Essentials Archives - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Franchise Marketing Essentials

Compulsory centralized marketing programs are probably one of the supreme strengths of franchising. Pooling funds from all of the franchisees in a system gives them communally much greater marketing power. This fundamental fund can be used to do things that no individual franchisee could afford. The fund can also be used to hire professionals to produce advertising materials of far better superiority than what an individual owner could create. It is essential for anyone considering a franchise investment to know prior to becoming a Franchisee that the Franchisor’s marketing system is a good one. The essential qualities of a good franchise marketing program include these actions.

The first priority in any marketing system is knowing that the results will be more people using the products or services of the Franchise.

Second, allow franchisees to offer their opinions. They work in the market in which they operate and know what works and what does not. The final decision can be made by the franchisor, but franchisees will appreciate your allowing them to become involved. Create a franchise advisory group consisting of representatives of all of your franchisees. They should meet with the franchisor’s marketing group and provide input into future projects and campaigns.

Marketing funds should be directed primarily toward covering the costs of controlling the marketing effort (internal expenses, agency fees, etc.). Next they cover the expense of producing advertising resources (print, direct mail, radio and television ads, etc.). Finally, they pay for media purchases to place these advertisements for the advantage of the contributing franchisees. A frequent franchisee criticism is that too much is being spent in one of these area and not enough in another. Clearly there must be a practical balance between these needs.

Don’t spend more on brand advertising than on efforts to bring in more customers. Building the brand is very important but so is bringing in customers. A powerful brand is only as good as the customers in brings in. The marketing system should be carefully documented. A franchisor most likely won’t provide all of their proprietary internal marketing documentation, but you can ask for at least the table of contents of the marketing support manuals they provide to franchisees. This will give you a good idea of the extent of the strategies they provide in training franchisees to market successfully. It will also validate that they have improved their systems to the point where they have record them in manuals and other support and training tools.

The undisputable way to determine how the marketing program is working is to start asking the existing franchisees. You’ll find that they will be very accommodating on this topic since few things are closer to their hearts than marketing. Be precise and ask them how well the marketing works in terms of bringing customers to their business. Also ask if they think they’re steadily getting good value from their contributions to any required marketing fund. If you find a franchise system where the greater parts of the existing franchisees are unhappy about the way their marketing dollars are being administered, you can presume that others will be unhappy as well. If most of the franchisees are satisfied with the way the marketing fund is handled then you will often find that franchisees are happy about most other factors in their business as well.

Franchise Marketing Ideas for Explosive Growth

To expand your franchise you must use marketing techniques which will help to reach your target audience. Franchise marketing involves two areas. Customers are first and of course Franchisees. Both can benefit from the same marketing ideas and techniques, but the results differ significantly. Unfortunately, many franchise companies miss this little fact and focus their marketing methods too heavily on one cause over the other.

Search Engine Marketing (PPC & SEO)

Search engine marketing means bringing increased traffic to your company on search engines through paid search billboards or other ads as well as natural search earned through SEO practices. Distinguishing between how this helps your franchise grow and how consumers will react is an important difference:

Consumer: PPC and SEO techniques will help drive eligible traffic to your franchisee’s local page. This eventually helps you generate more leads or sales because your franchisee location or information pages will hopefully be shown to a direct and relevant audience that is most likely to become a long-term client or customer. It saves consumers time because they are instantly taken to the page that means the most to them because of your ads and to SEO efforts.

Franchise Development: Each type of marketing will help drive traffic to your website which in turn will help create more leads. This essentially benefits franchise development the same way as with consumers. Your ads and organic search submissions are optimized for this audience and deliver prospects attracted to starting a franchise.

Encourage Online Testimonials.

Testimonials are a strong method for showing your success and satisfaction amongst franchisees and customers. Because you manage the reviews you display on your site nevertheless they can make a big difference:

• Consumer: Testimonials provide opinions submitted by satisfied customers and it is important to include them on your site.

