The honor of walking the stage for the Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) graduation ceremony at the International Franchise Association (IFA) Annual Convention in February has been a highlight of 2020. At the first franchising conference I attended in 2015, the Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference, I had the good fortune of meeting Steve Schildwachter, the CMO at BrightStar Care at the time. He advised me to immediately join IFA and then said, "If you're going to work in this industry you really need your CFE."

Is your franchise ready to grow? Do you have the necessary tools in place for your franchisee network to double or triple in size? The proper plan and preparations in place will allow your franchise to scale rapidly, set up new franchisees for success and promote a positive brand experience for customers. Here are six items to consider as you prepare for explosive growth:

Marketers today rely on coordinated campaigns using multiple channels to reach their audiences with many touchpoints over time, called omnichannel marketing. In 2020 with COVID-19 some channels are vastly outperforming others, and keeping top of mind with your audience now can pay dividends post-pandemic. Reliance on digital touchpoints, perhaps because of their low cost and ease of use is understandable.

When you are growing a brand you need to make deliberate choices about how to position yourself against others in your field. A confused consumer doesn't buy. Defining what makes you different helps you own a spot in the consumer's mind, otherwise you are thrown into a bucket mixed with everyone else in the same category. Here are some approaches to brand positioning for consideration, with example observations from some of my favorite brands:

Brand consistency helps improve the strength of a brand over time through increased awareness. In the eyes of your customers and prospects, a consistent brand instantly makes your company more:

We recently attended the Henry Stewart DAM conference in New York City and had the opportunity to chat with marketers using Digital Asset Management to organize all their images and collateral. DAM can solve a lot of problems by making assets accessible to all team members in a large company or network, but we uncovered a few challenges that DAM users are experiencing. Here are 7 DAM problems solved by an integration with a Marketing Resource Management platform:

Sales enablement can be defined as delivering tools into your salespeople's hands to help them be successful in the field.

This week I'm writing from the 2019 International Franchise Association's Annual Convention in Las Vegas. Many of the agenda topics are around franchisor-franchisee relationships and how to keep franchisees engaged and enthusiastic about the brand.

It is likely that free-standing insert (FSI) deals are delivered to your home in the form of a weekly grocery shopper, whether or not you are a subscriber to your local newspaper. So why has this form of advertising persisted even though newspaper subscriptions have declined? Because it's still an effective form of mass advertising that delivers results for national brands and local stores alike.

The grand opening of a new location can ultimately determine the overall success or failure of the business. After all, you don't get more than one chance to make a first impression in your community. When it comes to local marketing, here is some advice to follow that can help ensure your franchise starts off with the greatest chance of success.