Buzz Franchise Brands Archives - Business RadioX ®

Angela Paules with Buzz Franchise Brands

November 6, 2023 by rgandley

Franchise Marketing Radio

Angela Paules with Buzz Franchise Brands

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Angela Paules joined Buzz Franchise Brands in July 2012 and currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for the company. Prior to her entry into the franchise industry, Angela worked as Marketing Manager for The University of Texas at Austin’s top-ranked McCombs School of Business.

Before joining the McCombs School she worked in media planning for Austin-based advertising agency GSD&M, managing high-profile clients such as BMW and Walmart. Angela also co-founded and ran a successful coffee shop business in Austin, Texas. Angela is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Texas Exes alumni organization.

Angela earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and received her Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) designation in 2016. Angela spends her free time with her husband Greg, their children RJ and Zoe, and their boisterous German Shepherd Tobias (aka Tobi).

Connect with Angela on LinkedIn.

Bridget Rawls With Buzz Franchise Brands

August 30, 2022 by Jacob Lapera

Franchise Marketing Radio

Bridget Rawls With Buzz Franchise Brands

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Bridget Rawls, Director of Digital Marketing at Buzz Franchise Brands, has spent her entire career in the digital space. Originally from Atlanta, she graduated from The University of Georgia (go dawgs!) with a degree in advertising.

Starting out at a franchise company that focused on consumer goods, she was able to work across multiple aspects of marketing including brand development, social media, and e-commerce.

Bridget then took her passion for digital and project management to an Atlanta-based digital marketing agency, where she oversaw several multi-faceted websites, design, and digital projects. Bridget then made the move to Buzz Franchise Brands in October 2016 as Digital Marketing Manager.

After growing the digital department’s team and programs, she was promoted to Director of Digital Marketing in February 2019 where she continues to think strategically about digital’s impact across multiple brands.

When Bridget is not digging into analytics, supporting our franchisees’ digital growth or developing the digital department, you can find her reading a good book, hitting the beach or enjoying a nice glass of red wine.

Connect with Bridget on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

About Buzz Franchise Brands
The home services industry growth

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio brought to you by IDs, an award winning digital marketing agency that delivers integrated marketing solutions for franchisors, franchisees and franchise development teams. Learn why over 75 brands depend on ID’s team of dedicated marketers and client service professionals to deliver a strong ROI on their marketing investment. Go to IDS Franchise Marketing for a complimentary digital audit and consultation.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Lee Kanter here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio and this is going to be a fun one. Today on the show, we have Bridget Rawls and she’s with Buzz Franchise Brands. Welcome, Bridget.

Bridget Rawls: [00:00:56] Thank you. How are you?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:57] I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. First, for those who aren’t familiar, share a little bit about Buzz. How are you serving folks?

Bridget Rawls: [00:01:05] Yeah. So Buzz Franchise Brands is a multi-brand franchisor. We were established in 2012 with our flagship brand Mosquito Jo, who has since been since been sold. But we’re celebrating our ten years in business this year, which is super exciting. And we have three brands currently with a fourth to come. Very exciting. All focused in the service in the service space.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:32] So it started out as a mosquito Jo’s And then was the intention always to be kind of a multi brand operation or was that something that just happened organically after doing it for a bit?

Bridget Rawls: [00:01:45] Yeah, no, I really was kind of the long term vision. Our CEO, Kevin Wilson, has always been really clear about the intentions of franchise brands, really wanting to establish ourselves as kind of an umbrella franchise family. So we, like I said, started with Mosquito Jo. In 2012, we rolled out pool scouts, which is a residential school cleaning company. In 2015, we launched Home Clean Heroes. A couple of years after that, our residential cleaning company. And then after Mosquito Jo was sold, we acquired British film school in 2019, which is a swim school concept. So yeah, it’s been really exciting. I’ve been here for almost six years, so not quite the full ten, but it’s been an amazing ride.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:29] Now share with the listeners who are maybe franchisors and they have a single brand. What is kind of some of the economies of scale you can get when you are a multi brand and especially serving one industry like Home Services?

