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 going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Heather Ripley, who is the CEO with Ripley PR. Welcome.

Heather Ripley: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to talk to you. I know we’re going to give our listeners a ton of great, actionable information as a result of this conversation, but for folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about Ripley PR? How are you serving folks?

Heather Ripley: I can. Earlier in my career, before I started Ripley PR, I was working internally for a very large franchise system and fell in love with franchising and helping not only grow the franchise brands that I worked for, but I loved helping the franchisees, and I worked for Clockwork Home Services, which owned Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, One Hour Heating and Air and Mr. Sparky. And long story short, ended up getting them on Celebrity Apprentice in 2009. I went over to the agency side of things and quickly realized there was a need for PR folks in the home service and franchising industry. So I started Ripley PR in 2013, and we’ve been helping not only franchise brands, but independent contractors and service business owners throughout the country. And we love it now.

Lee Kantor: Can you talk a little bit about the evolution of PR, marketing digital? It just seems like there’s a blurring of the lines of who does what and why. It’s important to work with expert in whatever area that we’re talking about. So can you, you know, share your kind of maybe your view of the blurring of these lines and how an organization, a franchise or an independent can really leverage those experts the most to get the most bang for their buck?

Heather Ripley: Yeah, absolutely. It’s one of the most common questions I’m asked. A lot of these companies understand the importance of marketing, especially for the franchise owners in their local markets. Making the phone ring. I like to say that PR is a marketing tactic that should be included in a marketing budget, but if you want to think about it in terms of of media, you’ve got advertising, which is your paid media. You’ve got your website, your blogs, your social media. All of that is owned media. And then you’ve got traditional and even evolving media outlets like podcasts that are earned media. So what we specialize is earned media and we help clients get their name out there. Be the franchisor of choice in a very crowded market, or helping the franchisees be the expert in their local market. And we do that by positioning them as the credible experts, issuing press releases and news, and teaching them how to do media interviews so they can really leverage the power of earned media.

Lee Kantor: So now with a lot of the franchisors and we talk obviously a lot of franchisors, a lot of franchisees, there’s sometimes there’s some friction where the franchisors say, look, just do it my way. And the brand is partially that’s what you’re buying is the brand. And that brand value will help you attract business locally. And then sometimes the local people are frustrated because it’s like, well, nobody knows that brand here. You might be popular in Texas. But here, where I’m at, nobody knows who you are as a brand. So what do I have to do kind of physically to get, you know, bodies through the door in my local town. So how do you kind of create the assets for each of those people to achieve their goal, the franchise, or to get more franchisees and the franchisees to get more clients?

Heather Ripley: Yeah, that’s a good question. And, uh, it’s challenging to answer that because, you know, some of the best ideas come from franchise owners. Um, you know, the egg McMuffin is a perfect example of that. So what we try to do is work with the franchisor to let us have direct communication with franchise owners so that we can plant seeds and kind of teach them about PR so that they can identify opportunities for stories and tell us about it, and we can get local media interviews for them in their local market that help them grow their brand, while at the same time reaching out, maybe regionally or statewide or even nationally for the franchisors brand. So I think you need both. Um, you need a strategy for both, and it can play together very nicely. But if you don’t have that and you just allow your franchise owners to do what they want, you come into some problems. We’ve had, um, a couple instances over the years where a franchise owner gets eager to announce something and they let the media know too early. Um, you know, they they jumped the gun a little bit on an announcement that the franchisor wasn’t quite ready to announce, or they write a press release using AI or something and kind of gets the whole brand in trouble. So you do need some boundaries. But I think there’s a there’s a way to coach the franchise owners about things that could go wrong, and then they understand and want to work with a professional.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I would think that, um, your work is kind of the quarterback, really of the marketing because yours entails, um, earned as well as owned as well as paid. So somebody has to kind of have a, you know, that view, that bird’s eye view of everything. Because if not, then one side, you know, one group is going to be doing one thing and other groups the other. And then all of a sudden you have kind of incongruent messaging or the chance for incongruent messaging.

Heather Ripley: Yeah. And and it’s so important. Trust is more important than ever. And PR can build trust and build up a positive reputation for a brand. And one mishap of a franchise owner, uh, strain can kind of kind of mess that up for the whole brand. So you do want to be careful. And I think communication is key. Training is key. Just teaching them about, you know, the the pros and cons of of good and bad PR not all publicity is good, right?

Lee Kantor: And that’s where I think there’s a misnomer that some people think that any kind of PR is good PR, where, I mean, you can really damage trust in a blink if you’re not careful.

Heather Ripley: Exactly. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: So now when you’re working with a franchisor, what kind of how do you start an engagement with a franchise? Or is it something that first you have to kind of get their brand voice, you have to understand what they’re doing, and then you give them a playbook that can work as a franchisor and also that can be handed to a franchisee. Like how does it work?