• Franchise Development: Testimonials are important to franchise development because they permit prospective franchisees to see how current franchisees’ businesses are functioning as well as their experiences with the corporate office.

Franchise Development

The objective is to invite franchises in the locations where you don’t already have a franchise. Social media can help make this a likelihood by showing the opportunities your business offers next to your target market. Those who are seeing your social media crusade are your target market; consequently your products and services as well as those who relate are all in one place. Once you see who is the most active on social media, you can start generating more personalized content and emails to ultimately start up a conversation.

Build familiarity in the media.

This is one facet of franchise marketing that has become more imperative in recent years. Building familiarity of your brand in the media is a great way to find that stability for your two goals:

• Consumer: Local newspapers and TV stations want to know what’s happening in the neighborhoods they cover. Connecting with publishers, editors and producers with press releases of anything newsworthy at your business will always be of interest to media professionals. Offer to write a free column that benefits a news outlet’s viewers. Many local media sources will show interest in your business. Always make sure you’re offering pertinent information and have something you can offer back to these media outlets.

• Franchise Development: Build relationships with media outlets and provide them with in-house research performed about the industry you operate in and how the franchise system operates in general. The information you provide should be valuable and interesting that the general public.

Infographics

An infographic is an eye-pleasing portrayal of intricate data. Gather your data, and statistics, and create an infographic to transmit your company messages. They can be used in print, on blogs or on social media platforms.

Preparing Your Message

Create a budget to make your infographic. When creating an infographic, using various free programs and templates is not a bad idea. The collecting of data and creating charts and graphs can be time consuming. However, the payout could be substantial.

Choose your message.

The infographic should provide details about your business while not being overly complicated. Keep away from messages that are sales-focused. Buy our product is not a good communication to present. Stating how a product expands quality of life or helps to improve business is a better choice. Non-profits, universities and individuals can profit from infographics, in addition to companies. Infographics can present a story to potential customers more easily than you can by speaking.

Assemble data that sustains your message.

Choose between assembling your own data or finding reliable data from other sources. The following are good places to find statistics if you can’t collect them yourself:

• StatPlanet provides worldwide statistics.

• Search government websites such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics or the EPA to get dependable statistics.

• Trade journals and scientific studies provide study-based data.

• Make sure to list your source(s) for your statistics at the bottom of each graphic section. Use the most trustworthy sources that you can find.

• Use industry reports from Ibisworld.com.

Input your data into an Excel spreadsheet. The data that you gather can be entered into an Excel spreadsheet where you can create charts of varying types to use in your infographic.

Choosing Infographic Tools

A graphic designer. If you want a fully personalized infographic, you should consider hiring someone who can produce it. Rates vary by designer so make sure your budget is adjusted accordingly. If you want to use your final infographic to improve web traffic or social media content, then you should hire a graphic designer. A graphic designer with experience will be extremely beneficial. Use a large headline. Don’t try to save space by making the font smaller. Use a big font that is easy to read, so that it catches the reader’s eye.

Use your logo.

If you want your website found, make sure your logo, website and social media URLs are prominent in your infographic. If you have a general message that you want to go viral, you can skip this step.

Use photographs.

If you prefer you can use photos over illustrations. Use between one and six photographs. Make sure to leave plenty of room to separate the images and add text.

What is in a Name? Keyword and Color Essentials to Branding Your Small Business!

What is in a name? Plenty, if you plan to do business on the internet and want to generate traffic and link energy to your website or blog.

If you are looking to create a new business or re-brand an existing one, you can not underestimate the power of keywords, keyword phrases, color and your web presence, when naming and branding your organization.

Most businesses do not have the resources of a large corporation or a well funded start-up to spend the thousands, if not millions of dollars that it takes to establish a unique and recognizable brand name and image. You can take a shot as Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy did when he bet the farm (and his advertising budget) on a Super Bowl commercial that propelled his company from a virtual unknown entity to a domain and internet hosting market leader and household name.

