Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2014 | Page 42
Grow Market Lead
CMO
roundtable:
“How is your brand using
technology in its marketing
efforts to target and reach
customers more effectively?”
Whitney Samuelson
Director of Marketing
Maid Brigade
Over the past several
years, we have seen
traditional marketing
methods decline in
effectiveness and increase the cost of acquiring new customers. In the past we were able to send out
a direct mail piece or run an ad in the
Yellow Pages and customers would come
calling. Unfortunately this is no longer
the case.
Because of this trend, Maid Brigade has made the shift toward using
technology-based marketing to reach
prospects in the market for maid service.
Most notably, we use SEO and SEM to
drive customers to our website to request
service. As competition increases—from
other national companies, as well as
from local companies—it is crucial that
we remain top of mind by maintaining
a strong presence in both the paid and
organic areas of the search engines.
We have also run both site and search
retargeting campaigns to target consumers who are searching online for
maid service or who have visited our
website. Once a customer is on our site,
we use live chat to communicate with
prospects and drive them through the
conversion funnel. In addition, we have
experimented with a variety of online
lead aggregators and online service
directories. These technology-driven
companies match prospects looking
for service with companies able to meet
their needs.
Regarding social media, we have
recently started using a software platform that allows our franchisees to
more efficiently and effectively man-
40
Franchiseupdate ISS U E II, 2 0 1 4
age their local social media campaigns
on Facebook and Twitter. We want our
franchisees to be able to connect and
engage with their local audiences, and
this tool allows them to do that. Maid
Brigade has also developed customer
relationship management software designed to facilitate communication with
prospects during the purchasing cycle.
The software automates many functions
that contribute to booking prospects,
which increases booking percentages
and helps lower the cost of acquisition.
While we still believe strongly that
a multimedia marketing mix is important, more and more we are relying on
technology and the Internet to market
effectively and efficiently to our potential customers.
Rob Stravitz
Vice President Marketing
Valvoline Instant Oil Change
Valvoline Instant Oil
Change relies on two
principles in developing our marketing
programs: 1) leverage
our extensive customer database to gain
insights and target our activities; and
2) can we clearly measure the impact
so we are confident that we are delivering long-term value to the business?
The reality is that we operate a business that handles a chore consumers
have to do, but don’t want to do (a
lot like the dentist, my apologies to
the dental profession). As such, there
is a very limited window when a consumer will be in the market for an oil
change. While this makes acquisition
challenging, it remains the lifeblood
of a thriving business. The good news
is that consumer adoption of technol-
ogy is opening a myriad of better ways
to reach new consumers when they’re
due for that oil change.
Not surprisingly, we have found
search (organic and paid) to be th