Franchise Marketing

Today, I attended my first virtual tradeshow, The Art & Science of B2B Marketing and Sales. It was a fascinating experience and has me buzzing.  I came away with a new respect for the method of virtual marketing to large groups of clients, prospects and vendors, and some lingering questions about the future of this technology for local marketers.

Perhaps most awe inspiring was the event organizer's ability to make the virtual space feel so similar to a physical show, and the ability to provide tools for attendees to talk to other attendees and vendors, and to attend presentations with such ease.

From the outset, the turnout amazed me. I was shocked to see more than 150 other people milling around in the atrium 30 minutes before the keynote. While I waited, I browsed 50 or so attendee profiles, passed through each booth, and had a handful of targeted chats.

Compare that experience to your last physical tradeshow. If it is anything like my experience, you ended up with no effective way to sift through the thousands of attendees, and instead by chance, sit next to a stranger for your morning donut. While cordial, most exchanges (outside of a vendor booth) are not fruitful, leading to any business outcome for you.

Back to my show experience. At the top of the hour, I attended a presentation, and again was delighted to see the profiles of attendees in the room who were interested in the same topic. Again, I scanned the profiles of attendees, listened to the speaker, and had a handful of additional chats.

At the end of a productive day, I learned about four vendors, listened to 10 presentations, downloaded seven white papers, and engaged with at least 15 attendees without incurring conference costs or leaving my desk. It was incredible.

Franchise marketing, and local store marketing practitioners, keep an eye on this technology. Its adoption may propel broader acceptance of virtual worlds like SecondLife. In a not-so-far-off future, you may find yourself marketing locally to global clients through a virtual brick and mortar store.

Pilot programs provide a way for brands and franchises to launch new national marketing programs on a small scale prior to investing in a large roll-out. National brands realize multiple benefits from pilot programs, including the ability to:

1. Try new ideas with less risk. See if the results warrant further investment and if the planned process works as expected.
2. Gain faster internal approval. Less program risk = less risk for your company, and will usually gain quicker corporate buy-in
3. Get a pulse on channel and customer participation and commitment. Is the channel excited, confused, engaged? Do they have suggestions for improvement? Is the end-customer interested in the program/offer?
4. Identify needed program and process tweaks in order to improve long-term program results.
5. Develop best practices to share with your channel at launch. This improves speed to market and results.

I recently read an article about a pilot program PepsiCo launched. They hope to bring “‘some new thinking into the organization’ as the company tries to stay competitive” Pilots are initiated by companies for different reasons, but ultimately it’s to alleviate risk and achieve outstanding marketing results.

In the case of my current work, which is developing Balihoo’s Marketing Education offering, a pilot program enables us to gauge if the education content is deep enough, if the material is presented in a format that is easily useable, and ultimately if the customers find the value we anticipate. With a pilot program, we can get all of these insights PRIOR to developing the full curriculum. This is a win-win for everyone, AND it also enables us to potentially take a few more risks and try some out-of-the box ideas since the pilot will have confined parameters.

There are some basic steps involved in planning and launching a pilot program:

1. Set your objectives, both for the pilot and for the long-term project. Make sure these are communicated to all internal stakeholders and all participants in the pilot. Transparency is important to gaining trust, commitment and participation.
2. Be prepared to show the financial and relationship implications of doing the pilot. How does engaging with a pilot group enhance your working relationship with key channel partners? Is it worth the partners’ time to be part of your pilot? If the pilot does not perform to expectation, what steps will you take to either cancel the program or modify the program? Are you prepared to tweak the program to make it more successful? How much is saved (financially and from a relationship perspective) if tweaks are made to improve long-term results?
3. Clearly define the pilot participants. Who will you involve? Is the pilot geographic-based? Does it include a cross-section of channel partners? Does it include a group that you believe can provide useful feedback? Thoughtful planning will enable you to meet your pilot program objectives.
4. Establish a process or mechanism for ongoing feedback throughout the pilot. Also, spend a little extra attention making sure the pilot program is easy and quick to implement at the local level. Many times your channel partners will agree to participate, but then the marketing materials/products sit in their backroom. Consider if there are actions you can take to make it easier for them to implement quickly (things like implementation guides, launch webinars, on-site assistance).
5. Expect to make some course corrections following the pilot.
6. Launch your final program with confidence.

I’m interested to know what you think. Do you use pilot programs? How have they helped your company? Do you have any suggestions on the best way to implement pilot programs? Enquiring minds want to know.

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Side note: A little fun ad history: "Enquiring minds want to know" was an advertising slogan used in the '80s by the National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid.

 

Take a second to think about the last time you "Googled" something you were interested in buying.

Did you type in the name of a specific business or product?

