Our own John Nelson, Marketing Strategist, just published this article in Sales Force Branding. Read on:

You want someone with a suitable profile and adequate liquid assets. Here are four steps to successfully find good prospects for your franchise opportunities. These tips also work for other lead-generation situations.

1. Understand your prospect – This is a critical first step, despite the costs of research and fact-finding. And it’s too often overlooked. Many owners and executives believe they already “know” their ideal candidate, but data tells the truth and fills in the details. Look at demographic, psychographic, lifestyle, and online and offline behavior to create an accurate, comprehensive view of your prospect. The more you know about your prospect upfront, the more likely you are to make a sale – and save time, money and resources along the way.
2. Create a nonlinear strategy – Gone are the days of the classic sales funnel. Now you use multiple channels and data points to track your prospect. To be competitive in today’s franchise market, leverage insight by listening, data collecting and monitoring your prospect’s behavior. Pay attention to your prospect and build data driven strategy across appropriate marketing channels. Build a strong relationship from initial contact to engagement to conversion.
3. Connect and stay connected –Use your research to determine the marketing channels where your prospects hang out, and then be there. I recommend strategies that involve web, email, direct mail, mobile, social media and calls centers because these are tactics that can be easily monitored for ROI. In addition to the channels you need to create a dynamic conversation that anticipates their needs and engages them through their decision making process. This will make your prospect gain confidence in you and your company and allow you to be prepared for any questions that may arise. Ultimately, these actions drive connectivity to you and dramatically impact your prospect’s buying decisions.
4. Leverage your information – Continually monitor, track and respond to the data collected through your marketing efforts. Develop a program that tags, tracks and reports on the effectiveness of each campaign across all channels. Monitoring your campaigns gives you real-time insights on how to adjust strategies to optimize your marketing dollars and drive a higher ROI.

What’s worked for you? Do you have a successful franchise-locating story? Any tips to share on finding viable franchisees for your operation? We’d love the hear about it.

About John: He’s a Marketing Strategist for the Flint Group, which has helped franchises in many sectors grow and profit for 35+ years. Prior to his current role, he was Director of Marketing for The Alternative Board®, a Denver based business coaching franchise. Flint Group is also a proud member of the International Franchise Association. Follow John on Twitter or Join John on LinkedIn.

With this increase in usage, however, HR directors are scrambling to govern social media activities by employees. This has led to companies large and small creating social media policies for their employees.

Mike Volpe from Hubspot takes a different look at social media policy development in his post Why Social Media Policy is Stupid. In his post Mike states “… the best “policy” is to hire smart people, give them the right coaching and training, set the correct culture around customer interaction, and then punish those who misbehave.” Although we have a social media policy for employees at Flint Group and have helped many clients develop social media strategies and social media policies, I kind of agree with him.

So what do you think, do businesses need a social media policy?

When work excites and inspires you, it’s play. SimmonsFlint shared some playfulness on May 20 at our annual client party. Our theme this year: baseball. We became The Sparks, the newest baseball team in Grand Forks.

Nice lineup, eh? (Notice our catcher?)

The evening included a batting cage, live music, a client Hall of Fame and traditional baseball fare – chili dogs, popcorn, nachos with cheese and beer (but, unlike a baseball game, it wasn’t flat). Best of all – we got to play outside of work and share a great evening in celebration of our clients.

Manager Susan Mickelson keeps her eye on the ball (as usual).

Clearly, we work passionately and play seriously. We play with messaging and strategy, traditional and social media, words and design.
Play is proven to work.
Some insights from Leo Babauta at ZenHabits.com:
When work feels like play, we can accomplish so much more:
+ Unleash creativity for higher productivity levels
Creativity is essential. And not just in the world of marketing, but in any career. The ability to think differently can solve myriad issues in the workplace. Play encourages us to open our minds to new ideas.
+ Revitalize the mind and spirit to regain focus
Does sitting at a desk all day long ever get to you? Running away for two minutes to get an icy cold beverage can do wonders for our mental clarity. So can play. Shutting off the computer (and your mobile) and playing at night gets us recharged and revved for a brand new day. Tomorrow, bring it.
+ Eliminate stress and worry for a fresh outlook
Of course there’s stress in any job. Finding a playful way to relieve built-up stress is not only healthy; it’s fun. Doing something that takes little thought can help you recharge and solve problems.
+ Attract and keep talented employees
Talented employees are not only drawn to fun companies; they stick around longer. Companies who not only work together, but play together, make cohesive teams.
Long ago, Plato said: “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” He had a point.
+ Sweep out mental cobwebs and sharpen our thinking
Suffering from jumbled thoughts, hazy memories and anything-but-eloquent speech? Feel like you’ve drunk more than your share of work? Take time to relax and rejuvenate. Your brain will thank you by working smoother and clearer.
+ Discover what brings the most joy
In other words, play helps you find your passion.

