1. If your Advertising isn’t working – STOP DOING IT!
Let’s start with the simple stuff. If you are running advertising that is not working, please stop it!

This applies to all advertising, whether you’re running ads in newspapers or magazines. Feel free to use posters everywhere and make sure you ask people where they found out about you.
2. Only use Direct Response Advertising
There are two types of advertising – direct response advertising and brand advertising.

Understanding the distinction between the two will immediately save you a fortune.

Brand advertising is used by companies like Coca Cola and the large car manufacturers to build and increase awareness of their brand. Unless you have huge amounts of money which you are happy to lose, you should avoid brand advertising at all costs. For a small business it is a complete waste of money.

The only type of advertising you ever want to consider is direct response advertising. The only purpose of direct response advertising is to produce a clear response.
3. Testing and Measuring
It is absolutely essential that you test and measure all of your advertising.

If we are going to engage in direct response advertising we obviously need to be able to measure that response, otherwise we are not going to know if the ad is working.

At the very least we need to know how many people responded to the advert. Then you need to compare that figure to the cost of the ad and you can immediately work out how profitable the ad was, or whether you should stop running it.

One of the reasons that Radio and TV Advertising can be so high risk, is that it’s very difficult to test it on a small scale. You should never invest in Radio and TV Advertising unless it’s money you can afford to lose.
4. Use Fun and Exciting Headlines when possible
Be adventurous with your headlines. Test different versions to see what works best. There are no rules – except what works.
5. Remember AIDA
There’s a classic formula used by advertisers and it’s well worth remembering. The formula is AIDA. This stands for

Attention – grab the reader’s attention
Interest – Create an interest in your product or service
Desire – Convert that interest into a strong desire to contact you and find out more
Action – Give them a reason to act now e.g. free consultation or buy one get one free etc

If you follow this formula in every ad that you write or produce, you will greatly increase your chances of success.
6. Benefits, Benefits, Benefits
One of the principles that should drive all of your marketing is communicating the BENEFITS of your business.
7. Don’t Advertise on a Left Hand Page
If you’re doing newspaper or magazine advertising, this one piece of knowledge can turn an unsuccessful ad campaign into a successful one. This has been tested again and again. When you read a publication, your eyes are drawn to the right hand page as you flick through, so statistically, more people will see your ad if it’s on the right hand page.
8. Never pay the full rate for advertising
The person selling you the advertising needs to know very early on that you have absolutely no intention of paying the full rate.

Most advertising rate cards are far too high and you can always negotiate. If you’re a small business remember that large companies who use ad agencies are buying based on the readership or audience levels rather than the rate card - so haggle and negotiate.
9. Don’t Follow the Competition
One of the biggest mistakes people make is advertising in publications or on various forms of media just because their competitors are doing so. Don’t for a minute think that all your competitors are there because their ads are producing great results. They’re more likely to be there because everyone else is and most of them wont have a clue whether their advertising is working.

In fact, this is a well-known sales trick used by the people selling ad space. If they can get one or two of your competitors to advertise, they can call you up and tell you how you’ll lose out if you don’t advertise too. What they fail to mention is that your competitors probably never test their advertising, often haven’t got a clue how to market and are only advertising there because they think you will. This is a highly effective way to sustain the advertising industry. It’s not a great way for you to run your business.
10. Don’t buy into the myth that Advertising is essential for your Business Success
Generally, advertising is one of the least effective ways to grow a business.

Advertising is just one of many marketing options that you have. But you really shouldn’t be dependent on it.

So start to think out of the box and use a few of the other marketing methods below:
· Direct Mail
· Internet
· Email marketing
· PR (Why spend money on advertising when PR gives you coverage for free)
· Strategic Alliances – i.e. make friends with other businesses and sharing clients

Coconut Creatives director, Sarah Dyer is a regular contributor to the national franchise magazine, Franchisor News.

The magazine contains a whole range of useful information from franchising overseas to ensuring your have a solid franchise agreement, as well as news and views from throughout the franchise industry.

Sarah’s contribution this issue looks at the topical concern of using marketing consumer data legally, protecting your intellectual property and brand and includes some useful tips and contacts.

