Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio. And this is gonna be a good one. Today on the show, we have the president and co-founder with Hiper, Melissa Telsrow. Welcome.

Melissa Telsrow: Thank you. Thanks for having me, I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Hiper, how you serving folks?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah for sure. So Hiper, we’ve been around for just over a decade, and we are a digital marketing agency that specializes in multi-location and supporting multi-location organizations. So that could be franchises, it could be a lot of national non-profits that have chapters across the country, distributor networks. So it tends to be a little bit more of a complicated digital strategy and execution support, but we’ve been doing that since day one. So.

Lee Kantor: So so what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in that line of work?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah for sure. So my background is actually in franchising. So I spent my career about 13 years at a coffee franchise here in the Midwest and worked my way up through the years. And 2015 is when I went into business with actually my boss at the time we launched Hiper. And so in that experience of working with franchisees and leading field marketing teams, we really saw the need to help connect the marketing support in more of a modern way, um, between the franchisee and the franchisor and helping to bridge the gap sometimes that, that is there for what the franchise franchises need in a digital marketing space because it just, it becomes more and more complicated as it relates to social media, email marketing, your digital presence. And so that was really the catalyst for going off on our own and taking that Hiper local approach to other franchise and multi-location brands and companies.

Lee Kantor: So if the franchisor isn’t using you, how are they going about it? Are they just trying to figure it out on their own? Like, what does it look like from their end?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah. You know, it’s we have fascinating conversations. And I will say, sometimes when the franchisor approaches us, they honestly, they feel like it’s an impossible challenge to tackle. Like, how do you gain control of, you know, a social media presence, a digital presence when you have ten, 50, 100 locations because it can get complicated pretty quickly. And so for some brands, that just means that they’re kind of, I don’t want to say a blind eye, but just leaving it up to the franchisee to take control over in whatever way that looks like, and then they just manage their national presence. Um, but it gets to a point where it can become, you know, not only a brand liability, but also you lose some of the brand cohesion and just brand consistency when you don’t have centralized control and management. And so, um, oftentimes the catalyst for calling us is they see something on social media or something out in digital. It’s like how, like, how is this out there? Um, and so they bring us in almost as a fixer to help. Um, you know, our programs really depend on the right technology as the foundation to bring that centralized access and management so that they can help support the franchisees. Um, and then once we have control essentially of the entire digital ecosystem, then that’s where the real fun begins. And we can help to drive sales and actions, but it really starts with kind of that foundation. Yeah, I would say a lot of times they’re just, they’re struggling internally, um, trying to have their internal teams manage it. Um, but it just gets, it gets challenging pretty quickly. Or the franchisees are all working with individual agencies, which also is very expensive. So there’s a lot of power, um, and efficiencies and effectiveness, um, to running it centrally, but really balancing, you know, how much, um, flexibility can they allow their franchisees to have versus where are those brand controls?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I can see where it would be tricky because you have the overarching like, say I’m a hamburger company. Yeah. And then I’m like, you know, what’s happening in my New York hamburger company is going to be different than what’s happening in my Alabama hamburger company. And then those franchisees might have a different kind of way to interact with their people in their respective markets. That might be similar, but not the same. And, you know, to have one consistent brand message sounds like a great idea, but you also want that local guy or girl to be able to have their own personality and make it their business, because that’s what they kind of bought, right? Their own business.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah, totally. And that is exactly the local nuance that I think separates programs as well. So for us, when we are supporting a brand, we kind of look at look at it from three different ways. One is just the, the overall brand campaigns that are relevant to everyone. And it’s kind of what we always call it, like the baseline. So regardless of the franchisee has anything to add on top of that or not, we can make it relevant and just kind of cover our bases. But then how can we make it easier for the franchisees to share those local moments, share experiences, lived experience, content from their own communities. And we do that through, um, like one of the tools we use is called Soce where we have, um, pre-built templates, but templates in the way where we’re guiding them to add their own photos, add their own employee videos. Um, and over time sharing that data to say, hey, look at what, you know, Alabama is doing. They’re sharing these types of moments, these real authentic photos. And it really becomes a balance of sharing what works across the organization and then giving them kind of a proven and approved path to, um, share those local moments, but make it easy for them. Um, so we have those templates where they can log into a centralized dashboard. And then we also have a local ticketing system that says, okay, we recognize that you’re going to have your very own custom request needs. And we have a team to help you. So almost like their own field team that can create local assets. So kind of it takes all three of those to put together a program that has that local nuance, but still operates under a brand umbrella. And I think that, um, any one of those missing, you’re almost like a sub optimized program because to your point, you definitely need a way for them to share those local moments happening in each of their markets.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And just not to share them just for the sake of, hey, this was an interesting thing. And that’s they should do things like that. But also just for the sense of ownership that they have in the sense of pride they have, and to be able to, to make them the face of that local community that they’re that’s part of the why that they bought the franchise to begin with.