Bridget Rawls: [00:02:44] Yes, definitely. So I think the big benefit of a multi brand franchise company model that we have is that we’re really able to leverage what we call our shared services, right? So my team, I’m the director of digital marketing for Buzz Franchise Brands and I’ve got a team of three that works with me and we support all of our franchisees across all of the brands. So it doesn’t matter if it’s our largest brand British film school or our more emerging brand home heroes, we’re really able to kind of leverage those kind of specific expertise across across the board, which is nice. Whereas if you were launching an initial brand stand alone, the financials really likely wouldn’t make sense to build up such a robust team. But we really are able to kind of leverage those various niche skills across all of them. We’ve got digital marketing, direct mail, creative analytics, operations and support, and that really does kind of span across all of our brands. So it’s been a really nice way to kind of spread the love, if you will.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:53] Now in your role, are you primarily focused on kind of the franchisees and helping making them successful faster or as part of your work in digital marketing, also to grow the franchises, you know, the franchisors and identify more franchisees as well?

Bridget Rawls: [00:04:10] Yeah, it’s both. And we wear a lot of hats. I would say the majority of our time on a day to day basis is spent supporting our franchisees, making sure that they have everything they need in terms of website pay, digital SEO, social media support, all of that really kind of falls into my area. But then in turn, of course, we’re collaborating directly with our individual brand marketing teams for franchise development strategies. So we also lead the charge on the digital side there. So managing our franchise development websites, our relationships with our vendors to again really kind of continue to grow the brand, but at the same time making sure that we’ve got enough resources and bandwidth to keep our current franchisees supported.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:56] Now, in today’s world, is it almost impossible to have a to be a franchisee in a local market and not use kind of some of these digital ads and pay per click and things like that? Is it possible just to grow your business just through, you know, being active in the community, joining things, sponsoring local things? Is that possible? Or you have to have at this point some kind of digital ad work going on?

Bridget Rawls: [00:05:25] Yeah. So, I mean, you know, nothing is impossible, right. But I would say it’s highly improbable to grow efficiently without that layer of paid digital presence. Obviously, there are a lot of aspects to the digital landscape and they’re not all pay to play. But it really is important for our franchisees, especially as they are kind of coming out of the gate. Right, to really make themselves visible and present in the top of the search engine results across the display network, across social media to hit that brand awareness level and really meet people where they are and be present when they’re ready to convert in the search engine. So like I said, I don’t think it’s impossible, but I think it would be really hard to grow efficiently without that. So that’s really why we’re here to support our support our franchisees.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:17] Now, when you’re supporting the franchisees as part of the kind of I’m sure you have to kind of give them a digital marketing education, that they’re not as as savvy as you are and not as experience as you are. Any time you’re dealing with digital, obviously you’re dealing with other platforms primarily and you’re relying on them and the pricing that comes with that. Is there anything that you’re doing to help, like an individual franchisee to kind of build their own list or build their own kind of way to communicate with the people most important to them so they don’t have to rely on these third party platforms in order to get the word out.

Bridget Rawls: [00:07:01] Yeah, so a little bit of a layered answer, but I’ll try to answer kind of what you’re thinking. So yeah, I think the first part is education, right? So before any of our franchisees open their doors or open their their service vehicles, if you will, and or pools, you know, it’s really important to make sure they have a steady foundation of training. And part of that training is digital marketing training. So we spend a few hours directly with them, kind of walking through our philosophy of digital, the different aspects of digital, how our team supports them, and then how also our vendor partners support them as well. So rather than giving all of this knowledge to our franchisees who are saying usually don’t have a ton of experience in digital, it really is such a vast landscape and can be pretty more of a niche thing rather than just giving them all the information and then just letting them run free. We have really developed a lot of good, strong partnerships with some different vendor partnerships to make sure that we’re providing the services for our franchisees and an economy of scale. Right? So we work with partners usually who are really savvy in the franchise space, who have a deep experience it experience in it because it is such a specific business model. And then in turn their services that we offer in-house and we’re really able to leverage our first party data and obviously high touch points with the various brand teams to really make it worth their while. But really the goal is to make sure they feel educated, that in the digital space, make sure they feel empowered and make sure they don’t feel like they’re just kind of floating out there after training. A lot of the heavy lifting is on our team, so it’s been helpful to be able to do that.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:56] Is one of the advantages of being multi-brand, that the consumer is kind of the same across brands so that you can kind of share the consumer. So if one franchisee gets a consumer, then it can be shared amongst the other ones in the market.

