Tag: Franchising

Unique Franchise Model Raises Questions…

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As most everyone in franchising knows, the Chick-fil-A franchise opportunity is quite unique, especially as compared to thousands of other franchise opportunites across all industry segments.

It appears Chick-fil-A has been quite successful with this unique business model, so why haven’t more franchisors followed suit? And, for the ones that have, why haven’t they succeeded?

With respect to a recent article’s reference to average franchisee profits, are there potential issues with Financial Performance Representations in the franchisor’s Franchise Disclosure Document?

Here’s a thought as I compare Chick-fil-A to other franchises… Should Chick-fil-A really be considered a franchise?

Hey, don’t get me wrong… I admire a company that affords individuals the opportunity to earn significant income, provides a great product and customer experience, and stands by its convictions (Closed on Sundays for religious reasons). My questions are entirely focused on the franchising aspect. Is it really a franchise?

Is the Chick-fil-A model more successful from the perspective of failed locations than other franchise chains?

From a business standpoint it appears there is much to be learned from Chick-fil-A. So, why aren’t more franchisors developing similar business practices, even beyond the franchise practices.

Looking to keep this positive… and really looking forward to all thoughts, insight and perspective!

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Franchising Excluded from AMEX Small Business Saturday Events!

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This Saturday, November 26th is the 2nd Annual American Express Small Business Saturday. Most likely you have seen advertising and promotions for the event. Possibly you’ve seen the event’s Facebook page that has over 2.3 million LIKES. If you spend as much time online as I have you, then you have definitely seen promo after promo mentioning the event.

Well, franchising, supposedly the cornerstone of small business and as many claim, the driving force behind economic recovery in America, has been excluded from the event. Here’s the AMEX notice…

ELIGIBILITY: The Program is only available to independently owned businesses. Small business cannot promote any of the following: pharmaceuticals, drugs, politics, pornography or sexual aids, diet aids, gambling, liquor, tobacco, firearms/weapons, or any sensitive topic with respect to current events, and any such small businesses are not eligible for this Program. Franchisees, national chains and government agencies are not eligible. By participating in this Program, you represent and warrant that (i) your business complies with the requirements set forth herein and (ii) you are the owner of the business and have the right to participate in this Program.

Yet, American Express heavily solicits franchise brands and franchisees to accept the American Express Card. And, as we all know, at a higher rate than that of Visa and MasterCard. Not to mention the fact that American Express typically exhibits at franchise conferences and trade shows where they promote AMEX Merchant Services. Besides, aren’t franchise locations independently owned and operated?

At the very least, franchisees should be able to participate locally even if franchise brands are prohibited from participating at the national level!

So, do you believe American Express was correct in excluding franchise brands and franchisees from Small Business Saturday? What are your thoughts?

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The Digital Holy Trinity – Possibility or Probability?

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I was recently asked my opinion of Groupon and I immediately thought of its place within the whole realm of traditional and social media marketing, and how I see its sustainability in small business, including franchising, and if I recommend using group coupon deals at all.

Here’s my opinion, subsequent rant… and a bold prediction!

Groupon and others like it should only be utilized strategically and only for a specific purpose such as generating immediate interest and cash flow for a typically slow period, and to infiltrate a competitor’s customer base. Both of these objectives have been achieved by utilizing a Groupon-type coupon. Further effectiveness is evident as the coupon strategy is enhanced by social media.

Personally, there are so many Groupon copycats that the allure, even from a customer perspective, has diminished considerably from just six months ago. Case in point – I had purchased over 30 Groupons and similar coupons and was happy to use them all. That being said, over the past three or so months I have not purchased a single one. Why? Because before it was one deal per day and I was notified of the same and I could simply decide one way or the other. Now, I’ve got to look at deals, is it family based or not, entertainment or service… just too much of a hassle. Not to mention the bombardment of collateral emails like for Social Escapes by Living Social, etc.

Beyond that, coupons and promotions will be very geo-specific. Actually, social media is becoming very geo-specific which will drive the geo-specificity of coupons and promotions. Facebook has a distinct advantage over many others as they have both Facebook Places and Facebook Deals. Further, they have finalized or are close to finalizing a deal with Foursquare whereby it works hand-in-hand with Facebook Places. As it is, Foursquare populates into Facebook (and Twitter). And mobile phone usage will continue to drive check-ins and geo-specific marketing. Customer Review sites are jumping on the bandwagon and offer check-ins as well.

