Author: Paul Segreto

Passionate About Fueling Entrepreneurial Spirit; Entrepreneurship Coaching; Management & Development Advisory & Consulting; Franchises, Restaurants, Service Businesses; Thought Leader, Influencer, Content Creator & Author.

Exclusive Mobile Marketing Program for Franchise Organizations

April 12, 2010April 12, 2010 · 2 Comments ·

Are your franchisees struggling for new customers, or to get more business from their existing customers, in today’s difficult economic environment

Do your franchisees complain that they can’t afford to advertise to get more customers?

Does your corporate staff have a difficult time getting franchisees to read important emails or updates on the company Intranet?

Does your franchise development staff need additional methods of generating leads for prospective franchisees?

Would you like an easy-to-use, high ROI, low-cost way to solve these problems?

If so, please continue reading because Mobile Marketing is the answer!

Studies have shown that mobile marketing has the highest ROI of any direct marketing medium, are read by 97% of recipients within 15 minutes, and because 84% of consumers keep their cell phone within 10 feet of them at all times, mobile messages have an AVERAGE response rate of 15%.

Strategic Partnership Benefits Franchise Industry

And we can help your franchise organization take advantage of this incredible marketing medium through a new strategic partnership between franchisEssentials and Strategic Growth Concepts, who recently entered into an agreement to become a Certified Solutions Provider for a leading Mobile Marketing services firm.

Because of franchisEssentials Integrated Franchise Marketing initiatives, we have requested and received authorization from our strategic partner and the Mobile Marketing services firm to offer a special Franchise Incentive Program for franchise organizations interested in taking advantage of the benefits of Mobile Marketing.

FREE Mobile Marketing Account

For a limited time only, we’re offering franchisors a FREE mobile marketing account for the corporate office that achieves a minimum percentage of franchisees signing up to participate in the program individually. And the FREE corporate account remains in force as long as the franchise system maintains the minimum percentage of franchisees also participating in the program! And we’ll help sign them up!

This means that your franchisees can begin sending unlimited text messages for as little as $25 per month, and the corporate office can begin sending them for FREE! Since text messages are typically read within 15 minutes and have an exceptional ROI, franchisees can start increasing revenue immediately, and you can start generating franchisee leads, marketing on a chain-wide basis, and communicating more effectively with your current franchisees!

Franchise Organizations Are Using Mobile Marketing

Click the links below to learn how several franchise organizations are using Mobile Marketing, and the successful results they’re experiencing:

Little Caesar’s Mobile Campaign Nets 62% Opt-in

Popeye’s Mobile Campaign Garners 54% Opt-in

Mobile Marketing Ideas from National Brands

Learn More About Our Special Offer and New Mobile Club

If you would like to learn more about Mobile Marketing and to take advantage of this special offer, please TEXT the word FRANCHISE to 244326. This will opt your organization in to franchisEssentials Mobile Club, and notify us to schedule a FREE demonstration for your organization.

Members of our Mobile Club will be eligible for future special offers, and will receive weekly tips on using Mobile Marketing to benefit your business. If you prefer not to join the Mobile Club but would still like to receive the FREE demonstration, contact us by email at paulsegreto@FMDpro.com. Please be sure to mention keyword FRANCHISE.

Squeezing ROI From Social Media Marketing

March 28, 2010March 28, 2010 · 1 Comment ·

Recently, Christopher Petix, President at Clash-Media US wrote an article about the changing world of Digital Marketing and how it would evolve in 2010. The article, The World of Digital Marketing 2.0, touches upon how brands utilizing social media marketing must establish baselines and understand metrics as part of their social media marketing strategy Doing so is paramount to their marketing success.

The past couple of years have been all about squeezing as much Return on Investment as possible from every marketing effort. As a result, advertisers and marketers have a new set of parameters and broad goals for establishing a campaign. The good news for these groups is that there are a number of tools and techniques available to help them achieve these goals.

He goes on to talk about how brands are partnering up with digital marketers and focusing efforts on evaluating their campaigns. Doing so helps them achieve optimum efficiency as they can turn on a dime if they’re need achieving their goals and objectives. Sure, conversion rates will fluctuate during a campaign, but quick reactions can improve the campaign’s performance.

