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Jun 10, 2022
919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards
919 Marketing Company has won two coveted Telly Awards for exemplary use of video in a prestigious competition against top production companies, ad agencies, and TV stations throughout the world. This year, 919 Marketing received the Silver Telly Award in the “Local TV — Campaign — Not-for-Profit” category for a video created for the […]
Read moreOct 30, 2021
919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards
919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Makes the Triangle’s “Fast 50” 919 Marketing was honored by the Triangle Business Journal’s Fast 50 Awards for 2021. This prestigious award goes to the top 50 dynamic and fastest-growing privately held companies in the Triangle. A Big Honor The Triangle Business Journal’s 29th annual Fast 50 Awards was held at the Raleigh Convention Center this past Thursday, with hundreds in attendance. David Chapman, CEO, and Sue Yannello, Chief Content Officer, were in attendance to receive the award (pictured above). According to the Triangle Business Journal, the Fast 50 winners were selected and ranked based on a formula that counts revenue growth and profitability in the preceding three years (2018-2020). Our Story 919 Marketing has been serving franchise-based and cause-marketing clients nationwide for more than a decade. Services include franchise marketing, content and public relations, franchise development, social media marketing, strategic planning, brand strategy, crisis communications, grand opening services, video, commercial and podcast production and a robust data analytics program so clients shift from “ I think I know my marketing’s working to “I KNOW it’s working!” Major 919 Achievements /Milestones Innovation – 919 introduced its proprietary 919 Insights platform in 2018 and it’s helped dozens of clients catapult their growth and dominate their industries. The data analytics tool identifies content that converts to real business results and uncovers how companies are positioned against competitors. Awards – The company’s full-service video production department has won 6 national Telly awards. Other honors include a One Show award, over a dozen Addy and Davey Awards and numerous public relations accolades. The firm was named one of the fastest-growing private marketing companies by Inc. Magazine five times and twice named Best Places to Work in North Carolina. Top Talent – Over the past decade, 919 has built a robust content marketing team, attracting top-tier talent from network TV newsrooms, boardrooms of the largest international advertising, PR and social media agencies and brand marketing departments of the world’s largest brands. Expansion – With clients across the U.S., 919 now has satellite offices in New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Ohio. The company has grown so much, it recently built another corporate office to house expanding staff. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreOct 28, 2021
919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform
919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform To Become A Leading Tech-Enabled Content Marketing Powerhouse RALEIGH, N.C. – (October 19, 2021) 919 Marketing, one of the nation’s fastest growing content marketing agencies, announces the acquisition of Ceralytics, a pioneering content intelligence platform that uses predictive analytics and natural language processing to drive audiences to engage and convert. Ceralytics is the backbone of 919 Marketing’s proprietary 919 Insights platform, the data analytics tool that has helped dozens of clients catapult their expansion and dominate their industries. This acquisition will propel 919 Marketing’s explosive growth as a leading tech-enabled content marketing firm. This is the first acquisition for the multi- million-dollar marketing agency as it expands its roster of marketing services to become a one-stop shop for emerging and blue chip companies. Talent and Teamwork “We are thrilled and fortunate to partner with the brilliant, passionate and forward-thinking founders of Ceralytics and welcome them and their team into our 919 family,” says David Chapman, CEO and founder of 919 Marketing. “This acquisition is the first step in our broader mission to dominate content marketing with a technology platform that is a roadmap and proof to our clients that our strategies help them meet and beat their growth goals.” “We’re excited to partner with 919 Marketing because of the firm’s momentum and renowned reputation in the marketing world as passionate, and data-driven changemakers,” says Brandon Andersen, co-founder and Chief Strategist of Ceralytics. “We look forward to building content strategies together with data that takes the guess work out of marketing, so our clients evolve from ‘I think this strategy is working to I KNOW it’s working, and we have the data to prove it’.’’ “With 919 Marketing, we found the perfect partner of powerhouse creatives who understand that compelling storytelling reaches farther and returns better results when driven by data,” adds Tony Wilsman, co-founder, and Chief Technology Officer of Ceralytics. “This merger of talent is a win-win for all of us, especially our clients, who get the best of our collective teams’ right and left brains driving their marketing decisions.” Future Forward This acquisition is the first in 919 Marketing’s plan to bring on more technology-based partners to expand their roster of marketing services. The company has an impressive three-year growth rate of more than 130 percent, despite the impact of COVID-19. The company was ranked on Forbes’ prestigious 2021 inaugural list of America’s Best PR Agencies, Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of top PR firms for the franchise industry and ranked on the coveted Inc. 5000 list as the highest ranked and fastest growing franchise PR firm. Synergy Success Combined, the companies will operate under the name 919 Marketing, and both will remain in their respective headquarters – 919 Marketing, based outside of Raleigh, North Carolina and Ceralytics, based outside of Tampa, Florida. Both firms will keep all their employees working in states across the country including New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Ohio. Together, the firms will continue to launch data driven, award-winning marketing campaigns for an impressive roster of emerging and mature brands including American Family Care, Scooters, and Wild Birds Unlimited, along with blue chip companies including Stanley Black & Decker, Ally Bank, and Proctor and Gamble’s Tide Cleaners. About 919 Marketing Formed in 1996 and headquartered just outside of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park and the capital city of Raleigh, 919 is a national content marketing firm with a proven track record of helping companies increase revenue, create a competitive advantage, and improve marketing results. We provide high-powered strategic planning, public relations, social media, digital marketing, video and commercial production, business development support and full creative capabilities – each utilizing proven processes refined over hundreds of client engagements. Our award- winning staff of marketing strategists, TV and print reporters and social media trail blazers are seasoned experts, providing content marketing firepower to excite, motivate and engage your customers and prospects. About Ceralytics Ceralytics is a pioneering content intelligence platform that uses predictive analytics and natural language processing to determine the topics that engage and drive audiences to take key actions. Founded in 2016 by Brandon Andersen and Tony Wilsman, Ceralytics’ mission is to take content marketing from guessing to knowing. To do this, Ceralytics utilizes a data-driven approach to content, showing what topics are currently resonating with audiences and recommending the topics organizations should be writing about in the future to drive actual business goals Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreAug 31, 2021
919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again!
