Highlights from 3 Helpful Franchise Articles from Top Business Websites That You Need to Read Today

3 Reasons Every Franchisee Needs Its Own Website by Dedric Polite for Hubspot.com (August 9, 2011)

1.  When franchisees have their own individual websites apart from the corporate website, more customers can find information about the franchise through local searches.  If the local websites are optimized correctly,  the franchise can widen its reach by generating additional traffic from search engines, blogs, and social media that otherwise would remain untapped.

2.  By using a content management system that allows for easy updating and editing, franchisees can regularly add customized content tailored to their local markets as opposed to generic information from corporate.

3.  Social media allows local franchisees to cultivate relationships and loyalty over time with prospects in their own local markets — something that is difficult for the corporate marketing team to do. By connecting their social media presence to their own individual websites, the collective efforts of the franchisees are amplified.

How to Tell If a Franchisor’s Marketing Will Make or Break You by Jeff Elgin for Entrepreneur.com (August 10, 2011)

This article advises prospective franchisees to ask current franchise owners four key questions:

1.  How does the marketing program work?  By starting with an open-ended question, prospects are likely to get a better impression of the franchisee’s overall satisfaction with the program.  Make sure to get them talking, and listen carefully to their tone.

2.  What do you receive for the fees you pay?  Find out whether franchisees feel they are getting their money’s worth.

3.  Do you have any say in where the money is spent?  Successful marketing funds typically provide a number of opportunities (both formal and casual) for franchise owners to provide their input, including local co-op groups or national or regional franchisee advisory groups that meet with the corporate marketing staff to review ideas.

4.  Does the marketing program do a good job driving customers into your business? You want to have a very clear idea of the answer because if you become a franchisee, you’ll be dependent on this marketing program for your success. Hedging is a red flag signaling the need to dig further to find out why your question isn’t getting a direct and positive answer.

Why Now Might Be The Right Time to Franchise by the BusinessNewsDaily Staff (August 10, 2011)

Shelly Sun, CEO and co-founder of BrightStar Care, and author of the book “Grow Smart, Risk Less: A Low-Capital Path to Multiplying Your Business Through Franchising” (Greenleaf Book Group Press, October 2011), gives five reasons business owners should consider expanding their business through franchising.

1.  Expand your thinking on expansion.  Although many business owners do not consider it, franchising allows you to achieve growth in revenues and customers, with limited capital and less risk.

2.  Know the leverage effect. Franchising links your expertise and investments as the franchisor with the capital and personal oversight of a franchisee to replicate your model in a new geographical market. You are able to leverage the passion, commitment, and capital of the franchisee to deliver your goods and services to more customers across a larger region.

3.  A national strategy, creating jobs locally. Franchising enables great local ownership where business owners invest not just in your concept, but in the community they serve.

4.  Succeed and grow together.  Franchisees invest capital to grow their local business, but they don’t have to spend significant amounts of time and resources to figure out the business. In return, you earn a stable revenue stream, normally based upon the revenue results of your franchisees.

5.  Be in business for yourself, not by yourself.  Franchisees are acquiring the right to use the brand and the systems to get started faster and with stronger resources than they would on their own, and that right has considerable value.

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