Offline services to restaurant chains?

by Amy5
10 replies
I haven't called any chain restaurants yet, and I'm not sure how it works for franchises. Can an individual franchise make a decision for things such as sms text messaging, mobile websites, social media?

When I look the restaurants up online, I see one main website with a "locations" tab - I see one main facebook page, one main twitter page - for the entire franchise - I don't see anything really local, other than their claimed places page.

Do they have the ability to say yes to local marketing services (mobile site, sms text, social media, email marketing etc....) ?

In your opinion, should I call on them? Or just look for the smaller ones that aren't attached to a franchise?

I truly appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this!
#chains #offline #restaurant #services
  • Profile picture of the author JToneyUK
    I aint exactly sure on an answer here, but I personally would steer clear of franchises. If they are so big they probably have in house marketing teams that do things on a large scale.

    Stick to the SME businesses where you are likely to speak direct with an owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author jbnet86
    I worked in a franchise for Several years - Some will allow local management to make some advertising decisions. Normally weekly newspaper and radio ads. To get something new started your probably going to have to go up the ladder and deal with at least a Regional or Area Manager. On occasion you will run across a small franchise and get to talk directly to the actual owner!
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  • Profile picture of the author Brendan Vraibel
    I generally stay away from franchises as well. There are so many small businesses out there that need help. I don't really want to waste time being told to call their corporate office when I could be on the phone with the actual decision maker of another business. Just my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author manny2513
    I have to agree stay away from the big franchises they might get your idea pass it down to their marketing department for implementation and leave you behind with no $$ on your pocket. Small business are much or an easy target and they do actually need help as they can't afford having an in house marketing department.
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    • Profile picture of the author Amy5
      Thank you! I wasn't sure if a franchise could utilize the "main" marketing department - or if individually owned and they're on their own.

      Overall it does seem that's it not a direct pathway such as a local independent bakery would be.
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    • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
      Originally Posted by manny2513 View Post

      I have to agree stay away from the big franchises they might get your idea pass it down to their marketing department for implementation and leave you behind with no $$ on your pocket. Small business are much or an easy target and they do actually need help as they can't afford having an in house marketing department.
      Agreed. You're better off going to the "little guys" and helping them out. You'll make more, and won't pull your hair out so much.
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  • Profile picture of the author Seantrepreneur
    I have to say I strongly disagree with the stay away from franchises side of things. Of course I would stay away from the big ones like Mcdonalds, Burger King, Subway etc.. but there are TONS of franchises out there that you could make a killing on.

    I'll provide some examples:

    First example:
    I have one client who is an elderly care service providers. They do not need approval from headquarters on almost anything. They have very high margins and spend a lot of money on marketing. Because of the success I have had with this one I am already in talks with a couple other of these same franchises in other states. There are 550+ of these franchises throughout the U.S....

    Second example:
    I have a SMS marketing client that is a franchised adult sporting league that has over 600 individual leagues through the U.S. I work with the local leader and she gave me the contact info for the person in charge of this region. Now, we are in talks to bring this service to 17 other leagues in her region.

    I'm not trying to brag AT ALL with these example. I just want to show ppl that working with franchises can be much like working with any other local business except there are normally hundreds of others of these exact businesses that are willing to pay for your services. The moral of the story is do not rule franchises out. Simply asking the question to them can go a looong way.

    Hope that helps

    Sean
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Franchises can have their own marketing departments as has been said, so if they have and they still havent got a mobile site (esp restaurants) then theyve clearly got a completely rubbish marketing department .

    Just tell them how many mobile visitors theyre missing on a month and how out of date their marketing department is. do they really want to leave their jobs and wages in the hands of these neathanderal dumbos or would they like to work with someone who will bring them into the C21st
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    Mike

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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    To answer you question directly....
    Franchisee's are excellent to work with. And yes, they can do their own marketing, more often than not. They're invested their money into that franchise and if they franchisor marketing plan isn't "cutting it" because of the marketplace or just because it works in only certain demographical areas, then they'll look for other vendors to market for them.

    My experience with franchisee's...
    They're great! We started working with one franchisee and within 45 days, we had his "friends" totaling an additional 6 locations. Next plan is to go after the Franchisor, who has 700 locations.

    And that's the play right there: You do an excellent job with a few franchisee's and they'll let the appropriate people know about it... then it's off to the big leagues where you put together a whole marketing plan for each franchise, and the franchisor pays a certain amount for each location. This is excellent something I did a year ago. The package was for $2,000/mo and they had 1,000 locations.

    BUT... Franchise's are "long term plays" as I call it. Sometimes they're slow to get going so if your whole marketing plan is to attract them, I'd have a few other verticals in the hopper to target.
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Brands
    I think restaurant chains give right to Franchise to choose suitable way to permote their business in local market. Dnt try to stick with one franchise, try to deal with whole chain.
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