Where I believe Facebook will prevail as the leader, is the community feature. Basically, a captive audience where fans can realize all, including coupons and promotions, check-ins, customer reviews, sharing information, posting comments, etc. The push to a more mobile-friendly Facebook is already occurring. If you can think it, Facebook is probably working on it. If not, they’ll buy it. Long-term contracts? Facebook deems them as not being necessary. They really don’t need to as no one really competes with Facebook.

Now that Facebook has become more business-friendly, the sky is the limit. I project you’ll see Facebook go after LinkedIn or develop something similar. Twitter could be a possible acquisition. MySpace? That will be interesting especially as Zuckerburg feels the under 13 crowd should be on Facebook. With MySpace, he’d give them more reason to do so… or maybe justification. Foursquare? Some type of merger would be practical. How about the rumors that Apple is stockpiling their cash for a run at Facebook? Now THAT would be very interesting!

On the other front is Google. Certainly, they are a search powerhouse. And, with their acquisition of YouTube, they now have the top two search engines. Yes, YouTube is used for search even more than Yahoo and Bing. But, Google has not done well with social media. Think GoogleBuzz and GoogleWave. So, at what point does Google and Facebook realize they’ve each cornered their own parts of the market. Maybe even covering the whole market? Would that then create the possibility of a Google-Facebook merger? Just think of THOSE possibilities! And, now that Microsoft has purchased Skype, maybe the celestial landscape will include Skype… albeit with an improved mobile application.

So, the winning combination in one way, shape or form is… Search, Social, Mobile. I like to call it the Digital Holy Trinity!

*This post was originally posted on this site May 2011.

Author’s note – As for Google +, it remains to be seen what happens with Google’s latest attempt at social media.  I, for one, believe it will also fall by the wayside as their other attempts within social media have in the past.


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What Excites You About Working Within Franchising?

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What an extraordinary time it is in franchising. Many of us are still riding high from the IFA Convention. Approximately 160 franchise professionals attended the Franchise Unconference last week in Utah. It is my understanding turnout at this week’s Franchise Finance Conference in Las Vegas was very good. And, in a few weeks many of us will be in Washington DC for the International Franchise Expo. That’s just a great deal of positive energy in a six-week period within franchising. Certainly, it’s exciting to be working in franchising as the economy continues to rebound.

Of course, it’s easy to be excited when there’s a load of positive energy at showcase events. Seeing long-time friends with similar interests and objectives adds to the excitement. It’s also relatively early in the year, and many are filled with New Year’s resolutions that have yet to be challenged. Optimism fuels excitement! But, let’s take a step back and look at the core of franchising. Let’s evaluate why we have decided to continue earning a living within franchising. Through the worst of economic times, with franchise sales bottoming out, why did we hang around instead of doing something else for a living? Sure, many will say there weren’t other jobs available. But, I truly believe there was more to it than that.

Approximately eight months ago, in the LinkedIn Franchise Executives group, I asked, What Excites You About Working Within Franchising? and received over 50 responses. Let’s take a look…

John Teza, President at Janus Brands, responded “Empowering an individual to change their lives. No matter the intended change, be it in terms of income, lifestyle, or equity building, for many individuals, opening a business is a life changing experience. Playing a small part in that transformation is very rewarding.”

Lyndsey Jardine Wolfsmith, Business Coach at The Entrepreneur Source, exclaimed “Love your question Paul! I think franchising is fascinating…there are so many facets from developing a successful franchise model to helping clients understand the sheer breadth of options. When you are surrounded by all that variety, how can you not be excited!”

Even The Franchise King, Joel Libava, chimed in “I really enjoy moving folks away from corporate employment, so that they can have their shot at the American Dream. (Only if it makes sense to do so on a whole bunch of levels) I also enjoy providing an independent perspective on the state of franchising in a very gentle way.”

