Doc Franchise Writings and Ramblings

Franchises have it the worst. One corporate mast but many media experts; each one sure they know what is best for their market. Eeeesh!

Any successful brand is successful by standing for something singular in the mind of their users, clients, customers and potential customers. Getting those folks to see you different, what you stand, for is almost impossible unless you don’t stand for anything at all. In other words, a brand that is nowhere in the mind is a brand that can be changed. A brand that stands for something in the mind is a brand that is locked into its position.

In the cemetery of failed launches are thousands of products like Xerox computers, IBM copiers, Tanqueray vodka, Listerine toothpaste, Coca-Cola clothes, etc. These products didn’t fail in the marketplace, they failed in the mind. They tried to stand for something that didn’t fit the prospects perceptions about the brands.

Mind first, market second. You can’t short-circuit the process by taking a good product to market to demonstrate its superior performance and then, in the process, changing perceptions in the mind of the consumer.

I have been in more meetings than I can count where a franchise or association CEO or a CMO has said, 'Here is our product which out-performs our competition. Now it’s your job to communicate that superiority to prospects.'

Forget your objective reality. Forget product superiority. Marketing is a game of perceptions. The perception is the reality. Start with the mind of the prospect and figure out a way to deal with those perceptions, even if those perceptions are negative. Once you find that perception pound it to death!
• Avis is No. 2 in rent-a-cars. So why go with us? We try harder.
• The taste you hate, twice a day. Listerine.
• With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.

Every one of those changed the message along the way. But we, as consumers, we never changed our minds.

Many marketing people don’t have the courage to deal with negative perceptions. Most franchisees get bored so easily they're worse than an ADHD Chimp locked in a cage with a case of Rockstar! They constantly change and they constantly create marketing positions that are ignored.

That’s understandable. But what’s not understandable are the number of marketing people willing to walk away from positive perceptions.

Take Pepsi-Cola, for example. Now, I have to admit, I love this case study. It is one of my favorites. What comes to mind when you think of Pepsi? Back in 1963, the brand launched an advertising program that has to be the ultimate cola campaign.

The Pepsi Generation.

This idea took advantage of a key psychological principle. The younger generation looks for ways to rebel against the older generation. Since the older generation was drinking Coca-Cola, it was easy to convince the younger generation that they should be drinking Pepsi.

How long did the Pepsi Generation slogan last? Just four years. For the next 16 years, Pepsi experimented with a number of different slogans.

1967: Taste that beats the others cold. Pepsi pours it on.
1969: You’ve got a lot to live. Pepsi’s got a lot to give.
1973: Join the Pepsi people feelin free.
1976: Have a Pepsi day.
1979: Catch that Pepsi spirit.
1981: Pepsi’s got your taste for life.
1983: Pepsi now!

Sixteen years wasted until, in 1984, Pepsi went right back to what made the brand a strong No. 2 to Coca-Cola.

Pepsi. The choice of a new generation.

Nothing is as vulnerable as a powerful advertising slogan. Year after year, creative hot shots take a crack at it, figuring that if they can topple the king, their reputations are made for life.

Finally by 1992, they did it. At the Super Bowl that year, Pepsi-Cola introduced a new advertising slogan with three 60-second commercials.

The new slogan: Gotta have it.

The TV commercials were loaded with celebrities including such old-timers as Yogi Berra, Regis Philbin and George Plimpton. At first, I was upset that all these old folks started drinking it, says one hip-looking teenager in one of the spots, and then I said, Hey, they’re people, too.

One of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make is appealing to everybody. If you appeal to everybody, you appeal to nobody.

In one of the commercials, a little girl notes, If the taste of Pepsi is so big, then everybody’s gotta have it.

Appealing to everybody didn’t work for Pepsi-Cola. ‘Gotta have it’ lasted about as long as a peanut M&M in my mouth. By the next year, it was back to the younger generation. Be young, have fun, drink Pepsi. As the years rolled on, Pepsi kept on -- changing its slogan.

1995: Nothing else is a Pepsi.
1997: Generation Next. (Close, but no cigar.)
1999: The joy of cola.
2002: The joy of Pepsi.
2004: Pepsi. It’s the cola.
2007: More Happy
2008: Something for Everyone

Tell the truth. Do you remember any of these Pepsi-Cola advertising slogans? Isn’t the only idea connected with the brand its appeal to the younger generation? Isn’t the Pepsi Generation the one slogan that most people remember? I think so.

