Ad Builder Software

I was raised by very traditional parents who insisted that life was moving too fast and that it was best to hold onto the good ole days for as long as possible.  They raised my brother, sister, and me without cable television, they refused to buy us a Nintendo system, and I don’t remember them ever coming home with a movie rated anything higher than PG.  When we took road trips (which we did quite often) we didn’t have Gameboys to keep us entertained, we stopped at nearly every roadside historical sign, and we always stopped for lunch or dinner at a local ma & pa’s diner.  My father was adamant that we wouldn’t eat at a restaurant chain or franchise fast food joint.  He said he wanted us to experience the true tastes of our country's unique regions and wanted us to support the local communities.  He made me feel as though patronizing a national chain was equivalent to handing my five dollar bill to a table of stuffy board members in New York City.

This mentality stuck with me for years.  It wasn’t until I got to college and traveled with our college rodeo team that I learned to really appreciate restaurant chains and fast food.  Sure, there is a time and a place for the ma & pa diners of the country, but there’s also something to be said for the dependability and speed of the big name restaurants.  I have to admit, though, that the tinge of guilt never really left me when my friends and I stopped at the Sonic, Texas Roadhouse, or Applebee’s on a highway bypassing the downtown of a small community where the old establishments struggled everyday to gain back their customers who had moved on to a faster and more convenient lifestyle.  I knew I was only fueling the fire that was threatening to smoke out their traditional way of life with daily specials, pie displays, and familar faces.

The perspective I was lacking throughout all the years was that of the franchise owners.  The image of board members sitting around a table never quite left me and I never took the time to consider the real people who were actually managing the chain restaurants.  My eyes were recently opened a couple of months ago when the Balihoo product became the franchise marketing software of choice for the national sandwich chain, Quiznos.  After only a few phone calls with their franchise owners, I realized my perspective had been unfairly skewed against the big dogs of the restaurant world for too long.  The Quiznos owners I now speak with on a daily basis are hardworking and passionate people.  They strive everyday to make their restaurants successful operations and they face many of the same business challenges that independent restaurant owners do.  Sure, they receive lots of support from their corporate team, but the day-to-day managerial tasks are the same.  And it takes the same grit, determination, and heart to make their restaurants a customer favorite. 

I have been truly inspired by the Quiznos owners.  They work hard to connect with their customer base and they want to  deliver the personalized touch that sets them apart from other quick service restaurants.  I love to see the posters and flyers customized in our ad builder software with the names of local high schools, colleges, and community events.  Just the other day, one of the owners was looking to create a poster featuring the Italian Melt sandwich because he said it was a local favorite and he wanted to acknowledge the community spirit of his customers.  I’ve also been very impressed with the number of Quiznos owners that have ordered material for local fundraising events.

I no longer have any qualms about eating at a chain restaurant.  I realize now that the people behind the counter or serving my table are just as local and just as deserving of a paycheck as the people working in the independent restaurants down the street.  I also know that the people in the back offices care deeply for their communities, work hard to provide for their families, and are no different than my parents, who themselves are small business owners.  I might not be able to change my dad’s eating habits on the road, but I have succeeded in opening his eyes to the fact that franchisees have feelings too.

Bing Dictionary defines the word Paradigm as:

1. A typical example of something

2. An example that serves as a pattern or model for something, especially one that forms the basis of a methodology or theory

If there is one thing that gets me all jacked up, it’s when I witness a shifting paradigm. It really gets me excited. I’m currently flying from JFK to SFO on Virgin America airlines flight #027. To those of you readers who have flown on one of Sir Richard Branson’s airlines, I think you know where I’m going with this.

To the rest of the world that places Southwest Airlines on a pedestal, it’s simply because you haven’t flown Virgin America yet. I defy you to fly Red(their clever marketing reference) and then tell me you would rather fly the same route on a flight with attendants dressed in purple polos and khakis. To you Virgin America virgins, picture relaxing in a comfortable Las Vegas ultra lounge while flying 400 miles per hour at 35,000 feet without the use of recreational hallucinogenic drugs. Comfortable black leather seats, ambient mood lighting, and smooth electronic jazz music are a few of the things they have done to bring back the comfort in flying.

I write of this amazing spectacle all while enjoying my third Ginger Ale that I ordered from a screen in the seat back in front of me, listening to a playlist that I built from the 1000+ song music library available to all passengers and occasionally gazing at the dumbfounding spectacle of ambient lights above. This compilation of words, commonly referred to as a blog, is being posted while at 35,000 feet courtesy of the onboard wireless internet available to all passengers. And because, my laptop battery would never last the 2,586 mile journey from JFK to SFO, my computer is plugged into the power outlet underneath my seat.

I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t be the case on a US Airways flight. This is a beautiful shift in the old-school airline paradigm and it reminds me exactly of what Balihoo is doing for local marketing automation. Balihoo is revolutionizing the way that businesses market at a local level by offering a state of the art co-op marketing solution, robust ad builder capabilities and local media buying. This is a complete departure from the way that companies facilitated local marketing in the past

Oh how I love shifting paradigms. Time for another Ginger Ale.