Many of the responses spoke about the satisfaction of putting people in business, helping them achieve the American Dream. And, despite what franchise professionals went through at the low point of the economic downturn, some only needed to be reminded of the passion behind franchising to get moving back in the right direction as evident by the following response…

Kevin Joiner, former, President at Crye-Leike Franchises, stated “Wow! Reading all of these positive comments re-energize me dramatically. I agree with many of the comments. I am the FORMER president of a Real Estate franchising company that operated primarily in the Southeastern U.S. Unfortunately, I was required to layoff my complete staff effective March 1, 2010 (as a cost-cutting, cost-savings measure) and turn over franchise system oversight to the founder and owner of the parent company. Having grown the organization from virtually nothing, into a $500 million dollar sales enterprise with approximately 50+ franchisees in six years, it was hard to take. However, I am expecting to hopefully regain momentum and move forward with another organization soon.”

Many ask how I would answer my own question…

“I’m excited to work within franchising because I get many chances to help franchise organizations succeed at all levels. I know that’s a lofty proposition, but it’s true. It’s what I’ve dedicated myself to as I have recovered from a near-catastrophic experience ten or so years ago as a once-successful multi-unit franchisee that took his eye off the ball and subsequently failed. Certainly, it would be easy to reflect upon what that experience did to me. But there are other things to consider as such experiences can effect entire franchise organizations. There could be collateral damage, and at times, a ripple affect.

Of course, I do what I do to earn a living and provide for my family. But I could do that in a host of different industries or business environments. Instead, I chose to put the bad experience aside and focus on how I can help others within franchising. Not only to avoid the mistakes I’ve made, but to focus on best practices that lend towards franchise success at levels.

With extensive experience and success in franchise marketing and development, and in training franchisees and franchise staff alike, gained in the various positions I have held for franchisors, I have focused my attention on making a difference in franchise organizations in these key areas. Sure, many know me from my almost incessant social media activity, but I’m just embracing what I believe to be a tremendous technology and communications tool that when utilized effectively and coupled with best practices, will contribute to franchise success at all levels.”

In case you haven’t noticed, it is also the same response when I’m asked, What is it that I do?


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CNBC and P&G… too cozy a relationship?

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I find it curious that CNBC would post a clarification and edit an already aired documentary because a willing participant supposedly misspoke in making a misleading statement about franchise royalty calculations? If there was a misstatement it certainly was not one made by CNBC and therefore should not have warranted a correction by CNBC.

In addition, it also may be lost on viewers that the Mr. Clean Car Washes, Tide Dry Cleaners and Dunkin Donuts were beneficiaries of the documentary. And of course it is apparent that Mr. Clean Car Washes, Tide Dry Cleaners are both franchises sold by a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble, what is not obvious is that Dunkin Donuts brand coffee is roasted and sold under license by Proctor & Gamble in grocery stores across the country and NBC owner of CNBC generates millions of dollars of advertising revenue from Proctor & Gamble.

Did CNBC edit this documentary to protect its advertising revenue from Proctor & Gamble? Did Proctor & Gamble exert undue pressure on NBC / CNBC to change the documentary? This kind of thing is unheard of.


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Social Media… A Jungle for Franchising?

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Franchising is no stranger to change. The industry adapted well to the internet when it integrated its then traditional marketing at tradeshows with development of elaborate websites. Next, the industry adapted again as it integrated its marketing efforts and web presence with franchise consultants and brokers through a multitude of franchise portals.

Well, as Bob Dylan once wrote, “…the times they are a changing.” Much has been written and spoken about weeding through the many tire-kickers experienced on the internet, shuffling from one portal to the next with the same non-objective to “see what’s out there.” The franchise industry has literally seen thousands of these leads with no purpose, no chance of ever presenting a franchise opportunity.

Instead of trying to catch fish in a wide open ocean, why not direct your attention to the fish in a lake, pond or even, a barrel? That’s correct, a barrel! In searching for qualified franchise candidates, we, as an industry, need to locate the barrels of candidates that exist in the market today. How do we accomplish this seemingly insurmountable task? We need to embrace new technology and integrate the same with traditional efforts. Specifically, Social Media and all it has to offer.

Social Media is truly extraordinary, consisting of many different aspects beyond the familiar LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. There are wikis, webinars, blogs and podcasts, just to name a few. But there are others as well. To the many, the thought of stepping foot into this jungle is daunting, and therefore, the journey continues to be delayed. So, as the old adage of how one could eat an entire elephant (of course, one bite at a time), it’s necessary to take small bites out of the Social Media elephant and step through the jungle carefully, one step at a time – using all the tools at our disposal to reach our destination… our objective.