919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! TRIUMPH IN A CHALLENGING YEAR! Agency Honored For Impressive 147% Growth Rate August 31, 2021/ Raleigh, N.C. – For the third year in a row, 919 Marketing is recognized as the nation’s highest ranked franchise marketing and PR firm. The company is ranked for the fifth time on the Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The multi-million-dollar franchise marketing and PR agency, located just outside of Raleigh, N.C., experienced an explosive three-year growth rate of 147%. The Real Deal Unlike some franchise supplier rankings, where companies are judged based on insider relationships, fuzzy evaluations or “pay-to-play” scenarios, the Inc. 5000 rankings are based on audited financial statements and unbiased, documented results. 919 Marketing’s growth is fueled by increased spending from an impressive roster of tenured clients and the addition of new franchise clients, including startups, emerging franchises, and Fortune 500 companies. The company has also aggressively expanded because of its award-winning work in the cause-marketing space, as the agency of record for a host of non-profit companies. Work That Wins “919 Marketing is thrilled to be the PR and marketing agency of choice for franchise and nonprofit companies that want to grow their business with our creative and innovative strategies,” says 919 Marketing CEO and founder David Chapman. “We are extremely proud of our growth during the COVID crisis where we hunkered down, plowed ahead fearlessly and triumphed during a challenging business climate. We have earned a renowned reputation within the franchise industry and stood out from the pack with our proprietary 919 Insights platform, an artificial intelligence analytics tool. It provides a roadmap for our content and proof to our clients that our marketing strategies are helping them meet and beat their growth goals. None of this would be possible without our tenacious team of top talent that charged even harder during the pandemic to deliver game-changing results to our clients. “ “The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.” Our Story 919 Marketing has been serving franchise-based and cause-marketing clients nationwide for more than a decade. Services include franchise marketing, content and public relations, franchise development, social media marketing, strategic planning, brand strategy, crisis communications, grand opening services, video, commercial and podcast production and a robust data analytics program so clients shift from “ I think I know my marketing’s working to “I KNOW it’s working!” Major 919 Achievements /Milestones Innovation – 919 introduced its proprietary 919 Insights platform in 2018 and it’s helped dozens of clients catapult their growth and dominate their industries. The data analytics tool identifies content that converts to real business results and uncovers how companies are positioned against competitors. Awards – The company’s full-service video production department has won 6 national Telly awards. Other honors include a One Show award, over a dozen Addy and Davey Awards and numerous public relations accolades. The firm was named one of the fastest-growing private marketing companies by Inc. Magazine five times and twice named Best Places to Work in North Carolina. Top Talent – Over the past decade, 919 has built a robust content marketing team, attracting top-tier talent from network TV newsrooms, boardrooms of the largest international advertising, PR and social media agencies and brand marketing departments of the world’s largest brands. Expansion – With clients across the U.S., 919 now has satellite offices in New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Ohio. The company has grown so much, it recently built another corporate office to house expanding staff. About 919 Marketing Formed in 1996 and headquartered just outside of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park and the capital city of Raleigh, 919 is a national content marketing firm with a proven track record of helping companies increase revenue, create a competitive advantage and improve marketing results. We provide high-powered strategic planning, public relations, social media, digital marketing, video and commercial production, business development support and full creative capabilities- each utilizing proven processes refined over hundreds of client engagements. Our award-winning staff of marketing strategists, TV and print reporters and social media trail blazers are seasoned experts, providing content marketing firepower to excite, motivate and engage your customers and prospects. 919 clients include non- profit businesses, for-profit startups, emerging growth companies and Fortune 500 corporations from high-tech to health care, hair care and elderly care. 919 Marketing is a proven, go-to source for national companies of all sizes that want to grow their businesses. For more information please contact David Chapman, CEO, at 919- 459-8156 or email at dchapman@919marketing.com. About Inc. Magazine Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,647, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit online at www.inc.com. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreAug 21, 2021
919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency
919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Agency Honored For Impressive 147% Growth Rate August 31, 2021 – Raleigh, N.C. – For the third year in a row, 919 Marketing is recognized as North Carolina’s highest-ranked and fastest growing PR firm. The company is ranked for the fifth time on the Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The multi-million-dollar cause and franchise PR agency located just outside Raleigh, experienced an explosive three-year growth rate of 147 percent. The Real Deal The ranking is especially meaningful because it highlights the impressive and proven growth of 919 Marketing during the challenging COVID crisis. The Inc. 5000 rankings are based on audited financial statements and unbiased, documented results. 