CMO Q&A: How Does Marketing's 'Personal Touch' Help Sales and Development?

In each issue of Franchise Update magazine, we profile franchise CMOs and marketing leaders, asking each the same set of questions. Throughout the year, we'll be selecting one of those questions and providing answers from those profiles. If you want to learn more about these franchise marketing leaders and their thoughts on other topics, we've provided links to their full profile where available.

This week we asked them why it is so important for the marketing department to have a "personal touch" when it comes to helping the brand connect with franchise prospects.

Katherine LeBlanc, Chief Marketing Officer, Painting with a Twist
An ideal franchise prospect is already on board with our brand's vision before they know it! That happens through their interaction with the brand and the marketing before they get to us. If we're able to do that, we're connecting with the right prospects and the process begins on a great note. Read the full profile here.

Michael Barrette, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, Dippin' Dots & Doc Popcorn
Marketing is a critical element in enticing new prospects. Before investing hard-earned money in a new concept, prospects need to see that we have a sustainable model. A good amount of our focus has been on our co-brand model of Doc Popcorn and Dippin' Dots together for prospects who are interested in a physical location-centric model. We also have the diversity in our model for those who aren't interested in a physical location-centric business, with a more mobile business on the Dippin' Dots side that highlights profitable opportunities in the fair and festival space, with K-12 public schools, and with other wholesale opportunities for traditional retail channels. Read the full profile here.

Amy Przywara, Chief Marketing Officer, Sylvan Learning
Being an education brand, we have lots of prospects who want to help others. We feel the same way. We want to help our franchisees and future franchisees be successful and help more kids. Everything we do in marketing is about the success of both.