Based on a recently revealed survey (conducted by TMP Directional Marketing's local social and mobile marketing arm 15miles) if you were searching via Google (or another search engine) you likely entered keywords related to a product or service (opposed to the name of a specific business). However, if you'd been conducting your search via your mobile phone or Facebook, chances are you would have searched for a specific business name (opposed to using product/service-related keywords).

These findings highlight some of the growing differences between how your local customers search for your business (and/or the product/services that you offer) based upon the search vehicle they use. Recognizing these differences, and incorporating their associated learnings into your local marketing strategy will help to ensure that your plan maximizes your potential ROI.

Consider the following (7 key search trends identified by MediaPost followed by my take-away from each stated trend):

Trend 1: Online search is the preferred method for information about local businesses, with 70% of consumers citing online sites as their primary source.
Balihoo Perspective: If you aren't incorporating search in your integrated marketing plan, you're missing out on a huge audience.

Trend 2: Search engines are most popular, but they are not growing as fast as other media.
Balihoo Perspective: With countless studies indicating that smartphone-use and social network engagement are widely adopted across various demographics—and new research indicating that such consumers are more likely to write reviews for products/businesses they enjoy—don't think you can just rely on search (or just on social media).

Trend 3: Local searchers are more apt to buy.
Balihoo Perspective: This trend speaks for itself. When it comes to local internet marketing - you're local customers are searching for your products/services online - make sure that they can easily find you.

Trend 4: Businesses must develop a comprehensive search presence with essential information.
Balihoo Perspective: Work on improving your Quality Score (see this article for some great tips) and ensure that you include a specific call-to-action as well as specific directions/location/hours/contact information.

Trend 5: To develop a complete search presence, local businesses must consider every avenue.
Balihoo Perspective: Easier said than done. SEO is truly an art. To save time, energy and money, consider working with a professional team (such as the Balihoo Media Planning Strategy team) who can provide you with their broad experience with AdWords, SEO, social networks, etc.

Trend 6: Print is declining, but it still holds value for today's consumers as a secondary source.
Balihoo Perspective: Again, in this day and age you need an integrated marketing strategy that incorporates various media vehicles.

Trend 7: With emerging media on the rise, a diverse media mix must now include social and mobile marketing.
Balihoo Perspective: Your consumers, regardless of your target demographic, are more than likely utilizing at least one, if not both of the above. Therefore, pay attention to the tactics you implement for each vehicle. Feeling overwhelmed? (Refer to Balihoo Perspective 5!)

Never before have local marketers had so many online options to connect with potential local customers. If your national brand's or franchise's local internet marketing strategy has yet to deliver the ROI you're after, and you are confused what to do next, contact us!

A - About Foursquare
Foursquare is essentially a service that helps users find out where their friends, family, neighbors, etc, are hanging out. Users use their mobile phones to "check in" to different locations (restaurants, parks, bars, museums, etc.). What makes this location service-based social network different is that it's built around a game. Users are encouraged to revisit locations to receive badges, points and Mayorships. The idea is that the incentive of receiving points will encourage you to visit (and revisit) locations. 

B - Breakdown of Points
Users receive:
5 Points - For a new location (i.e. one that they've never checked-in from before)
5 Points - Adding a new venue 
1 Point - Every additional check-in from a previously visited location
1 Point per Daily Location - Additional Points for every unique location (check-in) during a day

C - Connecting with Customers
As of August 2010, Foursquare had over 3 million users worldwide. Coincidentally (and unsurprisingly, more than 15,000 local businesses have started experimenting with the tool and its local store marketing capabilities. Small business owners across the country have realized that they can utilize Foursquare to engage with their local customers by offering foursquare "Specials" (discounts, prizes, giveaways, etc.) for checking in at your venue. 

D - Determining ROI
Foursquare offers small business owners a nice set of venue analytics - for free!With Foursquare's analytics, businesses can view a full range of real-time data including: who checked in, when they arrived, male:female ratio, peak times, etc. This dashboard will help to both measure and to refine how Foursquare is impacting one's local advertising efforts.  

E - Examples of Small Businesses Using Foursquare
Check out this Clickz article which highlights the successes (and misses) of five different small businesses that each incorporated the tool into their local internet marketing strategy. Looking at their triumphs and misses will help you build and launch a program that fits with your integrated marketing strategy. 

F - Finding your Foursquare Strategy 

1. Create an account - Use it for a week or so to get a feel for it (i.e. you want to know what your customers will be/are experiencing with the tool).
2. Start out by encouraging your local customers to check in (and post reviews) from your location (THINK: incentives - i.e. offer a discount or prize).
3. Consider what you can offer to the "mayor" of your location. Publicize that widely to get your customers competitive juices flowing. 
4. Take into account the personality and values of your target customer. Is he/she particularly charitable? Perhaps he/she has school-aged kids? Once you've identified a specific value, consider donating $.05 for every check in and then, at the end of the promotion period, donate the funds raised to a specific cause or to a school. (Make sure you clearly publicize this in your other local marketing and media efforts.)  