The following is a discussion on a blog by Michelle Bonat originally posted in 2008 but still very relevant today. Michelle discusses taking small steps towards integrating Social Media Marketing with classic (traditional) marketing programs.

Babysteps…How to integrate social media with traditional marketing programs

Social media marketing is most effective when it is an integrated part of your overall marketing efforts. But how do you jump into social media when you already have some really effective classic marketing programs in play? Here are a few ways you can babystep into the world of social media by leveraging the good stuff you already have.

1) Maintain a single consistent marketing strategy through classic and social media marketing.

Your goals, objectives and messages should be consistent across all of your marketing. Sounds simple, but unless you define and enforce this it won’t happen.

The good news here is that you don’t have to re-figure this all out just for social media. It is really just taking your existing marketing platform and extending it.

2) Extend your reach – Reach out to your influencers in ways that they like to communicate.

Use your existing marketing knowledge about who influences your product’s purchasing decisions, and use social media tools to create a discussion with them where they hang out.

Some specific examples: Are your influencers kids? Get on the social networks catering to the younger set. IT buyers? Figure out which bloggers are influencing this community. Mobile sales professionals? Deliver content in a mobile enabled way, such as Twitter.

3) Invite your customers into the process.

While you are planning your next product, refining your messaging, or even launching a marketing campaign, figure out a way to get your customers involved whenever possible as early as possible. When you do this they feel that they have been heard, feel more engaged and valued, which results in a tighter connection with your company and product. It also gives you the benefit of upfront input. A product that people actually want? Described in a manner that speaks to them? Wonderful!

A good way to on-ramp this customer involvement include online communities (public or private, even a public group on an existing social network). You can even ask them to deliver their thoughts in video form by way of a contest – “describe what our product means to you”.

4) Turn an online forum into a social media hub.

Make people feel more at home by adding profile information and allowing the posting of pictures (or pointers to a picture posting service like Flickr).

Recognize that you have to give to get. Start a genuine conversation with your audience by having company employees contribute to the forums in their own words. For example, instead of just asking for feature enhancements suggestions, tell them what direction you are headed and, if possible, the timing for these enhancements (without giving away too much info). Then ask them their opinion.

Try these few tips to help ease into a social media program that leverages your existing marketing – and you will soon be on your way!

Note: This post was revised from earlier post on this site, “Web 2.0 – A Jungle for Franchise Development” (Mar 2009)


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Exclusive Mobile Marketing Program for Franchise Organizations

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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.


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What Do Franchises and Franchising Experts Do On Social Media?

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franchisenote-logoHere’s an article that was posted on Franchise Note on October 2, 2009, by Business Blogger and Webpreneur, Ivan Widjaya. Thank you, Ivan, for including some very flattering comments about my social media activity within franchising.

What Do Franchises and Franchise Experts Do On Social Media?
by Ivan Widjaya

Franchises are getting along well with social media. Although I cannot present you with analytical data and stats, I can see that franchises are taking benefit from the social media, in term of brand awareness and franchise information (including promos, events, polls, etc.) Eventually, all of those will be translated into more customers and revenue.

With various strategies, plans and purposes, it’s enlightening to learn and observe what franchising people are doing in major social media. Let’s do our brief exploration in three social media behemoths – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Franchising on Facebook

Facebook offers franchises and franchise experts opportunities to build and engage network that will buzz your franchise businesses and services, creating a strong awareness on the Net that could very well get franchises more business.

Let’s take the people I connect with (a.k.a. friends) from Franchise Note’s Facebook account.

As for franchises, I consider WingZone Franchise as one of the better franchisors’ account on Facebook (WingZone also has other Web 2.0 presence, namely Twitter, MySpace and YouTube.) It is full of interesting updates, giving us the example of what franchises can do with Facebook.

For example, WingZone post a notification of free chicken wings in a certain area of operation – Of course, this will create buzz, as well as brand awareness, and eventually send people to Wing’s store to get some free wings (and buy some other stuffs.)

As for franchising experts, I consider Paul Segreto’s Facebook account to be interesting. He is using a mixture of updates, ranging from personal updates (e.g. posting a video about a dog helping one of his canine friends in need) to professional updates (e.g. informing about his another webinar series in October.)