Heather Ripley: We do we we try to deep dive into the brand, ask a lot of questions at our kickoff. Um, we we try to find out what are some of the things that they’ve done over the years that worked really, really well. And then what are some things that they wish they could do over? Because we can learn more sometimes from the mistakes that a brand has made. And uh, also knowing their future plans is important because if you know, time and time again, I’ve worked with franchisor that wants to wants to grow the business, but their end game is selling. So knowing they want to be acquired will affect the strategy that we recommend. Um, or knowing they want to acquire other businesses and other brands is important to know too. So we try to find that out in discovery, and then our team goes back and we brainstorm and we make a plan for the next 12 months, 24 months and even five years. Sometimes we’re planning ahead so that we can plant those seeds and get the right media coverage to help them accomplish their long term goals.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned working in the home service area. Are you seeing kind of an evolution in that space? I’ve noticed a lot of, um, kind of a I call them like a cluster. They’re they’re trying to build the franchise or is trying to build a variety of brands that serve that same consumer, whether it’s the pool person in the, the house cleaning and the painter and the. So they have one customer, but they have different brands that serve that one customer. Are you seeing kind of some sort of a consolidation or these kind of groups that are serving the home service area?

Heather Ripley: We are, you know, home service has grown since since Covid. Lots of people are trying to enter the space because they see dollar signs. Um, the franchise world definitely has grown over the years. Um, I was, you know, working for a home service franchisor in oh eight and oh nine, and, and we could name a couple competitors that we had on a national level. Now there’s dozens of competitors and and some are doing it really well and some are not, you know, some are growing and some are kind of stagnant. And it’s interesting to watch. Um, a lot of them are acquiring other brands. Um, it’s because the model is, is, um, easily replicated. You know, if you’re serving a homeowner, the number one thing that you need to do is build trust with the homeowner. The homeowner is not going to want somebody in their house that has a bad reputation. So I think PR is more important than ever for those home service businesses, because people want to know who’s in their home. And the great thing is, if you’ve got somebody in your home fixing your garage door and you find out their sister company is somebody that can replace your windows. You’re probably going to go with that company because you already trust the one that’s fixing your garage. So it’s I think it’s a good model. I think a lot of them are doing it right. Um, you know, we do specialize in home service just because that’s we’re in it every day. Um, we also work with manufacturers in the space and tech companies in the space. So we know it very, very well, and we’re passionate about it. Um, but yeah, it’s definitely grown over the years.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. But I think that model of identifying one consumer and then seeing what other complementary services you can sell to that consumer because it’s so hard obviously, to get a consumer nowadays. There’s so much noise out there. So when you have one, you want to kind of wring out the most value you can from that person. And having sister companies like you mentioned kind of makes it easier to get that, um, you know, doing some of that business development locally.

Heather Ripley: Definitely. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: So now let’s give some advice to our listeners, whether they’re a franchisee or franchisor. So let’s start with the franchisee. If you’re a local, uh, business person in a local market, what’s some kind of do’s and don’ts when it comes to PR? If you, um, if you were trying to do this on your own, what are some of the activities you can be doing to kind of get your name out there and not be a best kept secret?

Heather Ripley: Yeah. And this applies to anyone in business. You know, everybody says we’re not big enough for PR or, you know, we don’t have a bad situation and PR is clean up. Pr should be proactive. It should be building your reputation, not necessarily repairing it. If you build a strong reputation from the day you open your door from for business, it’s going to be harder to tear down. Um, I had a I had a client once say that PR is like planning an oak tree. You know, you nurture the seed, you you plant it, you water it, you take care of it. And then if something bad happens, if a storm comes, that tree is firmly rooted. It’s going to be harder to tear down. So the same with you know, the same is true with PR. Um, as soon as you open your business, you should be doing a press release telling your media what you do, who you do it for, how you’re different. Just introduce yourself to your media and let them know that you’re there for interviews. Um, you know, this is for people doing it on their own. Look for trends in the news on a national level and bring it back locally. Tell your local media that you can talk about it. Um, that’s probably the number one advice I would say is don’t wait to do PR. Um, don’t wait for something bad to happen. Just start it right away. Start it now and, uh, just build. It’s. It takes a long time to build that reputation. Um, but if something does happen bad later on, it’ll be harder to to tear down.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about when it comes to franchisors, when they’re trying to use to get their brand out there when it comes to, uh, franchise development? You know, it’s it’s really a struggle right now for franchise owners to get noticed. It’s like you said, there’s so many more out there. And especially with the advent of all these private equity firms kind of rounding them all up, it’s a different kind of environment than it was maybe 5 or 10 years ago. But any advice for, uh, the franchise owners when it comes to franchise development?

