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Branding

Branding Your Business Is Easy Once You Handle These 4 Potential Pitfalls

This post is an updated repost of a previously published article.

As a franchisor, you put a lot of time and resources into branding your business. Logo development, brand guidelines, marketing materials and brand visuals are just a few of the ways you create an initial blueprint for your brand.

When franchisees join your organization, they gain access to those branded resources. They’re given permission to use your logo, your systems and your marketing materials. So when franchisees post on social media, naturally you want your brand image to stay consistent.

At the corporate level, your brand looks solid — and you may think the work of branding your business is done. But what happens at the local level when franchisees start posting on social media? Here are some possible scenarios:

  • They change your messaging, interpreting it in a way that doesn’t match your goals
  • They use your logo incorrectly or alter it
  • They post information that conflicts with your corporate page
  • They post randomly and inconsistently
  • They post imagery that isn’t in line with your brand guidelines
  • They fail to respond to customers’ comments, questions and online reviews
  • Their directly listings are inconsistent or missing information

The list goes on.

If you’re like many of the clients with whom we work at Rallio, giving the social-media car keys to franchisees is risky business at the local level. The branding and messaging you worked so hard to develop can easily become diluted, out of brand and unrecognizable from its original form.

So why does this brand disaster happen? Let’s look at three of the top reasons.

Read more: Brand Voice: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

Branding voice for branding your business

Reason #1: They have no social media guidelines.

Do your franchisees have a “Wild West” mentality that causes them to think they can do whatever they want on social media? If so, then perhaps you haven’t clearly stated what they can and cannot do. Branding your business on social media begins with guidelines that define how franchisees should approach social media, as well as what the approval process is for their content.

What to do about it: You might already have guidelines in place for print and web marketing and advertising. Build on those guidelines by telling franchisees the parameters for social media. Do you want to be able to review their content before it gets posted? Or are you OK with supplying corporate content and letting them post at the local level without your approval? Spell it out so there’s no confusion.

The clearer you are with your social media guidelines, the less likely it is that franchisees will go rogue. (And rogue franchisees can not only destroy your brand, but your reputation as well.)

Reason #2: You haven’t prioritized social media yourself.

If you don’t see social media as important to your brand, then your franchisees won’t, either. At best, they’ll ignore the social platforms and potentially miss out on opportunities. At worst, they’ll ruin your brand and reputation, as mentioned above.

What to do about it: Whether you like or dislike social media, there’s no denying its existence. And once you make it a priority at the top level, you take back control of how your brand appears in the public eye.

You help your brand overall while also helping franchisees to post in the smartest, most efficient way possible. Remember, the goal is to have one brand and multiple locations … not multiple brands and multiple locations! Embrace this mentality, and everyone will have an easier time of branding your business.

Read more: Your Guide to 2021 Marketing Based on Current Consumer Trends

Guide to 2021 marketing

Reason #3: They lack technology.

Branding your business and managing social media can be time-consuming without the proper technologies in place. Franchisees often don’t have the time required to respond to reviews and engagements, post frequently and continue coming up with content ideas.

What to do about it: While we’re biased about our technology platform here at Rallio, it’s only because we see it working so well for hundreds of different franchisors and franchisees who use it. We recommend implementing our technology systemwide to help everyone stay organized.

With Rallio, you can set permissions for franchisees, while also giving them some control over their local social media. You can upload and store media assets, schedule posts, update your directory listings in a few clicks, view analytics, and run ad campaigns. Corporate can syndicate branded assets to franchisees.

Once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. Branding your business will become much easier once you have the tools to manage your social media from the top down.

Nearly 50% of the world’s population uses social media, amounting to over 3 billion users worldwide. —Statista

Reason #4: They lack resources.

Even with the right technology, many franchisees don’t have the resources needed to post local content. They might have trouble coming up with ideas of what to post, or they simply don’t have the time.

What to do about it: Again, we’re biased, but the Rallio Local program has helped our clients who find themselves lacking the resources needed to post local content. Putting a great caption to a local photo, boosting content, interacting with followers, and assisting with online recruiting or other social media needs is the job of our Rallio Local division.

