Q&A with Moran Family of Brands Marketing Director Amanda Maquet

Moran Family of Brands is a legacy franchisor with a rich heritage in the automotive aftermarket repair industry. With a portfolio encompassing brands like Mr. Transmission, Multistate Transmissions, Alta Mere, and Turbo Tint, Moran Family of Brands has established itself as a trusted option in the franchising world, offering auto repair business opportunities designed for growth.

At the helm of Moran Family of Brands' marketing efforts is Amanda Maquet, a seasoned marketing director with more than seven years of dedicated service to the company. With her extensive experience and passion for driving brand awareness and customer engagement, Maquet has played a pivotal role in shaping Moran Family of Brands' marketing strategies and initiatives. Her creative vision, strategic insights, and commitment to excellence have been instrumental in elevating the brand's presence, fostering strong relationships with franchisees and consumers alike. In the Q&A below, Maquet shares her insights into Moran Family of Brands' marketing journey.

What is the most interesting part of working with automotive-based brands?  

Maquet: As a woman, the automotive repair aftermarket can seem daunting and a scary experience to deal with. Working on the other side of things, really getting to see the ins and outs of our franchisees business, has given me a great deal of confidence and understanding I never had before.

What is an example of a marketing effort you have applied to one or more of your brands that has helped existing franchise owners? 

Maquet: This last year, while we have mainly focused on digital advertising, we brought back the focus on how important community involvement is for franchise owners. We felt our franchisees were relying on digital advertising to solve all their problems, and wanted to get them back to thinking of alternative ways to reach people.

The marketing team created a whole training course for our new opening centers and ran a few webinars/regional meetings to help educate existing franchisees. Whether it was through hyper local advertising, stronger social media presence, charity involvement, or outside sales programs, we wanted to make each franchisee understand they have a local “personality” and feel like a fixture in their community. With the new centers, we have seen brand awareness and ramp up time increase significantly. For the existing centers that have participated, we have seen their search volume and lead counts increase.

What advice would you give emerging franchisors looking to improve their marketing? 

Maquet: Focus on the basics. With marketing, so many people get lost by the ideas of big campaigns and large budgets, and lose focus on local advertising and the free marketing tools that can have huge positive impacts on the franchise owner. Are you educating your franchisees on the importance of their listings and ways to improve their performance? You should be responding to reviews or assisting with social media, consulting on the in-store experience, or even running quarterly marketing evaluations for them. This will help your franchisees build trust with you, and without a strong local presence, your big marketing campaigns will more often than not fall flat.

What are you most proud of in your work with the of  Family Brands? 

Maquet: The impact that our marketing department has had with our franchisees and their business is one of the most rewarding and proud experiences. The relationships and gratitude from helping a franchisee drive up their sales and bring their business to a new level from our marketing training, support, and work, makes tough days easier.