If you are just starting out and looking to take an idea or vision and turn it into a business that you want to successfully market on the internet, consider these five simple, but essential guidelines as you develop a name, brand and an image for your company.

Essential 1 – Keywords Make the Name

Make sure that you identify and use keywords in your company name that best describe your core business and have strong internet search value. This can take some research and effort but you need to know which words are the most powerful when marketing yourself on the web.

You can get very sophisticated in your search and analysis, or you can just go and use the Google Keyword Tool and type in words that best describe your business and see which words people use when looking for what you are going to market. Remember, what you call your product or service and what a customer or searcher calls it, can be two very different things.

A simple example of the power of a single keyword is the difference between the words “plan” and “program”. Let us assume that I have started a website marketing a new diet that I have developed and want to name my new business and website. An easy example of the power of a keyword is that people will search the term “diet plan” 550,000 times per month on average, but will search the keyword phrase “diet program” 165,000 times per month. If given the choice I am calling my business and marketing my site as “Bill’s Diet Plan” over “Bill’s Diet Program”.

Now this is an over simplified example, but you need to understand the power and potential of the keywords you use in every facet of your business, even your business name. Many search engine spiders (it is documented and sometimes just speculated by the experts) give business and website name greater authority when indexing sites and listing them in keyword searches.

Essential 2 – Own Your Domain Name

There is nothing worse for any business owner than to develop a product or service, create a plan; spend the time and money to form a business, and register it with the state only to find out that some one else owns the domain name for your new business. It happens all of the time.

Never settle on a name, register a business or begin to develop a web presence without first controlling the domain that you will build your business around. That is essential. You can buy up a variety of domain names, but always strive to own your business name.

You can easily go to GoDaddy as we mentioned above, or a variety of domain name registration sites and see what what is taken and what is available. This is also why your initial keyword research is so important, in order to identify and register a business and domain name that will help generate traffic for your site.

Essential 3 – The Power of the Tag Line

Never underestimate the power of a tag line to re-enforce the core of your business as well as add keyword energy that can help set you apart in a search. You tag line is your slogan, theme and mantra wrapped up into a few select words. You want it to be simple, concise and keyword rich.

I am not talking about a mission statement. I am talking about 7-10 words that describe your business. An effective tag line is search critical, as it should contain the keywords that you want to be known and found for.

Take my diet plan example. A tag line might be “A Diet Plan That is Transforming Bodies and Changing Lives”. Now from this tag line I have a statement that uses my keyword phrase “diet plan” and gives a very clear picture of what my diet can do. I would definitely test and research my other two keyword phrases “transforming bodies and “changing lives”, to see if there are more popular keyword phrases that maintain my tag line theme, but have greater search value.

Essential 4 – Color Your World – But Not To Much

This section is literally the blind trying to lead the seeing, as I am not good with colors and completely color blind when it comes to certain colors. My wife and children have a field day with me some mornings when I appear in the kitchen wearing one black sock and one blue sock with my suit.

Color can be a great tool or a huge pain. When considering colors for your brand, logo and website, consider who your target customer is, the region of the world you are marketing into and finally keep in mind the phrase “less is more”.

First, check out other websites and products that target a similar age group or demographic. Big companies spends thousands of dollars on market research and testing to see which colors, themes, layouts and images work best for specific target markets. Why re-invent the wheel, use what works for others and add your style and theme to it.

Next, know where in the world you are marketing into. Certain colors can have very positive or very negative responses in different regions of the world. Some regions respond to bright colors, while others do not. If you are selling outside of the U.S., do some research and check out websites based in those regions to get a sense of what is popular and what is not.

Finally, “less is more”. The more colors you use in your logo, website and company theme the more complicated and costly you will make it for yourself. It costs more money every time you add a color to print a marketing piece or company letterhead, so keep this in mind.

Remember that not all monitors show colors the same and what people see on a website, is not what may get printed out. Consider how everything will look as black and white when developing your website, brand and logo. If you create something that you encourage people to print out, make sure the text will show up.