G- Getting Started
As is the case with most social networking tools, the success you experience with Foursquare is limited only to your imagination, and by the mobile habits of your target audience. The great part about Foursquare is that you can test out your idea(s) with relative ease and do so virtually, for free!  

Click here to locate your venue and get started taking your brand, product or franchise marketing efforts to the next level.

Wednesday morning’s WSJ article, Fed Hints at Move to Boost Recovery is welcome news for many franchise owners and franchise marketing professionals. The news comes on the heels of IFA’s September 16th press release announcing that, "After nearly two years of intensive lobbying by members of the International Franchise Association, franchise businesses are closer to improved credit availability with the passage of a provision by the Senate that increases the Small Business Administration’s loan limits from $2 million to $5 million."

The press release links to a compelling story of Pat Luers of Centerville, Ohio, who opened his first BrightStar a year ago. After creating 40 new jobs, he hopes to expand, but not without a line of credit from the SBA.

These two points of news give me plenty of hope for a continued recovery from The Great Recession, albeit a recovery unlike the pre-2007 consumption economy. ConAgra’s CEO, Gary Rodkin, said it best in a conference call to investors rationalizing a 12% fiscal first-quarter earnings fall by describing the new consumer landscape saying that, "The strong, deal-seeking mindset consumers developed earlier in the recession has become the new normal. As consumers continue to tighten their purse strings and whittle down their pantries, retailers and manufacturers have discounted more heavily to re-energize sales." So, with all this uncertainty, what is your perspective on the market for Franchises? I'd like to hear what you have to say. Drop me a note.

Last week I had the opportunity to provide some navigational assistance to an affiliate of a franchise company utilizing our ad builder software.  The business owner was looking to order some customized loyalty cards.  At the time of our conversation, he was slightly agitated with his parent company and expressed frustration over the fact that he had to take time out of his day to order the loyalty cards himself.  His opinion was that all the 'marketing stuff' should be done by the national marketing team for him.  

His comments caught me off guard and I found myself thinking about his words long after our call ended.

First, I was shocked to hear that he was annoyed with the opportunity he had been given to customize and purchase marketing materials for his own business.  Who better to make decisions like that than the individual monitoring his own revenues and expenses?  With that freedom, business owners like him can ensure their inventories are in line with their business' operational needs and cash flow.

Second,  the process to order his cards on our local marketing software was quick and easy.  It took less than five minutes for him to customize, preview, and order the cards.  With the customization flexibility provided through our print ad builder, he was able to make critical decisions for his advertising material like what coupon offers to use based on what works best in his market.

From this business owner's reluctance to take control of his own marketing activities, I realized there are two very distinct cultures that franchise companies can create within their brands based on their approach to local marketing execution.  
 
If a franchise company makes all the marketing decisions on behalf of their affiliates for promotions, materials, methodologies and executions, they are merely enabling their franchisees to become so dependent on their brand that they lose the perspective and initiative to take ownership of their own marketing strategies.  I've caught wind of this scenario on a few phone calls when a business owner says something like, 'I never know what our promotions are going to be month to month' or, 'I don't have a marketing budget to use at my discretion. It all goes to the national fund'.

How tragic that these parent companies would thwart the efforts of their affiliates to become savvy marketers through experimentation in their own markets and hands-on education. Taking too much control over the marketing directions of local affiliates results in lost opportunities through the dollars that could have been invested in a leaner fashion, targeted to the individual preferences and habits of local populations.  It can also be very frustrating for the individual store owners who see their advertising budgets whisked away each month to support national advertising funds.

The other day I took my puppy for a walk to a nearby TCBY – the same TCBY I’ve gone to for over 20 years. Every time I go, I find it delightful that the service, the menu items and the atmosphere have remained virtually the same. Though, all good things must come to an end, or in TCBY terms, at least to a rebranding. TCBY’s challenge is to rebrand and win over the hearts, and minds of local people like me who don’t want a change.

In an attempt to reach a younger audience looking for a place to hang out, TCBY has given their store a new look and design. Additionally, they have introduced customer self service, an attempt to give customers more control of their options.

While opening new stores under this new brand is doable, the real challenge is converting existing stores, and winning over long time customers like me. That means TCBY needs to have a local marketing strategy in conjunction with their national advertising to go with a strategy to reposition the brand over time so they win new customers without alienating traditional customers like me.

For companies like TCBY, Balihoo offers local marketing software for franchises and national brands with local marketing needs. Our software allows brands to better penetrate local markets, and to increase visibility to their new brand with customized local positioning and cross-medium marketing efforts touching consumers where they are.