Some of our franchisor clients choose to fully cover this cost for their franchisees. Others leave it up to individual locations whether they want to join. Whatever the case may be, making these resources available to franchisees takes the burden off them of finding a social media manager. They can outsource this function without hiring someone full-time.

Branding Your Business Is Easier With Rallio

Our platform lets multi-unit businesses create a unified social media presence while still enabling individual owners to customize content to reach local customers. Post across thousands of locations, manage imagery, control messaging, monitor keywords, view analytics and generate new business — all from one convenient dashboard. Interested in a demo? Drop us a line here.

Categories
Branding

Brand Voice: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

In the cluttered world of social media, distinguishing yourself from the competition is more important than ever. Brands are vying for attention, and your brand voice can help you stand out from the crowd.

Your brand voice complements its visuals, and vice versa. While your logo, images, designs and other visual elements establish how you look, your brand voice uses specific words to convey your personality. Together, your brand voice and visual appearance work to create a brand identity. 

Why does brand voice matter? Let’s take a closer look so you can generate a brand voice of your own and appeal to your target customer.

What Is Brand Identity?

Think of your brand identity as the life of the party. In a crowded room, people can easily pick you out — with an easily recognizable appearance and tone of voice. 

In other words, your brand identity stands out. 

Your brand identity is unique to you. It sets you apart from all the others, like one pink sneaker in a closet filled with brown dress shoes.

It’s what allows your customers to think of you when they’re in the market for your products or services.

What About Brand Voice?

To support this brand identity, your brand voice takes on a personality through its communications. Imagine the same “life of the party” sneaker above opening its mouth and speaking. What words does it say? What type of story does it tell?

The words used in your communications — including your social media posts, emails, blog posts, website copy and ads — complement the visual story you’re telling. 

Maybe you are fun, edgy, quirky and lighthearted. Or there might be a need for you to be more professional and subdued.

It all depends on your target customer. But either way, your storytelling should capture their attention. Just because you’re a brown dress shoe doesn’t mean you have to be boring.

Consider Progressive Insurance with its range of quirky commercials. In a crowded, competitive insurance marketplace, the brand manages to make its ads memorable. 

There’s Flo, the iconic friendly female character who convinces people to save by switching to Progressive. And there’s Dr. Rick, who reminds people of the need for “unbecoming your parents.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WcqGMzy1s0&feature=youtu.be

When you have followers tweeting about your commercials, then you know you’ve established a strong, effective brand voice.

Why Is Brand Voice Important?

Not only does a distinct brand voice make you memorable, but it also helps to inform every piece of written content. From your social media posts and engagements, to review responses and email campaigns, your brand voice should be infused into everything you publish.

With a consistent brand voice, you become a familiar “friend” to your followers. They know that if they comment on your posts or ask a question, they can expect consistent replies. 

It shouldn’t feel like several different people are working on your social media. Even if that’s the case, it should feel like it’s “the brand” responding every time — like one human typing directly to followers.

Here are just a few places where you should have a consistent brand voice:

  • Replies to comments on your social media posts
  • Responses to direct messages and online reviews
  • The stories you tell via social media, i.e., compelling storylines that people will want to follow
  • Customer service questions submitted via social media 
  • Email campaigns and website copy
  • Ad copy

Without a distinctive brand voice infused into your content, you risk becoming irrelevant to your followers. They probably will not continue following you if your personality doesn’t shine through on your social profiles — no matter how great your product or service may be.

Read more: 7 Habits of Highly Successful Social Media Marketers

7 Habits of Highly Successful Social Media Marketers

How You Can Develop a Brand Voice of Your Own

If you’re struggling to find your own brand voice, the following tips will get you started.

Create brand guidelines that dictate your brand voice. 

These guidelines should include rules on how to present your brand both visually and with tone of voice. A good starting place is your brand’s core values and mission statement.

From those core values and mission statement, pull out some common words and phrases that describe your brand. Think of your brand as a person. What words describe your brand’s personality traits? 

Include examples of how to write various pieces of copy within those guidelines. Take five to 10 images, and caption them in your brand voice. This way, anyone who picks up these guidelines (either internally on your team or externally with an agency partner) will be able to understand how to present your brand in words and in visuals.