Essential 5 – Your Logo Can Speak Volumes

An effective logo can help you establish your brand and a bad logo can send the wrong message and turn off a prospect faster than a light switch.

Logos, like color, do not need to be overly complicated to be effective. You can easily outsource logo design. there are hundreds of graphic artists on the web that will do good work for $100. Make sure you are specific for what you want, how many colors and the theme of your logo.

When you get a logo designed make sure that you get high resolution images that you can work with and the specific RGB, Pantone or CMYK color codes used so you can match them up and see how it will look on your website.

When you are designing or considering a logo design consider three things:

Relevance to your brand and business image
Simple is better
No more than 2 colors

If you are a financial planner starting your own business, who has a passion for Harley Davidson and weekend biking, that does not mean you should develop a logo using the Harley font, a similar symbol or an image of a motorcycle in your logo. You may think it is funny, but I have seen stuff like this. You need to consider your target, not yourself when developing a logo and brand. I am not sure how big the financial planning market is for Harley enthusiasts, but you would be limiting your market and creating a brand image that is not in sync with your business.

The bottom line is that your vision will only go as far as your planning will take you and that a name represents more than it ever has in this competitive marketplace. Take the time and plan, it will make a huge difference.

The Essentials of How to Write a Business Plan

As long as you have the key facts figured out, getting your business plan on paper need not be such a challenge.

Industry experts agree that the most common reasons why b-plans head straight for the shredder are because of the small things that give it away as an amateur production: unrealistic claims about competition or risk, spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, content and formatting errors, incomplete or vague information and so on.

Considering that your business plan is the first ever impression of your business, a sloppy piece of work is not going to be read through seriously – especially if its being read by angels and VCs who have to choose among several businesses vying for their attention.

Most plans are divided into standard sections to discuss the business proposition, the management, the market and unique strategies for marketing and operations. The most critical information should be presented upfront rather than buried deep inside the pages, and sections should be well-balanced and inter-related.

Having said that, there is no fixed format for a business plan – sections are put together depending on their relevance to who is going to be reading the plan. For example, a plan for investors is quite different from one put together for internal purposes only.

Presentation is key so that the content is not unnecessarily complex or overly simplified – the plan should be easy to read and build up excitement from logical reasoning and facts (not hot air). Along the way, a clearly emergent SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) should become evident.

The executive summary at the beginning can make it or break it, so it needs to receive as much attention. Together with the investor presentation, it should do a nice job of summing up your entire plan so even though it is the first chapter, it should be written last.

Financial projections that can be supported by actual market facts and data will make sure the nuts and bolts are in place since a lot of investors might read nothing more than the executive summary and the financial projections (though all the other sections need to be there for reference and due diligence once your business is short-listed).

No matter what level you are at, a proper business plan is ideally never written by one person alone – there are bound to be some gaping holes you somehow overlooked in all your excitement.

Business plan software and templates give you some broad areas to discuss, but you should spend your time on more focused responses. Rather than ‘filling in’ sections using a hammer and chisel, try to find answers to specific questions your potential investors will be asking you.

Business consulting firms are usually far more useful than software or templates that are one-size-fits-all, and can help you write a solid plan that gets results.

If you can come up with good answers to questions the consultants put forward, you do not have to worry about the presentation, since the documentation of your responses (with added value) is the responsibility of the consulting firm. The Q&A sessions will also help you build confidence when you actually talk to investors.

Services provided typically include writing, market research, financial modelling, proof-reading, editing and review. For a slightly larger budget, a serious firm will even provide consulting to develop your business strategy. However, you should make sure the consultant works closely with you so that the end result is no less than what you bargained for.

In case you are not in for the additional investment for acquiring these services, make sure your plan receives a good sanity check from your cohorts and is looked over with a critical eye by at least one person external to your business. And don’t forget to spell-check and watch your grammar.