The mistake I often see made is that national brands advertise with their common national ads in local markets and they think they are marketing locally. They aren’t by my terms. Local marketing means thinking at the local level – what works in one local market may not work in another. To exacerbate the point, most national brands aren’t positioned well to think locally, but, their store owners are.

Those individual owners know that their customers are different than another store’s, because they work among them. For that reason it’s beneficial to have advertising templates that can be effectively tailored by local owners in your rebranding kit.

Balihoo's ad builder software does just that, by enabling franchisee owners to efficiently and cost effectively customize pre-approved national brand materials. These owners can quickly access advertising creative, customize it, get brand approval and execute it to meet their market needs.

Marketing requires a local focus and so does rebranding. It turns out with Balihoo, rebranding locally has never been easier.  If you’re like TCBY looking to grow in your industry and add some sprinkles to your brand – check out Balihoo’s ad builder software and local marketing automation tools to ease your rebranding efforts.

I feel like I have some interesting insight into the world of franchise marketing, not only because of my role here at Balihoo, but also because my Dad owns a Radio Shack store in my small hometown of Chelan, Washington.  I spent some time with my dad this weekend and chatted about business and the economy, and had some interesting insights that will benefit franchisees.

Relationships are important to any business, and are especially so to a business owner in a small town with regular access to your customers and potential customers, where you can hear—more clearly sometimes—the perceptions people have of you and your business.  Luckily for my dad and for his customers, he is a perceptive guy. What he realized by listening is that people see the Radio Shack sign and think "big corporation," not small business. That "big corporation" perception carries a stigma of poor customer service that my dad did not feel was relevant to his business where he cared so much about relationships, employing locals, contributing to the community, and caring for people. 

So, he adjusted his on-air radio ads to remind his customers that his Radio Shack is a locally owned business. Similar to his situation, I expect that many franchisees feel the same frustration about the "big corporation" stigma associated with their stores. Behind the neon lights of the corporate logo, in many cases there is still one person or one family who is keeping an eye on the bottom line, hiring and managing local employees, making decisions about their local advertising, and their relationship with the community, and running a business with all the same passion and drive of any small business owner.

Here at Balihoo, we view each one of our customers as an individual small business owner.  We know that they each have to make decisions based on their own market and their knowledge of their customers, which is why our ad builder software provides so many customizable options.  We can lend our expertise and provide a helping hand to the franchisees, who know their customers like the small business owners that they are.

Simultaneously advertising on prime time TV and on internet sites may be a solid new strategy to touch consumers according to my analysis of The Nielsen Company's recently released 2010 Q1 Three Screen Report  entitled, "What Consumers Watch: Technology Enhances the Video Experience." 

The report provides information and data about households and their video viewing behaviors when using HDTV, timeshifting (DVR or OnDemand) devices, broadband internet, and smartphones.  The findings are interesting for local advertising buyers for franchise marketing efforts, and they suggest a new strategy may be in order.

The report finds that DVR usage and penetration into homes has increased 14% to more than nine and a half hours per month.  Interestingly, while DVR usage increases, the rate of commercial viewing during playback remains steady—good news for advertisers. According to the report, on average, "45% of commercials are viewed during [DVR] playback in Q1 2010 compared with 43% in Q1 2009." 

Also interesting is that 58.7% of people are using TV and the internet simultaneously.  This number astounds me and got the wheels turning.  Perhaps, integrating a local internet marketing campaign along with a prime time TV schedule could be an effective way to target my audience and reach them where they are currently absorbing a majority of their advertisements.  It may seem obvious, but paying attention to the data and placing advertising in multiple mediums where consumers are most receptive, in an integrated fashion, is a critical component to advertising success and is one of the Balihoo media team's strengths.

Whether you work in advertising or are on the other end as a consumer, I encourage you to check out the report.

The other night, I caught an episode of CBS's Undercover Boss, a show in which, if you haven't already heard (hopefully, you have, as your CEO could be lurking--perhaps even watching you now as you read this, posing as an interested temp as he scribbles a mental note, "This guy likes to read blogs when he should be working . . . fired!") features CEOs of Fortune 500 companies—never mind—I just explained the entire premise of the show.

Anyway, this particular episode trailed Chris McCann, the President and little brother of Jim McCann, the CEO of the largest floral and gift company in the world, 1-800-Flowers. [An aside: the best scenes came when Jim treats Chris like they're both 9 years old again, going so far as to almost blow Chris' cover in a stunt to embarrass him in front of people that technically work for him. Classic!].  The episode proceeds as most do. Boss finds some bad. Boss finds more good. Boss hands out promotions/gentle coaching.  However, one particular scene made my "hey-Balihoo-could-own-that-if-given-the-chance" light bulb go off. Yes, I have that light bulb. Jealous?