Look at brands you follow.

You don’t have to look just at competitors’ brands. Look at brands you follow on social media just for the mere fact that you are entertained, inspired or educated by their content. 

Jot down the words and phrases that come to mind when you see these posts. Study their content to understand how they pair words and images. How can you emulate their work with your own content? 

Create an audience persona.

Who are the people who make up your target audience? Are they younger, older? What kind of language and tone resonates with them? If you were talking to one of these audience members on the phone, what would you say? 

Imagine you’re sitting down to coffee with one of them. What topics of conversation would come up? What pop culture or generational references speak to them? Write down personality traits, slang words and vocabulary words associated with your ideal customer. 

Know how to adjust your tone for different situations.

The tone you use to address a customer complaint will differ greatly from the tone used to announce a new product. In your brand guidelines, include examples of how to handle different scenarios. Offer guidelines on responding to complaints. 

Have a few template-type responses that serve as a starting point for responses. Always tweak these responses to suit the situation! You don’t want to sound like a robot.

Review your brand voice from time to time. As with anything in marketing, it’s important to revisit your brand guidelines and brand voice periodically. This can be done annually or as needed. 

For instance, the pandemic or other life-changing events may prompt you to review the ways you interact with customers. By reviewing your brand voice, you can avoid sounding outdated or out of touch.

Give Your Brand Voice the Attention It Needs

By taking the time to develop your brand voice, you’ll have a better grasp of how to approach your social media. You’ll also be able to navigate different scenarios with your audience with a confident, consistent tone. 

If you’d like some help in developing your brand voice and presenting it on social media, turn to the experts at Rallio. We’ll be happy to lend a hand.

Read more: Top 9 Social Media Questions, Answered

Top 9 Social Media Questions, Answered

Categories
Branding Social

Common Red Flags in a Franchise Marketing Plan

Buying a franchise is a significant investment — and it goes without saying that franchisees want to be successful in business to make that investment worth their while. Having a clear marketing plan for them will help them come out of the gate strongly and continue to grow. 

If you’re a franchise candidate looking into any particular franchise, it’s important to know what kind of support and strategy you’ll be given when you get started. And if you’re a franchisor, you’ve got to give them their money’s worth. So if any of the following red flags are showing up in a franchise marketing strategy, it’s time to reassess things (or walk away before you invest).

Inconsistent Content

Buying a franchise means buying into a brand — and franchisees have the benefit of name recognition rather than starting from scratch with an unknown entity. That’s why it’s especially disconcerting to see a company’s logo, imagery and messaging get mangled due to a lack of consistent brand guidelines that specify what franchisees can and cannot do in terms of marketing.

If franchisees are given free rein to do whatever they want with their marketing, and especially with their social media, then the corporate brand is bound to get watered down and jeopardized in the process. They may end up using outdated logos and imagery, expired promotions and inaccurate product or service descriptions. 

Worse yet, franchisees could end up posting offensive or off-brand content — not intentionally perhaps, but without an approval process in place, nobody’s going to be making sure that franchisees haven’t gone rogue.

When there are clear rules and guidelines, however, then it makes it easy for franchisees to understand how they can market themselves. Furthermore, supplying them with approved, branded corporate images and messaging will ensure everyone’s on the same page.

One-Size-Fits-All Corporate Marketing

Even as corporate supplies franchisees with branded content, it’s important that owners build a local presence as well. They need to be posting real local images and videos of their location, employees and customers — as well as local happenings and promotions. If they’re not doing this, they’re missing out on opportunities to attract and build a local customer base.

In other words, there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to franchisee marketing. Therefore, the franchise marketing plan should explain that local operators have the option — and are encouraged — to add in a local flair. 

Growth Hack #1 in our article “9 Social Media Growth Hacks Your Business Needs in 2019” is the following: 

“Your franchise location absolutely needs to be posting local photos and videos if you want to grow. Photos of behind-the-scenes activities and events, office parties, employee spotlights, customer testimonials, and product or service highlights or how-tos are all examples of local content. 

