“The real focus
in marketing
has to be on
the local level.
What we talk to
our customers
about is the ‘war
zone’—that oneto three-mile
radius around
their location.
They have to
win that battle
every day.”
“A successful franchise is on top of
for the chain, Synergy assisted in cretheir marketing,” says Lechner. “Marating system-wide point of purchase,
keting is just one of those things that,
limited-time offers, and catering kits.
traditionally, is ignored at the franchiOnce a company has the data in
sor level. There has been a lot of focus
place, Lechner advises clients to creon real estate and operations, but the
ate and track a marketing plan aimed
best way to sell franchises is to have
at driving traffic, trial, and retention—
successful franchisees that can validate
with separate strategies and budgets for
for you.”
each. One of the biggest, most costly
Most small to medium-sized franchise
marketing mistakes a brand can make is
systems lack the market penetration and
to send the same message to everyone.
continuity, thus the economies of scale,
At Lenny’s, Alvord rarely prints a
for brand marketing to pay off. Unless a
coupon without plenty of forethought.
franchise is an equity brand that enjoys
The company uses “measurable mara Subway- or McDonald’s-like market
keting” techniques, tracking results
penetration, or a strong regional presthrough its proprietary point-of-sale
ence such as In-N-Out Burger, Lechsystem, which allows management to
ner advises branding efforts to focus
quickly assess the value of a strategy or
on trackable, wisely spent local store
program. For instance, marketing to local
marketing (LSM) programs.
schools easily raised local store spirit,
These ROI-based programs gather
while a direct mail piece to pharmaceuticustomer information, build strong
cal representatives for catering services
customer relationships, bring in new
fell flat, says Alvord, whose background
patrons or buyers, and keep them comat Burger King, FedEx, and AOL (who
ing back—or, in “marketingspeak,” they
can forget those ever-present installadrive traffic, trial, and retention.
tion CDs?) makes him well-versed in
Synergy, which counts Lenny’s, Hunthe value of low-cost buzz.
gry Howie’s, Pizza Hut, and Oxi Fresh
“Most of the time, fra