919 Marketing’s growth is fueled by its award-winning work for an impressive roster of tenured North Carolina cause-marketing and non-profit clients, and new national franchise clients, including startups, emerging franchises, and Fortune 500 companies. The company’s results-driven marketing has become so renowned outside of the state, clients across the country have signed on including a California-based e-bike retailer and manufacturer and a chain of physical therapy clinics out of Kentucky. Work That Wins “919 Marketing is thrilled to be the PR and marketing agency of choice for North Carolina and U.S. companies that want to grow their business with our creative and innovative strategies,” says 919 Marketing CEO and founder David Chapman. “We are extremely proud of our growth during the COVID crisis where we hunkered down, charged ahead fearlessly, and triumphed during a challenging business climate. We have earned a renowned reputation within the North Carolina non-profit sector and in the national franchising industry that has clients selecting us and staying with us year-after-year as their trusted partner. We continue to accelerate our growth with our proprietary 919 Insights platform, an artificial intelligence analytics tool that provides a roadmap for our content and proof to our clients that our marketing strategies are helping them meet and beat their growth goals. None of this would be possible without our award-winning team of top, tenacious talent that delivers game-changing results to our clients.” “The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.” Our Story 919 Marketing has been serving North Carolina cause-marketing companies and national franchise clients for more than a decade. Services include content marketing and public relations, social media marketing, digital advertising, media buying, strategic planning, brand strategy, crisis communications, franchise development, grand opening services, video, commercial and podcast production and a robust data analytics program so clients shift from “I think my marketing’s working to “I KNOW it’s working!” Major 919 Achievements /Milestones Innovation – 919 introduced its proprietary 919 Insights platform in 2018 and it’s helped dozens of clients catapult their growth and dominate their industries. The data analytics tool identifies content that converts to real business results and uncovers how companies are positioned against competitors. Awards – The company’s full-service video production department has won 6 national Telly awards. Other honors include a One Show award, over a dozen Addy and Davey Awards and numerous public relations accolades. The firm was named one of the fastest-growing private marketing companies by Inc. Magazine five times and twice named Best Places to Work in North Carolina. Top Talent – Over the past decade, 919 has built a robust content marketing team, attracting top-tier talent from network TV newsrooms, boardrooms of the largest international advertising, PR and social media agencies and brand marketing departments of the world’s largest brands. Expansion – With clients across the U.S., 919 now has satellite offices in New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Ohio. The company has grown so much, it recently built another corporate office to house expanding staff. About 919 Marketing Formed in 1996 and headquartered just outside of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park and the capital city of Raleigh, 919 is a national content marketing firm with a proven track record of helping companies increase revenue, create a competitive advantage and improve marketing results. We provide high-powered strategic planning, public relations, social media, digital marketing, video and commercial production, business development support and full creative capabilities- each utilizing proven processes refined over hundreds of client engagements. Our award-winning staff of marketing strategists, TV and print reporters and social media trail blazers are seasoned experts, providing content marketing firepower to excite, motivate and engage your customers and prospects. 919 clients include non- profit businesses, for-profit startups, emerging growth companies and Fortune 500 corporations from high-tech to health care, hair care and elderly care. 919 Marketing is a proven, go-to source for national companies of all sizes that want to grow their businesses. For more information please contact David Chapman, CEO, at 919- 459-8156 or email at dchapman@919marketing.com. About Inc. Magazine Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,647, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit online at www.inc.com. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreMar 17, 2021
Franchise Development – The Definitive Guide
Franchise Development – The Definitive Guide Franchising is an excellent opportunity to expand your company’s brand reach while establishing both new and ongoing revenues. Done correctly, franchising breeds positive outcomes for the franchisor and franchisees. However, it’s important to understand the nuances of being a franchisor, from building national and local brand awareness to awarding locations to qualified franchise candidates who fit your culture. There’s a stark difference between being a national franchisor and a small local business owner. Recognizing and capitalizing on those differences is vital to developing a successful franchise empire. Branding As a franchisor, your brand strategy has to be relevant to more than just your customers. You also need to appeal to potential franchisees and investors while fostering positive customer reviews and franchisee validation. Also, local success with your branding doesn’t guarantee success on a regional and national level as you expand. Many franchisors forget that their branding must be scalable – that is, their branding must be sustainable, ownable, and compelling, while also being flexible enough to meet the unique needs and locations of your franchisees. Recognizing that franchise candidates are generally 70% of the way through making a decision before they talk to you, or your franchise development department, is another vitally important part of your branding. While your prospects are doing their research on your brand, are they finding the right things? Are they seeing consistent brand messaging across all of your platforms? Are you utilizing different media to provide unique content that answers their biggest questions? For example, there’s an increasing emphasis on the importance of franchise video content in brand messaging. Video testimonials, videos sharing stories of your business, videos introducing consumers and prospects to your management team – video content is extremely useful in boosting engagement and can be shared across multiple platforms, maximizing effectiveness and minimizing difficulty. It’s also imperative to keep brand standards in mind when building your brand. Learning what content to develop and how to incorporate it seamlessly into your messaging can mean the difference between a successful campaign and one that flops because it doesn’t resonate with the target audience (customers and/or prospective franchisees). You need to take the time to develop, understand, and effectively communicate your brand story, what your franchise can offer franchisees, and your unique value proposition. Marketing – Inbound and Outbound Franchise marketing is full of copycats. When you built your marketing framework or designed your website, did you emulate your competitors? Did you decide what your franchise should do based on what every other franchise was doing? If so, here’s the problem: your franchise isn’t these other