To view the magazine online visit www.franchisornews.co.uk

Coconut Creatives have been invited to publish a range of articles in several magazines to respond to the increased interest that business people have in marketing.

Featured articles can be found in the national Making Money Magazine sold in Tescos and WH Smith, Start Your Business magazine also sold in WH Smith and independent retailers and the national Franchisor News magazine which serves the franchise industry.

“We are delighted to offer marketing features to complement the magazines existing articles and information,” says Coconut Creatives founder, Sarah Dyer. “We have been writing articles for the press and online sources for some time now and it is our pleasure to help spread the word about marketing through established and reputable magazines as well.”

Coconut Creatives Directors, Sarah Dyer and Christopher Cook also sit on the South West Regional Board for the Chartered Institute of Marketing and work tirelessly to help improve the awareness and standard of marketing practices UK-wide. “It is vital that a company’s marketing function starts from a strategic level so that it maps in with the direction of the business plan. Campaigns and promotions are then created to meet the objectives set out at this strategic level and we have found that our clients see and achieve much greater success by approaching marketing in this way,” explains Christopher.

For further information about Coconut Creatives contact Sarah or Chris on 01963 31030 or email helpme@coconutcreatives.co.uk.

Part of the article featured in the national magazine Making Money…

Many business owners are worrying about their brand and company’s reputation as more businesses take on board a corporate social responsibility strategy or policy for more ethical trading. This is beginning to affect the sensitivity and attitudes of todays empowered consumers.

With the rise in digital media, such as blogs and forums, consumers are publicly discussing every aspect of your business, their experiences with your brand – both good and bad, as well as highlighting the differences between your offering and that of your competitors. How does this affect franchising when you are dependent on an entire network to be consistent? Control can be hard.

So what can you do to ensure your business isn’t just keeping up, but leading the industry? How can you make more money? The answer comes through marketing communications…

· Build solid foundations
· Define strong brand values
· Build relationships with all stakeholders
· Communicate all of the above (listen as well)

The importance of brand values
Developing and maintaining a reputation in a competitive market can be tricky. Yet the best companies do this through consistent communication both within the business (through their network of staff and affiliates) and externally (by communicating with their suppliers, customers and prospective customers).

All businesses need a common goal and an aim, this is just like driving from Portsmouth to London, you need to know which roads to take, where to get petrol and how long it is going to take you to get there. If everyone is focused on a common goal, you are much more likely to achieve it.

Becoming recognised in your industry for doing something well and doing it consistently is vital in building a great brand, this where brand values come in.

Sarah comments “these values tell the world that you are the best, you are trustworthy and you are definitely worth the money. If you can then stand by your values over the long term, you might just achieve more than you can imagine.”

For more information about this subject contact Coconut Creatives on 01963 31030 or email tellmemore@coconutcreatives.co.uk

Article as featured in Making Money magazine April 2008…

Marketing communications has changed, not just for franchisors but for all businesses. While the rules to effective marketing haven’t changed, the creativity and choice of tools have.

There is such a vast range of communication tools to choose from, it can be confusing to reach a definitive decision. After all, we just want to choose a selection that are cost effective and will reach the target audience.

The power of the consumer
Many businesses now understand that people trust people and will trust the opinion of complete strangers on a blog site reporting back about the usability or quality of a new mobile phone or TV. You only have to look at Amazon to see that they are using other people’s buying behaviour to influence the current customer in such cases as ‘people who bought this item also bought…’

Consumer power
The increase in communication channels that are now available to us has increased the level of involvement and communication with other people and businesses. Ebay were one of the first to recognise this and harness the opportunity that it presented when it allowed customers feedback to have a direct impact on the business or person selling their goods on Ebay. This has led the change towards consumers trusting other consumers, based on previous experiences with that business.