Franchising on Twitter

Twitter is the fastest growing social media that is predicted to exceed Facebook in popularity. The appeal is on the 140-character ‘tweet’ that allow Twitter users – Including those in franchising – to share info quickly.

From my Twitter account, I usually follow those that I know, was recommended or think they are interesting. I read those I follow (for franchising topic, I recommend Joel Libava’s) for several times in a day (in fact, I check and re-check my Twitter account dozens of times a day.) The updates are basically a comment with a link to the source or reference (and yes, about 50 to 60 percent of the tweets I received are either for Internet marketing purposes or promotional efforts.)

If I can’t seem to follow the updates I like, I read franchising updates in the form of Twitter’s search widget from Franchise Note sidebar (somewhere in FranchiseNote.com’s right column.)

Similar to Facebook, but in 140 characters or less, Twitter updates you with short blurbs (That’s why Twitter is called a micro-blogging platform) of those you follow. It’s nice to see those franchises and franchise experts are having a chit-chat, allowing you to see a hint of their focus, vision and characters.

Franchising on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is pretty similar to Facebook, but to highlight, the ability to present a resume-like profile page and endorse your contact is what making LinkedIn stands out. Professional recommendations are powerful tools in getting you the buzz and new clients, especially if you are providing professional advices (i.e. franchise consultant)

If you are into franchising (or at least, want to learn about franchising) I suggest you to join one of the LinkedIn group for franchises, Franchise Networking (more than 2,800 members), where you can read articles and follow/participate in discussions on franchising topic.

You can learn more about the background of the franchise owners and experts you know or follow from the profile page – Take Paul Segreto’s profile as an example: You can learn that he attended college at Wagner College and 12 people have recommended him so far. If you are interested in his services, reading his profile page is pretty much giving you an idea or two why he is one of the authoritative voices in US franchising.

And yes, reading through Paul’s LinkedIn profile makes what’s inside my LinkedIn profile looks insignificant.

Any thoughts to share? Please share yours by commenting to this article.

Franchising & Entrepreneurship: The Debate Continues…

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franchisingRecently, I posted the article “Are Franchisees Entrepreneurs?” and received plenty of comments defending both sides of the equation. Some seemed to justify their current status as a franchisee as being entrepreneurial while others were emphatic that entrepreneurs are too independent to be franchisees. Franchisors, yes! But definitely not franchisees.

Last week on Franchise Direct the following article, “Entrepreneurship vs Franchising” was posted, and the debate continues…

Entrepreneurship vs Franchising
By Donald Cranford
as posted on Franchise Direct (July 7, 2009)

Given the state of the economy, it’s perhaps a good time to reconsider some of the myths of entrepreneurship to see whether the small business dream holds the same allure it once did. Certainly the days where all you needed to get investment in an internet business was a quirky idea are gone the way of the buffalo. If anything, the death of this kind of entrepreneurship makes the best possible case for franchising.

Some of these thoughts came to us after reading a highly interesting piece in the Harvard Business Review by Walter Kuemmerle, an associate professor at the Harvard Business School in Boston. Although he was writing in 2002, most of the points Kuemmerle makes are still relevant in 2009, if not more so.

entrepreneurshipIn his piece, Kuemmerle seeks to outline the various risks and challenges that a prospective entrepreneur will have to take on to truly succeed. Kuemmerle wants to force business-people to look in the mirror and ask themselves: is this really the model I want to follow to achieve my personal business dreams? The converse to his questions are: is franchising a better business model?

Kuemmerle outlines two entrepreneurship risks/questions that we hadn’t even considered:

Are you comfortable stretching the rules?
Are you prepared to make powerful enemies?

The former is particularly compelling argument against entrepreneurship. Those first two or three years of getting a business going involve taking huge financial risks, and in many cases, hounding off creditors, juggling debt on personal credit cards and even leveraging your family home in order to keep the business afloat. This is a reality that most entrepreneurs simply accept, but it brings great risk and peril to your home life, especially in this recession. But as Kuemmerle says, most success stories for start-up’s he knows include the use of outrageous tactics. Or Kuemmerle later asks: “Do you have the stomach for subterfuge?”

He also points out the fact that having a truly successful start-up often means brushing up against powerful enemies. Kuemmerle adds three other points about the need to be flexible, decisive and incredibly patient to make it as entrepreneur.

