Small Business Articles
Marketing - The Key To Small Business Success In Recession
November 07, 2008
When all the pomp and circumstance are taken away, a successful franchise businessrides on one thing: customers. If there are people paying for your product or service, and basic operations are taken care of adequately, your business will do alright, but if you have no customers purchasing your goods, you’re in trouble regardless of how well everything else works. Everyone knows this, even if no one ever says it; we don’t take that for granted. It’s the next question that we tend to ignore: how do businesses get those customers that keep the operations afloat?
The answer to that is simple: marketing. Customers come around when they have reason to, and they only have reason when they’re convinced that they need or want what a business offers. But that requires that they know what the business offers, and that is exactly what a marketing campaign is for. Though many don’t recognize or acknowledge it, marketing is, in many ways, the bread and butter of a healthy small business, and it’s one of the primary things that an entrepreneur should look at to determine if a business he may be interested in is indeed worth his investment. But how does a person establish whether or not a franchise’s marketing plan is a strong one or not? Here are a few questions you can ask to help determine that.
Do You Recognize The Name?
It’s a simple question to ask and a simple one to answer but it will tell you a lot. If you came to be interested in this particular business because you were familiar with it before you took interest in starting a franchise, chances are it has a very strong marketing system, because you didn’t have to go looking in order to find it. And if you were aware of it because of its marketing, it’s a safe bet that others are too.
Do Industry Professionals Recognize The Name And Know What They Sell?
If you have friends in the industry of this particular franchise, ask them what they know about the business just off the top of their heads. Then ask them why they know it. If you haven’t been long in the market for the type of business for sale you’re looking at, it won’t be surprising if you don’t have much familiarity with the business in question, but if industry professionals don’t know much, it may be a signal of a bad marketing system.
What Is The Marketing Plan?
Ask the franchisor for any information on their marketing system that they can offer. Learn what their strategies are, what media they use, which demographics they target, and how successful it has proven to be.
Has Their Advertising Worked Well With The Intended Population?
Talk with people in the intended demographic, asking how familiar they are with the company in question, their advertising campaign, and the validity of their product or service. If the business has managed to reach their intended audience in a positive way, it’s a good sign.
How Do Current Franchisees Feel About The Marketing System?
Some of the best sources of information on the successes or failures of franchises in any regard are existing franchisees. Though they may be reticent to criticize their own business, they know better than anyone how well the central marketing system works, what it excels at, what it lacks, and where franchisees have to pick up the slack. And even if a franchisee decides to give his presentation of the business a little too rosy of a coloration, it’s generally not very hard to separate the truth from the exaggerations.
Knowing that a franchise businesshas a strong marketing plan in action is a very important piece in deciding to invest in a business for sale. It will often determine what kind of potential a business actually has, and that is absolutely essential. If you’re in the market for a small business with a strong marketing backbone and you’d just like to skip the headache and see some that are good examples of that, here are a few businesses that possess such a trait.
NOVUS Glass
This glass-repair franchise has one of the best marketing strategies in the industry, providing not only a name that is already well known, but also a central PR department, radio and TV commercials, 25mil happy customers who already know the name and pass on the word, and customized marketing for every new franchised area. Best of all, each of the 400 work from home businesses inadvertently advertises for all the rest every time its company van drives across town.
Real Property Management
With 20 years of experience in the property management industry, this home based business is one of the nation’s leaders, and in part, that is because of their exceptional, dual-layered marketing system. Compared to many lesser competitors, Real Property Management is a nationally recognized name with a full-scale national marketing campaign that has been at work for many long years, ensuring that the name is well known. At the same time, though, franchisees are given help to build more localized campaigns for their specific locations.
Who’s Who Magazine
Maybe not what you were expecting, this home business doesn’t simply have a good marketing plan, it is a good marketing plan. Franchisees work at home, in association with other local businessmen, to create a biannual magazine that highlights the greatest businesses and non-profit organizations in the local area. It’s a great source of advertising for other companies that deserve it, and as the franchisee makes connections in town, his Who’s Who Magazine business also becomes well known.
There are really a number of factors that, when put together, make a small business either a winner or not, but if marketing isn’t there to draw in clients, none of it really matters. Do your homework on a company’s marketing plan before you commit to anything and you’re sure to make a better ultimate decision.
