Challenge the Pros: Cause Marketing in Franchise Recruitment

"How is your brand's involvement in cause marketing helping in franchise recruitment?"

Steven Sgroi
National Sales Manager
Our Town America

At Our Town America, community-building is built into our DNA and brand promise. As a new mover marketing company, our job is to create long-term, valuable relationships between reputable local business owners and folks who have recently relocated to the area. Our franchisees are literally improving the local economy while extending a helping hand to new movers--a wonderful cause in and of itself that attracts phenomenal franchise partners.

However, it's our commitment to go beyond that with all marketing efforts that has helped us attract the right kind of franchisees who embrace our culture. Here are three specific things we've done recently.

• We used Facebook fundraisers to raise thousands of dollars for local businesses in Houston and Tampa after the hurricanes wreaked havoc in those communities last year. The coolest thing? After handing over thousands to a local Shipley Do-Nuts to help with repairs, their owner turned around and gave it to an employee who lost it all in the flooding--a phenomenal pay-it-forward moment!
• Each year, our franchisees visit their sponsors (the local businesses who partner with them) in the weeks surrounding Small Business Saturday. Functioning as a "Small Biz Support Squad," they take them gifts (such as free massages, restaurant gift cards, etc.) to encourage them to take a load off after working insane hours during the holiday season.
• And earlier this year, our Boise-based owners, husband-and-wife team Scot and Amy Hecht, partnered with a local doughnut shop to extend the impact of the "We Dine Together" movement in Boise. They brought free food and organized a breakfast, ensuring the grassroots movement applied to the breakfast hour too!

These fundraisers and causes have accelerated the number of qualified leads contacting us because they see how invested we are in dozens of communities. They love that we think down to the local level and always have the best interests of the community in mind. It's simple--employees and franchise owners love being associated with a company that cares. And we're proud of that!

Bob McDevitt
SVP, Franchise Development
Golden Corral

Like most brands today, Golden Corral spends a considerable amount of time and money on cause-related programs. Unlike most brands, however, Golden Corral has a national focus on a specific cause, supporting the military heroes who have made a commitment to protect the freedoms we Americans enjoy.

The best reason to be involved in this effort is that it is the right thing to do. What makes it even better is that it's good for business, not only on the consumer side, but also in the long run as it attracts prospective franchisees to the brand.

Golden Corral opened its first restaurant in 1973 in Fayetteville, N.C., home of the Fort Bragg military base. The business owes its very existence to the support of the men and women of the military, one steak dinner at a time. As the brand grew in the South and Southeast, so grew the military support in towns like Jacksonville, N.C., home of Camp Lejeune, and Norfolk, Va., home of Naval Station Norfolk. Over the years the brand has expanded throughout the United States but it never lost sight of its roots.

In 2001, a decision was made to honor the base of customers who have helped establish the brand. Golden Corral created Military Appreciation Night by offering a no-questions-asked, free dinner to any active duty or retired military hero on Veterans Day. Since then, Golden Corral has served 5.4 million free meals and has raised more than $14 million for Disabled American Veterans in support of our nation's military.

In 2011, Golden Corral doubled down by creating Camp Corral, a free week of summer camp designed for the children of active duty, injured, and fallen military heroes. Since the first year, which featured four camps and 400 kids, Camp Corral has grown to host 3,600 kids in 23 camps across 19 states. Camp Corral has hosted 17,000 campers since 2011, who enjoy a week with other children who share the unique struggles that come with military life.

What does this have to do with selling franchises? Most prospective franchisees already know about Military Appreciation Night since there is national awareness from grassroots exposure. Franchise prospects who see what is happening at Golden Corral, including the addition of Camp Corral, recognize that it represents the company's culture, and want to be a part of it. Every major brand has cause-related efforts, but few are as committed as Golden Corral to a cause this universally accepted and that support it on as many levels. And that is a sustainable difference.