In his book, Adcult USA, James Twitchell tells a story about Rosser Reeves. An executive of Minute Maid once complained about Reeves refusal to fiddle with the advertising, saying ‘You have 47 people working on my brand, and you haven’t changed the campaign in 12 years. What are they doing?’

Reeves replied: ‘They’re keeping your people from changing your ad.’

To all you erstwhile wizened sages of the franchise wars, be smart, do yourself a favor; find what works, use what works, get to that point and then allow creativity to shine through that singular filter.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Everyone has heard of it by now. Very few know how to use it and I suggest that many franchises are still missing out on a major marketing process by continuing in the dark ages by ignoring it. I am talking about Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a powerful Internet tool aimed to increase brand, product and service visibility and your business presence on the web. Since the Internet is now the primary source of information and goods for multi-market and Top 100 regional market companies and service providers, it only makes sense to be as visible as possible in order to attract and meet the needs of your prospects, clients and customers.

There are many ways to approach SEO efforts, and it can be difficult for businesses just starting out. Luckily, there are many resources available to assist in SEO efforts, especially for small businesses. Here are my quick tips for effective SEO marketing and your franchise.

1. Set a Goal

Search engine optimization efforts (SEO) will not go far without a specific goal in mind for your overall branding efforts. What words do you want to own on the web? How do you wish to be positioned on the web? If you have a strong competitor or competitors and they already have established a high presence using certain terms and owning a particular place in the minds of customers you need to ask yourself, "what can I own? What position still exists that would service our company and our branding?"

Before you dive head-first into your market position efforts, develop a strategy for what you want to accomplish. Perhaps it already exists in your current marketing plan. Is that plan transitional to the Internet? Secondly, create objectives that relate to your planning. Whether it’s to increase the number of views to your website or landing pages each week, increase your franchisees page rank, expand your customer base or have a newsworthy story picked up by a certain number of information outlets, having a goal for market positioning and goals for constant web presence and position improvement within your field will assist you in improving your brand, and also provide something to compare and measure your results against as it relates to your current efforts.

2. Add a Blog

I want to keep this simple today but so here is the simplified version of understanding web presence. Research has consistently shown that a static Web site (create once - walk away) will have little lasting effect on improving your marketing efforts. A blog is a way to change that. Even having a blog (ongoing messages about you, your business, your business partners, the market you are in and the market trends) as your main SEO priority can help drive traffic to your Websites.

And oddly enough a blog also adds credibility to your company, shows customers that you’re Web savvy, and can help your company stay on top of current trends. Like every other part of your marketing game make sure the blog has an over all purpose and is providing content that will attract readers from the beginning. Again, site credibility is a key for a webblog. One word of caution, Blogging is a commitment. Make sure you realize you are in it for the long haul. Have it determined that you can add contact to your blog at least once and more would be better times a week.

3. Produce Valuable Content

There is an increasing trend for companies to form with the intention of making money simply through advertising and second-rate content. While these companies do provide keyword-rich content, they do it for all of the wrong reasons. Search engines respond to the number of times a term is repeated on a site, as well as the number of other sites that are linking back to it. Inbound links from these sites are what really drives up your page rankings. This is what many SEO link builders focus on the most. Don't get stuck just yammering on about particular key words or links. Providing interesting and valuable content that will stand out from the fake sites is surprisingly easy to do.

Google offers this insight for webmasters:

“The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it. Before making any single decision, you should ask yourself the question: Is this going to be beneficial for my page’s visitors? “

4. Use Free Resources

The Internet provides a number of resources and tools for analytics and web marketing, and many of them are free. Again, for brevity sake, I simply refer you to Google, do a search for SEO analytics. As a matter of fact our favorite web search tool has it's own free tools. Installing tools such as Google’s Analytics can help you track traffic, and also give reports of where visitors are coming from, how often they visit, and the keyword searches (What did they search for that brought them to you?) that bring them there. Additionally, Twitter has long been a tool for Web marketing and SEO efforts, because of the number of people one can reach at just the click of a button. The Twitter community has amazing and free tools to capture who is viewing you, from where and from your efforts get a sense of why. Can you imagine how that helps you to understand how the market, potential clients and competitors might see you and your brand?

NOTE: You can get a sense of your current status by typing “link:yourwebaddresshere” into Google; the results will show what sites are currently linking to your site, and you may discover some sites and users you were previously unaware of. Analyzing the results can help to target certain audiences and build a base for developing future tactics and content.