Heather Ripley: Yeah. Um, step up your PR, don’t pull back on it. Uh, the the number one way to stand out and be different is to do something that your competitors are not doing, and they’re all marketing in the same ways. They’re all doing the same thing to try to target that same prospect. So if your prospect we know this is true, they’re looking online to read about a franchise brand before they ever talk to your salesperson. So what are they finding about your brand? Is it old? You know? Is it constantly new things? Is it franchisee success stories that they’re finding? Uh, what are the things that they’re finding? If they search and you can you can search your own brand and see what they’re finding. But don’t ever pull back on PR, especially if sales are slow. You need to step up PR and do more so that you really dominate and really stand out.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that sharing success stories is important for franchisors to do, and I know for a fact that they’re not doing enough of that for whatever reason, whether they’re afraid to ask or they just don’t have a system in place to, you know, capture those amazing success stories. But let’s talk about your firm. Is there a success story you can share that maybe illustrates how? Don’t name the name of the organization, but maybe share what the problem was so that they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level?

Heather Ripley: Mm. Good question. Uh.

Lee Kantor: Well, you mentioned one that was, uh, that you were able to get them on that show, um, early in your career, right?

Heather Ripley: Yeah. Well, that that was a unique situation. The CEO wanted to sell. The company wanted to do something major, wanted to, you know, get major national media coverage. So we ended up getting all three brands on Celebrity Apprentice, and he did sell the company. I think it was six months after it aired. Um, so that was the success. I think that every everyday stories are important, you know. Consider why people buy into your franchise brand. They either want a legacy brand that they can sell later. Um, they want more freedom. They want more money. And with the franchise especially, you know, a lot of times in home service, some of these franchise sales are conversions. So they’re changing. Uh, lease heating and air to a one hour heating and air, for instance. So, you know, what are the reasons they should change their company name? Well, there’s proven systems, there’s national support, there’s an operational coach that’s going to help them with pricing and teach them, you know, how to hire a general manager to manage the business. So those are the reasons. And if you can find those case studies of a franchisee who, you know, this is a real situation. Um, just got divorced, almost lost his business, almost lost his kids and bought into this franchise brand. Went through the motions, changed his systems, changed his operations, made money. Um, was able to get remarried a few years later and spend time at home with his wife and kids. Um, he had the free time. You know, those are the situations and stories you want to share, because that’s why people buy into a franchise system. It’s not because of the name. It’s not because it’s got a cool name. It’s there’s a reason. So if you can tell those stories from the franchisees perspective, that’s going to help the brand sell more franchises. Um, somebody else saying your grade is better than you saying you’re great.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And I agree 100%. I just think it’s it’s one of those things where franchise owners aren’t really trusting their There are franchisees enough to articulate the story effectively, and I think that the franchisees are hungry to tell the story, and the franchisors just have to kind of just trust the process, you know, and trust that, look, they they signed up with you and, and once want to work with you. They’re proud of that. Let them tell the story.

Heather Ripley: Yeah. And I think that I think that’s, um, true in a lot of cases. I think sometimes though, it’s just not a priority to find those stories or to share it. And if there is that fear on the franchisor side, just put the franchisee through some media training. Um, if you’re worried about what they’re going to say to the media, like, help your franchisees have the tools that they need so that they can speak confidently to the media and, um, and be bold about it.

Lee Kantor: Now, is that part of your services that you provide a franchise, or could you help coach their franchisees with media? Could you help capture some of these stories? Is that some of the things that you bring to the table as a PR person? Because that might not they might not think of that as some of the deliverables a PR firm could deliver.

Heather Ripley: Yeah, we do, we do often, um, offer media coaching. We’ll sometimes do it one on one if somebody has a big interview planned. Uh, sometimes we’ll do a webinar where franchisees who are interested in speaking to the media will hop on the webinar and go through a training, and then they can ask us questions. Um, so we’ve done it both ways. We’ve also held workshops at some of the franchise conventions so that the franchisees can pop in, um, do some mock interviews, which is the best way to learn. And, um, and then we can help coach them to be just more confident. That’s all it is.

Lee Kantor: Right. And it’s it’s easier to do it. Um, you know, in this role playing way rather than, you know, for real the first time.

Heather Ripley: Mhm. Exactly. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: So, um, Heather, if somebody wants to learn more, what is the website. What is the best way to connect.

Heather Ripley: Yeah. Uh our website is Ripley ripley.com. Uh my email is H. Ripley at Ripley PR. That’s the best way. I’m pretty much always on email. Um, we also have a contact form on the website too.

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

Heather Ripley: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

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