Starting a Franchise - HOW WILL YOU PROMOTE YOUR NEW BUSINESS?
24th September 2008
If you are one of the thousands of potential franchisees who will be flocking to the Birmingham franchise show in October, you will doubtless have plenty of aspects of franchising you want to research while you’re there. If you’ve followed all the advice on offer, you will have done some preliminary research into franchising and have a list of companies you want to meet.
Gay Turner provides exclusive features for Totalfranchise, to aid new franchisees in launching their business. Gay Turner runs GTPR and you can see further information on GTPR at the bottom of the page.
Consider Marketing When Conducting Your Research
When researching the franchise market place and considering franchises on your short-list, you will probably have some key questions to ask. Remember to add one about marketing help to launch your franchise and another about on-going marketing support.
When you open your franchise you will want to let prospective customers know that you are there and what you can offer them. Tell them what makes your business special, better and unique. Customers can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist!
Franchisors’ marketing support for franchisees varies greatly so find out what they offer. Many provide local media launch campaigns for new franchisees as part of the start-up package and some offer on-going support via their appointed (corporate) marketing agency or their PR company to write and distribute news stories for franchisees.
Some larger networks have franchisee associations who appoint their own PR companies to run campaigns exclusively for franchisees’ benefit but usually in association with their franchisor.
Ask if marketing is included in the franchise training programme. Is the marketing strategy exclusively sales-orientated or does it include other elements of promotion such as direct mail, advertising, leaflet drops, internet promotion and PR?
PR or Advertising?
All elements of marketing have a place and some prove more successful than others. PR has an advantage: it can enable you to reach the parts that others don’t! In essence, PR is the way of taking interesting stories about businesses and putting them in front of journalists who will want to use them.
“Getting in the papers” is more credible than advertising because the story appears to be an independent endorsement by a journalist. Potentially, you can reach a much larger audience than by using advertising alone and you can achieve this very cost-effectively.
If you’ve ever wondered why some companies, even small ones, seem to be in the news constantly and others are not, it’s probably because they understand the value of continuous proactive PR. It is a very cost-effective way to manage your message and you can do it yourself - if you know how and are prepared to devote enough time to do it properly, something that many business advisors neglect to tell you.
When you buy a franchise, part of what you are buying is an established and well-known brand, perhaps even a household name franchise. This offers a huge advantage when you launch your business because potential customers are likely to recognise the name and logo and should understand the values that these represent.
But however familiar the product or service you are selling, you will still need to market your business locally with energy and great enthusiasm – not just once, when you start, but continuously. Of course, your success in persuading someone to buy from you depends on applying the skills you have been taught on the franchise training course and you living up to the brand you represent.
Similarly, you might be a brilliant sales person but hopeless at writing your news down for an editor to see. You could have a go but is that really best use of your time and talents? You might find it more cost-effective to retain a local freelance person to act for you.
What is PR?
People sometimes think PR is “free” advertising or spin, with a tendency to sensationalise a story, especially after reading about how the government and other public bodies manipulate the media and the growing tendency to ‘bury’ bad news.
Effective PR is achieved by getting the right message to the right people in the right format at the right time. In other words, understanding how the media works, what journalists need and when, and what makes a good story. It’s important to remember that editors and journalists are always very busy and work to strict deadlines.
Competition for editorial attention is intense and stories are ruthlessly rejected, so the more you can do to make journalists’ lives easier by providing relevant and interesting material in a readily useable form, the more likely it is to be used.
Succeeding with PR
To succeed with DIY PR you must move PR up your list of business priorities because it requires time and attention to detail. Even the most charismatic PR naturals like Richard Branson and Boris Johnson or the Beckhams have teams of professionals to advise and guide them – and do all the legwork.
Topics your local press love about local businesses are awards, successes and achievements - particularly against the odds -, new employment opportunities, all types of events from business open days to Christmas bazaars, regeneration of neglected urban and rural areas, human interest stories about the very young, the very old, animals, community-interest and local charities.
When you think you have an interesting and important story worthy of publication, contact the local media. Almost invariably, the person you speak at each publication to will ask you to ‘send something over’ so it’s helpful to have prepared the words in advance to send by email while the journalist is still interested and remembers who you are.
If this advice has put you off, you might consider investing in the services of a local PR person or freelance journalist to help you on an ad hoc basis. Both have the advantage of being able to write in the appropriate style and should have contacts on the local media. It could be much more cost-effective than the DIY approach and leave you free to do what you’re best at – being an entrepreneur.
If you don’t know any PR people personally, you could key in ‘public relations’ and the name of your town or county for a web search. You could also contact your local Chamber, Business Links or The Chartered Institute of Public Relations which has a list of all its members and offers a matchmaking service.
And good luck!
For PR advice, or to explore how Gay Turner Public Relations could help you in PR, please contact Gay on 01295 770207 or email publicrelations@gtpr.com or visit www.gtpr.com
About Gay Turner Public Relations
GTPR was set up 18 years ago by Gay Turner who is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
The consultancy's experience working for industrial and consumer organisations encompasses all aspects of public relations activity from routine media relations to organising and co-ordinating special events.
Before setting up GTPR, Gay headed PR for Omega and Tissot watches in the UK. Other members of the team have similar high level experience including account directorships with major national PR consultancies.
GTPR has successfully undertaken work for companies involved in diverse range of businesses from a variety of sectors, including:
- Exhibitions
- Franchises operating in retail, consumer and b2b sectors
- Consumer goods manufacturers, suppliers and retailers such as ceramic tiles, ladies hats, children's educational toys and games, baby goods, specialist dancewear, and garden tools; home interiors products, china and ceramics
- Business services in quick print, industrial equipment, signage
- Charities and organisations serving people with disabilities
- Publishing
