Franchise Blog News: Our 300th Franchise Blog Post!
Joel Caws - Technical Director, Select Your Franchise
I just noticed this morning that this will be the 300th post on our franchise blog! This being the case, I wanted to take a little time to look back and highlight some of the really useful posts that have been made during the last 6 months.
Thanks to all of you who keep up with the franchise blog and take the time to read what we put up here. We hope you find it useful and we always welcome any comments or any ideas for subjects you might be interested in. Drop by our Twitter or Facebook pages and let us know your ideas and thoughts.
- 10 Steps to Choosing a Franchise Business
Very helpful 10 point guide to help you indentify the best franchise for you. With so many different franchise opportunities in the market, it helps to have a process to narrow down your options. - 2010 BFA HSBC Franchisor of the Year Awards
Detailing the winners of the 2010 BFA HSBC Franchisor of the Year Awards. Find out who was top! - A Work At Home Franchise Could Change Your Life
Great article on choosing home based franchises. This posting got alot of attention and retweets. - 2010 NatWest/BFA Survey reports UK franchise business remaining robust
The annual franchise survey produced by NatWest and the British Franchise Association is always a great insight into the performance of the UK franchise industry. This years survey confirmed again that franchising is still growing despite the recession. - Low Cost Franchise Opportunities could help the Unemployed back to work
The recession has left high employment figures. Many are now on the look out for low cost business opportunities as route back into work.
Tags: BFA, franchise blog, franchise business, franchise news, hsbc, joel caws, natwest
Franchise Business News: Social Media increasingly important to franchise buyers
Joel Caws - Technical Director, Select Your Franchise
According to a recent article on SF Gate, social media is quickly becoming a research tool of choice for potential franchise buyers.
Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have seen an incredible rise in popularity over the recent years and Internet users are quickly becoming aware of the fact that they can use these tools to get the valuable opinions of their trusted friends and contacts on products and services they might be planning to purchase.
Franchisors who are not actively participating in these type of social media discussions will most likely lose out here. Conversations are happening about companies, franchise businesses, services and products with or without the presence of those companies in the social media space.
Smart franchisors can take advantage by monitoring what is being said about their brands and services within the different social media channels and actively responding. In fact some franchisors are already taking a more active role by promoting Facebook or Twitter only deals to create a sense of community around their brand.
The beauty of social media is that conversations are often public and can be seen by anyone in the users networks and anybody searching for your brand. If you are seen not to engage in conversation then this may ring alarm bells for potential buyers, signalling that you are a closed door outfit and not willing to be open to ideas and criticism. Rather than shy away from this open-ness, smart companies are embracing it and using it as an opportunity to engage which creates an instant ‘feel good’ factor about their company showing that they are willing to talk, are open to discuss pertinent issues and resolve problems.
Are you active within social media? What will users searching about your brand find if they search Twitter or Facebook? Will they find gripes and problems with the company itself notable in its absence? Or will they find a string of openly resolved issues and a company with an open door thats in touch with its community and open to comminunicate.
If you are not currently involved in social media, maybe now is a good time to start. At the very least you should be monitoring what is being said about your franchise brand on the most popular social networks. Conversations could well be going on about your brand right now without you!
Conservatives support Franchising as a route back into work
Joel Caws - Technical Director, Select Your Franchise
An interesting release by the Conservative Party on their policy for Business has indicated their support for franchising and self-employment as a route back to work. It states:
“To create a new generation of small businesses, our Work for Yourself programme will help move people into self-employment. We will build a network of business mentors and offer substantial loans to would-be entrepreneurs, supporting self-employment and franchising as a route back into work.”
This is obviously of great interest ahead of the General Election in April and, with the promise of “substantial loans” and business mentoring to help support new entrepreneurs, it might find appeal with voters who are currently out of work and thinking about starting up their own business. Of course its too early to say who might end up in Government, though opinion polls have put the Conservative party a little ahead of the Labour party over the last few years, perhaps signifying a general national feeling that it’s time for a change.
Franchising has remained a strong business option despite the recession so its great to see its contribution to the UK market acknowledged and supported. Successive BFA/Natwest annual surveys indicate that around 90% of UK franchisees trade profitably each year which is why franchising remains an attractive option to many who are considering starting up their own business.
For those interested you can read the full Conservative Business policy here.