5. Establish Relationships

For my money Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are the top 3 social networks every business needs to hook into. You can create relationships with similar companies in your field, market partners, influential writers, PR professionals and journalists as well as people who are interested in your company. Establishing these relationships, will gain you a community that are willing to distribute links to your site and often link back to your site from their web addresses.

Within those web tools mentioned above there is a second way to improve your product, service and company message. Participate in discussions, and join forums within those web sites and their tools. Linking to others’ content can highlight your company, your brand, your service and your content.

The extended value of this last methodology provides you a professional platform and process within a more ubiquitous arena of interest. Your inks will be displayed from credible, influential Web sites that will add valuable traffic to your site.

Learn more about SEO on your own. Don't just leave it to the so-called professionals. Most of them are less than 24 and know nothing about your business, what you are attempting to accomplish through your web presence or know how to ensure you attract the right viewers to your websites. What they do know is the general information I just shared with you here. It's up to you to add the particulars.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Life has a way of manipulating the circumstances and the conditions. Often executives and those vulnerable to economic downturns (finance, technology, real estate, mortgage industry, and manufacturing come to mind) turn to consideration of business ownership.

I'm often asked when I speak to groups, "Are there some hard and fast rules of doing a proper examination or investigation of the various kinds or brands? Can you better understand the business if you do certain things?" The answer is mostly yes. The more you actually know the more confident you are once you make a decision.

But there are dangers as well. Often we study so much the line becomes blurred between what is factual and actual and what is someone's overly blustered and inaccurately stated opinion or random thoughts.

Here are some things I recommend to you that you DO:

1. Investigate franchise opportunities by getting first-hand information. By visiting a franchise trade show or contacting a franchise consultant or broker you will get direct information; point A to Point B. Don't start by studying the fringes.

2. Talk to the present owners of the franchise. Ask them how pleased they are with their decision, are they progressing as anticipated, what were the surprises and would they do it again. Inquire if the franchiser is responsive to their needs and whether the training was adequate. It is important to determine the integrity of the franchiser in following through on promises to provide strong initial training and to supply immediate technical assistance when problems arise. Find out what the top values they are receiving as a franchisee.

3. Consult professional and seasoned franchise advisers as opposed to just anyone who is willing to provide an opinion. I would include a small business CPA amongst your advisors. If you do not have one ask the franchisees themselves. On the legal side you will find most franchisee's have not used a lawyer simply because franchising is so highly controlled and regulated. If you feel you want a lawyer make sure it is truly a franchise attorney. Franchise law and business law are Venus and Mars. Don't pay your attorney to learn franchise law by having him come in and make you look like an idiot to the franchise companies because they want you to demand changes that cannot be made.

4. Read the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) with understanding. This is where having a franchise consultant can be a great help. A seasoned professional will be able to let you know what is standard, boilerplate franchise language and what you need to be sensitive to. Most often you need to be sensitive to Items 3,4, 5, 6, 7 and 19 and recognize the rest relates to general business standards.

There are exceptions however. The good news is that an FDD is written in fifth grade English and is free of all legal jargon. You will be able to read it and understand it. That "easy-to-read" too is a mandate by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and must be adhered to by the Franchise companies when they develop their documents. And, just so you know, the Federal Trade Commission requires all franchisers to supply prospective franchisees with a FDD at least 10 days before they are presented with agreement documents.

I will create an entire blog to the topic of reading and FDD soon.

5. Use a franchise consulting service. Franchise consulting services earn their keep by doing two things that make the life of a potential candidate easier. First, they evaluate franchise companies. It is critical for the consulting firms to understand the level of success and the profile of the best franchisees within a particular franchise companies system. How else can they provide that company with the right potential candidates? You can see how this serves your interests as an investigant.

Secondly, they also assess the candidates to determine their strengths, skills, education, prowess, passions and interests. The combination of those assessments creates powerful synergy for success. With our technology today there is no need to study thousands of franchises to reduce it down to a few. Allow the experts to do what they do best and assist you in your efforts to find just the right company.

6. Compare other franchise systems in the same field. Look for franchises that are solidly managed, well financed, and are positioned in a growth industry. Investigate any regional franchises that are doing well but have not yet gone national in their distribution. Remember, the biggest is not always the best. The biggest franchises may also reduce your chances of success and growth because the territory and sites available are limited. Look for businesses that have a record of success that have recently begun to franchise. Remember, the franchise could be new but the parent business could be 3, 5, 10 years old or more and be rock solid.