Melissa Telsrow: Yes. Yeah. You said that so well, and that’s exactly it. So how are we making it easier for them to do that? Because franchisees are all at different levels. Some feel very comfortable with social media, others don’t. Um, and so what is that right balance? And, um, and if they have the right tools that are easy in the right data and, you know, we love to share peer to peer, it’s like, here’s what’s happening in this market. Here’s how they did this, here’s how they executed it. Because those, um, I guess best practice sharing across the franchisees is really what inspires and motivates others to do similar things. But we have to make sure that they kind of have a sandbox to work within and to work from. And so yeah, so we really, we kind of act as that managed service layer between the franchisor and the franchisee to support their local efforts and to support what they’re doing locally. Um, which I think a lot of programs, it’s just, it’s missing that piece. But for those that can crack that code, it’s really, really powerful for sure.

Lee Kantor: Now when you’re working with the franchisor, with their kind of helping their franchisee be successful in a Hiper local manner. Do they also ask you to, hey, while you’re doing that, can you help me get more franchisees? Like, because as a franchisor, part of their job is to be good and serve their franchisee. But another part of their job is to get more franchisees.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah. That’s right. You know, that’s a great question. And for our clients so far, they typically work with agencies that they specialize in that. However, what has been helpful is in our programs, we measure, um, local franchisee program adoption. And we can show year over year growth of how engaged the franchisees are in the local marketing programs, which becomes a selling point for their franchisees to know that they have best in class technology solutions that they have, you know, the most modern marketing playbooks, which have to include social media, short form video, and really meeting customers where they’re spending time consuming media. So I think that those two things go hand in hand. Um, but we’re not the, the agency actually, um, recruiting for the franchisee, we’re more of the B2C.

Lee Kantor: So then the franchisor typically, um, has kind of a separation when it comes to this. They don’t have one agency that handles everything. They have specialists that handle either one of those needs.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah. That’s what we have found for the franchisees or franchisors that we, um, have worked with where they typically their sales, um, department and the franchise sales and business development will have, um, an agency and um, they’re specializing in franchise sales and lead nurturing. Um, whereas for the programs that we’re running are focusing on supporting the existing franchisees today and their marketing playbook.

Lee Kantor: Well, I would just think that the work you’re doing, kind of the boots on the ground in the local market is the ammunition they need to sell the next franchise.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah. Honestly it is. And it’s that it’s that data. Um, and, you know, helping them with their, um, you know, kind of the sales resources that they need. Um, because our programs and especially now it’s really quite vital. Um, the areas that we serve are social media, um, local search and making sure that they’re visible in AI overviews and AI summaries at every location comes up in those local AI recommendations, in addition to traditional SEO and then reputation management and helping, um, to manage the reviews coming in across all the channels, which are typically Google, Facebook and Yelp for, for most franchise systems. So those three areas just are a vital part of the franchisee success. And to know that they have a robust program with the right technology and human support with it, um, really is a valuable, you know, um, a valuable selling point for the franchisor for sure.

Lee Kantor: Now in the, I guess before they work with you, are they thinking like, oh, the franchisees, they’re gonna do this, like they’re going to be able to know what to post because they’re human and they’re probably on Facebook themselves or their spouses, and they’ll figure out what the appropriate things are. And that’s probably not the case, I would imagine in most cases. Um, and you have to kind of guide them to create, do you need them to create the content? Or is it something that you create enough content and they can just kind of post it themselves? Or is it a combination?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah, honestly, it’s a it’s a combination because we know only a percent of the system will be active on the program. However, that’s where, as I said, we are tracking adoption metrics and can show that more and more franchisees or local operators are engaging in our program because we’re making it easier and they’re seeing success. And so, um, this combination of, we have a set amount of content that we’re publishing for you. So if you don’t have time, if you don’t have resources, it’s just being done at the brand level for you. So you have an active and relevant.