Shortly after this scene was shot, Chris was almost fired by this lady! No joke!

The scene involves Chris visiting a franchise that recently went from locally-owned to a 1-800-Flowers branded florist shop. When the manager of this particular store was asked why the store was struggling, she stated simply, "people just don't understand we're the same shop, with a different name, especially since we aren't involved in local advertising." DING!  Enter Balihoo.  With Balihoo actively enabling breakthrough local store marketing, that store, and other 1-800-Flowers franchises just like it, would have been quickly outfitted with the tools neccessary to get their store performing optimally.  

So, Mr. McCann (and others just like you) . . . can I get you our local marketing playbook?

Being in the business of local advertising, we at Balihoo are often asked by our small business owner clients about how to utilize local internet marketing. They hear buzz that their customers are overwhelmingly adopting online media. But the internet appears to our business owners as, well, the world wide web - rather daunting, and they don't know where to start.

Our retail store owners in particular spent much of their local marketing efforts in the past few decades hanging coupons on doors and running inserts in the local newspaper. This method simply doesn't cut it in today's fragmented consumer marketplace.

Online advertising is a great way to market on a tight budget and reach a targeted demographic. Google Paid Search (pay-per-click) and SEO efforts should be top on any local business marketer's list. Then consider what your local media outlets offer on their online properties.

Groupon's online display campaign in the NYTimes.com illustrates a great example of local targeting through online news sites. Admittedly, I was reading an article about Snooki, but my shame aside, Groupon's ad on "Boise's Best / Up to 90% Off / Get Today's Special" caught my eye, and I found myself adding to their click through rate. The special today happens to be laser hair removal at a high end spa in Boise. Well targeted at me - a young female professional reading the Fashion & Style section of the NYTimes.com.

Groupon is averaging 500,000 new subscribers a week. After they ran an $11 million promo for Gap, they gained 750,000 subscribers (see Advertising Age's article).

What to learn from Groupon's online marketing:

• Identify your target demographic and only buy top-rated pages against that audience
• Keep your message concise and easy to read (the less words the better)
• Focus the message on the call-to-action
• Leverage the measurability of online advertising - track your results closely and optimize as you see upward/downward trends

Are you a franchise owner looking for guidance with local store marketing? Check out Balihoo's white paper.

 What does it mean to be locally owned and operated?  I found myself asking this question when I stepped into Tully’s Coffee the other week and noticed that exact phrase written on one of their gift cards.  The card itself caught my attention because it had a beautiful picture of Boise on it (a smart local store marketing tactic).  What really got me thinking was their use of ‘locally owned and operated’.  I’ve always thought of Tully’s as a chain coffee shop, whereas ‘locally owned and operated’ makes me think of an individual, independently-run store.  I'm positive the Tully’s on 8th and Broad in downtown Boise isn’t the only Tully’s coffee shop in the world and I know the company's corporate headquarters aren't located here in Boise.  So does my favorite coffee shop (with great tasting lattes) really qualify as local?  The question has been raised by other Balihooers and undoubtedly brings to mind the arguments of our era's epic battle between the 'big box' businesses and the local ma and pop shops.  Though, with the growing trend toward franchise and chain businesses and the continual blurring of the line between local ownership and corporate control, has the meaning of locally owned and operated evolved?

I was recently catching up on some light reading at FastCasual.com, a site devoted to insights for innovative restaurants, when I stumbled upon an article that made so much rationale sense in a world that can sometimes be so irrationale.

The article, Moe's invests in local-store marketing strategy, is in reference to Moe's Southwest Grill's recent corporate initiative to increase local marketing efforts by adding a grassroots element to the franchisee's bag of available tools for franchise marketing.

Below are two favorite quotes from the article, and my thoughts on them:

1. "Local-store marketing has always been a part of what we do and we have always provided a kit to our franchise partners, but not many of our franchisees are comfortable leaving their four walls." - Right on! So many franchises want to focus on local advertising and marketing, but neglect to provide quality tools to the franchisees that truly enable them to act as effective local marketers. Ahem. . .better take a peek at Balihoo's Local Marketing Automation solution.

2. "It allows the franchisee. . .to totally control his or her territory, and they're less reliant on corporate staff or the franchisor to do the marketing for them." - FINALLY! While their effort is primarily focused on grassroots marketing, at least they are working to put tools in place so that local marketing isn't something that is only discussed during executive brainstorming sessions, but rather something that is actively done at a local level to drive demand generation.

Kudos to the team at Moe's. Now my recommendation to them: Call us, because we all know that grassroots marketing is just one component of the numerous marketing activities that should take place at the local level. We can help you with the rest!

