Marketing For Power Packed Business Growth

BBC Dragon's Den 2007 series has been on TV for two weeks now.

And I suddenly realised that I was getting vast numbers of people visiting my posts for "Duncan Ballantyne".

All I can say is that maybe Duncan Bannatyne should ask the BBC for a 2 minute spot where he spells his name for people who watch Dragon's Den.

I've posted about Duncan and his autobiography before. If you're looking to find out more about Duncan Bannatyne and how he got his millions buy his book through Amazon - "Anyone Can Do It: The Autobiography".

The franchise world is extremely interesting. I can guarantee there are several types of people who always make money at it.

Simply,

1. The franchise consultants
2. The original franchisor
3. Lawyers

You're probably wondering about the franchisee. Remember it's their blood sweat and tears that pay for the lifestyle the franchisor wants to become accustomed to.

Franchising Gives You Boatloads Of Cash!

Don't franchisers make boatloads of cash too?

Obviously if they're in McDonalds, or another hit like it they're going to make cash.

Ultimately though the question to ask is...

Is it your business?

And the answer to that is no.

No because the franchisor calls the shots, you use their procedures manual, their marketing, their products and every month you pay them a fee.

The Challenge of Franchising

If they want they can decide to close the business down, or sell it off. Then where are you?

A good example is where Chemex was bought by a different team who want to move from a simple "one man and a van" type operation to a multiple van operation. To my mind this is good news. But if you chose the franchise because you wanted to potter around in your van and you had no aspiration to manage others it's a problem.

The new team will want everyone to move to running multiple vans. After all if one van is profitable 5 are 5 times more profitable!

You can understand why franchising is so alluring. It's because it's perceived as less risky than starting a business with your own idea.

But really there are loads of people who've failed at franchising. And for any number of reasons:

• The franchisor's promises of leads didn't materialise in the way expected
• The franchisor oversold and overpriced the whole operation
• The franchisee doesn't expect to work hard at their operation
• The product or service isn't as in the demand as the franchisor expected.

There are plenty more where they came from.

That's not to say don't go down the franchising route just realise that you're still not your own boss.

By the way I don't sniff at learning the ways franchises are operating. That's because they may discover better ways of doing things which I can modify for my own clients.

And I don't mean re-enacting the 1929 Valentine Day massacre against Bugs Moran's gang by Al Capone. I mean YOU making an offer your customers can't refuse.

Before you contact your current and previous customers to wish them a Happy Valentine's day, think about it.

What can you offer your customers that links in with the day and also is a bit of fun. So I don't mean the cliche of 12 roses at a discount price.

Think what effect do people want when they give flowers on Valentines?

They're letting people know they're special and thought about. So you should offer them something that shows you've thought about them and maybe also the people your customers are thinking of at Valentine's day.

For the dating agencies, what about those who don't have anyone for Valentine's day?

For the garage, maybe give people a voucher for a special Valentine's car valeting for the one they love. When they service a car near Valentine's put in two heart shaped chocolates with a simple message thanking the customer for their custom.

Eating out is a big thing at Valentines, but how many restaurants capture the details of people who come to their restaurant? First to encourage them back next Valentines, second to encourage them to return during the year.

Also think about the other special days in the calendar. Like Mother's day, Father's day

The offer you can give to customers is only limited by your imagination.

I posted about this at the weekend and then realised that the site I'd attributed it to wasn't the originator.

The original site for 2000 bloggers is Tino Buntic's blog

What's more you can add yourself to the list, provided it's not got beyond 2000 bloggers yet but making a comment on his 2000 bloggers post.

UPDATE: 28/06/2007 - Following all the hysteria about Nofollow with links just be aware that despite having been a hoot this is actually not going to help your site gain popularity. In fact with the number of outbound links it's going to drain away your page rank.

Azlan presents 2000 bloggers on his blog.

Click on any face you like the look of and go check their blog!