actuality there are health conscious and eco-friendly ways to rid their home of unwanted creatures. LadyBug Eco-Friendly Pest Control does just that. The company has over 23 years of pest control experience and use products that are entirely National Organic Program (NOP) compliant.

The main product that LadyBug Eco-Friendly Pest Control uses is called Diatomaceous Earth which, once refined, resembles talcum powder. The powder is made from one-cell plant organisms extracted from the bottom of large bodies of fresh water. This natural ingredient kills pests like roaches, ants, crickets, spiders and scorpions without bringing harmful chemicals inside of your home.

Is there an environmentally responsible pest control service in your area?

Read on if you are interested in this eco-friendly franchise opportunity!

 

Lady Bug Eco-Friendly Pest Control  Franchise Specifics:

Benefits Of Unit Ownership With Lady Bug

  • Life-Style Opportunity (M-F 9 to 5)
  • LOW Unit Investment Of $30,000 Per Unit, 2nd ½ price
  • Fast ROI With HIGH Net Return
  • 1 Truck/Route With 300 Monthly Customers =$150,000
  • A Unit Can Have Multiple Truck Routes!
  • Pest Control Operation – Repeat Monthly Revenue
  • All Training At Corporate Office For Unit Owners

Benefits Of A Regional Developer

  • Multiple Revenue Streams
  • Revenue From Their Own Unit
  • Unit included In The RD price
  • Revenue from Selling Units & Collecting Franchise Fees
  • Developing Territories & Selling Customers to Units
  • Receiving Royalty Stream
  • All Training at Corporate Office For RD’s

Unit Investment

  • $30k Franchise Fee
  • Capital $40,000+
  • 70k Total Invest
  • 7-10% Royalty
  • 2% Advertising Fund

Unit Numbers

  • $150,000 Revenue Per Truck/Route (300 customers)
  • 1 Unit Can Have Multiple Trucks/Routes
  • Avg. Pest Control Service $45 rate
  • Up To 50% Net Profit

What is Social Franchising?

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The success of franchising comes from the transfer of knowledge and experience from one successful enterprise to another. With an established business concept, as well as support and training, a franchisee can quickly become successful thanks to the foundation upon which his or her business is built. While with most commercial franchises the goal is to maximize profits, social franchises use the principles of franchising for a social goal.

What is social franchising and how does it differ from commercial franchising?

Social franchises are driven by social goals, rather than profit. While the franchise does make profit, this profit is used to develop its social aims. Social aims can include food security, poverty alleviation, or environmental conservation. According to the European Social Franchising Network (ESFN), a social franchise should be a social enterprise, and  have the four following characteristics:

  1. An organization that replicates a social enterprise business model – the social franchisor.
  2. At least one independent social franchisee that has been replicated by the social franchisor.
  3. A common brand under which the social franchisees operate.
  4. An interchange of knowledge between members.

Social franchises can operate in various ways, but generally a social franchisee pays the social franchisor a fee for their support. Differing from other non-profit charities and foundations, where most of the funding comes from grants and personal donations, social franchises use the sales of their successful business model to create a better world.

For example, Community Renewable Energy (CoRE), a European social franchise, helps communities develop their own renewable energy systems to generate community income and address climate change. The franchise does so through working in partnership with a specific community, where the community is not charged for CoRE’s work, but rather as a stakeholder in the the renewable energy systems, where they take a share of the profits. This share is then used to help the next community. The social franchise essentially supports their members by providing “technical skills, shared services, and replicable models for developing renewable energy systems.”

Are you familiar with any social franchises in your area? Please feel free to comment below!

Maui Wowi Has International Appeal

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Maui Wowi Hawaiian, an international company specializing in premium Hawaiian coffees and nutritious fruit smoothies, has announced it was ranked in the July 2013 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine among the top 200 global franchises, an annual listing of North America’s top franchisors seeking international development.

“Maui Wowi has built a concept and brand that has incredible international appeal,” said Justin Livingston, director of global franchise development. “The tropical island theme and superior quality products resonate with people on a global scale and our acknowledgement on the top 200 global franchises list is further proof that our foundation is strong and future bright.”

The honor of appearing on the list is based on a company’s ranking on the 2013 Franchise 500 list, a compilation of franchises, which is developed through objective and quantifiable criteria, such as growth and financial strength. The companies are then attributed additional clout based on its international size and growth to determine which will make the cut for top 200 global franchises.