When all the pomp and circumstance are taken away, a successful franchise businessrides on one thing: customers. If there are people paying for your product or service, and basic operations are taken care of adequately, your business will do alright, but if you have no customers purchasing your goods, you’re in trouble regardless of how well everything else works. Everyone knows this, even if no one ever says it; we don’t take that for granted. It’s the next question that we tend to ignore: how do businesses get those customers that keep the operations afloat?
The answer to that is simple: marketing. Customers come around when they have reason to, and they only have reason when they’re convinced that they need or want what a business offers. But that requires that they know what the business offers, and that is exactly what a marketing campaign is for. Though many don’t recognize or acknowledge it, marketing is, in many ways, the bread and butter of a healthy small business, and it’s one of the primary things that an entrepreneur should look at to determine if a business he may be interested in is indeed worth his investment. But how does a person establish whether or not a franchise’s marketing plan is a strong one or not? Here are a few questions you can ask to help determine that.
Do You Recognize The Name?
It’s a simple question to ask and a simple one to answer but it will tell you a lot. If you came to be interested in this particular business because you were familiar with it before you took interest in starting a franchise, chances are it has a very strong marketing system, because you didn’t have to go looking in order to find it. And if you were aware of it because of its marketing, it’s a safe bet that others are too.
Do Industry Professionals Recognize The Name And Know What They Sell?
If you have friends in the industry of this particular franchise, ask them what they know about the business just off the top of their heads. Then ask them why they know it. If you haven’t been long in the market for the type of business for sale you’re looking at, it won’t be surprising if you don’t have much familiarity with the business in question, but if industry professionals don’t know much, it may be a signal of a bad marketing system.
What Is The Marketing Plan?
Ask the franchisor for any information on their marketing system that they can offer. Learn what their strategies are, what media they use, which demographics they target, and how successful it has proven to be.
Has Their Advertising Worked Well With The Intended Population?
Talk with people in the intended demographic, asking how familiar they are with the company in question, their advertising campaign, and the validity of their product or service. If the business has managed to reach their intended audience in a positive way, it’s a good sign.
How Do Current Franchisees Feel About The Marketing System?
Some of the best sources of information on the successes or failures of franchises in any regard are existing franchisees. Though they may be reticent to criticize their own business, they know better than anyone how well the central marketing system works, what it excels at, what it lacks, and where franchisees have to pick up the slack. And even if a franchisee decides to give his presentation of the business a little too rosy of a coloration, it’s generally not very hard to separate the truth from the exaggerations.
Knowing that a franchise businesshas a strong marketing plan in action is a very important piece in deciding to invest in a business for sale. It will often determine what kind of potential a business actually has, and that is absolutely essential. If you’re in the market for a small business with a strong marketing backbone and you’d just like to skip the headache and see some that are good examples of that, here are a few businesses that possess such a trait.
NOVUS Glass
This glass-repair franchise has one of the best marketing strategies in the industry, providing not only a name that is already well known, but also a central PR department, radio and TV commercials, 25mil happy customers who already know the name and pass on the word, and customized marketing for every new franchised area. Best of all, each of the 400 work from home businesses inadvertently advertises for all the rest every time its company van drives across town.
Real Property Management
With 20 years of experience in the property management industry, this home based business is one of the nation’s leaders, and in part, that is because of their exceptional, dual-layered marketing system. Compared to many lesser competitors, Real Property Management is a nationally recognized name with a full-scale national marketing campaign that has been at work for many long years, ensuring that the name is well known. At the same time, though, franchisees are given help to build more localized campaigns for their specific locations.
Who’s Who Magazine
Maybe not what you were expecting, this home business doesn’t simply have a good marketing plan, it is a good marketing plan. Franchisees work at home, in association with other local businessmen, to create a biannual magazine that highlights the greatest businesses and non-profit organizations in the local area. It’s a great source of advertising for other companies that deserve it, and as the franchisee makes connections in town, his Who’s Who Magazine business also becomes well known.
There are really a number of factors that, when put together, make a small business either a winner or not, but if marketing isn’t there to draw in clients, none of it really matters. Do your homework on a company’s marketing plan before you commit to anything and you’re sure to make a better ultimate decision.