Another point Petix makes is about niche websites and networks. As today’s consumer (and franchise candidates) are more technologically advanced and social media savy, more time is being spent outside the realm of typical social media circles of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Instead, being more diligent is more the norm rather than the exception. Diligence that takes marketing targets to industry sites, brand-specific social networks and blogs to gather even more information. More importantly, it takes them to places of interaction and information sharing between and among others with similar goals and objectives.

Using Social Media as written by Christopher Petix

Burger King’s “Sacrifice Whopper” was one of the most infamous campaigns of 2009 to have created a social media buzz. One of the biggest on-going hot spots for 2010 will be how can more companies tap into the vast resource of social media.

Social media accurately gauges consumer brand perception and sentiment, though the avenue for more direct marketing and advertising opportunities is harder to navigate. The key to using social media for marketing and customer acquisition is targeting, which helps ensure that the highly coveted user experience is not affected.

Individual organizations can use several approaches to identify customers through social media, they include: post-registration offers, banner advertising, Facebook CPC or social media apps. All of these ensure consumer exposure, but which ones deliver measurable and effective results is individual to every organization. Those advertisers that have learned what they need to look for in a campaign should be a step ahead as they explore new avenues of customer engagement – so by the end of 2010, most will have a coherent social media strategy producing bottom line dollars.

Christopher Petix serves as the President of Clash-Media working in the US office. With over 15 years of online experience he brings a wide variety of knowledge working at company’s including Double-Click Media in the start-up, founding his own tri-lingual travel site, heading up Vendare Media’s team on the East coast, as well as CoregMedia. His emphasis on client services and retention have allowed him to cultivate numerous longstanding business relationships in the online advertising industry.

Great Facebook Apps for Business

March 27, 2010March 28, 2010 ·

Great article in this month’s issue of Website Magazine, Making the Case for Facebook by Matt Goulart, Founder and Lead Consultant with Webstar Content. In this article, Matt states, “With the decline of traditional television and print advertising, it is getting harder and harder to find effective ways to attract consumer attention. Increasingly, many businesses are moving toward online and social networking tools. Facebook can be a highly effective cost-free solution.”

So, why Facebook? Well, as many are aware, Facebook is the world’s largest social network!

Seven Great Facebook Apps for Business
From the Staff at Website Magazine

Contests – Businesses can create and launch branded contests on Facebook Fan Pages within minutes. Available formats include photo contests, video contests, design contests, logo contests, essay-based contests and more. Contests are a great way to build brand awareness, build content on Fan Pages and recruit new fans.

SocialToo – Enables users to update their personal profile pages, any Facebook Fan page they administer and even remotely to Twitter from the convenience of the status update box.

SocialOomph – Provides productivity tools for social media users and includes tools for Twitter, StatusNet, and Facebook. Facebook users can schedule status updates for their accounts to be published at dates and times of their choosing.

NetworkedBlogs – Promote your blog on Facebook and discover new blogs. NetworkedBlogs is a community of bloggers and blog lovers. Join the fun, add your blog, and connect with others who read and write about subjects you like, as well as promote your blog to active social media users.

RatePoint – Lets users create e-mail newsletters, collect reviews and testimonials and build surveys for free. Connects to Facebook and Twitter easily and allows for share reviews and newsletters with Facebook Friends and Fans, and Twitter followers.

Jobmagic – A social media recruiting application that expands a recruiter’s reach by leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter social media channels to help start a dialogue with other candidates which other recruiters cannot.

Social Store Builder – Enables a Volusion store owner to display and sell products directly on their Facebook page. After clicking on a featured product, the customer is taken to the store owner’s secure, one-page checkout to complete the transaction.

What is IFA Fran-Guard?

March 13, 2010March 13, 2010 · 4 Comments ·

The International Franchise Association‘s new, greatly expanded franchise sales management and compliance program will help franchisors take proactive steps to reduce risks, manage growth, and build a stronger, healthier franchise system. IFA Fran-Guard covers both the legal and business aspects of compliance with a series of modules designed or CEOs and senior executives, franchise development professionals, in-house counsel and franchise attorneys, paralegals and compliance managers.

CEOs and Senior Executives

Not only does a system-wide compliance program protect your franchise it can make it more profitable. Modules cover the Business Case for Compliance, Franchise Sales Growth & Management, and Best Practices.

Franchise Development Professionals

There’s more to compliance than legal requirements. Learn how a sales management and compliance program can increase your effectiveness and help drive franchise sales.