Last Saturday, Balihoo had the pleasure of presenting at the Granite Transformations annual franchise convention in New Orleans. Now this was a significant occasion for several reasons beyond franchise marketing - namely it being my first time in the Big Easy. After the celebration of Balihoo's arrival subsided, it was time to get down to business and talk local store marketing with some eager and engaged franchisees.

The marketing team at Granite Transformation has taken an active and aggressive approach to solving issues that countless franchise organizations face. How can a national marketing team better support local franchisees? Is your brand's creative material compelling and effective - does it help sell your product? How can your marketing team manage seemingly limitless local customizations for hundreds of franchisees across the country? How can you ensure your franchisees are using brand approved advertising material in their local advertising efforts, and how can you track and report on the results? How can your franchisees leverage Facebook, Twitter, local PR, SEO, blogs and YouTube? This list goes on and on - and frankly it requires much more than sophisticated ad builder software or someone to manage your local media buying. It requires a team of dedicated marketing experts each specializing in key challenge areas your franchisees face.

Kudos to Carl, the Granite Transformations FAC, and the rest of their marketing team for building a strong network of marketing and advertising experts for their franchisees to leverage. From PR to creative agency, online and social media marketing to franchise marketing software - Granite Transformation has covered their bases and giving their franchisees the tools necessary to thrive in a competitive and challenging market. There are certainly more hurdles to overcome, but the question becomes, whether you're a marketing executive, a franchisee looking for local marketing help, or a prospective franchisee checking out different opportunities - is your organization bold enough to take the steps Granite Transformations has taken to ensure they're franchisees have the most innovative local store marketing tools in the industry? If the answer to that question is 'no' - it may be time to reevaluate your franchise marketing strategies and talk with Balihoo about what we can do for your organization's marketing effort. Because at the end of the day, you're competing with Granite Transformations, whether for home improvement business, the consumer's limited budget and mindshare or your next well-qualified potential franchisees - and they just retooled like the Miami Heat.

From all of us at Balihoo, we're very excited to kick off our relationship with the Granite Transformations team next week. Thank you for your hospitality last weekend and the opportunity to partner - we're looking forward to a successful relationship!

"Supersize it" A phrase that brings about thoughts of gigantean proportions and excess - and that still remains glued to the McDonald's name even though the Supersize option was eliminated over five years ago.

When the news broke in 2004 that McDonald's was axing its larger-than-large size, McDonald's explained that the decision was based upon down sales and "Menu simplification - the fact of the matter is not many Supersize fries are sold" (as stated by Walt Riker, McDonald's spokesman).  The surprise blockbuster hit and Oscar nominated Supersize Me (filmed in February 2003 and aired May of 2004) was supposedly not a factor in the franchise marketing team's decision.

Interesting then, that today more and more franchise marketing and product teams (not McDonald's) are moving (and heavily promoting) larger and larger menu items - Carl's 12-inch Big Carl burger, Sonic's foot-long Quarter Pounder Coney (1 1/2 inches longer than its previous longest hot dog), etc.




Carl's Marketing Development chief, Brad Haley says that for the chain's core customers - young men between the ages of 18 to 24 the idea of a foot-long sandwich works, "Obviously the foot-long sandwich has been very successful at Subway...we decided to do it the Carl's way".

Now, there is obviously a key difference between how these two brands are publicly perceived - Subway has cleverly marketed itself as being the "healthy" QSR-joint - Carl's Jr. on the other hand....not so much. This difference in consumer perception (regardless of specific nutritional facts) will likely have an impact on the QSRs that choose to offer gargantuan sizes. Also of interest (and something that Carl's has obviously identified - they have a very specific target audience that just might jump at this offer - so unless Carl's is featured in the next 'Americans eat-too-darn-much' documentary, their message might just work. 

For the small business owner with local store marketing needs - taking risks with new products and services (and their promotion efforts) can be unnerving (especially considering that the local business owner's marketing budget isn't exactly "Carl's size"). Having a professional media team available that can help you identify and pinpoint your target audience and place your message in front of them - AND a creative team that can ensure that your message is in-concert with your brand and resonates locally can take a huge weight off of your shoulders.

To learn how Balihoo helps national brands and franchise organization's effectively market their message and product launches at the local level, contact us today!

The below is a guest post from Evan Hackel at Ingage Consulting. 


The Best Strategy for Implementing Marketing Strategies

By: Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is the President and Founder of Ingage Consulting, www.ingageconsulting.com. Throughout his twenty-five year career, he has seen the need not only for improved engagement but for an understanding of why engagement plays such an important role in any organization. Evan’s company works closely with the managers and leaders of franchises, co-ops, and buying groups, to help them improve their business practices. Evan can be reached directly at ehackel@ingageconsulting.com.