franchises. Simply borrowing their content structure and ideas won’t serve your brand well. You’ll blend in with the crowd instead of highlighting what makes you a unique and high upside investment opportunity for qualified franchisees. Rather than starting out with a cookie-cutter marketing strategy or flinging money at PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads and portals, you and your franchise team should be meeting to create a cohesive and comprehensive marketing plan that fits your franchise and properly shows off your value for franchisees. This is the only way to develop an effective sales funnel that nurtures leads and brings in the franchisees you want. 919 Insights One critical way to ensure your in-bound and outbound marketing is cohesive and effective is taking advantage of 919 Insights, an AI-powered analytics tool that takes the guesswork out of content creation. Sean Hart, the VP of Sales and Development for American Family Care, says this: “Content is king, but it’s only king if you know where the king is taking you.” It is easy to put a ton of time and effort into your content and into franchise development and see no progress, because the work you’re doing isn’t pointing in the right direction. 919 Insights provides comprehensive content analysis and lets you know what topics are most important to potential franchisees. It gives you the advantage of creating effective content at all stages of the process, establishing brand credibility and making sure all content (blogs, articles, videos, Emails, etc.) is focused exclusively on what’s creating brand awareness and leads for you. Having a comprehensive, cohesive franchise marketing plan that embraces your brand image and attracts high-quality franchisees to your company is vital to franchise expansion and success. Without time and attention, it’s easy to spin your wheels and go nowhere. You can learn more about 919 Insights by checking out 919 Marketing’s webinar on the International Franchise Association’s website. Key Metrics for Franchise Development It’s easy to only look at the profits being generated by your franchise and see growth as success. If your account balance is growing, your business is booming, right? While that is true in some respects, simply looking at profits without digging into the deeper layers of business performance will lead to your growth stalling out. Successful business performance and development is about so much more than pure revenue. Are your employees, franchisees, and customers satisfied? Do you have a positive cash flow? If your business depends on deliverables, do you have enough resources to keep it running successfully as you expand? What if a disaster happens (like, say, a global pandemic)? Are you prepared to face that? Monitoring these KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and others will help ensure your franchise development is successful and you attain the growth you’re searching for. Franchisee Conversions/Leads We touched on conversions in marketing, but the amount of franchise deal conversions you generate is a truly important KPI to consistently monitor. When looking at your conversions, and potential conversions, you should be checking whether or not these leads are qualified. Do they have the potential to be franchisees? Of the people you have a first meeting with, how many choose to invest in your brand by becoming a franchisee? When you’re building the candidate experience, you need to keep track of how your website and other owned content (videos, infographics, webinars, etc.) are building emotional connections with franchisees. You also need to be assessing your spend, looking at your budget breakdown, and seeing what your cost per lead and cost per sale average ought to be. These two metrics are some of the most important to track to ensure that your lead generation costs are reasonable and that you’re generating enough sales from your leads to make your current lead generation methods viable. According to Franchise Update’s 2021 Annual Franchise Development Report, the average cost per lead in 2020 was $312 and the average cost per deal was $12,138. Unless you have strong historical data that proves your franchise development marketing programs are outperforming those figures, this industry data is a good starting point to create a solid budget and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Comprehensive Planning Something else that can slip through the fingers of a franchisor is a comprehensive business plan that incorporates all the prior factors we’ve discussed. Franchise development can’t be an ad-hoc process. It takes time and effort to create a plan that will maximize the growth of your franchise. Your plan should be based on data and should be something you can proudly show to investors and franchisees. It should be something your entire team is invested in and excited to execute. It should maximize your ROI and pull together all the disparate parts of your franchise into a unified whole. 919 LINK® Planning Process An excellent tool for creating this comprehensive plan is 919 Marketing’s exclusive LINK® planning process. LINK is a strategic planning process that pulls together everyone who’s on your franchise task force to collaborate on a vision for the future of your business. This gives you a pulse check on the major players in your management team and gives them the chance to be invested in your business plan. With the LINK® plan, you’ll get clear metrics and timelines based on the work you do together as a team. You’ll also get specific cadences for how, and why, you should allocate your budget in certain ways – your cost per lead and expected conversion rate, how much you’ll need to invest in paid advertising, and more. LINK® is the best way to build a collaborative vision for both your marketing and sales development teams that will allow them to best face the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities ahead of your franchise. Creating a Smart Budget On the franchise sales side, it is important to consider how many of your qualified leads are converting into franchisees. Do you know your average cost per lead and cost per close? If you don’t have a lead qualifier at the beginning of your process, ensuring that more questionable leads are being weeded out before reaching the application stage, do you know what your ratio of leads to sales looks like? If you are using a pre-qualification process, what does your lead to sales ratio look like? With qualified leads, the average closing ratio in 2020 was 13.5%. So, if you’re aiming for 12 deals, an average of one per month, you’ll need to get about 90 qualified leads (7-8 per month). However, if you’re only measuring total leads, and focusing on quantity over quality, you’ll be so consumed trying to qualify (or more typically, disqualify) people who aren’t a fit than focusing on people who are a great fit for your brand and culture. In 2020, the average budget for franchise sales and recruitment was $215,173. Your overall goals should determine whether your budget is higher or lower than that figure and you need to build a scorecard to track your progress. So, for example, let’s stick with the 12 deals goal mentioned above. Based on industry averages, you’ll need to generate 90 qualified leads to meet/exceed the goal. Once you have those baseline goals, you should set your budget based on the percentage of leads you expect to be qualified. In our experience, that figure is typically between 10-15% for most franchise brands. So, to generate 12 deals at an industry average of $312 per lead, you should expect to spend somewhere between $187,200 (600 leads/15% qualified) and $280,800 (900 leads/10% qualified). And that is the cost only pure lead generation efforts, not any other marketing overhead such as staff, content writing, website expenses, collateral, lead nurturing, etc. