Tag Archive for: Thought leadership

Engaging future franchisees through Thought Leadership

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Image source - makemorerainblog.org

Image source – makemorerainblog.org

While some franchises have long realised the benefits of thought leadership as a communications tactic, many still fail to embrace it.

Thought leadership can shape thinking around the nature of a franchise, reveal its corporate culture, and introduce new ideas to the industry that might be important to a franchise’s future. Ultimately, it can demonstrate that a franchise’s expertise is driven by a deep understanding of its own work and the sector.

It can also be used to support one of the most fundamental challenges for franchisors – attracting quality franchise recruits suitable for the next wave of growth. One of the key drivers in a person’s decision to purchase a franchise is their respect for the franchisor’s drive and passion for the business. Thought leadership provides an excellent way to help a brand engage and resonate with potential new franchisees by sharing its vision.

So how can thought leadership be deployed effectively to engage next gen franchising?

Fortunately Australia’s $128 billion franchising industry is extremely dynamic. With long-term trends forcing franchisors to plan for the future, they have the opportunity to demonstrate their appreciation of future economic challenges, rising above company-specific issues to provide industry or national leadership on broader topics and trends.

A growth strategy encouraging independent operators to join a franchise system might mean good thinking around the increasing costs and complexities associated with operating an independent business or how to embrace e-commerce in the current retail environment. If you’re targeting corporate career changers, thinking might involve insights into the reasons underpinning why a significant number of highly experienced corporate executives are turning to the franchising sector.

However, like most communication strategies thought leadership has its rules. Original, good thinking is critical. Using research will ensure it is not only original, but comprehensive and relevant to the target audience. Effective thought leadership also requires a commitment of time from the executive management team, and collaboration with a good PR team to ensure thinking not only resonates with your target audience but also has cut through in the current media landscape.

Ignite PR works with Australia’s leading franchise brands providing strategic communications advice leading to both increased brand awareness and improved franchise development. Contact us today. 

PR’s role in modern day franchising

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CEO Champions: boosting visibility of senior leaders

CEO Champions: boosting visibility of senior leaders

Franchising and small business is a pretty dynamic sector of Australia’s economy, and that’s why we’re pretty excited to hear our clients speak of increases in consumer confidence. It means franchisors can start investing more in communications, to explore new ways to cut through the diverse and ever-changing media landscape.

While we’ve been exploring the following elements with our clients over the past few years, here are our thoughts on some trends we believe are shaping PR’s new role in modern day franchising in Australia.

  • Storytelling – Beyond boasting average sales growth or profit margins across the network, the prospective pool of candidates wants to know who your successful franchisees are, how long they’ve been with you, why they are successful and what skills they came with. These stories are far stronger than your product, and PR people will unearth those that are strongest separating your proposition from that of your competitors.
  • CEO Visibility – The very best franchise leaders will be those who dedicate time to helping PR succeed. This might mean making themselves available to offer industry business insights, or validating why their organisation supports its chosen causes. The leadership communicated to stakeholders through high CEO visibility, as we like to call it, also proves invaluable in attracting new franchise recruits, because passion attracts passion.
  • Visual Communication – While the press release is far from ‘dead’ in Australia, the point is brands using interesting and engaging multimedia such as videos and infographics are ahead of the rest. There’s more to media than printed news stories, and modern day PRs are multi-skilled with the ability to put together a video, from scripting to filming, editing and distribution with the same strategic thinking.
  • Thought Leadership – Leading franchisors have the unique opportunity to establish thought leadership in their respective industry. The right communications professionals have a strong understanding of what makes media tick, allowing them to create the thought leadership on your behalf.
  • Social Media – You may have a social presence, but it’s not merely enough. If your social activity doesn’t include strategies for energising and engaging your fans and followers across the key platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you’re stuck in the past.

PR communications is one of the most powerful ways to do something that is so fundamental in the franchising industry – sharing your company’s story and success with the right audience. Understanding it and utilising it to achieve your corporate goals will be a worthy investment in 2014.

Ignite PR works with Australia’s leading franchise brands providing strategic communications advice leading to both increased brand awareness and improved franchise development. Contact us today.