How to Get Franchise Press in a Targeted Market

Published by Sean July 15th, 2007 in Franchise Publicity

(FranchisorMarketing.com) Sometimes we can overthink our franchise marketing and franchise public relations tactics. Say Muncie, Indiana would be a great market for a new franchise unit, but you know that the franchise marketing options in Muncie are limited and expensive, especially since you have no presence there. Wouldn’t it be great if a business writer would do your franchise marketing for you… both in print and on the Internet?

That thought occurred to franchise veteran Jim Squire, head of franchise development for HoneyBaked Ham. Jim called the Muncie paper and told the editor why it was that they were targeting Muncie, Ind. as their priority expansion market. They took the ball and ran with it, and the HoneyBaked Ham franchise is thoroughly explained and promoted in the Muncie Market… all for the cost of a telephone call.

Here’re some story excerpts. Read the entire story here.

Paying for the name brand

By KEITH ROYSDON

Is there a Honeybaked Ham in your future?
Not in the sense of whether you’ll be buying and eating one of the upscale entreés, but whether you’ll buy your way into the company.
Honeybaked Ham officials recently contacted The Star Press to talk about their desire to expand their franchising operation into the Muncie area.
“We recognize that the Muncie market is one that would be a ripe market for us to have a new franchise there,” said Jim Squire, director of franchise development for Honeybaked Ham Co. and Cafe.
Franchises like Honeybaked Ham, McDonald’s and Subway can be a means for people to get into business without starting from scratch with their own concept. And some entrepreneurs use a franchise as a springboard to their own pursuits: Dave Thomas was a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee before he founded the Wendy’s hamburger chain….
….there are franchises, in which a local investor pays a company to open a store under the national brand. For an initial investment and a franchise fee — often in the hundreds of thousand of dollars — the local investor gets a recognizable name, the support of a national advertising campaign and proven in-store processes and systems.
Squire said Honeybaked Ham has 380 locations nationwide. Most are company owned, but more than 100 are franchised locations. While all the stores sell baked and sliced hams, many café locations also serve meals. Honeybaked would like to franchise a café-oriented store in the Muncie area and is looking for an investor.
“It’s a simple operation,” Squire said. “A clean operation. No fryers or grills. Everything comes to the stores fully prepared. The hams are already cured and smoked and spiral-sliced, and we put our signature sugar glaze on the ham.
“On the café side, there’s some assembling of salads and soups, but no cooking per se,” he added.
The cost of opening a Honeybaked franchise location is about $350,000, Squire said.
“You have $250,000 in hard costs, to build out the space, traditionally in strip centers with recognizable big box retailers,” he said. “Then there are $100,000 in soft fees, including $30,000 in franchise fees, supplies, marketing costs.”

….franchises find favor with many investors because they’re usually known, proven business ideas.

“It’s the fastest way to grow,” he said. “You’re using other people’s energy and money. They have a strong investment in that business. They’ve got equity in it and will try to make it grow faster than a manager would.”
Mike Kalb has two Honeybaked Ham outlets on the north side of Indianapolis.
“I’ve had people say, ‘Why in the world do you franchise? You’re giving five to 10 percent of your sales off the top back to a franchiser who could just as easily never give you any kind of service for that money,’” Kalb said.
“But you can’t put a price on things like the support structure that goes out and negotiates purchase prices,” he said. “And the name itself. I knew that Honeybaked Ham was the one to beat when I was watching The X-Files and Mulder and Scully were interviewing somebody and Mulder looks at him and says, ‘You’ve won a Honeybaked Ham.’”

…“Franchise recognition by the public is strong,” Shadoin said. “That’s the deciding factor whether people will walk through the door in the first place. If you haven’t been there before, you might know someone who has. The consistency of the product should be the same.”