The main reason we do the work we do is because we’re passionate about it.
We realize how important all of these things – peak creativity, focus, problem solving, mental clarity and passion – add up.

You’re always welcome to play in our world. It’s bound to be a good time.

What is a communications audit?
A communications audit is a method of research, where we focus on the process of communications. We look at the exchange of information between you and your audience (think internal or external, customers or members, potential customers, those who influence your audience, volunteers, employees and more) and examine how well you are achieving your communications goals in reaching each critical audience. We define the audit scope based on the audit objectives; some have included interviews with key audiences or review of media coverage, others focus solely on advertising and communications materials.

The hardest part is getting started
Actually, the most painful part of the audit is the process of pulling together representative samples and lists of all audience touch points, both internal and external. Once you strip away the different silos, department ownership or rationalization that can surround communication and advertising, and review all your communication collectively, you’ll discover consistency or inconsistency, strengths and weaknesses, gaps and opportunities.

This process also helps you analyze how effectively you’re telling “your story” and most importantly, can serve as both a benchmark and a roadmap for your future. Just yesterday, I read a client’s 2010 communication plan that was developed from our 2009 audit findings.

What about your company or organization? Do you cringe at the thought, or are you ready for a communications audit?

photo by leetlegreenman on Flickr

A client told me his sales staff was frustrated because the campaign we were running wasn’t generating many leads. We went back through his strategic plan, and I pointed out that the lead-generating activity of the campaign was not executed.

We executed the awareness part of the campaign strategy, which was performing very well. We effectively moved the audience into the interest stage of the campaign. But that’s where it stalled out.

This is a common mistake, but one that is easily corrected.

A solid campaign will, at its highest form, take you through the stages of consumer involvement: AWARENESS – INTEREST – DESIRE – ACTION, or AIDA. There are strategies and tactics that support each of these areas. All the stages should be considered carefully as your audience moves through the cycle to action (the purchase).

Here’s how it works:

1)    Awareness

“Who are you and why should I care?”

Activities include:

• Broad-based advertising like print, radio and television ads that introduces the company or product
• Direct mail that may or may not have an offer
• Public relations
• Email  (Sometimes. This is more effective if the prospect has already opted in or raised a hand.)

2)    Interest

“I might want what you have to offer, but I need to know more.”

Activities include:

• Online search
• Clicking a banner ad
• Visiting a website
• Ordering more information (perhaps a brochure or literature piece)
• Calling the company with general inquiries
• Offering more information to the company by taking a survey or through public relations efforts

3)    Desire

“I definitely want what you have. I just need to learn more, get a little push, maybe see a special offer.”

Activities include:

• Registering for a special offer
• Reading more about the product (beyond general interest)
• Pricing out the product or service, getting a quote
• Email – segmented dialog

4)    Action

“I’m ready to purchase, order or sign-up.”

Activities include: the purchase!

Ultimately you want to move people to Action, but many will stay in the Interest/Desire area for some time. This is where automated campaigns and ongoing dialog are critical. If you can gather enough information about the prospect at the Interest stage, you can serve them relevant information that will more quickly move them to Action.

Sustaining relevance in the Interest/Desire stage will help you close the sale.

Ongoing dialog can also teach you a lot about what messages resonate with certain people. As you learn more, you can segment and alter your campaign to increase effectiveness.

To learn more about AIDA, visit MindTools.

Have you lost market position?
If you were number one 10 years ago and number three now, there may be a number of things to fix. Tinkering around the edges won’t get you back to the top spot. Start with your brand.

Are your marketing investments delivering diminishing returns?
You’ve done media advertising, direct mail, and SEO. You’ve invested in CRM and new collateral. But no matter how much you spend, you get just about the same results. Sure, the world of media is changing. But could the big problem be your message? New executions and new media won’t fix it. Time to pay attention to your brand.

Are you dissatisfied with your logo?
Everyone gets tired of their logo at some point, just like we get tired of the same old clothes. In most cases you’re probably best advised to leave it alone (the logo, not the wardrobe). But if your logo doesn’t seem to fit who you are, and you don’t quite know why, it’s time to ask yourselves what your brand’s all about. And you’d best figure it out before you redesign the logo.

Are you dissatisfied with your name?
Your name is kind of like your logo; if it doesn’t fit, you need to know why. Funny thing, in the course of brand development you may decide it makes sense to retain your name, but you’ll find yourselves becoming a company it fits better.

Has there been change in your business strategy?
Your brand strategy is the “face” of your business strategy. So it almost goes without saying that a significant change in business strategy should provoke a long hard look at your brand.

