Franchise marketing: $25,000 down the drain |

By Judy Kirkland

Nick and I were talking with a new client, a home improvement franchisor who recently launched his concept and has seven franchisees on board. He asked us what he could do to generate leads for people interested in buying one of his franchises. We asked what he had tried. He mentioned some IFA shows and newspaper advertising. “But,” he said quickly, “advertising doesn’t work. I spent $25,000 on the newspaper and didn’t get a single bite.” Not even ONE bite???

Turns out that entire $25,000 was spent for a tiny ad in the “Business Opportunities” classifieds that run each week in The Wall Street Journal’s Franchising section (there’s an online version, too). Our client had been to a seminar with a franchising guru who told attendees this was the #1 advertising medium for reaching people thinking about buying a franchise. Well, for our particular client that so-called best practice meant $25,000 down the drain.

“Who is your ideal franchisee,” we asked. The more we worked through the answer, the more it became clear that his best franchisee prospect probably never even reads the Journal. Instead, there are a handful of building-trade publications they probably do read —word for word every month. In these publications, $25,000 would buy a heck of a lot more than a tiny ad. Plus, by targeting his exposure to people already in the building trades, the people coming in through this channel would be pre-qualified and would have the best skills and background for getting their franchise off to a quick, successful start.

Whether you’re a franchise, an association or a business, the take-away here is the same: Knowing who you want to reach determines what tactics to use. In fact, it can also knock out tactics you don’t want to use. For example, if you have a limited budget and you’re trying to reach Baby Boomers (age 41-61), then search marketing and e-newsletters may not give you as big a return as print media. Why? Forrester research shows that people in this age group favor print and are most likely to arrive at a Web site because they’ve seen the URL mentioned in a print ad, packaging, book or article.

Bottom line: Take “best practices” and the things “everyone is doing” with a grain of salt! Start with what you really know about your audience.