When it comes to creating and implementing marketing strategies, many organizations miss an opportunity to engage their franchisees, members, or dealers. Companies tend to just present their ideas and force them down through the ranks until they have reached everyone associated with the brand.  Of course, this is not really the case, but it can seem that way to recipients of the information.  Implementing a marketing strategy this way will only cause franchisees, members, or dealers to resist the new strategy. In general, people like to feel like they are part of the process; therefore, they respond better when made part of the process.  

In an ideal world, franchisees, members or dealers would enthusiastically implement all new marketing programs. In high performing organizations, there is a lot of enthusiasm and support for new ideas; communicating is relatively easy and there is a great deal of support for the efforts. But for many franchises, co-ops, and dealer networks, it is difficult to implement the organization’s message effectively and in the way that management would like. 

One of the best ways to ensure that a marketing plan is received and executed at all levels in the organization is to first, involve franchisees, members, or dealers in advertising groups. These groups, local or regional, will represent what is happening at the consumer level and be networking groups to support each other in marketing efforts.  It's important to use the groups to get input on the development of marketing plans; not just as a way to roll out a program.        

Another way to engage franchisees, dealers, or members in carrying out your marketing strategy is to create a brand council. The brand council should be involved in aspects of your marketing efforts.   Participants of the brand council should also be included in presentations to the franchise, cooperative, or dealer group and should be invited to write articles and postings for the organization’s intranet.   

Engaging your members, dealers, or franchisees in implementing marketing strategies is just the first step. Organizations need to measure and understand the success level of their current marketing plan. Of course, this is a good practice for understanding success and helping with future marketing efforts. It is also important for franchisees, members, and dealers to know that you are paying attention to them. Many of you, I am sure, are tracking sales, which is good, but there are intangible aspects to marketing efforts that sales alone can't measure. Having a report form for your franchisees, members, or dealers to feel out their opinions on the marketing efforts is a good way to get high-quality feedback. Ask questions like: how could we have made this local marketing effort better, would you do this again in the future, and did customers mention the local advertising? Report back to the group what you have learned. This will show you have been listening. 

The reports are a great idea for improving engagement and for learning more about the success of your marketing efforts, but you are likely to only get a small sampling of reports back. This is okay; the fact you are asking for feedback and that everyone knows they have the ability to share their thoughts and ideas is what's important.

How do you engage your franchisees, members or dealers with your local marketing plans? Do you have a brand council and how does that work? How do you get feedback on success?

Thanks for the guest post Evan, good information.  I couldn't agree more, specifically when you're dealing with Local Marketing Automation.  Whether implementing a new local advertising campaign, new channel marketing software or new local marketing software, it's critical to get buy-in from the key players.  This will be one of the key drivers of adoption - in fact, we recently wrote a whitepaper identifying the key issues with adoption around new co-op marketing solutions, you can download it here. 

Working for Balihoo, a company that focuses on local advertising, we look for signs of success all around us in our little town of Boise, Idaho. Let me tell a short story about word of mouth advertising performed by a certain Frenchman.

On a lovely blue sky evening in this fine downtown, after consuming some locally brewed fair at The Falcon, I happened upon a middle-aged man sitting at a table with mouth-wateringly delicious baked something-er-others displayed in front of him. I then noticed the cash box and realized these brilliant edible charmers were for sale. And then he spoke.

The eloquence that left that man's tongue still rings in my ear. "Mademoiselle, would you care for a sweet baked roll? I would love for you to enjoy this. Two dollars if you please." The man has hair to his waist, a neatly trimmed beard and donned a chef's jacket and hat. Was he pulling my leg? An Idaho-born actor with a knack for European accents? Questions aside, I had emotionally committed to the sweet roll before realizing I had only 20 cents on me. That Frenchman offered it up anyway with a huge smile on his face, asking only that I let others know of his product.

As it goes with Balihoo culture, we enjoy sharing such stories. Nico, one of our internet advertising designers, is hosting an art show at a coffee shop downtown tonight. I emailed the company asking that everyone not only attend her show, but visit my long-haired, French-accent bearing pastry chef. This sponned an email chain between people across the company - some admitting sitings of the Frenchman, others claiming he bakes in a top Italian kitchen after hours, others simply wanting his location and hours of operation.

Looking for more local marketing ideas to help your franchise or franchisees? Download Balihoo's white paper on Local Marketing Automation.

Long before there was the internet, cable or broadcast television, even print, there was out-of-home advertising.  Almost elegant in its simplicity, it's tended to be static, 2 dimensional, and downright polite in its lack of intrusiveness.  In recognition of those features, us media planners have rewarded its contribution to advertising by paying comparatively low rates for your highway billboard and bus bench...a fault that the outdoor advertising industry has somehow spun into a virtue.

Ah, but then it occurred to them to plug in the billboards.  Digital Out of Home (whose acronym gets a second 'O,' robbing us of the pleasure of a D'OH) consists of the Times Square "Spectaculars" pictured above and the LED billboards on the side of the highway, but also includes the closed-loop TV screen you see in your local coffee shop, pharmacy, and super market. 