Bridget Rawls: [00:09:13] Yeah, I mean, I think that’s always the kind of the big goal, right? I mean, obviously we don’t have locations across all three of our brands and every single place, so there will naturally not be overlap in some areas. There have been instances where our scouts franchisees have been able to coordinate with our British swim school franchisees if they’re in specific markets, because there’s a little bit of a shared interest in terms of water. But I will say that our target audience does kind of range a little bit across the board with British Swim School. We really want to make sure that we’re talking to parents with young kids and really hitting home the importance of swim lessons. You know, survival first is really what we’re focused on. It really is such a life saving skill. So that tends to be a little bit tends to skew a little bit younger. Obviously, we teach adults, too, but it does kind of primarily tend to be parents first. And then obviously with pool scouts, we’re looking at homeowners with pools, not just any homeowner. So that kind of narrows our pool a little bit unintended. And then for home clean heroes, you know, obviously any home is available to be cleaned, but really making sure we’re kind of identifying the sweet spot in terms of household income and making sure that we’re getting a customer who will continue to get service from us and kind of that recurring way. So while they are similar across. The Board. In some ways, it really is important for us to kind of identify the nuances across each. Like I said, I think it would be great for that shared customer to be able to have service across and all of our verticals, but really kind of making sure we’re honing in on who that person is first.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:01] Now, when it comes to the franchisee, is it kind of the same type franchisee prospect today as it was opposed to like pre-pandemic?

Bridget Rawls: [00:11:12] That’s a really good question. I think in some ways, yes, but in some ways, no. I think we’re seeing that the way that people are finding our franchise opportunity has changed a little bit. The level of research that they’re doing has changed a little bit. Now we’re offering virtual meet the Team Days. That’s something that we rolled out during the pandemic, obviously, since travel was obviously not possible there for a little for a little while. So I think those kind of changes have made it made the process maybe a little bit more approachable. But we’re still looking for individuals who are, of course, financially qualified, but also really kind of fit the ideal candidate of owners who are passionate and driven and are really looking to make a difference in their communities. That core aspect hasn’t really changed.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:06] Are you seeing any kind of maybe a more youth movement when it comes to people being open to franchising as a career path?

Bridget Rawls: [00:12:16] Yeah, I think we have seen a little bit skewed a little bit younger over the last couple of years, which is so incredible. I think people are starting to realize or continuing to realize, if you will, in the last couple of years that the classic 9 to 5 career is not the only way to gain success. And for those who are naturally entrepreneurially minded or who really like to be out in the community or outside and really kind of building something for themselves, for themselves. Franchising has become really, really attractive. There’s also such a range of financing options and different ways to self-fund a business such as a franchise. So I think that’s also made it, like I said, a little bit more open to a younger market. It’s been really exciting to see. Obviously, you know, having that young energy and excitement across our concepts really only kind of breeds across the rest of the system. So it’s really great to see.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:18] Now, can you share a moment, maybe early in your career when you were doing some marketing and you had an idea and you said, you know what? Why don’t you know, maybe a franchisee or maybe a franchise brand came to you and said, hey, we need help in this area. And you were able to kind of try something and it worked and you were like, Wow, you know, this is something that I’m good at. This is something that I can make an impact.

Bridget Rawls: [00:13:44] I think that’s a good question. I think really where we’ve been able when I look back at the beginning, when I first started at Franchise Brands, the digital department itself was not nearly as robust as it is now. So I think what we’ve really been able to identify based on learnings and doing the hard work and to building these various programs, is that it really is so important to be everywhere the user is. So I think what we can offer and have been able to really prove is that you need to have a strong organic presence, you need to have a strong paid presence, you need to have those local listings identified and maintained. You need to be present on social. And I think obviously for concepts that don’t offer the kind of support we do, it can be a little bit daunting for the franchisee. We’re like, okay, I know I need to be here, but how am I going to do this? So really being able to develop core competencies and partners in those areas over the last few years, again, just kind of thinking about where we started has been has been great. We’re really able to kind of offer this super robust level of support and landscape and strategies.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:59] Now when it comes to creating that kind of localized brand ubiquity so that the consumer kind of thinks of them or sees the brand at that point of decision, yeah. How much of an investment in their head should they be expected to be investing in in that level of brand ubiquity? Obviously, the more the better in some cases. But there is a point of diminishing returns, I would imagine at some point.

