Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 27

It was amazing how quickly our internal
audience adopted Life Essentials, and
how quickly our customers clearly understood the value proposition for them.
It continues to be a differentiator for us,
and it’s given our customers a shorthand
way to describe our services.
We also keep our brand fresh and
relevant to our customers through value-rich experiences and programs that
extend beyond our traditional 6:30 a.m.
to 6:30 p.m. business hours. Whether it’s
a weekend event where
they can invite friends
along or use-at-home
educational resources,
we work to give our
customers new and enriching experiences they
can share with their
children.

tant, we were able to measure a strong
ROI through enrollments.
How do you establish franchisor
and franchisee roles in customer
acquisition strategies? From day one,

we establish clear parameters around the
roles and responsibilities for different
levels of marketing. From a franchisor
perspective, we focus on efficiently driving
leads from a national perspective. This
means implementing programs that are
either too complex
or too costly for our
franchisees to do locally. Franchisees are
coached on the most
effective local tactics
that complement the
national campaign.
There is an unbeatable positive interaction between these
two levels of marketing that drives educated prospects into our individual locations.

The ability to
understand who
our customers
really are has a
major impact on
every aspect of
our business.

What role do your
franchisees play in
the customer acquisition process? Franchisees are

a vital part of the customer acquisition
process because they are the local embodiment of the brand. The reputation
of the academy is a key element of prospect receptivity. The interaction of positive grassroots programs with efficient
national marketing amplifies the impact
in a way that neither channel could accomplish by itself.
Are you using any unique or innovative customer acquisition techniques/tools? Recently we launched a

new customer acquisition campaign using
a system-wide event to engage current
and prospective customers. We focused
messaging in every marketing channel on
building awareness and attendance and
used direct marketing tactics to specifically drive prospects to participate. The
campaign was a success on every level that
we measured. It was easy for our franchisees to implement. It was universally
well attended. We drove equal numbers
of current and prospective customers to
the event, where our fans were able to
sell the brand for us. And most impor-

How do you support franchisees
in acquiring and building a customer base? Because there is some

seasonality to our business, we provide
three comprehensive seasonal promotion
kits to franchisees and support them in
their local implementation. The kit has
many turnkey elements, and eve