It's also one of those few media that has continued rapid acceleration in the face of the past few years' economics.  Leading U.S. DOOH network, Adcentricity, recently published it's 2010 Outlook white-paper, and sees revenues jumping from $3B U.S. this year to $4.5B by 2013, an enviable growth curve in a sluggish economy.

So why are those of us charged with allocating your advertising media dollars flocking to this emerging media?  Here are a few good reasons: 

• Reach: While it pales in comparison to the nearly half-million billboards that line America's highways (sigh), DOOH now exceeds 150k screens nation-wide, and reaches 2/3rds of the population.
• Location, Location, Location: Only 150k screens? Yes, but many of those are in places where we're better able to distinguish the audience's mindset.  At the gym?  Perhaps you'd like a sports drink?  At the doctors?  You might like some aspirin.
• Interactivity: Remember that part about OOH being static?  So much for that.  DOOH's pictures are not only moving, but interactive.  As dated as it is, this brilliant example from Nike through agency R/GA still gets me excited about the potential of a huge glowing wall.

What's this have to do with you and your local marketing efforts?  I'd like to tell you we'll be recommending a giant interactive billboard in Time Square with every media plan, but let's take this one step at a time.  DOOH is a great local advertising tool, allowing you to select from multiple venues, and, unlike broadcast, allows you to choose a relatively precise geographic footprint for your ads.  Speaking of which, even if you don't have a 90 foot electronic billboard loaded in our ad builder software, we can work with your existing television and OOH creative to find new and more select audiences.

If you'd like to talk about the future of what local DOOH can do for you and you're one of our co-op or franchise marketing partners, check out how Balihoo can help with your local media planning.  If you're still looking for a Local Marketing Automation solution, make sure to check out our demo.

If you've been alive the past two months (which, you have, if you're reading this--also, if you've only been alive two months but you're reading this, congratulations, you're the smartest baby in the world)  I guarantee you've seen at least one ad in Kia's New Sorento campaign--the damn thing spans magazines, television, social media, online, and includes a "The Official Mid-Size Sport Utility Vehicle of the NBA" sponsorship--even as sponsorships continue to become more ridiculous in their specificity like, "ULINE: The Official Contractor-Grade Staple Gun of the WNBA".  Seriously, how many other staple gun manufacturers were clamoring for that distinction?  [Answer: they weren't, I made that up.]

As far as the social media component of the (I'm assuming) successful--and I forgot to add earlier, giant-toy-themed--Sorento campaign is concerned, Kia has a Sorento-specific Facebook Fan Page (of which, as a Sorento owner myself, I am a fan...  alright, who cares if I own the '04 model? I can still like the new one--especially its gas mileage, which infuriated me when it was first posted: 26 mpg. My '04 seriously gets fifteen. Fifteen. Miles. Per. Gallon. 15 MPG!  I didn't realize when I bought it that it came with an invisible 22-foot trailer) as well as a Sorento-specific Tweets via Kia's Twitter feed.  These two mediums are great, but I first discovered the new Kia via TV and later Wired Magazine.  It wasn't until I saw these and then the Facebook page that I became a Fan.

So how effective would their product launch marketing have been if Kia had decided to forgo the traditional mediums--and even *GASP!*, a major car show like the Detroit Auto Show--and rely solely on the Facebook marketing?  You'd think not as much. Who would ever gamble on that kind of strategy, though?  Interestingly enough, our own Ford Motor Company.  As Marketing VOX recently reported, Ford plans to roll out the new Explorer--yeah, you know, like the most famous SUV of all time--on just Facebook alone.


That's correct, one of America's largest and most storied corporations--a pillar in our nation's industry--is fully embracing the power of social media to market one of their flagship products.  Many (presumably, large traditional media-buying agencies) are questioning the decision, especially considering Ford isn't even going to announce the new Explorer at any auto shows. If you ask me, this is exactly why Ford is head-and-shoulders above GM and Chrysler (who?) in the domestic car-manufacturing race:

They're religious about collecting customer feedback, they experiment with alternative mediums (see: Fiesta Movement), they embrace unique designs and, in doing so, they connect with buyers, especially younger ones, on many levels.  And it's those younger buyers that will be the key to their continued success.  Ford should be lauded for this new Facebook strategy. Why? You mean besides the fact that they're a [serious] multi-billion-dollar corporation not afraid to take risks on unproven social media retail marketing tactics? Because it will probably work for them.  And if it works for them (Ford of all companies!), expect others to follow suit.

{Insert clever conclusion here}

For more information on product launch marketing and other marketing methods, please download our Local Franchise Marketing Playbook here.