Bridget Rawls: [00:15:25] Of course. Yeah. So I think with, with local marketing and really establishing, you know, owners establishing themselves as the face of the business is incredibly important from the get go. You know, as we all know, the benefit of coming into a franchise concept is that you’re buying into a proven brand with turnkey systems and all these things they don’t have to figure out for themselves. But where it’s still going to be completely important to make a difference is to again be the face of the business. So I think when we launch franchisees and really kind of explain the importance of that, especially starting out, usually it’s going to be more of an investment of their time than financial. I mean, of course, there’s going to be certain things that are fee based in terms of getting out in the community, but being out in the community is so important. You know, as little small, as small, as small as an example, as driving your vehicle on the weekends and wearing branded clothing. So you can be starting those conversations and really continuing to position yourself as as that local owner. I think that’s really where it’s important and diminishing returns, I would say for that sort of thing. There really isn’t one. It’s so important to continuously be in front of people and again really show that this is a local business. We’re making an impact in our community. And then there are things like, of course, on the digital side, on their individual websites. We really work with them to make sure that we’re featuring themselves and their team and how they’re involved in the community and really kind of making that cohesive across all of those different places. So yeah, so a little bit of a vague answer there, but it really is more, I think, thinking about how they can put themselves in front of the community as much as possible.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:15] So. Sure. And then what what is this fun announcement you have from.

Bridget Rawls: [00:17:21] Yes, yes, we’re very excited. So we are rolling out a fourth brand under our umbrella. It’s called Grand Illuminations. It is a premier holiday lighting and decor concept, still service based like our other or other brands, but it’s really exciting. So we’ve kind of gathered a handful of independent operators to become our first franchisees, really able to kind of leverage their knowledge and experience in this space. But we’re looking to be ready to service in a few key areas this holiday season. So it’s awesome. If you are someone who does not like to decorate your own house and would like someone to come in and design it for you with really premium products and definitely keep an eye out for great illumination. So we’re really excited. It’s a really nice tie in with our ten year anniversary and really continuing to build those franchise franchise brands as a multi brand franchisor.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:23] And then the service that they would be offering consumers is like the holiday lights. But would it also be like, you know, Mary graduated, you know, Happy 21st birthday and you put up those kind of signs as well?

Bridget Rawls: [00:18:36] Yeah, that’s a good question. We’re really starting to focus first on holiday decor and lighting. So I think there are some other. Opportunities down the road that we’re going to be exploring in terms of kind of year round initiatives. But this year, and I think the first handful of seasons, it’s really going to be focused on holiday decor. That’s a great question.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:57] And then this and and some of your other brands also, you don’t need a physical location, right? This can be done out of the home or with minimal location.

Bridget Rawls: [00:19:07] Correct. So that’s really one of the attractive pieces about our our concepts. They’re all service based. They’re all fairly low cost and quick to start. So the only kind of caveat I would say in terms of thinking about that is British Swim School. We do operate in physical pools, obviously, to teach kids how to swim, but we leverage pool partnerships and go into existing spaces like hotels, gym, so that you’re not looking at a huge build out of a pool, right. Like some of those other concepts. And then of course, the pool scouts humbling heroes and now great illuminations. Yeah, it’s completely service based. It can be a home based business giving the owner a lot of flexibility in terms of operation and really keeping those costs down.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:54] Good stuff. So if somebody wants to learn more about Buzz, where should they go?

Bridget Rawls: [00:19:59] Yeah, definitely. Visit our website buzz franchise brands dot com Instagram as well at buzz franchise brands and of course on Facebook to keep an eye out for all of the fun activities and announcements coming soon.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:14] Well, Bridget, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Bridget Rawls: [00:20:19] Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:20] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

Angela Paules With Buzz Franchise Brands

February 10, 2022 by Jacob Lapera

Austin Business Radio

Angela Paules With Buzz Franchise Brands

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Brought To You By SeoSamba . . . Comprehensive, High Performing Marketing Solutions For Mature And Emerging Franchise Brands . . . To Supercharge Your Franchise Marketing, Go To seosamba.com.

Before joining the McCombs School she worked in media planning for Austin-based advertising agency GSD&M, managing high-profile clients such as BMW and Walmart. Angela also co-founded and ran a successful coffee shop business in Austin, Texas. Angela earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and received her Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) designation in 2016.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Welcome to Franchise Marketing Radio, brought to you by SeoSamba Comprehensive, high performing marketing solutions for mature and emerging franchise brands to supercharge your franchise marketing. Go to seosamba.com that’s seosamba.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Angela Pauls with buzz franchise brands. Welcome, Angela.

Angela Paules: [00:00:41] Thank you. Good to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about buzz. How are you serving folks?