This type of content out-performs corporate content and will help you gain more engagements and followers. As your following grows, expand your reach even more by boosting content to get it in front of more eyes. Even a modest budget will help you reach more of your target audience, driving traffic and sales to your location.”

Our Rallio client Pet Supplies Plus blends in hyper-local content with the help of the Rallio Local team.

Lack of Ad Support

Speaking of boosted content, a franchise marketing plan should indicate what kind of ad support is provided. For example, some of our Rallio clients choose to pay for their franchisees’ boosted ads and allot a monthly spend toward this advertising.

The reason to boost content is simple: to make sure people see it. Facebook doesn’t automatically serve up content in front of all a business’s followers. It picks and chooses what to show based on a user’s preferences. 

The franchisee operators with whom we work do quite well boosting their local content. So, for instance, if one of their local posts does exceptionally well in terms of organic likes and shares, they might boost it and extend the reach even further.

They’re able to target these ads to reach only their desired local customers, using geography, interests, demographics and other factors to predict the people most likely to engage with their content. Supporting franchisees with local ad spend ensures they can drive local business online and offline.

Facebook Business notes that Facebook Lookalike Audiences help you connect to people on Facebook who are similar to your customers: “Use the insights you’ve gained from marketing on Facebook to increase your chances of reaching people who will be interested in your business.”

Too Many Agencies, Too Many Platforms

Sometimes a franchisor will outsource some or all marketing to a third party — or more than one. Although outsourcing to an expert that’s well-versed in digital marketing can be a smart strategy, problems can arise when you have too many people or platforms doing too many different things, including:

  • A lack of clear insight on how a page is doing, because analytics are being pulled in from different technologies that might not be tracking the same things in the same way
  • A lack of cohesiveness, organization and agreement on how to approach a company’s marketing — i.e., the “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome 
  • Difficulty managing permissions if many different people have login access to a page 
  • Inconsistent or off-brand messaging and visuals 

Read more: Franchising Social Media Best Practices: a Roundup of Our 12 Best Tips

A Few Caveats and Final Thoughts

Note that it’s not necessary to find a “one stop shop” for all franchise marketing and public relations — in fact, you may need different partners for different needs. For example, perhaps you have one supplier that specializes in digital ads, but they also provide PR services. That doesn’t mean you should hire them for both, no matter what kind of “deal” they may be offering.

Instead, maybe you hire the best supplier for digital marketing with paid ads included — and a different supplier that provides the best PR. You use your scale to negotiate the best deal, but don’t give your business to a group that can’t execute properly on everything. 

In other words, most suppliers have one or two things they’re exceptionally good at, but it’s unlikely they can do all of it well. To sum up:

  • You need a digital team, either in-house or outsourced, that is an expert in paid conversion ads for lead generation.
  • You also need an internal or external team to support organic, local-level content, page management and review responses. 

If you leave either of the above items for franchisees to handle, you risk it not getting done properly or not getting done at all. And that’s not fair to the franchisees that are doing it right — after all, one weak link hurts the entire brand.

Just as you wouldn’t pay your electrician to do your plumbing, you need functional experts in different areas of marketing and control over brand standards. In the electrician/plumber example, both may provide home services, but each has a specialty. 

So therefore, if you want to multiply your organic reach and maintain digital brand standards, it’s essential that you work with the right partners that specialize in each. Your standard digital agency/marketing agency will likely not be able to provide franchisee-level support for hyper-local page management strategies at scale — but Rallio can.

It’s never too late to revise a franchise marketing plan to ensure both corporate and local operators find success with their social media strategy. Reach out to us at support@www.rallio.com for more ideas on how to bring corporate and franchisee plans into alignment. 

This article was written with input from Ryan Hicks, Rallio’s Vice President of Business Development. Ryan talks to franchisors every day about their biggest pain points and works to find solutions from the Rallio team. Feel free to contact him at ryanh@www.rallio.com.