Lee Kantor: So in the background, this is just happening. You don’t have to do anything. It’s just happening. And you’re gonna there’s going to be a Hiper local post in my market saying something about whatever’s going on.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah, that’s exactly right. But the differentiator in what we tried to really focus on is not only that, you know, you have that baseline covered. How can we, um, Capture local moments from you to add additional local flavor to your content mix. Because we know that truly, truly drives, drives results, drives, business drives, awareness drives, shareability. Um, and we do that in a couple of different ways. I mean, we are constantly sourcing user generated content from local markets and asking for permission to use that content. We’re sharing, um, local content that, you know, the tools we use make it easy for franchisees to upload their own images. And then we have a way in which we’re looking at a national level to amplify what’s happening locally and to almost give them a large. So it’s almost like a reward for using the program where we’re amplifying across national channels, top performing local content. So it gives them an incentive to add to what we’re doing, um, because they’ll have a national stage and have an even larger audience. Um, so yeah, so there’s a few different, you know, um, techniques that we have found over the years, but ultimately we’re trying to, um, engage and support with the franchisees and make it easier for them. But again, I think it’s really important that there’s always a baseline layer that’s being done for them because there are times in the year when they don’t have time or resources, or maybe they had, you know, employee changes. Um, and so we know that that baseline layer is really important.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, is there a story you can share about one of your clients? You don’t have to name the name of the organization, but how you were able to help them maybe get a surprising result or maybe they were blown away with the result.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah. You know, we have, um, we have one client that is an, it’s an interesting one. So they have, um, 34 locations. And um, I’m just going to pull this up quick. They have 34 locations and all of their content is approved before it gets published for brand compliance and guardrails.

Lee Kantor: Is that is that the norm or is that an exception?

Melissa Telsrow: It’s not an exception. And I would say, um, it just depends on the brand and the industry, right? So if it’s a regulated industry, then for sure, like some industries, for example, you can’t say the word guarantee or um, if they have sensitive content, if you know, depending on kind of what they’re working with. Um, and that was a real pain point of, um, local operators having the ability to post content that nobody sees before it goes out becomes, you know, a vicarious liability. And so, um, for certain organizations, they need that content approval layer. And so through the, our platform that we license for them, they can, you know, schedule all of their posts. And then we have a 24 hour review period. And, um, our team at Hiper, we know the brand guidelines. Um, we know what can be approved and we can approve as just a moderation layer. Um, we can approve those, but there are certain topics that always get pulled out of the queue that require special approval because of the content type. Um, and that has, so that means that 100% of content is reviewed and approved before it goes live. Um, you know, but then we have other organizations that they’re, you know, or their operators can post whatever they’d like. Um, and they have more of a passive kind of review of that. But the one, um, client that I was talking about that we were review all of their content over the last three years, we’ve increased local social media publishing by 138%. Um, really because of, we’re sharing the data frequently, we’re sharing best practices, we’re amplifying what’s going on locally. And then the local operators know, like they won’t get in trouble for something going live that it shouldn’t or needed to be changed slightly to follow brand guidelines guidelines. Um, because we have that layer of brand governance.

Lee Kantor: Now when it comes to social media for the local operator is that are there like, what are your metrics that matter and what are the areas? Like if you were giving advice to a local operator, what are the metrics that matter that you think that they should be paying attention to and being on top of when it comes to, you know, doing it in an effective, efficient manner, not just kind of doing it to do it.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah. That’s such a good, such a good question and channel strategy for us. We look at the channels that are what we consider the brand channels and really just held for the brand only. And then which channels make sense for a local presence like Facebook, Instagram, um, Google business profiles. And so for us, when we’re looking at the data, um, we want to make sure that there’s a certain level or a certain amount of content that is reaching non-followers and new, new eyeballs based on interests and outside of their existing followers. And that’s really for brand discovery. And, you know, people are searching online, they’re going to TikTok, they’re going to YouTube, they’re going to reels to discover new brands and products. And, um, so that short form video content layer is an important part of their mix because that’s going outside of their existing followers. And so, um, we look at kind of follower growth as well as, um, social content views coming from search, which is really important. So if somebody is searching for their product or service, is their content coming up in search in social media similar to how, you know, people tend to use Google, but now they’re using social media.

