Tom’s Franchise Information Blog

Franchises have quietly become one of the fastest growing industries in the United Sates over the past few years. The number of franchises has steadily increased in numbers since the 1950’s, accounting for nearly 50 percent of all retail sales. Did you know that annual sales total more than $1 trillion? However, the biggest surprises for many of these first-time owners is the fact that their franchises don’t sell themselves.

Everybody thinks a franchise’s name recognition is the only thing that drives customers in the doors. While that is true in some ways, it isn’t the only thing. Marketing your franchise isn’t that different from any other small business. You’ll be more effective and have more potential with the more options you have at your disposal. Here are some of the many different marketing support avenues available to a franchise owners:

• Operations manual - As the owner of a franchise business, you and your employees should think of the operations manual as the holy grail of your business. Everyone would know it inside and out. Basically, it is the training guide which goes over everything about it from the the instructions on how to run things to the guidelines on operations of it. The operations manual answers every question you have concerning running the franchise. It also contains some troubleshooting tips and solutions. The operations manual holds all of the operating standards of that specific franchise system as well as your role as the franchisee.
• Initial training - The initial training as it tends to last for only a few days in some companies while up to multiple weeks with others. With some of the larger franchise systems, the company will send a specialized trainer to teach you and your staff the ins and outs of their specific business operations and also give you sales and marketing guidance. This is all done in-house.
• Advertising - As a franchisee you are required to pay a small amount for regional or national advertising, but you will receive advice and guidance from corporate headquarters as far as what local channels of marketing to do it with. They also offer recommendations on how to go about setting it up and how to do it correctly. Many of the smaller systems sometimes cannot offer this much but will provide you with pre-opening advertising costs.
• Location selection - You’ll find that a lot of franchisors assist their franchisees in finding a suitable location for their storefront. Many times they will pick out a location for you. Think of this as a huge benefit on a path towards success and not as any type of handcuff. These invest time and money into site planning which leaves you to work on other pre-opening projects to worry about.

• Additional support - As a franchisee you have the additional benefit of receiving support on the administrative level. They can help you with issues pertaining to accounting, human resources, or IT support. With some companies this additional support can mean off-site training at seminars dealing with managing a staff, leadership, and sales and marketing workshops.

Red Hot Franchises, at www.redhotfranchises.com, offers franchises opportunities. We feature low cost franchises, retail franchises, and other franchise categories.

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