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Branding Content Marketing Uncategorized

What Facebook’s Algorithm Changes Mean for Brands

If you read about the most recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm, then you might be wondering how the changes affect brands. As a social media and reputation management firm, Rallio always strives to help brands optimize their online presence and their advertising budgets. So if you’re in full-on panic mode, we’re here to tell you that these changes are not cause for alarm …

IF YOU ARE PUTTING AD DOLLARS BEHIND YOUR FACEBOOK CONTENT.

Pardon me. I don’t mean to yell. But it’s so important to understand that Facebook is a pay-to-play platform where if you want to have any kind of significant impact among your target audience, you need to pay to get in front of them.

If you find it difficult to wrap your head around this concept, think about it in terms of print advertising. Leaf through a magazine, and you see that the nicest, largest, glossiest ads at the front and back of the book. These are the big-money ads. The tiny little classifieds are small and hard to find because the advertisers didn’t pay as much for them.

And those that didn’t pay … well, do you even see them anywhere? Of course not, because nobody expects something for nothing. Or do they?

There are still brands out there that believe they can put up a Facebook page, post content and get it seen without ever paying a dime for advertising. Of course, there’s still something to be said for organic reach in terms of how your audience interacts with your content, particularly with Facebook’s new (or renewed?) emphasis on putting content in newsfeeds that’s community-oriented and focused on engagement among friends and family.

However, there’s an opportunity here for a powerful combination of paid posts and local engagement, one that we at Rallio are already using to help brands.

But Facebook stock dropped. What does it mean? 

It’s true that Facebook stock dropped 5 percent with the news of its algorithm change, because people are worried that some ad revenue will decrease. And, it probably will. However, it’s not going away, and shareholders will demand it doesn’t decrease too drastically.

What we stress with our clients is that we need to be continually considering ways to convert “business” posts into “personal” posts. That is, once a brand gets engagement on a post, that interaction can be seen by others and the content is now falling under the consumer newsfeed algorithm and isn’t simply viewed by Facebook as a business post. The same is true with check-ins: When a consumer checks in to a business via Facebook, it can create great organic reach.

[bctt tweet=”Brands have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on Facebook’s algorithm changes. Let the others leave, and you step in to reach more and more of your target audience and boost your visibility on the platform! #FacebookAlgorithm” username=”rallioHQ”]

So in actuality, brands have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on Facebook’s algorithm changes. Let the others leave, and you step in to reach more and more of your target audience and boost your visibility on the platform!

The key is creating the kind of quality content that earns your customers’ comments, likes and shares as opposed to blatantly asking for them. Consider the words of Yuyu Chen in this Digiday article: “For starters, brands have treated Facebook like a pay-to-play platform for a long time, and Facebook said the new algorithm won’t affect paid posts on the platform, although CPM rates for Facebook ads may eventually increase, according to agency executives. However, they think the new Facebook algorithm will filter out clickbait-style promotions (‘Like our product if you think this dog is cute’), which will pressure brands to create more meaningful content over the long term.”
At Rallio, we’ve always stressed the importance of creating quality, relevant content that isn’t overly promotional or “me”-centric. Shift your focus to what your audience cares about, and you’ve got a whole world of opportunity as an advertiser. Do you want to be visible, engaging and relevant? Of course you do. Head over to ralliolocal.com, and we’ll help you get started making a major splash with your local customers.

 

 

Categories
Branding

Why Your Why Needs to Be Part of Your Marketing

Browsing my Twitter feed the other day, I came across a tweet that gave me pause. Here it is:

I responded:

And then received:

Claire Boyles went on to tweet: “An individual’s ‘why’ is not always the same as the value/result the customer wants from that purchase. I don’t care why Bill Gates created Microsoft operating systems, I just care that it does what I need.

“I don’t care why Jobs created the iphone [sic], I care that I have a smartphone. I care that I can create documents, that I can email, that I can design on my computer, I care that I have a pocket computer online.

“Why anyone invented them is irrelevant to my buying choice – do I need something to create documents? Then I’ll consider buying Word, do I need to know why someone was inspired to create a word processor on a computer? Nope. Do I care that it works? Absolutely.”

I can appreciate the sentiment, that ultimately the customer wants to buy something that does the thing it promises to do. However, what gave me pause is the idea that the “why” is independent of the benefit provided to customers by a product or service.

