Market

What role does franchisee satisfaction play in your overall marketing strategy?
John Dillon,
Denny's Vice President, Marketing
Denny's has nearly 1,700 restaurants worldwide, nearly 90 percent owned by our franchise partners. Our franchisees, composed of a diverse group of men and women who work tirelessly to satisfy our guests on a daily basis, represent the essence of the Denny's brand. They are on the front lines every day speaking directly with our guests, and their input is invaluable in the development of our marketing strategy. We strive to work in a collaborative manner and have developed a brand committee composed of a mix of franchise partners and corporate team members, who work together to determine the best marketing strategy for the brand...

Wendy Odell Magus is quite familiar with consumer and franchise sales marketing strategies. She has worked in both corporate and agency marketing roles and for more than 20 years has developed marketing and communications strategies that have gotten results. She has served as senior director of marketing at Sylvan Learning and is currently the vice president of marketing for Kiddie Academy, a child care franchisor with 110 locations in 24 states.
Magus also is familiar with the types of strategies--and how to implement them--that can help franchise brands acquire and retain more customers. We asked Magus for her thoughts on today's rapidly changing customer acquisition strategies and techniques.

What customer acquisition strategies are you using at Kiddie Academy? Driving growth in our brand through customer acquisition and customer loyalty is a multi-faceted process that continues to evolve as our customers' behavior changes and new channels of communication and engagement emerge...

What are some fresh, innovative ways you are using profiling, targeting, and loyalty programs to acquire and retain more customers?


Linda Fierce, Regis Corp.
Dir. of Marketing, Franchise Brands

At Regis, our marketing team and franchisees are always working together to further meet the needs of our customers. Our strategies are informed by customer feedback from all brands, and with the strength of our franchisee network we are able to share successes and ideas between multiple brands.
One of our most popular loyalty programs is the Supercuts email haircut reminder. As a loyalty program, it not only helps us stay in touch with our customers, it helps our busy customers stay on a haircut schedule they have chosen...

Last year the headline on our Annual Lead Generation Survey story in Franchise Update magazine read: "Adapt or Die." Responses to two new survey questions this year indicate franchisors have taken this lesson to heart.

In responding to the question, "Do you believe the fundamental lead generation process used before the recession must be changed to effectively recruit today's buyers?" three out of four (77 percent) said Yes. And to a similar question about the franchise sales process, 74 percent said Yes.

"Don't wait for the recruitment environment to change. You need to change your approach to succeed in this environment," said Franchise Update Media Group President Steve Olson, who unveiled the results of the 14th annual survey at the Franchise Leadership & Development Conference in October...

I don't think I'll get much of an argument if I try to convince you that innovation is important. But let's take a minute to remind ourselves why innovation is so critical now.
The customer today is not the customer you knew five years ago. The year 2010 marked the point when the Millennial population--the age group from 16 to 34--surpassed both Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers to assume the coveted mantle of most significant consumer sector in the U.S. The sheer size, spending power, and affluence of the Millennials cannot be denied. The business challenge is communicating with this technology-savvy, socially aware audience in a way that builds brand loyalty and connectedness.
American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation, is an in-depth study conducted by Boston Consulting Group, Barkley, and SMG...

Franchisors seeking to build a loyal customer following and remain competitive in 2011 must develop and deliver national and local marketing programs for their franchisees--deploying the latest social media tools in addition to their traditional methods.

Today's rapidly evolving consumer marketing strategies are relying less on traditional marketing channels and tools with each passing day--simultaneously sowing confusion and creating opportunity for franchise marketing and branding managers and staff, as well as for their franchisees.

To help sort out the current consumer marketing environment and where it's headed, Franchise Update Media Group conducted a survey (Click Here for details) to measure franchise brand marketing, advertising, and branding efforts...