Diversifying Essentials of Event Planning

Celebration of events either on religious grounds or social; are something to cheer for all of us. It is an opportunity which is driven by the precise deficiency of joy and gets togetherness. The biggest event which we all are looking forward to participate is Christmas and this is the event where we all wish to hang around. In true sense of enjoyment for any person, attending Christmas party is like oxygen. Therefore, if you are planning to bring together all your friends and family members on this Christmas, then throwing a party is the most appropriate and desired way. This is the platform where everyone will ultimately acknowledge your efforts and keep remember it for longer period of time. Before starting planning, most important step that should be followed on first priority is determining purpose. You have to determine in your party for which purpose you are going to arrange.

What event needs to be organized?

It is considerable to understand that events come in our lives in all forms and sizes. As a result, every event is required to be planned systematically in order to successfully organize. There are certainly other events which we might have seen around like; a sports day in a school, featuring a pop festival or wedding event. Hence I can say every event equally required proper planning if you wish to enjoy it. The people around you are very busy and they don’t have much time to come and enjoy every event. They have their own goals and there comes the importance of event planning. Solid event planning is very significant for a successful event.

What are essentials for successful event planning?

Here are some basic essentials which you must keep in your pocket while planning an event;

• Budgeting

What budget do you have and can arrange because a car can only run for certain miles if it has desire gasoline.

• Establishing dates and alternate dates

Your schedule is most important because you must take care of timing and date, enabling all to come and enjoy.

• Selection and reservation of event place

Where you wish to see your loves one to be with you while enjoying party? You are the only one who can answer this question. It can be your lawn or roof top as well as expensive hotel or picnic point.

• Acquiring permits

If it is place beyond everyone’s thinking, then it is a good idea to surprise everyone. But you must need to take permission from relevant authorities or owners.

• Coordinating transportation and parking

If your selected place is away from city or home then arranging special kind of transport can be clicking idea. Well, for me, basic idea is to help them forgetting everything else.

• Food and Drinks

Parties without drinks, is just like million dollars in bank account and you have no check book. Arrange as much as drinks as you can. Let them wet with drinks. Other role is food, and food must be very delicious. Empty stomach always calls for mouth watering food and then you present them they will kiss you and hugs you. Such moments can be life lasting moments and everyone will remember it till the last of their lives.

Is there any other mean to make event bombastic?

There are some other essentials which you must not forget while planning event like Christmas or birthday or wedding. These are discussed below;

• Developing a theme

Help your visitors in dressing by adopting any theme of party. Girls usually get confused about selecting party dress. I have heard some men do calls their friends asking what do wear. Therefore, it is time to make their life easier by selecting party theme. You can go for jungle theme as well as planet of unknown theme. Wild ideas, right?

• Decoration arrangements

Decorate hall, roof or room and place with theme. Decoration plays an important role and helps everyone to get into theme. I personally love jungle theme as it gives me sense of freedom. Place trees and plants with grass and very dim light.

• Music System and DJ

Don’t forget to bring music system and obviously DJ. It is time to burn the place with music and dance.

• Secure Environment

Try to give them secure environment where they can travel to space. Remember, there are no laws in space.

• Catering services

It is a good idea to hire some catering company to make arrangements. You cannot be king of every art therefore, leave the burden and enjoy.

• Portable toilets

Don’t forget to arrange portable toilets if you are arranging party in remote areas. Life without toilets cannot exist.

• Emergency Services

Life is very uncertain and parties usually get ruin when any mishap occurred. Take maximum care of such events by providing Emergency services like medical help or kit and some other basic tools.

As I said earlier, you cannot be king of all arts. Therefore acquired help from some expert event planner or professionals should not be beyond thinking. They know how to manage and they are expert in this field. Let them manage on your behalf but it required lot of money to throw. Money is petrol and it burns all obstacles which can come between you and a successful event. Use your brave heart in that matter instead of mind. Remember my golden words, sometimes trusting someone can take you out of shit.