Angela Paules: [00:00:48] So bus franchise brands were a multi brand franchising company, and our current brand portfolio includes Pool Scouts, which is a residential school cleaning franchise. Home Claim Heroes, which is residential house cleaning, and British Swim School, which is water safety and swim instruction for kids and adults of all ages.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:10] Now what was the kind of how did the the company get started? Did it start in one brand and then evolved into these others? Or was it built to be a conglomerate all along?

Angela Paules: [00:01:21] Yeah, it actually it did start as one brand. In fact, our our founding brand was Mosquito Joe, and it’s that started in 2012 when our CEO, Kevin Wilson, purchased a local mosquito control business that was operating in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area and called Mosquito Joe, and was working with the founders to expand the business through franchising. And so he recruited the our initial corporate team of about five people, myself included. And we were really tasked with taking that local business that had two trucks operating and a few hundred customers and turned it into what became one of the fastest growing franchises, especially in the home services space. We grew that business to over three hundred and fifty locations and eventually sold it in 2018 to neighborly. So along the way, in about 2015, we sort of transitioned into a multi brand strategy and that was really kind of the birth of the parent company of bus franchise brands and and really we we saw what we were doing with Mosquito Joe, and we just felt like we could serve in other ways. We had a really strong team, some really strong systems in place. And so in 2016, we launched pool scouts and both with the local operation that we operated and franchising effort simultaneously. And then just about a year later, we launched a local operation for home clean heroes and began franchising that business in Twenty Eighteen, which was the same year as I mentioned that we sold Mosquito Joe. And then in 2019, we acquired British Swim School. So that’s how we got to three brands currently, and our intent is to continue to build additional brands over the years to come. We sort of put everything on pause as far as larger brand portfolio growth during COVID so that we could really focus on our existing franchises and everything that they were going through and the additional support that they needed during that time. But now that everybody’s back up and operating and things are turning more normal than they have been in the last few years, we’re ready to continue to build on that as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:57] And the name buzz is an homage to the beginnings at mosquito growth.

Angela Paules: [00:04:03] It’s a bit of a it’s a bit of both. It’s kind of a nice tie to that. But we also are. Our tagline is that we build build companies that get people talking. And so just kind of being the the buzz, we’re very people oriented businesses. All of our brands are service focused businesses. And so it’s really that building the buzz in the communities through the services that we’re providing

Lee Kantor: [00:04:26] Now, I’m seeing more and more kind of clusters of brands around a certain type of customer. Is that kind of your strategy and that this in this home services space, a customer to one of your brands might be a customer to, you know, all of your brands?

Angela Paules: [00:04:45] Potentially. Yeah, we definitely started in the home services space, mosquito pool scouts and home clean heroes. All very much home service focused British Swim School was a bit of a divergence from that, but in that it’s not a home service, but it is still bringing our services to people in. The consumer doesn’t look that different from those in our other brands, so we certainly look for opportunities to have customers who would fit multiple of our brands, but we also don’t try to force that relationship. We in markets where we have multiple operating brands, we certainly provide all the support and materials to make sure that people are aware that we have sister brands. And and there may be some promotional opportunities around that, but we don’t want to lose the core consumer for each of our individual brands or that core message either. So it’s I think there’s a bit of a balance there between maintaining that authenticity and being able to encourage people that if you’re happy working with us in this capacity with this brand and we’re cleaning your house and you also have a pool, we can help you there as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:58] Now does that help in the acquisition of franchisees to to give them a path to create multiple revenue streams with kind of that economies of scale of the customer acquisition?

Angela Paules: [00:06:10] Yeah, it is certainly something that’s out there, we don’t have we only have a couple franchisees at this point that are operating more than one brand. And it’s it’s again one of those things where we want to see a franchisee typically come in with focused on one brand and really get them successful in that space first and then look at, OK, what are ways that we can continue to build on your business? Is it opening additional territories of that particular brand and growing that way? Or is it adding a complementary brand in your area and growing that way? There’s a few different options there, so we’ll work with franchisees to figure out what’s the best fit for them

Lee Kantor: [00:06:49] Now as part of your secret sauce, the ability to identify and acquire franchisees is that what makes you special? It buzzes that part of what differentiates you or is your ability to kind of create these brands that the consumer gravitates towards.