Melissa Telsrow: So we look at those brand discovery metrics. Um, and then for in-feed content, the engagement rate by reach for us becomes important in terms of how many people are engaging with your content that it reached. So kind of normalizes for, um, for reach. And we almost, we follow a typical sales funnel where at the top of the funnel is your short form video. As I mentioned, for awareness and brand discovery, In-feed content is focused on engagement metrics and really fostering your community because that’s where we’re building trust and authority. And then we’re seeing conversions happening in direct message, um, using chat automation like Manychat, um, and trying to get more information and convert. And so that could be an order now, or, you know, online delivery, um, for some brands, you know, for our nonprofit clients, that could be, they sign up for a local event or fundraising effort. But we do follow a traditional marketing sales funnel, but we, um, look at it in kind of the social media ecosystem and where that audience is and what is their intent.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you so do you view social media as kind of like its role as kind of being a Costco sample rather than, you know, it’s going to close the sale? Or do you feel that it should be something that takes them all the way through purchase?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah, it should for sure. Take them all the way through purchase for sure, and or whatever that action is. Because again, some, some brands, it is a purchase. Um, some brands it’s um, an action like a lead or, um, or they’re getting a resource that they needed. So whatever that action is, it should take them all the way through. But we do know from data that people are going to 3 or 4 sites to vet before they make a decision. So it’s kind of this infinity loop of how people are discovering and engaging with brands where they may discover you on social, and then they may, um, you know, put you into ChatGPT to get a recommendation, um, or map and, and find you through a Google business profile. So we do see all of those signals connected. And that’s why for our programs, um, we make sure that it’s not only social media, but it’s local search and reputation, so that all of those trust and authority signals are working together.

Lee Kantor: Now do you find paid is imperative? Like, is that a must have or is that a nice to have for most brands?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah, I would say.

Melissa Telsrow: Paid is a nice to have. Um, but things have shifted so much with AI search and AI overviews, which of course are not paid that my recommendation is to double down on organic, um, and to build those trust and authority signals and be visible. Right. Because I think the biggest risk for brands is being invisible. If somebody is actively engaging in search or discovery for your product or service, um, because if they’re using an, um, like a, an LLM that’s rendering one recommendation, it’s not like a whole search results page like on Google. And all of that is organic. Um, and people are just becoming more, um, I guess just critical of like, is this AI content, is this original content? Is this paid? Is it not? And so I really believe in a solid organic, um, kind of ecosystem where if you can strategically add on paid, um, then that’s kind of the, the best to have, but I would say paid is a nice to have and certainly not a, a must have. Now depending on your industry, I should say that’s a caveat.

Lee Kantor: Now when you’re working with a franchisee, are you telling them, hey, look, you can we can do it all for you. This can happen in the background, but like how like, how are you kind of approaching them within their work flow? Is this something like, look, we need you to do something 30 minutes a week or, you know, 30 hours a week. Like what’s the expectation for a franchisee when it comes to social?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah, hopefully it’s minimal. Um, and we try to encourage a monthly webinar with the local operators every month to share like results of what we saw last month. Here’s the editorial calendar, here’s what we’re focusing on, here’s what we’re doing for you. And then here are some key moments for you to engage with. If you have the time and resources, um, and some brands, you know, they set more strict guidelines of an expectation, but we found it best to, you know, to show them where their efforts, um, are expected within the monthly content calendar. Um, and where they’ll get the most, um, most results from those efforts. And again, usually that’s, you know, upload photos like real photos. So we’re just looking for like real photos, real moments that are candid, not as polished, um, that will resonate with, with users who are, you know, consuming that content. Um, so hopefully it’s, you know, maybe a couple hours a week, but it certainly should not be, um, because these are not marketers for the most part, you know, these are operators. And so we can’t expect them to, um, you know, to put in the time like a marketing professional would. But just be very prescriptive as what we have found to be the best and share peer to peer data and best practices to inspire them.

Lee Kantor: So if you say like, hey, if you take, you know, ten pictures vertically in this way that involves, you know, the product and a person and they just send them to you and then you take it from there.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah.

Melissa Telsrow: It could, uh, so that could be a custom post request or in the tools that we use, they could find a template that is like seasonal, and then they could just upload their photos and schedule it for publishing right within the tool. And really, I, removing that type of friction has been pretty key because some brands still operate with like, here’s a PDF marketing playbook, and then the franchisee has to like copy and paste and go on to something. But if we’re bringing tools to their program where they can log in, they can see the different templates, upload their photos and schedule it for tomorrow and then it’s done. Um, and really, that’s what we’re going for is removing as many bottlenecks or friction points as possible.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the best way to connect?

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah.

Melissa Telsrow: Um, well, you can find me on LinkedIn at Melissa Telsrow, T E L S R O W. Otherwise, our website is hiperlocalmarketing.com and that’s spelled with an I, so H I P E R localmarketing.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Melissa, thank you so much for sharing your story today and such. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Melissa Telsrow: Yeah.

Melissa Telsrow: Thank you. I appreciate the conversation. Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.