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as you work to expand your franchise is not having enough money and resources to support new franchisees. Many new franchisors miscalculate the amount of time, effort, and money it takes to support franchisees through the first few months of business and assume that initial fees and grand opening dollars paid by the franchisee will be sufficient to help them thrive. Systemwide program margins will suffer, and future growth will be stunted due to poor validation, if new franchisees entering your system aren’t receiving the support they need to become successful. This may feel overwhelming – as a franchisor, you’re passionate about your company, your product or service, and your goals. However, you can’t be an expert in everything. That’s why 919 Marketing is here to help you through the comprehensive planning and sales lead strategies that marry your sales and marketing teams in a unified business approach. Conclusion Whether you’re starting your franchise journey or already own several franchises and are working on further expansion, it’s important to recognize that there is no one size fits all, golden ticket method to franchise development. Every franchise has its own unique brand values and perspective, marketing strategies and content, and development goals. Capitalizing on these differences will help your franchise stand out from the pack of thousands of franchises appealing to potential franchisees. If you take the time to successfully create and implement a brand strategy, marketing plan, and sales funnel, while monitoring your KPI’s and assessing your budget and effectiveness, you can experience nearly unlimited growth and profit potential. If you want to discuss more in-depth what franchise development strategies can do for you, get in touch with 919 Marketing today. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreFeb 26, 2021
The Top 7 Franchise Marketing KPIs
The Top 7 Franchise Marketing KPIs There are literally dozens of franchise marketing KPIs to consider depending on factors like brand size, whether you are B2C or B2B, industry sector, and in-house resources to set and track KPIs. However, the following list includes what we feel are the most critical franchise marketing KPI’s: 1. Maximize Desktop and Mobile Website Speed It’s almost impossible to build a winning marketing program around a weak website experience for your franchise candidates or the customers of your franchisees. There a plenty of free tools that will analyze website speed on desktop and mobile platforms. Do the same audit of your major competitors. Once you have the numbers, set numerical KPIs around performance versus the competition, and set stretch goals for moving your speed from the benchmark to a blazing speed. If you nail this it will have a major impact on bounce rate, time on site, conversions, and organic search success. See next point. 2. Increase Domain Authority (DA) Google ranks websites from 1-100 based on trust of the content on the website, and yes, load time plays a role in that ranking. Check out your Domain Authority for free. The content on your website plays a vital role (web pages and blog posts) in driving search engine success. To develop the right content, you need to know what topics are driving prospects to your website, what topics are actually being consumed on your website, and what topics convert a visitor into a lead. You need to utilize a marketing attribution data analytics platform to do so. Once you have identified the right content strategy, set KPI’s for ranking in the top 3 organic search positions on Google around the topics that convert into customers. 3. The New Way To Set PR Metrics: There are standard PR metrics that should be used as part of the overall evaluation process, including third-party (e.g., Cision) reporting of media impressions and associated media values of the coverage. However, in our view, there are more effective and tangible ways to develop PR strategies and measure PR success using marketing technology and what is commonly referred to a “digital PR’. Through our 919 Insights platform, we identify the top 28 topics that your best prospects are searching for online as they seek out advice and make purchase decisions. We then create a PR plan that integrates those topics into our media pitches. Additionally, the use of digital PR is increasingly more effective than just driving traditional media coverage. Going back to Domain Authority, gaining a backlink from a high DA media outlet to your website can provide a big boost to your score. PR KPIs to consider include the standard media impressions / media values from a trusted 3rd party, the number of PR mentions around your top 28 topics, and the number of backlinks from high-value websites. 4. Organic Social Media: Again, if you know what topics are most important to your desired audiences, it takes the guesswork out of social media content. The standard KPIs involve increasing your audience reach, generating engagement and conversions. Again, numeric KPIs need to be used (Increase audience reach from 700 – 1350). You can also include harder to measure KPIs like leads, cost per lead and revenue attributed to organic social media. 