Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Help With Marketing A New Franchise Opportunity

Posted by Anonymous on 11/30/2009 at 4:50 PM ET 250 Points
I'm working for a company, which provides educational enrichment programs for children. The focus is on teaching children to read and cook. Each class ties the two together with a theme. I think it's a unique idea and fulfills a need in local communities where parents are looking for programs to supplement early education. The company has been very successful in my local area and is ready to expand through franchising. The franchisee target market is mothers that have been out of the workforce raising their family and want to go back to work, but are hesitant about going back to work for a corporation. The selling point for the franchise is that it is a better alternative to the 9-5 grind and it benefits children. I'm looking for some ideas as to how to make the target market aware of and interested in the franchise opportunity.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/30/2009 at 8:17 PM Accepted
    Randall is asking the right questions. This isn't so much a question of selling franchises as demonstrating to prospective franchisees what's in it for them, showing them how their investment of time and money will payoff for them, and how much assistance you'll be providing to [all but] guarantee their success.

    The first step is to open a few more company-owned franchises, get them to profitability, then sell them to your first franchisees. Then use them as models for subsequent franchise operations.

    What you're selling is the opportunity for your franchisees to make money -- to turn THEIR investment into a continuing income stream for themselves and for you. Focus on the things you need to do to deliver THAT. If they aren't successful you won't be either. Shift your focus from "selling franchises" to showing prospects how you can make THEM successful in this business.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/30/2009 at 8:22 PM Member
    If the company works in your area, it still might not be reproducible in other areas. So the next step is to create a manual, and see if you can reproduce the success in another area (following the manual, and fine-tuning it along the way). If that's successful, then you have some more "proof". Depending on the franchise fees, you may wish to hand-hold some more locations to ensure that you've got the system as fool-proof as possible, including marketing materials, budgets, etc.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 11/30/2009 at 11:59 PM Accepted
    I would pick up a copy of a franchise magazine (like Franchise Times https://www.franchisetimes.com/) and look at some of the companies that are offering franchises. Either on heir web site, or through contacting them, you can see what information they provide to potential franchisees.
  • Posted on 12/1/2009 at 7:36 AM Member
    Please post your url or contact info. I have been through the process of setting up a franchise and can answer some questions for you.

    There are numerous ways to attract and deliver your message to your target market... just a matter of what your budget is and how fast you want to grow.

    Franchising can get complicated and expensive so licensing might be another alternative.
  • Posted on 12/1/2009 at 9:27 AM Author
    Thanks for all of the comments thus far. I need to clarify that we are not at the beginning stage of the franchising aspect. A business plan has been done incorporating expansion modules, market research has been done, legal counsel has been involved as well as an actual company to help with the franchising. This company has already created the franchising manual, etc. There are already 12 very interested parties that are in talks to open franchises. There is a franchise manager at the company that has dealt with most of these types of things. My job is to come up with some specific tactics to get the word out. The first thing that is in process is to create a new website. The old website is still up, but we're very close to getting the new one up. https://www.hoorayforbooks.com/ That endeavor is almost done. Since I'm one person, I wanted to know where I should focus my efforts. For example, should I create a webinar for interested parties to view, should I put on actual seminars for potential interested parties, should I beef up the facebook profile for the company and start a blog, should I create a media kit and start attending conferences? This is what I'm struggling with at the moment.
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