Your Why Must Be Inextricably Part of Your Product or Service

The tweet included mention of Steve Jobs. That’s a perfect example to use as I dive into why the why needs to be integrated throughout a company, not viewed as separate from the products/services. It’s true that customers don’t ponder why Steve Jobs started his company when they’re standing in line to purchase the latest iPhone. However, they most certainly have been influenced by that why as they’re making buying decisions.

It’s not about an entrepreneur blatantly telling customers, “Hey, here’s why I started my business,” but rather, subtly infusing that why into every bit of messaging, marketing and branding. That’s exactly what Jobs did by taking products that were basically already on the market and reinventing them in ways that made people gravitate to the Apple brand.

It’s about developing a why that matters more to the customer than you as the entrepreneur. In that sense, the why becomes the very thing that puts customers’ needs first, and the idea that “your why isn’t really that important to the customer” doesn’t hold true.

[bctt tweet=”Successful entrepreneurs let their #why evolve from being me-focused to being customer-focused.” username=”rallioHQ”]

Your Why Has to Be Bigger Than You

Oftentimes, people start a business for me-centric reasons: For example, they want to make more money, they want the freedom of being their own boss, they invented some fantastic thing they think everyone should buy, or they otherwise want some kind of personal gain. Those are not very good “whys” because they put the entrepreneur first and ignore what the customer needs or wants.

To be successful as an entrepreneur, your “why” must evolve from being me-focused to being customer-focused. It must move beyond ego and become a purpose serving some kind of greater good, something bigger than us.

So let’s put this in Steve Jobs terms. Let’s say his why was simply that he loved creating cool techie things. That’s a me-centric why, and of course, that’s not what Jobs did. Rather, he had a “bigger than me” why that puts customers before anyone else. As this Harvard Business Review article points out, “Apple existed to ‘delight customers’ first — benefits to other stakeholders, including shareholders, followed.”

Jobs did more than just delight customers, too. He generated an emotional connection to the brand that causes people to crave the next Apple product. That connection happened largely as a result of the “Think Different” campaign.

In this Forbes article, author Robert Hof writes about Bill Cleary, who worked for Jobs at Apple from 1981 to 1985 and later worked with both Apple and NeXT at CKS Partners. Here’s what Cleary had to say: “When Jobs returned to Apple, he instituted the Think Different ad campaign. Nobody else had the sheer chutzpah to say that people like Gandhi and Einstein would be using Apple Macintoshes if they were alive today.”

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things … they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs

Nowhere in that statement does Steve Jobs talk about iPads, iPhones or MacBooks or the benefits those products provide. But when you see an Apple product, you instantly feel the emotional connection to the brand. You feel the why, without it even being spoken in words.

As I tweeted:

 

Your Why Has to Be Connected to Your Company’s Values

I could go out and buy any word processing tool and still be able to type up this blog post, but I don’t want just any tool. I want the MacBook Pro I’m using because first and foremost, it’s an incredible product. It’s sleek, fast, easy to use, portable and fun.

Still, even if Microsoft created something similar, I’d turn to Apple because I’ve grown to trust and value the emotional connection I have to Apple products. I got excited to tell my tech-savvy brother about my new computer. I think the products are cutting-edge and cool. Delightful and beautiful even. And working at a tech company, naturally I want to be cutting-edge!

There’s no real way to treat the why as separate and apart from the product or service you’re providing. On the contrary, when you treat your why as an integral part of your branding, you create brand loyalty.

You build the emotional connection that makes people stand in line for your product, post about it on social media and engage with your brand. You give your brand a personality, something that every customer seeks out when they’re checking you out on social media and online.

Simply put: You create something that gets remembered.

“Marketing is about values. It’s a complicated and noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.” — Steve Jobs

Update, July 12, 2017: My CEO, Chuck Goetschel, reminded me today of a great Simon Sinek TED Talk where he discusses the need for a why, how Apple inspires buying behavior, and why “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” It’s the perfect complement to my discussion above, and you should watch it here if you want to start elevating your thinking:

What is your why, and how do you infuse it into your marketing? Let’s hear your thoughts.

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