Maui Wowi Hawaiian has a presence in 6 countries outside of the United States and is actively seeking international partners to bring the Aloha Spirit to more people. For more than 30 years, Maui Wowi Hawaiian has continued to grow and become a leader in the industry. It’s simplistic approach has allowed a diverse franchise system to flourish through proven systems, support, and flexibility. The company is actively franchising both domestically and internationally. For more information please visit http://www.franchiseclique.com/franchise/Maui-Wowi-Hawaiian-Coffees-and-Smoothies.

About Maui Wowi Hawaiian Coffees & Smoothies:
Since 1982, Maui Wowi Hawaiian has embraced the Hawaiian culture and has been serving paradise in a cup since the day it began, 30 years ago. From event carts, mall kiosks and stand-alone retail locations Maui Wowi Hawaiian offers premium, all-natural, gluten-free, fresh-fruit smoothies, as well as gourmet Hawaiian coffees and espresso beverages. With over 400 operating units in eight countries, Maui Wowi Hawaiian has truly gone “Global” by adding an online store, shop.mauiwowi.com. Now customers from anywhere in the world can experience the prized-gourmet Hawaiian coffees and taste the ‘Aloha Spirit’ with a ‘Click-of-a button!’ To learn more information about Maui Wowi Hawaiian’s, products, locations, or flexible, low cost franchising opportunities, visit http://www.franchiseclique.com/franchise/Maui-Wowi-Hawaiian-Coffees-and-Smoothies.

Mobility: A Time-Tested Specialty and an Alternative Entrance into the Senior Market

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Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, and sweeping its way across America, 101 Mobility is one of the nation’s largest providers of mobility solutions and one of the most exciting alternative opportunities for entrepreneurs seeking out their niche in the senior boom.

101 Mobility sells, installs, rents, and services a complete line of home health, mobility, and accessibility products for the elderly and disabled. From stair, porch, pool, and auto lifts, to ramps, bridges and walkways to power scooters, safety baths, and more, they service residential and commercial clients alike and are the top dealer of many of their products’ manufacturers.

In an industry historically predominated by “mom and pop” shops and anonymous online firms, seniors and their caretakers often don’t know who to trust for professional and reliable mobility products and aren’t aware of the broad variety of mobility solutions available. As one of the first nationally franchised organizations of its kind, 101 Mobility has been leading this specialty into the 21st century.

101 Mobility’s is a scalable business model designed to grow with your operation, and can be launched in 90 days or less. Their franchisees receive comprehensive training, protected territories, established relationships with equipment vendors and core national accounts, marketing assistance, and their unparalleled, all-inclusive “Mobilink” business operating system.

101 Mobility is on the move and is seeking motivated entrepreneurs who can help them reach their national goals. If you have strong sales and marketing skills and are shopping for solid alternative options in the senior market, consider the time-tested specialty of “mobility” and contact their franchise development team today.

To learn more about this up-and-coming franchise opportunity, please visit: http://www.franchiseclique.com/franchise/101-Mobility.

A Healthy Choice: Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen

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There are plenty of lunch and dinner choices to make when you’re looking for Chinese food, Japanese dishes and other Asian food specialties. As a franchise operator, wouldn’t it be convenient if your customers could find all of their favorite Asian dishes and other exciting new specialties under one roof?

Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen has put together a delicious variety of flavorful and healthy meal choices from popular Asian regions all in one menu. Expect favorites from Thailand, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and many more. Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen’s lunch and dinner selections are made to order with fresh ingredients and unique sauces made exclusively for the Wok Box in their test kitchen.

The Wok Box pioneered the concept of freshly made pan-Asian food in Canada and packaged it in a quick serve restaurant model that fits into 1,200 to 1,500 square feet. Their growth has attracted abundant interest from would-be franchisees across Canada, resulting in more than 70 stores opening in three years.

Their diverse menu selections appeal to many tastes and attract both lunch and dinner customers. The restaurants are designed to create a comfortable, pleasant and unique Wok Box experience, encouraging customers to return often. But why limit your opportunities to serving dine-in customers only? Their Group Share menu selections encourage family style dining that easily lends itself to take out ordering too. Their customers enjoy the convenience of picking up their favorite menu items on their way home, so they can serve their family with practically no effort at all. Boost your sales further with Wok Box’s extensive catering menu. Give customers the opportunity to think of you when they need to cater a family gathering, business meeting, birthday party or sporting event.

With a management team boasting many years of practical hands-on experience, the Wok Box offers comprehensive support to its franchisees, starting with helping you understand how their markets are laid out, and then guiding you through the real estate process where you choose your store location. They will make sure you build a beautiful store complete with their interior designs and colors, tiled walls, big screen televisions and a unique and inviting kitchen design.

 

To learn more about the Wok Box franchise opportunity, please click the following link: http://www.franchiseclique.com/franchise/Wok-Box-Fresh-Asian-Kitchen.