How can PR really make a difference to a franchisor’s peace of mind? Well, do you ever get that niggling feeling when a prospect gets to due diligence stage? Maybe you’re not quite sure what mood your franchisees will be in when they get that call from your prospect? Will they rave about the business and their success or not?
If you have faith in your recruitment process, have the best franchisees in your network, communicate well between you and have a great product or service, then there is just one more thing you need to complete the jigsaw – sales. Sales come from brand awareness and customers feeling the need to buy – so how do you draw those customers in?
We’ve all heard the facts and a recent Neilsen survey said that 84% of global respondents across 58 countries still consider word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family as the most influential driver for them to buy. Closely linked with personal recommendation are online consumer reviews at 68% and editorial content such as newspaper articles at 67%.
So the next question is, how do you get your brand recommended, in consumer reviews and published in the media?
PR gets people talking about you! Decide on the story you are going to tell about your brand and then get telling it! Send it everywhere: blogs, social media, print and online press, broadcast media – anywhere that you customers will get to hear it. Refer back to my blog “PR Power” to get more ideas on what your story could be and how to tell it.
And don’t forget, you can’t build brand awareness with a one-hit wonder! Many people think of PR as huge stunts, events or a single press release but an effective PR campaign is much more than a single activity. You need to plan your PR campaign for the long-term, repeating your brand messages in fun, engaging and informative ways.
And to all those media salesmen out there who wish to battle their corner – don’t worry! Traditional print advertising is actually gaining in trust by consumers – in 2011 a similar Neilsen study showed 56% of respondents trusted this form of advertising “completely” or “somewhat” whereas latest figures show this has increased to 61%. In fact, my advice is not to cut out advertising and replace solely with PR, it is just to distinctly separate the two so they are clearly defined and work well as a combination of complimentary marketing and PR activities.
Contact us to find out how you can rev up your PR.