5. Paid Social Media The most effective approach to developing effective paid social media campaigns is to have the data you need to laser focus your messaging on the ad topics that convert. Social media advertising/boosted posts should be measured on the KPIs you need to meet to drive sales goals. You need to set monthly and yearly KPIs based on your sales funnel — audience reach, % visiting of landing page visits, % of conversion from landing page visits to prospects, % of deals closed from paid social media ads, etc.) 6. Digital Advertising: From a KPI perspective there isn’t a lot of difference between paid social and paid digital advertising other than that there are more platforms to deploy and measure – Google AdWords, native advertising, retargeting, etc. Again, if you have identified and validated the topics that resonate based on search behavior you are already a step ahead of the competition. You should set clear, numerical KPIs for each digital channel utilized from reach, conversions and the revenue generated from each. 7. Email Marketing: Why is Email marketing the most underdeveloped tool in the franchise marketing toolbox? We suspect it’s because its time consuming, difficult to arrive at an approved content calendar and is typically evaluated using soft metrics. The email marketing KPIs we utilize include delivery rate, unsubscribes, open rate, conversion rate, referral/shares, landing page visits’ lead conversions and revenue attributed to email. I guess you’ve noticed that we couldn’t help ourselves – there are a lot more than 7 KPIs listed in this article! However, when it comes to program focus and execution, we always revert back to the sage advice of a former Nabisco sales executive who directed us to always take the “fewer, bigger better” approach. Reach out if you are looking for a fresh approach to your marketing programs and setting the right combination of KPIs that matter most to your franchise. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreNov 25, 2020
8 Franchise Lead Generation Hacks: Proven Effective Methods
8 Franchise Lead Generation Hacks: Proven Effective Methods Understanding how to generate effective, high-quality franchise leads is one of the most important skills you can have as a franchisor. After all, if you can’t sell franchises, you can’t make money. But finding potential franchisees in today’s ever-evolving customer base can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve accumulated proven methods for quality franchise lead generation, to help you find the best franchisees for your business. Have Your Owned Channels in Check Understanding the importance of your owned channels, and how to leverage them to generate interest in your franchise, is vital to attracting high-quality franchisees. Owned media, like your own website, blog articles on your site, email marketing campaigns, and your social media posts, can be a major source of new traffic to your site and also lead to earned media – shares, likes, comments, traditional media mentions, etc. The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer cites traditional media and search engines as the most trusted sources of information. Traditional media can happen through great franchise PR, but search engine optimization is almost always at the heart of a great website. When focusing on your owned media channels, it’s important to remember that people visit websites, open emails, or check social media accounts for more than just sales or basic business information. People also want to know what your franchise is doing and explore feedback from other customers, as they’re often looking for solutions to their current problems. In the case of franchising, these prospects are looking for the best investment they can make – and enjoy being a part of. Engaging your audience with great content will help produce trust in your brand and entice people to consider becoming a part of your franchise family. It also provides the essential first step in lead generation: acquiring visitors. Once you’ve gotten the attention of potential franchisees with your owned channels, you can turn them into leads, then candidates, and eventually into new members of your franchising family. Create an Effective Website When we talk about building an effective website, we’re talking about more than just your general business site. Ideally, you should have a separate site (but not necessarily a separate domain) for potential franchisees to find the abundance of information they’d like to peruse while considering becoming a part of your franchise. Whether that site is linked to your main site or not, it should be easy to find and easy to navigate, with CTAs (calls to action) and contact information available on every page. Your website should also have a strong focus on SEO. Franchises face unique challenges when it comes to SEO, which makes it all the more important to keep on top of your website’s search engine performance. An optimized site that’s fine-tuned for keywords your target audience is searching for can help you be discovered by franchisees who may never have heard of your specific brand. It can be an organic advertising boost that you don’t have to continuously pay for. Plus, your website gives you the space to develop your reputation as a thought leader by posting articles that will not only improve your SEO but continue to drive leads and interest without any further input from you. There are huge upsides to an optimized site – you should take advantage of them to find the best possible franchisees for your business. Remember – these are people who are serious about investing in a franchise. Don’t let your franchise opportunity site stagnate. Use it to tell your story, highlight the benefits of being a franchisee, and share informational blogs and articles that will provide a deeper connection with your potential buyer. Your site should make contacting you easy. It should also provide you with the essential information you need for a first connection with a potential buyer. Get a name, email, and phone number as a standard, but consider adding extra questions: what made you interested in us? Why are you considering buying a franchise? What experience do you have? If a lead gives you that insight, it can help you in multiple ways. Not only will you be able to better contact them on your first call or email, but you can also add their responses to a database that lets you assess potential buyer motivations and desires. Using this information can help you better target your ads, blogs, and emails, which in return may generate even better and more consistent leads for your business. Nurture Your Leads While generating leads is important for franchise development, it’s also important to nurture those leads. After all, potential franchise buyers spend a lot of time doing research before they ever directly contact you. The initial information they can learn about you through social media channels and your website can make or break whether or not they decide to contact you at all. Franchise buyers – those who are ready to sign a deal and commit to a franchise – spend a lot of time on research, visiting websites nearly 5x more than general leads and spending nearly 10x more time reading over materials. That’s why having a solid online presence that scratches a buyer’s need for information is vital to pulling in those high-quality leads you’re pursuing. When working with these leads, time is also of the essence. If a potential buyer provides you with contact information, reach out to them as soon as possible; a