Angela Paules: [00:07:11] Yeah, I think, you know, I’m a marketing person, so I’m pretty biased in that regard, but I would say that I think our marketing is something that differentiates us. We put a lot of emphasis into the brands that we build from the start. We do a lot of research, consumer research and get to get our brand set up strong for success from the start. And then we’ve built essentially an in-house agency of support. And so we have a digital team, we have a creative team that that’s capabilities go from everything designed to video and photography. We’ve got a direct mail marketing team and then we’ve got brand dedicated marketing teams that really help our franchisees focus on local marketing efforts like building partnerships and getting out there in their communities. And so even when we have a new emerging brand that may only have five core people on the team, they’re leveraging all these shared services marketing resources to give them an additional maybe 10 people who are also supporting that brand. So it is it’s a lot of being able to have some good in-house expertize across the different functions of marketing that I think really supports us and our franchisees being successful when it comes to customer recruitment and even just building the relationships with consumers beyond the initial acquisition as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:41] Now, any advice for an emerging franchise that’s out there, that is maybe at the beginning stages, you have a lot of track record and probably scar tissue of launching a new brand. Is there some kind of dos and don’ts you’ve learned over the years that help a emerging franchise? You know, maybe get that escape velocity they need to really, you know, have that explosive growth that you’ve experienced?

Angela Paules: [00:09:05] There’s a few things that come to mind. I mean, I think part of it is really hiring the right people. And and I think that goes functionally speaking, but also culturally speaking, you want to build a team of people who really believes in what they’re doing and who really cares about your company’s mission. Our mission at BFD is to enable people to realize their dreams, and that goes through largely through our franchisees having the business ownership opportunity. But it’s really important that all of our corporate team who are supporting our franchisees believes in that mission as well, and that they really care and see their own personal contribution through their role to supporting the franchisees. So that’s one thing I would say is, you know, hire slow, I guess, as they say, make good, make good decisions there. And then I think just be very aware of your situation and know that things may change and evolve as your your brand grows. So when we started out with Mosquito Joe and there were five of us. I wasn’t running an in-house agency at that point. I was outsourcing a lot of what we were doing from a marketing perspective because I was the only marketing resources resource. However, as our brand was growing and we were able to add more in-house support, we were able to over time sort of transition and bring more services in-house and kind of pick and choose what was outsourced first versus handled in-house.

Angela Paules: [00:10:45] So I think sometimes it can be tempting as an emerging brand to go out and ask everybody else what they’re doing, who’s really successful and then mirror that to a T. And sometimes that’s just not realistic, depending on where you are in that stage of growth for your brand. So I think being very aware of that and then the last thing I would say is staying very focused on your customer, knowing who that person is, communicating with them, regularly, sending them surveys after every service that you’re doing so that you know where where operations are going, well, where there’s opportunities for improvement, what you could do better to help retain them for a longer period of time or get them to maybe increase their spend and what they’re doing with you. But you don’t want to make assumptions on that sort of thing. And that can also change over time. So it shouldn’t be a one time communication, but making sure that you’re very focused on that. So whether you’re doing surveys or focus groups or or a variety of things, make sure that you you’re always staying in touch with who that customer is. And in prioritizing that as you think about the decisions that you make growing your brand.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:08] Now, from a tactical standpoint in marketing. As there are certain things that you see that emerging brands aren’t kind of leveraging to the degree that you would recommend, like are they leaning too heavily, maybe on digital marketing and they should be focusing on maybe more partnerships among, you know, human to human relationships and leverage those kind of things? Is there something that you see out there that you wish people would do more of?

Angela Paules: [00:12:36] Yeah, that’s a great question, and I do think there is a tendency. Everything really has gone digital in a lot of ways, and so that does tend to be our first place to go from a marketing perspective, and I see everybody throwing all their eggs in that digital basket. But the reality is there’s there’s still not a silver bullet when it comes to marketing, and the old adage of the rule of seven still applies where consumers, it’s going to take seeing your message several different times and in several different places before they’re going to take action. And I would say that that the current version of that is probably more like the rule of twenty five or something with the amount of media impressions that we’re exposed to on a daily basis. So you don’t want to count on the only place that you’re finding consumers to be online, you want people to certainly see messages online, and that’s a great place to communicate with people because we’re spending so much time there. But also, as you’re being active in the community, people still want to do business with people.