The way businesses need to communicate to spread the word about their products or services has also changed. Quirky is now king in the digital world and plays an important role in building or tweaking brand image. Those businesses that harness the capabilities of digital communication channels will succeed, like the drum playing Cadbury Gorilla which has been bastardised into a whole range of other theme tunes by copycats. Or the 1 min 22 sec Quiksilver Dynamite YouTube clip that is extending the reach of the Quiksilver brand beyond the seaside. The ones that shock and surprise gain the attention in the digital world, as in the real world

How to grow your franchise network
If you are interested in growing your franchise network, the simplest way to do this is to communicate the benefits of your franchise package to the people who are most likely to buy it and influence other people to buy it too. The growth of relationship marketing through digital tools has become cheap and easy to execute. In the past, to test a new campaign would be timely and costly. New digital opportunities allow businesses (on a small or large scale) to carry out some small distinct tests which gain results that are fairly accurate and simple to measure. We regularly recommend and carry out such tests for our own clients.

ROI – Return on Involvment
To a certain extent, the web and digital tools are about ROI in a different sense – Return on Involvement. If you achieve regular involvement, you will eventually achieve traditional ROI – Return on Investment. It cannot be ignored that relationship marketing is absolutely essential and with additional tools available to analyse click behaviour, search terms, blog entries and other influencer networks it is now much easier to engage with your target audience and achieve results.

Online tools
Recently I have undertaken some interesting projects including; a two week press trip to India, the specification of a dynamic blog and website development with a twist for franchisors. So this month I will be discussing the use of certain web tools to promote your franchise.

How do you use your website?
Franchisors websites have many different uses and users. Firstly there are the actual end consumers that visit the site to find information about products and services, secondly you have competitors, suppliers and other stakeholders and of course you have your franchisees. It is vital that the content of your website considers these different users and engages them all.

Franchisee pages
Some franchisors choose to dedicate a page for each franchisee on their website. This gives prospective customers an opportunity to review products or services available in their local area and make contact directly with them giving the site a more personal and relevant feel. Other franchisors operate through a head office call system and then pass enquiries to the local franchisee. Whichever way you do this on your own website it is absolutely vital that your franchise pages are kept consistent and up-to-date with relevant information and links.

News and blogging – how good can it be?
I have recently returned from a two week press trip with one of my client’s Shared Earth. The trip aimed to review the impact that UK Fair Trade sales are having on Indian artisans and producers. As I would be undertaking many interviews and visiting slums, orphanages, schools, workshops and villages we decided that it would be a great idea to report back on what we were doing while we were there. We set up a blog site which can be viewed at www.sharedearthnewsandmedia.co.uk for people back in the UK to keep tabs on progress as the trip unfolded. This turned out to be hugely successful. With some well timed phone calls and emails leading up to the trip, I managed to get a number of national magazines and newspapers to review the blog while we were in India which has resulted in a number of articles and features being published about the trip. This was good for Shared Earth as it generated additional interest in their recently launched franchise package.

Keeping blogging under control
Blogging can easily get out of control and articles can become out of date. If you embark on a blog make sure that the person responsible for the blog sets aside at least an hour or so each week to do the necessary updates. We recommend Wordpress http://wordpress.com which is free and easy to customise and bolt on to your existing website. We also recommend having the live comments section switched off so that you have an opportunity to review any comments that are posted before they become live on the blog.

News and blogs
Blogs can easily form a great outlet for news stories and used properly form a good communication channel between your business and customers, prospects, media and affiliates. They are also currently favoured by search engines and can help with improving your website’s search engine rankings. More recently we have also established a section for press clippings on the Shared Earth blog. This gives your audience the opportunity to review a range of press clippings uploaded as an image or PDF providing them with additional confidence in your franchise operation.

For more information contact sarah@coconutcreatives.co.uk or call 01963 31030 (five digits!)

I’m often asked about tactics which can fit into a marketing strategy, so this month’s tips focus on a few different ideas that can be done alongside your existing 2008 campaign.

Often the temptation is to focus all efforts on recruitment when in fact, your existing franchisee network is capable of much more than you think.

