Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference Q&A

IFA Franchise Opportunities Blog (July 2016) – The Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference (FCMC) is an annual trade show hosted in Atlanta, GA each year by Franchise Update Media Group.  The conference is custom-built to provide the leading marketing professionals with a platform through which to share information on important trends, best practices, and powerful case studies with franchise executives looking to improve their brand’s marketing efforts.  If you missed this year’s show, here’s a 60 second overview of what attendees learned.

Brittany Johnson, leading Marketing Executive at Our Town America, stopped by for a quick Q&A to share her major takeaways from this year’s FCMC.  We asked her a series of questions to better understand what current/aspiring franchisees could learn from this year’s show.  Here’s what she shared with us:

Tell us about FCMC.  How many have you attended?  Why did you go this year?

Our Town America has attended FCMC for two consecutive years now, as well as a few times in the past.  I personally attended this year’s conference as a first time attendee and I was looking to learn new marketing strategies/findings and spark new connections.

What was the biggest thing you wanted to learn more about?  Did the show help you with that key priority?

I was mostly hoping to learn where, or rather, to whom, retailers attending the conference turned for marketing strategy and execution.  Considering my company, Our Town America offers franchise systems a unique, as well as trackable new mover marketing program, I am always interested to hear what/who franchise brands are turning to when looking for effective ways to gain new customers and keep them for life.

And what 5 takeaways/tips can you share with the aspiring franchisees who read our blog?  What should franchisees know that will help them run their business more effectively?

1. Developing a multi-media strategy and placement plan is key.
2. Engage your customer through their preferred media forum (mobile is GROWING).
3. While marketing, of course, needs to be implemented at the corporate level, it’s critical that each franchisee executes their own marketing strategy that’s specific to reaching and influencing potential customers in their local market.
4. Various forms of marketing are needed in order to really connect with consumers.  Digital marketing paired with direct mail is more effective than solely relying on digital marketing.  Again, this speaks to the importance of reaching your target audiences via the media platforms with which they are most comfortable.
5. And new movers are a niche audience that should be factored into every marketing strategy as they are actively seeking new relationships with reputable brands!

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