In-house Counsel, Franchise Attorneys, Paralegals and Compliance Managers

It’s important to integrate all aspects of franchise sales management and compliance from disclosure to franchise sales, field support, and operations. IFA Fran-Guard modules cover practical steps to implement a system-wdie compliance program.

All CFEs and CFE Candidates

IFA Fran-Guard has been incorporated into ICFE’s professional development program. IFA members who successfully complete the IFA Fran-Guard program will receive an ICFE Fran-Guard Certificate. All modules are approved for CFE credits.

Where is IFA Fran-Guard Available

Programs will be offered throughout the year at various IFA meetings and conferences and in different formats to make participation more convenient. Courses will be presented online via IFA University and through a series of webinars. A schedule of upcoming sessions may be found on the IFA website.

Fran-Guard Discussed on Franchise Today

Recently on Franchise Today, Paul Segreto welcomed as his guest, David French, Vice President, Government Relations at the International Franchise Association. Paul and David discussed franchise compliance and the development of the IFA FranGuard Program previously introduced at the IFA Convention in San Antonio. Listen On-Demand

About the International Franchise Association

The International Franchise Association, the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising, is the preeminent voice and acknowledged leader for the industry worldwide. Approaching a half-century of service with a growing membership of more than 1,100 franchise systems, 10,000-plus franchisees and more than 500 firms that supply goods and services to the industry, IFA protects, enhances and promotes franchising by advancing the values of integrity, respect, trust, commitment to excellence, honesty and diversity. For more information, visit the IFA Web site at www.franchise.org.

Source: International Franchise Association

Misinformation About Franchisors and Bankruptcy (Updated)

March 8, 2010March 8, 2010 · 4 Comments ·

Recently, I pointed out to the franchise community, an article on About.com about franchisors and bankruptcy. Having worked with a franchisor that was forced into bankruptcy, I knew the article was way off-base, the alleged facts entirely inaccurate, and the suggestions directed at franchisees alarming to say the least. I knew I could not sit back with a clear conscience thinking that franchisees may act on this misinformation.

Since then, Dan Daszkowski, the person listed as the author of the article, “How to Prepare for Franchisor’s Bankruptcy” contacted me and explained his position in the matter…

“Hi Paul, Thanks for pointing this out to me. This was totally my fault because I hired a writer that I felt was knowledgeable in this area to write this article and blog post and they obviously were not.

As an About.com Guide I am able to hire subcontractors to write and I only do this from time to time when I feel someone is more qualified than I am to cover a certain topic. Obviously I made a bad judgment call with this writer and I am glad you pointed it out. I have taken down the article and blog post to avoid any further confusion and so I do not mislead any franchisees that are currently in this situation.

I understand your frustration but I think you took it a little far in your blog post “Read Mr. Daszkowski’s bio and tell me if you believe he has the experience and knowledge to render legal advice about franchising, bankruptcy or about anything!” I have deleted the incorrect information from About.com and it would be great if you can delete this post as well. I am fully aware I do not have the experience to give legal advice but the rest just seems like a personal attack…”

Well, here’s my response to Mr. Daszkowski:

My only goal in writing my post was to point out and emphasize the misinformation provided in your article. As information published on the internet has the capability, if not probability, of lasting forever, I wanted to be certain there was no mistake the information provided in the article was inaccurate and that you could not possibly be mistaken for an attorney.

You stated to me that you felt I took the issue a little too far and personally attacked you. I am sorry that you feel that way but I do not regret my actions and statements as they were obviously instrumental in addressing inaccurate information and unwarranted advice that could have been catastrophic to any franchise system facing bankruptcy.

Speaking from experience, I have seen franchisees blindly follow similarly wrong advice as provided in your article only to be ordered by the United States Bankruptcy Judge to remit all withheld royalty payments to the franchisor within five days of his decision. Unfortunately, many of the franchisees had “spent” the monies that should have been earmarked for [eight months] royalties causing a near-catastrophic series of events as they had to come up with thousands of dollars they no longer had in their possession. The potential consequence for not abiding by the order: contempt of court and possible jail time!

When all was said and done, the franchise system unraveled and franchisees that may have survived, even as independents, ended up out of business or ironically, in bankruptcy. As for the brand and trademark, as well as the franchise agreements, as I recall, they were considered assets of the franchisor, and subsequently within the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Trustee.

So, [Mr. Daszkowski] thank you for pulling down the article to avoid any further confusion and to prevent franchisees that are currently in a bankruptcy situation from being misled.