delay in contact can make them feel as though you don’t care about their interest, and can turn them to a different brand altogether. Aim for contact as soon as possible, and consider sending a semi-personalized automated email as soon as you receive their information, providing them with the assurance that you’ll be in touch soon and potentially a white paper or article about the benefits of opening a franchise with you to keep them engaged. Leads have high expectations and a short window for optimal response, so the faster you can contact them the better off you’ll be. Have a Realistic Budget When considering franchise development and assessing your goals for the year, having a realistic budget in mind is a top priority. For example, say you want to open 10 franchises and spend $10,000 per franchise – your budget would then be a minimum of $100,000. Working backwards, if you know you have a budget max of $300,000 and you know you’re looking to open 20 new franchises, then you’d have a max budget per franchise of $15,000. This may seem like basic information, but knowing your budget is the stable foundation on which your business can grow. Without a well-planned budget, you’ll find it difficult or even impossible to create an effective action plan. You won’t know how much you can spend on marketing, what you can save for future projects, or how much you can commit to current goals. Make sure you base your budget on current industry standards and set realistic growth goals – you’ll find more success in the long run. Check Where Your Leads Are Coming From Understanding where your leads are coming from can be an effective part of managing your overall budget. You often hear the tale “50% of my marketing budget is wasted, I just don’t know which half!” By assessing your different marketing channels and understanding which are the most successful, you’ll know where and how to increase or decrease your spending. You’ll also want to assess the quality of the leads you’re receiving through your different channels. As a franchisor, the main point of lead generation is to reach individuals that could potentially become franchisees. Those franchisee leads should be high-quality. Otherwise, you’re going to waste a lot of time and money chasing leads that won’t pan out. So if one channel produces a ton of leads, but very few of them are qualified, it may make more sense to transfer that budget over to other channels that may provide fewer total leads, but more qualified leads. Email Marketing There are some people who may tell you that email marketing is dead, but the truth is that email marketing is ranked as the most effective technique for lead acquisition and retention. Email marketing, especially with the automated tools that can be found in abundance, can allow for increased email personalization, easy-to-understand campaigns, and better customer experiences. All of these together can create or maximize brand loyalty, which is a huge factor in whether or not someone will want to own a franchise. Social Media Both B2B social media like LinkedIn and B2C Social Media like Facebook and Twitter can provide quality email leads if utilized properly. For example, a good way to take advantage of LinkedIn is to pull contacts into your email database, letting you hit them with marketing in two different fields in two different ways. You may be sharing informational articles, white papers, or business details on LinkedIn while simultaneously providing an informative, personalized customer experience through email, building your relationship on two fronts. Social media sites also allow you to find and advertise to lookalike audiences. A lookalike audience is based on a source – a current ad audience, for example, or fans of your business account. Then common demographics from that group are pulled, and your ad is displayed to those people as well. So, if you have a custom audience created for potential franchisees (for example, men in their 30’s-50’s with business experience that are middle- to upper-class and have indicated interest in business ownership) that focuses on people who already like or follow your business, you can utilize these parameters to reach out to people who might not know about you and advertise to them in a targeted manner. Website Your website is also an excellent place to generate leads and should be optimized for ease of access and information discovery. If your website is underperforming, then it won’t matter how much of your budget you’re allocating to it; the money will be wasted and the leads you generate won’t be ones you want to pursue. Like we discussed earlier, having a well-organized and accessible website can also help with franchise SEO rankings, which can generate organic leads through search engines. As one of your most useful tools, it’s important to keep your website updated and optimized for peak performance. Third-Party Advertising If you choose to turn to a third party to generate franchisee leads for you, it’s important to stay on top of the effectiveness of this channel. Make sure that you thoroughly vet any third-party lead generation company before choosing to work with them. Check their qualifications and obtain a list of their current or previous clients; if possible, reach out to these clients to see what their experience was. Make sure that they fully understand what you’re looking for and your requirements for a franchisee. A skilled third-party company can boost your franchise sales to new heights! But a third-party company that focuses more on volume of leads instead of quality could end up breaking the budget without much for a return. Figure Out Your Buyers’ Motivations Understanding the motivations of potential buyers can be incredibly helpful when looking at your marketing budget and how to focus your attention. Utilizing a third party to interview past prospective buyers (those who didn’t make a purchase) as well as current franchisees can help you determine what their buying motivations were. Were they interested in owning a business with brand recognition? Building equity for their future? Did they consider creating an independent brand before choosing a franchise? This information can help hone your marketing targeting, and let you know what to write about on your franchise opportunity website. Interviewing potential buyers who chose not to seal the deal can also help you assess what challenges your brand may face in recruiting new franchise owners. Was the onboarding process too complicated? Contact too slow? Franchise costs too high? Recognizing these challenges to franchise ownership can help you tweak your process, making owning a franchise for your brand more accessible. Utilize National Surveys & Research National surveys can be a fantastic source of information and can also be incredibly useful prospecting tools. For example, understanding how COVID-19 has impacted franchise