Franchisees at Exhibitions
Taking a franchisee to an exhibition with you gives two very clear messages to prospective franchisees. That you are happy for prospects to chat with an existing franchisee and that you have happy franchisees. So much time is spent on the lead up to an exhibition in the preparation of the stand, signing off final artwork and sorting last minute freebies to tempt prospects onto your stand. The best possible attraction that a franchisor can have on their stand is a real life franchisee (even if they wear a t-shirt saying “I’m a Franchisee”) the message will be strong, clear and powerful. So make sure you take a franchisee with you and get them talking to the visitors

Franchisee recruitment questions
Franchisees are the best possible advocate for your brand and franchise package. It has been proven that when prospects are given a chance to talk to or visit and existing franchisee, they ask better questions and therefore find out at an earlier stage if the franchise is for them. After all, the franchisee is doing the job that they hope to do. They will have many questions and will want to find out what it is like in their shoes. This may require some training and agreement from a particular franchisee and is well worth the effort.

Marketing collateral
Use your chosen franchisees on marketing materials, within press releases and on your website. People like to see people and their testimonials will aid your franchise success for the future. All franchisees should be encouraged to report on positive feedback, gain comments from their own customers and to take photos where possible. You never know when this material might come in handy saving time and money when a promotional opportunity requires such materials. However, be choosey on which materials you use as they must meet your brand standards and give the right message.

Research for future development
Your existing franchisees can offer valuable insights into the future development of the franchise package. A system for capturing their feedback on everything from initial training to newly launched products is essential for continual improvement to maintain a competitive advantage in the future.

Useful Tips
1. Try to build a bank of franchisee case studies which ideally cover several key market areas. Such market areas can include women in franchising or couples in franchising. This allows you to have marketing collateral at your disposal to target specific market segments.
2. Always take a franchisee when you attend events and exhibitions to recruit new franchisees
3. Ideally have a franchisee that is available for serious prospects to talk to.
4. Encourage a marketing focus within your network and reward your franchisees for offering customer case studies that you, as the franchisor, can use.

Planning a ‘discovery day’ can really increase your lead generation and lead conversion rates and allow prospective franchisees to get a flavour for your business before they commit.

Many franchisors choose to undertake discovery days so that they can meet a group of serious prospects face to face. This saves time and resources and has the benefit of allowing prospects to meet each other which can increase conversion rates.

Marketing your Discovery Days
Marketing is actively at work on the lead up to a discovery day, during the discovery day event and post event through various communication channels.

Before the Discovery Day
By advertising a discovery day, you are giving prospects an additional reason to get in contact with you. Make sure the discovery day is mentioned on all advertising and within press 2 - 3 months in advance to give individuals a chance to book on. All other enquiries generated from other sources should be made aware of the discovery day when contact is made.

Discovery days should always be well planned and organised. Depending on the type of franchise and business package on offer, there are a few key things to make sure you include:
1. A dedicated space for the discovery day. If you don’t have a suitable conference/ meeting room with adequate refreshment facilities then don’t try and do it onsite. Instead book a nearby meeting room at a hotel or somewhere else suitable, ideally within a short walk of your head office or template franchise that you plan to show off later on.
2. Start your discovery day in the afternoon as this allows individuals time to get to you. Have a solid structure to your afternoon and don’t finish too late as some people may have travelled quite a distance to visit you.
3. Plan your discovery day on a weekday. Most people attending will need to book a day off work and this shows their level of interest in your franchise. Many people who are not quite as interested would be temped to attend on a Saturday for a free lunch and ‘behind the scenes tour’!

During the Event
Organise a behind the scenes tour of some kind. Allow the prospects to speak to members of staff and look around within a supervised group. Encourage them to ask questions and find out as much as possible to help them make the right franchise choice. Some franchisors insist on attendees signing a confidentiality agreement on arrival while others do not, something to consider.

Post Event
Report back on your discovery day success within your press releases and on your website. If you can, state how many people progressed to the next stage. At a recent discovery day for a client, we achieved 100% success rate, everyone who attended progressed to the next level of in-depth interviews.

The Benefits
Prospective franchisees are interested in a proven business model. By involving them in a discovery day you will be openly demonstrating that other people have also seen the potential within your business model. This gives each prospect confidence and gives franchisors a chance to really sell the franchise package to a captive audience.