Respectfully,

Paul Segreto

Yikes! Help or Yelp for Customer Service Issues?

March 5, 2010March 5, 2010 ·

In working with franchise clients on integrated franchise marketing strategies, including social media, a large part of our effort is directed towards improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google Real-time Search Results play a big role in this and as we know, these results are based upon social media activity and content.

Another aspect of SEO that goes hand-in-hand with search rankings is Local Business Listings Management which basically addresses local search results through a plethora of sites, including many customer review sites such as Yelp! But, what to do about negative customer reviews is always on our minds when they push their way towards the top of the search results. Especially, if the negative review is unwarranted. Or, if the negative review was legitimate, but the issue resolved. Should a negative mark be left out in the open for all the world to see? What are the potential repercussions if the comment is posted and tweeted throughout social media channels and we know this activity will be picked up in Goggle’s Real-Time Search Results. Potentially, this becomes a Circle of Life that we want to avoid. But, at what cost? Yikes!

Well, as the old Fram Oil Filter commercial states, “You can pay me now, or pay me later.” Translation for the franchise community: Dedicate some resources towards improving customer service practices now, or pay to try to remove the negative comments online later, which is not easy to do for a variety of reasons. Some of which may not be the most ethical as the customer review sites feel they have control of your destiny, and want you to pay dearly to relinquish the control back to you. Yikes, for sure!

The following post about one of the more popular review sites, Yelp! and such practices, was written by franchisEssentials Guest Author, Megan Erickson of the Dickinson Law Firm. As you may know, Megan is the author behind the recently launched Social Networking Law Blog. Previously, we posted an article by Megan that proved very popular in franchise circles, Employer Social Networking Policies.

Yelp! Faces Federal Class Action Lawsuit

Bad online review? Interested in buying your way out of it?

Yelp is a popular interactive website allowing its users to create and access reviews of local businesses and services. The site now faces serious accusations of unfair business practices.

After Yelp! received some bad press for what many believe to be shady advertising practices, a class action lawsuit was filed yesterday in a California federal court. According to a press release posted on the Yelp Class Action Website:

“The lawsuit alleges that Yelp runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of ‘advertising contracts,’ in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews appearing on the website.”

I first learned of the lawsuit via this post by Bradford Schmidt.

Social Media, Web 2.0 and Internet Stats: Astonishing, to say the least!

March 4, 2010March 4, 2010 ·

The following social media, Web 2.0 and internet statistics were recently posted on The Future Buzz.

Google search stats:

1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) – approximate number of unique URLs in Google’s index (source)

2,000,000,000 (two billion) – very rough number of Google searches daily (source)

$110,000,000 – approximately amount of money lost by Google annually due to the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button (source)

24,400 – number of people employed by Google (December, 2008)

68,000,000 – the average number of times people Googled the word Google each month for the last year (source: keyword tool)

$39.96 – the average cost per click for the phrase “consolidation of school loans” in AdWords (source: keyword tool)

1,430,000 – the number of Google results for “Robert Scoble”

136,000 – the number of Google results for “Admiral Ackbar”

Wikipedia stats

2,695,205 – the number of articles in English on Wikipedia

684,000,000 – the number of visitors to Wikipedia in the last year

75,000 – the number of active contributors to Wikipedia

10,000,000 – the number of total articles in Wikipedia in all languages

260 – the number of languages articles have been written in on Wikipedia

(source)

YouTube stats

70,000,000 – number of total videos on YouTube (March 2008)

200,000 – number of video publishers on YouTube (March 2008)

100,000,000 – number of YouTube videos viewed per day (this stat from 2006 is the most recent I could locate)

112,486,327 – number of views the most viewed video on YouTube has (January, 2009)

2 minutes 46.17 seconds – average length of video

412.3 years – length in time it would take to view all content on YouTube (March 2008)

26.57 – average age of uploader

13 hours – amount of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute

US $1.65 billion in Google stock – amount Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for in October 2006

$1,000,000 – YouTube’s estimated bandwidth costs per day

(sources here, here and here)

Blogosphere stats

133,000,000 – number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002

346,000,000 – number of people globally who read blogs (comScore March 2008)

900,000 – average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period

1,750,000 – number of RSS subscribers to TechCrunch, the most popular Technology blog (January 2009)