Now while all of these skills are generally needed to run a strong small business, the fact is the franchising model eliminates many of the risks and indeed dangers that are part and parcel of launching a start-up. With a franchise, you have a proven business plan and a source of support and knowledge from the franchisor. Some entrepreneurs may disagree with the concept of a franchise fee, but really it is nominal compared to some of the outrageous leaps involved in entrepreneurship. It’s a time for hedging your bets and as Kummerle concludes:

“Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everyone, and even those who have the right stuff find the path to success much rougher, and usually, much longer than they had anticipated.”

Note: Another interesting article surrounding franchising and entrepreneurship was also recently posted on franchisEssentials, “Startups: Do We Really Need Them?”

We’re looking for your comments and insight:

Are Franchisees Entrepreneurs?
Startups: Do We Really Need Them?

Talking PR, Franchising & Social Media with Arment Dietrich CEO, Gini Dietrich

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PR Adapt or DieAs we do quite often, Gini Dietrich, CEO at Arment Dietrich PR, and I, communicate on Twitter, on Facebook, by email and by phone, about a multitude of things, both business and personal. Sure, we banter and kid a great deal along the way. But when the discussion turns to franchising, communications and social media, the kidding quickly subsides, and the conversation turns serious. Okay, not completely serious, because we’re both smart-asses. But serious to the point that we’re anxious to share our ideas with each other, and determine ways to share them with our franchise clients and the franchise community.

Recently, I turned one of our discussions into an informal interview, and asked Gini to share some of her thoughts, so I could share the same with the franchisEssentials readers. Always being shy and not wanting to be in the limelight (yeah, right!), Gini fired off her responses without hesitation, further demonstrating her passion, and conviction in her thoughts. I just loved her response when asked about the future of public relations, as we know it today. Well, decide for yourself as you read some of the Q & A below.

Paul: “How important is a communications strategy to franchise organizations today?”

Gini: “It’s not at all important. Ha! Just kidding. To use one of my favorite quotes by NPS senior news analyst Daniel Schorr, “If you don’t exist in the media, for all practical purposes, you don’t exist.” But in today’s age of digital technology, it’s not just the traditional media strategy that a franchise needs to have. I love the case study of the companies that made it through the Great Depression. Know what they all had in common? They didn’t cut their communication. In fact, they increased it. And the companies that did that then are still around today while their competitors, who cut their communication budgets, went out of business. Like Daniel Schorr says, if you’re not communicating, how will your customers know you exist now and into the future?”

Paul: “Is it important for local franchisees to have a communications strategy in place or is it sufficient to only have it at the franchisor level?”

Gini: “I’m a HUGE proponent of local franchisees having a strategy in place that is complementary to what the franchisor is doing. Consider most reporters won’t cover your business unless there is a local angle. Most local baseball teams are sponsored by local businesses. The Mayor won’t show up to your ribbon cutting if you’re not giving back to the community. Add into the mix social media and you know that people buy from people and want to have a relationship with the people they do business with…not the company or the brand. The person who buys your product or service in his/her community, wants to have a relationship with the person running that entity, not the corporate monster.”

Paul: “Is public relations, as we have known it over the years, changing to adapt to a more “connected” society?”

Gini: “There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not public relations, as an industry, is dying. Most PR people (as evidenced by a recent IABC poll) deny it’s happening and are content with doing their jobs as they’ve always known them. I contend social media is changing the way we communicate and PR, as we know it, is dying. Regardless of PR professionals thinking social media affects the way they do their jobs, someone has to own it – be it marketing, PR, or advertising. I’d rather jump on it now and own it. After all, social media is about developing and fostering relationships with customers, stakeholders, employees, influencers, and individuals. Traditional PR is about developing and fostering relationships with media and influencers. Makes sense to me that it fit in with PR.”

Paul: “What role do you see social media playing within the franchise community?”

Gini: “I love, love, love what Tasti D-Lite is doing with social media. I use this example all the time. They have a store in the Empire State Building. Whenever someone tweets that they are in or near the Empire State Building, @tastidlite sends them an offer to come into the store. In some cases, they offer a free frozen dessert. In others, a discount. This has helped them build in-store profitability, loyal customers, and their intensely passionate following. This is SO EASY to do at the franchisee level. This is just one example of how social media helps build a franchisee following. Get out there and try it. It works!”