7. Evaluate yourself and see if franchising is really for you. Franchisee, regardless of what you think you read in an FDD or franchise agreement is simply another name for independent businessperson. Nobody from "Headquarters" shows up to open your doors of business each day. If it is going to get done YOU and YOUR staff who are the ones to get it done.

Most people aren't ready for business ownership mentally or emotionally...at any level. They can't imagine paying a fee to someone so they can "maybe" make a living. Can you see how if you start with that thinking you aren't even in the same game as a business owner?

No, if that is you, come back once you realize what business ownership can provide to you.

If you are not ready for franchising I guarantee you will suck at being a fully independent business owner where everything is your responsibility (Operations, Training, Hiring, Marketing, Sales, Administration, Finance, Accounting, Technology, Visionary Assessment, and MUCH more). Franchises provide you the guidelines for all of that and much more without requiring you make key decisions in areas you are not expert at.

8. Count the cost associated with entering into the business.I was never concerned with anything about the finances but three things: Do I have the liquid capital to invest in this business that I deem as reasonable and prudent for my life situation? Will it provide me with the kind of living I would anticipate based on the investment level and my personal needs? Will I have a salable asset when the time comes for me to exit the business and will I be pleased with that potential selling price? Most of the thinking processes need to be on the first item. Only put out in liquid capital what you want to afford and only sign off on a business where the full investment is in your comfort zone as well. Most businesses have a financeable component plus the cash needed. Make sure you understand them both.

9. Check the history and experience of the franchise's officers and managers. The FDD in Item 2 contains a disclosure of all officers, their experience, business history, criminal or material civil litigation currently pending or completed against the franchiser involving any alleged allegation of fraud, misrepresentation or any violation of the franchise laws. This explanation goes back 10 years and includes any business dealings they have had that relate to the current business. If you find one with little or no litigation, mediation or arbitration it tells you the officers of the organization view business practices on a personal level and are not prone to throw lawyers at you when disagreements occur...and they will occur.

10. Research, research, research. Buying a franchise is a significant life decision. It is up there with Marriage, Buying a House and Having Children. The difference is you didn't take nearly as much time or concerted effort as you will on this one. More good news is that all the information will be delivered to you. The more professionally you go about your investigation the better your decision is likely to be and the less risk you will be exposed to. Ultimately it is your decision to choose or not choose a business. At the end of the day make sure you have as much personal confidence your choice will provide your expected potential outcomes.

Here are the things I recommend that you DON'T:

1. Shotgun approach to your investigation. Keep things in order. Understand the business components of the business, within their categories, thoroughly. Review the market the business is in. Review the FDD and your relationship with the franchise company. Go through a high level discussion on training, operations, marketing and sales. Spend time with franchisees to get an insiders look at the business. Take what you've learned and assemble it into a plan and perhaps a business proforma.

2. Overextend your finances. Establish a budget prior to your investigation. The budget should be based on your comfort level of investment as well as your comfort level relating to how much credit you are willing to extend. You may be able to afford 2 or 3 or 5 times more than the actual costs associated with a business but the key is what you are willing to extend yourself to do. By the way, just so you know, the more established a franchise, the less risk it "might" carry but the higher the investment needed. The McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Huts now require steep investments. Even some well established home-based franchises may have royalty fees that are steeper because they've earned the privilege of higher earnings for the corporation. Always plan for more expenses than you think you'll have and typically in a start up franchise that might be $10-50,000 more than stated. This is where talking to the franchisees helps.

3. Skip consulting the professionals. Skimping on a good small business CPA and their fees or a seasoned franchise consultant will deprive you of critical information. By the way, most franchise consultants cost you nothing. They are paid by the franchises. You pay not one penny more than you would had you gone directly to the franchise.

4. Take just anyone's word. It's your risk and opportunity. Learn of current marketing trends within industries that indicate potential opportunities or weaknesses such as price wars or huge fluctuations in raw material costs. Also, try to know how economic factors and changes in the society (e.g. aging population) could potentially stimulate or affect any specific industry. I do not care if Uncle Sal once owned "one of these." No he didn't and you are not Uncle Sal. Keep it objective!

5. Settle. Get the business that will provide you with the level of satisfaction you desire. The business you want may be a compromise from your passion but ultimately will satisfy your needs both professionally, personally and financially.

If you are looking for a business and franchising is a good place to start, I hope you find this general information of interest. My firm works with a number of franchises and profiles and reviews candidates on a daily basis that we present to them. Give me a call and let me know if Wilson Associates can be of service to you individually.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641