Discovery Day Tips
· Discovery days work best with around 10 serious franchisee prospects
· Get key individuals from within your business involved
· Plan the day thoroughly
· Give the prospects time to chat between themselves
· Have franchise agreements ready

Someone once told me that there is a fine line between being fantastically creative by contributing the best idea of the day and acting like a complete idiot! Needless to say this is very true, however it is vital to create a culture where the potential danger of acting like an idiot really doesn’t matter. This way you will ensure you capture the real gem ideas.

A Penny for your thoughts!
While most franchisors have a board of directors which lead strategy and company direction, behind them is a valuable resource; its team. Whether this team is made up of employed head office staff, franchisees, consultants or a combination of all, there is so much benefit in establishing communication channels to capture all of their business ideas.

How Marketing Plays a Vital Role
Marketing tasks and tools can be used to ensure that the systems exist for you to review future ideas. These ideas could be for promotions, a new product or service element or an improvement to the franchise itself.

Marketing activities help to focus franchisees on specific brand related tasks. This is not just essential during the first few months but established franchisees should become involved with head office lead promotions and campaigns which help to refresh them to the language and culture at the root of the business.

The Hidden Benefits
By including all stakeholders within the parameters of the company web, you are actually exposing them to the brand in different ways. This exposure can also be viewed as ‘brand training’ and helps to ensure that your brand and business is represented in the best possible way.

Tools You Can Use
· Regular team building activities
· Corporate away days
· Online forums
· Introducing a company ritual
· Reward system
· Recognition through newsletters, reviews or titles

When’s The Best Time to Start…
With Christmas parties fast approaching, there isn’t a better time to mix some business and pleasure and throw a party for your franchisees which also includes some company updates.

Guide your new franchisees through their first few months with step by step enabling tools.

New franchisees often require quite a bit of ‘hand holding’ and it is during these first few months that they go through their real learning curve. Often franchisees require specialist training to be able to run their franchise within the given market sector or industry. Marketing is almost always included as part of the training package through the operations manual. However, there is so much more that can be achieved once new franchisees understand their new business and have a few additional solid enabling tools, focused on marketing techniques, to assist them.  

Managing expectations through a marketing orientation

A big part of the process for franchisors is managing the expectations of their new franchisees (who are often eager to establish themselves and create a return on their investment). At this stage, marketing can play a key role to help focus their minds and keep them busy while setting some small achievable targets and objectives for them to aim towards.

Setting your standards through marketing

Every franchisor wants every new franchise sold to become a success. It has been proven that by setting franchisee standards through a specific 2 month launch marketing activity plan, you can significantly increase the chances of success and within a shorter time period. While this can be time consuming for the franchisor to create and implement, it can save a great deal of ‘fire fighting’ time later on. 

Dealing with the ups and the downs. Being sturdy, consistent and strong

As I am sure most franchisors have experienced, franchisees often go through a whole host of emotions over the first 6 - 12 months of running their franchise. The mere fact that often they have committed their life savings, changed their lifestyle and working relationships which often causes a shift in family relationships. It can be a very stressful time. Franchisors need to be the parent in the situation and create that focus for the franchisees to concentrate on. They also need to become the understanding agony aunt when things get tough but most of all, franchisors need to reflect (at every opportunity) a consistent and strong disposition during every dealing with any franchisee.  

Creating confidence through marketing

When marketing is done well, it creates a great confidence in franchisors from franchisees. Marketing should be used as a focusing tool of franchisors to help them keep control of not only their business and brand, but the whole host of people that have bought into their psyche and believe in the business model. 

The Four Steps to new franchisee success

1. Invest more time at the beginning in teaching new franchisees key marketing skills
2. Provide a tailored and specific two month marketing activity plan to help focus your new franchisee
3. Always remain sturdy and strong, giving your franchisees a consistent impression of their ‘leader’
4. Offer lots of encouragement and praise at every opportunity to keep new franchisees positively focused

The best possible tools that I have given franchisors is how they can teach their franchisees to look after themselves. In doing this, the franchisor deals with far less problems and far more confident, happy franchisees. By teaching your franchisees to market themselves, you give them the keys to their own success which in turn, also leads to yours.

Next feature; Using PR to Launch Your Franchise (very topical as we approach Octobers National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham!).