Stay tuned for more tips on brushing up your brand.

It’s easiest to start with what a brand is not. It is not a logo. It is not a company name. It is not a product. A brand is the sum total of all the interactions, good and bad, an audience has with a company or product. It is the gut feeling a person has about the company or product; the place the company or product holds in the person’s mind and heart.

Your brand is not what you say it is, but rather what your audiences say it is.

So, if the brand is not what you say it is, how do you build a strong brand? Branding is creating an emotional bond with your target audiences. To do this, you need to know your unique distinctions and how you bridge the gap of what your target audiences need or want and what you uniquely offer. Once you develop a solid, relevant brand promise, you then need to deliver it consistently. One of the core building blocks of brand delivery is your employees.

Your employees are your brand’s biggest ambassadors and are an extremely important internal audience in brand building. Branding is experiential and is everyone in the organization’s responsibility. Branding starts from within and begins with commitment. In the brand development process, it is vital for communications to work with human resources to develop strategies, processes and tactics that engage employees and create a shared understanding of the brand. This activity should identify brand behavior for employees and show them how to “live the brand”.

So, how do you live your brand promise?

The key is to match the right spokesperson to the right product
What consumers see must match the emotions they feel. In the case of Tiger Woods, the issue is not simply personal values: it’s the gap between our image of Woods and these recent allegations.

Here’s how Roger Dooley at Neuromarketing describes it: “While the individual hearing the sales pitch may be listening to the words, her brain’s mirror neurons are firing at the same time in reaction to the salesperson’s emotions, demeanor, etc. If there’s a disconnect between the words that are cognitively processed and the emotions that are mirrored, the pitch will probably be less effective.”

Striking the right chord
Athletes have endorsed products for more than 100 years. Most sources agree baseball great Honus Wagner was the first, emblazoning his name on Louisville Slugger bats in 1905. Then there was the 1960s, with Arnold Palmer lending his likeness to Sears, Pennzoil and dozens of other companies.

In the ‘80s, everyone wanted to “be like Mike,” as Michael Jordan raised endorsements to sky-high levels. Even when we learned Jordan gambled away thousands of dollars, it still matched our image of his intense competitiveness.

Yet our image of Woods was focus, discipline and iron-clad mental resilience: he never cracked under pressure. When he won the 2008 U.S. Open injured, David Brooks of The New York Times described him as “the exemplar of mental discipline” for our time. That image made him a powerful spokesperson for not just golf gear, but focused business companies. That’s totally out of tune with current news on Tiger’s alleged antics.

Make the connection
Companies seeking athletes and other endorsers should ensure the products they pitch match their image. Just like other elements in marketing, if the words, visuals and tone move peoples’ neurons, the messenger—and the message—also prompt action.

Since then, I’ve paid close attention to branding. Not just the evolution of company brands, but how customers are reacting, shaping and demanding what a brand is. How do you manage that?

We used to equate branding with trust. Who are you? What do you do? And Why should I care? Answer those questions and then deliver on your answers. But it’s really more complicated than that. In this digital age, audiences are savvier and more demanding:  “tell me what I want to know, when I want to know it… and say it how I understand it.”

So much for consistency of message. So much for simply repeating what you as a company want the public to know and think.

Let’s boil this down a little further. I was recently reading an article from Adam Morgan of Admap about brands and “three dimensions of trust.” The author broke it down as follows:

Competence: What is the company’s core expertise.

Intent: What motivates the company? Where does this company stand? An, honest job for an honest price, for example, could be your company’s intent.

Character: Who am I working with? Will they make things right if I am unhappy with the deliverable?

I like the idea of considering trust as three-dimensional. We should always circle back to these dimensions of trust when defining our brand. In doing so, a business stands a much better chance of developing communications and materials that get through the sea of clutter and confusion.

Branding is about to get a resurgence of sorts, because it’s not as simple as it once was. There are so many media channels and so many ways to reach out to people. We deal with complicated audience profiling and clusters, constant dialogue and feedback… I learned branding as simplification for ease of customer choice. I like that. I get that. But maybe now, branding should be simplification and trust for ease of customer choice through communications efforts, multi-media and digital dialogue.

If you embark on a brand strategy for your company, be sure and take the time to define what the three dimensions of trust mean to your company. It’s an important and worthwhile exercise. Then start to consider how that manifests itself in your day-to-day operations, including internal and external communications.

SimmonsFlint serves the local advertising franchisee ad fund. Its national Ad Fund CEO has been very busy with interviews, explaining the chains success amidst in-your-face competition and competitors’ lagging sales. 

This is his interview with Brandweek.

This is with MSNBC.

He did a great job, don’t you agree?