Angela Paules: [00:13:44] That has not changed. And so if you’ve got opportunities to have a face to face conversation with someone who could be a potential customer, you’re building a much stronger and more personal relationship from the start. And that’s going to be the kind of customer who feels like they know your brand and have a different level of loyalty to your brand. That’s going to be the one that’s telling their friends and referring other people to you. And and by nature, those referred customers are also going to be tend to be more loyal. So I definitely think local marketing is key and making sure that your franchisees feel comfortable and empowered to go out there and know how to speak about their business and where to speak about their business and what some of those partnerships that they should pursue are. Because I think that’s that’s probably one of the most important things. It’s just remembering that that people still want to do business with people. So the more that you can personalize that experience, the better.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:47] And and that’s really, I think one of the key learnings that a franchisee has to that mindset has to shift in terms of that’s something that they have to do. A lot of that kind of boots on the ground work of building those relationships. And it’s it’s not something that corporate can just run blanket ads and that’s going to be some magic ticket to success. It requires it’s a team, you know?

Angela Paules: [00:15:11] Exactly. And that’s one of the things, you know, when I have new franchisees come through training, a lot of them ask, You know, what is it that makes your most successful franchisees? What are they doing different than than those that are maybe just trucking along? And and I always say it’s the ones that that get out there and are active. And if you are not the kind of person who is very social or is a very comfortable networker or has the time to get out there and do things, that’s OK, but then you should definitely find someone that can do that for your business if it’s not you. So whether you’re hiring someone, whether you’re getting a college intern or somebody who is really passionate about representing your business and believes in your mission and love speaking with people and is going to be the brand ambassador out there where you’re branded polo and going and interacting in places where your customers will be. That’s really essential, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:16:16] It’s hard to kind of outsource that. If you’re going to outsource it, they you have to outsource it to somebody who is willing to be that evangelist that’s out there, human to human representing the brand, you need the brand ubiquity to a certain degree in order to get those seven to twenty five impressions so they can make an informed buying decision. So it’s going to happen one way or another. Either you’re going to pay for it in terms of running a million ads or you’re going to pay for it in terms of hiring the right person or you’re going to pay for it in terms of your time being out there, being that ambassador.

Angela Paules: [00:16:52] Exactly. And it’s probably going to be a combination of all of the above. But I do think one mistake that I do see people make is just trying to check that off the list and say, OK, well, we had a table at the local Fourth of July parade or something. It’s like, OK, but who is who was there representing you? Was it someone sitting in a chair behind the table waiting for people to approach them and ask questions? Or was it somebody out there engaging and handing out branded tchotchkes and interacting and starting conversations with the kids walking by? Or was it someone who was really going beyond and not expecting people to come? You are you going to engage with them?

Lee Kantor: [00:17:38] Right? And that’s that’s probably the key when you’re trying to identify that ideal franchisee. Or are they going to do that or do they have a plan to do to behave in that manner in order to get the success that both of you want?

Angela Paules: [00:17:52] Exactly.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:53] Now let’s talk a little bit about the idea of franchisee. Have you identified the type of person that makes a good buzz franchisee?

Angela Paules: [00:18:02] So we we talk about candidates who are passionate, hardworking and driven. I mean, that’s kind of the core of the core traits that we want. You know, a certain level of business understanding is is ideal. But there’s also that’s also pretty trainable area. We’ve got a lot of systems in place and we can educate on that. I think it comes down to people with our brands who are are passionate about people and who are people, people, you know, and and who can build those relationships. Those are the ones that are going to be successful. And then by each individual brand, there may be different aspects to to the brand that appeal to different types of people. So, for example, British Swim School or mission really is about helping to save lives and helping to reduce the situations of drowning across North America to by helping people understand and learn key lifesaving skills and water safety skills, and then learning how to swim. And so the type of person that’s going to be a great franchisee, there is someone who maybe really enjoys working with kids or really feels passionate about a purpose driven brand and making an impact in that way in their community pool scouts. It may be someone who has a little bit more technical or mechanical interest or background, or someone who wants to spend more time outside and what they’re doing. So it can. It can vary a bit by brand as well, but I think the core of it really is about being hardworking, enjoying working with people and building relationships.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:53] And if somebody wants to learn more about the brands and get on your calendar or somebody on the team’s calendar to have a more substantive conversation, what’s the website?

Angela Paules: [00:20:03] Yeah, so you can go to Buzz Franchise Brands, the best franchise brand, and that’s got links to all three of our different brands. And from there you can fill out forms to get in touch with us, and we’d love to share information with anyone about our brands.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:21] Well, Angela, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Angela Paules: [00:20:26] Thanks so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:27] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.