If you are a franchisor, national brand or product manufacturer you've likely spent some time contemplating local store marketing and comparing various ad builder software applications. As of late, you have also probably heard the term 'Local Marketing Automation' mentioned in passing. While a relatively straightforward term and concept you might still have a few questions as to what exactly 'Local Marketing Automation' refers to.  This presentation should help you wrap your head around it:

I overheard one of the other members of our sales team last week speaking with a prospective client about the benefits of our local marketing automation platform. She used a great example when discussing the versatility of our application. The conversation went something like this:

"What is fantastic about our application is that it works across mediums so say for example one of your franchisees wants to sponsor the Local Agricultural Club Petting Zoo, they can log into their portal and customize their ad for the program or flyer, all while following brand guidelines..."

I had to laugh when I heard the example provided simply because I didn't know such a club event existed. However, I thought about it for a second and then I realized how perfect her example was. It displayed two great points. One being that local advertising is not just running TV and radio ads while sending out the occasional direct mailing. It is in fact a comprehensive external marketing approach across all conceivable advertising mediums and often times; a great way to advertise locally is via community involvement and event sponsorship. Her second point, and perhaps most compelling, was that local marketing automation can be applied to any company regardless of whether you are selling flower seeds or toilet seats.  

Balihoo has realized the importance of these points and thus has gone to great lengths to make the ad builder software component of our comprehensive software solution with services one that allows franchisees and distributors to advertise how they want and when they want, and all while remaining within brand guidelines. So while the local event that your franchisee sponsors may not be the Local Agricultural Club Petting Zoo, the premise remains. Regardless of your industry, local marketing automation is the catch all solution that you have been looking for.

As the person responsible for training , my goal is to make sure that all end-users are well-positioned to use Balihoo's ad builder software to generate local marketing ideas and to facilitate local advertising.

To this end, I spend a lot of time worrying about how best to train end-users and how to overcome many of the problems that are inherent to online training.  Issues of timing, retention, and varying degrees of computer-savvy come to mind in addition to the challenge of staying current given the ever-changing nature of a SaaS product.

Here's a glimpse at how Balihoo has been able to address these challenges:

Timing
It's hard to retain information for an extended period of time if you're not able to put your learnings into practice.  This is why I advocate that training should only be scheduled once the site is live.  Many clients are anxious to train in advance of go-live, but this does a disservice to the end-users in my opinion.  I prefer end-users to leave the training session with the ability to use the local marketing software immediately, rather than having to retain the information for some period of time before actual orders can be placed. 

One more thing regarding timing...  In order to accommodate end-users across the country, it's imperative to offer live training sessions that are convenient to both coasts.  Typically, I offer a morning session and an afternoon session on separate days. 

Retention
Even if you are able to put learnings into practice immediately, you might need a refresher now and then.  That's why all of our end-user webinars are recorded and posted to the Help Section on each client's live site.  The content is always up-to-date, and the webinars (including the Q&A from the live sessions) are easily accessible.

Varying Savvy
Even in a small organization, it's tough to deliver relevant training at the right level for all users in a single setting.  Some users might be new to the online world, while others (like you since you're reading a blog) have embraced the internet as an important part of every-day life.  Rather than trying to take a "one size fits all" approach, I've found it more useful to hold multiple sessions.  A beginners session will contain less jargon, and might focus on things like navigation, scrolling, pop-ups, and email in addition to the software highlights. 

The advanced session might focus more on concepts like uploading images for use in customized materials and uploading .csv files of customer information for targeted direct mail and email campaigns.  Though the topics covered will vary between these two sessions, the goals are the same - to excite and empower new users in a comfortable environment, while stressing that Balihoo's live Support Team is always there to help.

Ever-Changing Product
As beneficiaries of a SaaS product, Balihoo's clients see enhancements being made and new features added, regularly.  While many of these enhancements and features are intuitive, some necessitate additional training.  The Balihoo approach is to announce training sessions well in advance of new features launching, accompanying this announcement with a "heads-up" email containing screen shots and a meaningful description of the coming changes.

Sales promotion marketing, using co-op advertising funds, has typically been a very promotional-based type activity.  The brand builds the ad, in which the retailer plays a minor role, then a print ad builder is used to customize it for the retailer. 

However, as suggested by this Ad Age article, Walmart is taking a unique spin on these ads.  They're focused more on the product itself, with the retailer taking the back seat in terms of visibility.  It suggests that because Walmart has established a positioning of low-price leader, they're able to run these more brand-based (or product based) ads without the need for a heave dose of sales promotion marketing messaging. 

While interesting in and of itself as a general trend, I think it's important for product manufacturers to consider how this could play out in their co-op advertising programs.  Specifically, manufacturers need to consider the role their creative and creative templates play given this information.

Our recommendation to clients of our co-op marketing solution is that they need to develop creative templates that allow for a spectrum.  At a very basic level you can create two versions of your product ad - one where the retailer plays a starring role and one where the retailer plays a minor role.  Then, fund these templates at different levels (for example, 25% co-op for one version and 50% co-op for the other).  Approaching it in this fashion allows the retailer to implement their sales promotion marketing efforts in the manner the best suits them and they're rebated at a level that is comfortable to the product manufacturer. 

Of course, this approach assumes that you have a print ad builder (or other mediums) implemented in your co-op advertising program that can manage this level of specificity.  Balihoo's channel marketing software can handle that, I hope yours can too.   

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing

• New flash demo of our Local Marketing Automation solution
• New Balihoo Datasheet
• New web content addressing the medium-specifics component of our solution:
  • Direct Mail Ad Builder Software
  • POP/In-store materials solution
  • Print Ad Builder
  • Television Ad Builder Software
  • Radio Ad Builder
  • Online Display Ad Builder
  • Search Pay Per Click solution
  • Email Marketing solution