77% – percentage of active Internet users who read blogs

55% – percentage of the blogosphere that drinks more than 2 cups of coffee per day (source)

81 – number of languages represented in the blogosphere

59% – percentage of bloggers who have been blogging for at least 2 years

source

Twitter stats

1,111,991,000 – number of Tweets to date (see an up to the minute count here)

3,000,000 – number of Tweets/day(March 2008) (from TechCrunch)

165,414 – number of followers of the most popular Twitter user (@BarackObama) – but he’s not active

86,078 – number of followers of the most active Twitter user (@kevinrose)

63% – percentage of Twitter users that are male (from Time)

Facebook stats

200,000,000 – number of active users

100,000,000 – number of users who log on to Facebook at least once each day

170 – number of countries/territories that use Facebook

35 – number of different languages used on Facebook

2,600,000,000 – number of minutes global users in aggregate spend on Facebook daily

100 – number of friends the average user has

700,000,000 – number of photos added to Facebook monthly

52,000 – number of applications currently available on Facebook

140 – number of new applications added per day

source

Digg stats

236,000,000 – number of visitors attracted annually by 2008 (according to a Compete survey)

56% – percentage of Digg’s frontpage content allegedly controlled by top 100 users

124,340 – number of stories MrBabyMan, the number one user, has Dugg (see updated number here)

612 – number of stories from Cracked.com that have made page 1 of Digg (see all 41 pages of them here)

36,925 – number of Diggs the most popular story in the last 365 days has received (see story here)

Even more web 2.0, social media and internet stats, facts, figures and numbers:

Blogging Stats, Facts And Data: 2009 Blog Statistics By The Numbers

Future Marketing Trends: By The Numbers

Internet Marketing Tactics – What’s Hot And What’s Not

Are You Getting Positive Bottom Line Results From Your Social Media Efforts?

February 23, 2010February 24, 2010 · 1 Comment ·

Social media has definitely gone mainstream and many franchise organizations have embraced it for a variety of reasons. Some are utilizing it to create or improve brand awareness. Others are using it to drive business to franchise locations and/or to create interest in their franchise opportunity. And many have embraced it just because they believe they must, or feel they may miss the proverbial boat.

In any event, there are questions that franchise executives should be realistic about in answering as they continue their social media efforts and work towards effectively integrating the same with traditional marketing.

* What are the objectives for using social media within our franchise system?
* Has a comprehensive social media strategy been developed consistent with our goals?
* Are our social media efforts integrated with our overall marketing strategy?
* Are our social media efforts specifically targeted for optimum effectiveness?
* Are we effective in our social media efforts?
* What are our bottom line results?

Although all six questions listed above are important in evaluating your social media strategy and efforts, the last two questions may be the most important. Truly knowing and understanding the level of effectiveness of your social media efforts, and it’s affect on your bottom line, is essential to achieving your franchise marketing and development goals and objectives.

That’s where franchisEssentials can help!

FREE Social Media Assessment ($1200 Value)

franchisEssentials FREE Social Media Assessment has been designed exclusively for franchise organizations. Basically, the assessment is a 48-step Social Media Checkup that evaluates primary and secondary elements of social media efforts, explores franchise-related issues within social media messages, identifies specific opportunities per established and defined goals and objectives, establishes a baseline for quantifying and analyzing social media metrics, and provides a grade for each specific social media component being utilized as well as for the entire social media program.

Upon completion of the FREE Social Media Assessment, a debriefing session is scheduled to explain the results of our findings in full, concise detail and to provide best-practice recommendations for improvement in specific social media efforts, and for the social media program itself. Including the preliminary meeting which typically takes approximately 30-45 minutes, the actual assessment and evaluation, and the debriefing session which takes 45-75 minutes, the total process should be completed within four days.

Ask yourself the questions listed above, and unless your answers are honest and provide you will full satisfaction in your current social media efforts, we strongly suggest you take full advantage of franchisEssentials FREE Social Media Assessment. It really does make good business sense to do so!

Start Now!

To schedule a preliminary meeting, and/or to learn more about this FREE service or any of our franchise marketing and development services, please contact Paul Segreto by email or by phone at 832.838.4822.

Acceler8Success Cafe

Powered by Acceler8Success America

Author: Paul Segreto

Exclusive Mobile Marketing Program for Franchise Organizations

What is IFA Fran-Guard?

Misinformation About Franchisors and Bankruptcy (Updated)