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- Franchise Marketer, why? Plus, name the number 1 franchise executive in 2024
Franchise Marketer, why? Plus, name the number 1 franchise executive in 2024
Joel Kleber
June 03, 2024
Franchise Marketer, why? Plus, name the number 1 franchise executive in 2024
Plus I will also discuss it with you today.
Why the name change?
Named #1 Franchise Executive in Australia
Why Franchise Brands ALL need a Podcast
Why YouTube is your best salesperson!
Story brand and why it’s changing what I do
A big FU to someone and why you shouldn’t listen to people
Franchise Marketer?
There are a lot of generic marketing newsletters, however, none that focus on franchising that I found.
I also wanted to create a community around people who work in franchising and especially marketing their brands.
My playbook is online for all to see, so it’s more about sharing other insights that you may not see online, feel free to send me a question and I am more than happy to respond.
Named Number 1 in the Top 30 Franchise Executives Report 2024
Most people online would have seen me be named number 1 in the Top 30 Franchise Executives report for 2024.
It was quite a shock as I thought nothing of my nomination. However, it's great to form a personal brand with this type of outside acknowledgement.
If you want to be more detail about why I won it, you can check out my article here about it all and the many people involved.
I didn’t heavily promote it on our brand accounts, as I didn’t want to bring more scrutiny than this award has already brought.
However, it’s about time the Jim’s Group and people within our great business got some outside recognition beyond our own internal awards.
We have a great system that is a little hidden, so I am hoping to encourage our franchisors and other members of the business to get more involved in these industry-type events/awards.
Why do all franchise brands need a podcast?
My market research is simple.
I ask 140 new franchisees in training, who have watched a video before coming to training.
All of them put their hands up and I ask them, what did you watch?
More and more, it’s the podcast episodes that are being said as the first content that they consume.
They don’t just consume one episode, they listen to as many as possible.
Why are they popular?
Think about it, we ask people to invest their life savings with us and expect them to just take our word for it or a sales manager from our company.
People want to hear from the people running the franchise; not everyone has the courage to walk into a store or call a random number to chat with a franchise owner.
It’s why the podcast works well. People can lurk for ages, listen at their own pace and get a true sense of what being a franchisee is like in the brand.
Not only that, you can make bulk short-form social media content with numerous repurposing techniques.
Why YouTube is the best salesperson?
An active YouTube channel for a franchise brand is a must in my opinion.
I have even heard from prospects in training who say a reason for them coming with us over VIP (rival brand) for example, was that we have an active YouTube channel and so many transparent videos.
These videos will also come up in Google search results sometimes and can be used in all of your marketing funnels.
It’s crazy to me that if you’re selling franchises, you don’t have at least one new video every month on your YouTube channel.
YOU DO NOT need to spend $1000’s on video production either, a simple Zoom interview with your franchise owners is more than enough as people want genuine information.
The more raw it looks and feels, the better it resonates.
Storyboard
In a nutshell, StoryBrand is a marketing framework that helps you clarify your message by putting your customers at the centre of your story.
It simplifies your communication, making it easy for your audience to understand how your products or services solve their problems and improve their lives.
By using the StoryBrand framework, you can create compelling, customer-focused messaging that drives engagement and conversions.
I highly recommend the audiobook.
I am currently re-doing our websites and when I apply the above framework, I have been so off the mark and most businesses are when it comes to their messaging.
This means a great opportunity for us and other marketers to really look at our messaging and clarify it on all online assets.
The first place to start is with your website, I have around 6 to-redo and I will be applying this framework to all in order to help increase conversions.
Don’t Listen to People 😄
I remember not too long ago, Jim (I work for Jim’s Group) wanted to interview a group marketing manager to assist me and handle more marketing activities in-house.
The recruiter misunderstood the role a bit and sent us a high-profile candidate with around 30k followers on LinkedIn and a rather imposing presence.
Jim and I were in the room with this gentleman as Jim outlined the expectations for the group digital marketing position.
The gentleman responded with his vision, explaining how he could transform the brand over five years, with a base salary expectation of $300k per year. He mentioned that for the various digital marketing functions Jim wanted, he would outsource to agencies he knew and make specialist internal hires for each one.
Then, he looked at me and said, "I have looked at your LinkedIn and see that you have the title CMO. I have seen what you do, and you're not a CMO."
It was a hard comment to hear, but he was right in some aspects. I didn’t study marketing at university, I don’t spend thousands on market research surveys, and I don’t spend millions on media buying.
His comment got me down for about four months. However, we didn’t hire him because he wouldn’t have done the nitty-gritty tasks we need. In our small team, you have to know how to do things yourself, not just delegate.
After the interview, I engaged one of my best mates, who used to head up marketing at Lion Nathan, for some marketing coaching. He showed me his pitch decks, which were similar to what we were doing informally, just not documented in PowerPoint.
During a good chat, he asked me one question that stuck with me and gave me confidence: "What is the actual goal of Jim’s Group?"
Our goal is to support franchisees first and grow franchisee numbers. He then said, "Without you since 2019 involved with the marketing, you wouldn’t be at those franchisee numbers, would you?"
I replied, "No," and I'm confident of that, as Jim himself has stated.
This got me thinking about what a CMO is. It’s a fancy title, but from my perspective, I am responsible for assisting our franchisors with marketing to grow the number of franchisees and ensuring the Jim’s Group brand grows with the best allocation of resources within our unique culture.
CMOs often have a job lifespan of around 18 months as they tend to be blamed for poor revenue while other parts of the business get off scot-free. However, I have lasted longer and even picked up an award for my role as Jim’s Group CMO!
It just goes to show, don’t listen to people who have no idea what actually drives growth or matters to your business. Believe in yourself, trust your instincts, and remember that titles don't define your impact—results do.
Lesson: Titles and external opinions don’t define your worth or impact. Focus on what truly matters—achieving your goals, supporting your team, and driving growth. Trust your instincts and capabilities, and don't let anyone else dictate your value.