ownership can help you fine-tune your ad targeting and your sales pitch. Understanding that nearly 2/3rds of Americans want to own their own business but only 14% think that it’s a realistic goal can inform the way you expand your reach when considering who might be a great lead for a franchise. In this Franchisee Motivation Survey Report, for example, 45% of respondents considered opening their own non-franchise business before deciding to become a franchisee. Knowing this will alter how you speak with them; they want to have their own business, but you’ll need to sell them on the benefits of a franchise over starting a unique brand of their own. Look into national surveys that analyze business trends, buyer motivations, and general population goals to better understand your target audience and their needs. If you find that buyers are interested in working with companies that support specific charities or share their values, figure out how your brand can engage with those buyers. If your research finds that millennials are interested in franchise ownership but find building capital to be a roadblock, provide information on loans, grants, or other avenues to fund ownership. These personal touches will put you ahead of the pack and provide another opportunity for brand loyalty and appreciation. Streamline Your Onboarding Process Last, but certainly not least, is your onboarding process. Having a defined, easy to follow onboarding process for new franchise owners is incredibly important to successfully sealing the deal between you and your buyer. We’ve already talked about part of the onboarding process – making franchise opportunity information accessible to your potential buyers and making it easy to get in touch with you. But what comes after that initial call? What are you doing to consistently build that connection? From the jump, you should be making sure that your culture and brand are imbued into every contact you have with your buyer, whether in-person or over the phone. So many people are invested in franchises that they feel connected to, where they feel valued and enjoy the experience. Often, franchise owners are prior employees, who wanted to move into ownership because they loved the company so much. When your potential buyer meets you in person, be ready. Have an application for ownership waiting. Consider having a potential opening day plan, or a mockup of what that might look like. Emphasize that your franchisee will be supported with training and resources, that you want to make them a success. And when you’re ready, finalize your contract and enjoy your new franchise owner! Onboarding shouldn’t be complicated. While it’s the time to discuss important information, all of those conversations and steps should feel intuitive rather than clunky. Your CRM system should contain all the important data without being overwhelming to staff. If you’re not sure about your onboarding process, employing a franchise marketing agency can help you ensure that you’re on the right track. Even in today’s world, it’s possible to generate high-quality franchise buyer leads. COVID-19 has created an interesting buyer dynamic; more and more people want to have freedom and reliable income, which a franchise can provide. With these franchise lead generation hacks and a solid team at your side, your franchise can make money and be successful no matter what challenges you might face. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreNov 21, 2020
Forbes Ranks 919 Marketing as Top PR Firm
Forbes Ranks 919 Marketing as Top PR Firm 919 Earns Highest 5-Star Ranking Based on Client Surveys 919 Marketing is proud to be recognized as one of the nation’s top PR firms by ranking on Forbes’ prestigious 2021 inaugural list of America’s Best PR Agencies. The company competed against thousands of national PR firms to earn this coveted honor. Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista that surveyed more than 12 thousand experts and 20 thousand customers who nominated more than 5 thousand firms. The list was narrowed down to the top 200 PR agencies. 919 Marketing received the highest five-star ranking. “919 Marketing is thrilled and honored to rank among the best PR agencies in the country,” says CEO and founder David Chapman. “We are proud of our growth and the growth of our brands that have selected 919 Marketing as their trusted PR partner. We have earned this award because we provide a host of content marketing services along with PR and all our work is magnified and measured by 919 Insights, our proprietary data analytics platform. Our reputation as a cutting edge, industry leader has attracted top talent to our team, helping us deliver game-changing results for our clients. “ The Forbes ranking comes during the unprecedented pandemic, when 919 Marketing had to navigate all clients through an uncertain, volatile, and noisy year. The company had to quickly pivot and become more like a consulting firm, rapidly developing internal and external crisis communication strategies as Covid-19 affected all clients, their customers, employees and pretty much every aspect of their business. “We pride ourselves on being nimble and stepping up to lead our clients with clarity through a difficult and tumultuous time as evidenced by our 5-star ranking,” says Chapman. “Our clients trust us and their loyalty, continued business and accelerated growth- helped by our efforts- is the best reward of all.” 919 Marketing services include franchise and cause marketing, social media marketing, strategic planning, brand strategy, franchise public relations, crisis communications, grand opening services, video and podcast production and more. About 919 Marketing 919 Marketing is a nationally recognized marketing, consulting, and public relations firm with a proven track record of helping underdog companies of all sizes discover their competitive advantage and drive profitable business growth. Headquartered just outside of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, 919 was founded over a decade ago by CEO David Chapman. 919 is an unconventional firm with an uncanny ability to develop winning marketing strategies for a roster of companies including The Rosetta Stone, Kerr Drug and Jersey Mike’s Subs. 919 marketing provides strategic planning, public relations, interactive marketing and creative development services – each utilizing proven processes that have been refined and validated over hundreds of client engagements. Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Recent Posts 919 Marketing Wins Two Prestigious Telly Awards 919 Marketing Recognized at Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Fast 50 Awards 919 Marketing Acquires Groundbreaking Content Intelligence Platform 919 Marketing Recognized as Nation’s Highest-Ranked and Franchise Marketing and PR Firm. Again! 919 Marketing Recognized as North Carolina’s Highest-Ranked and Fastest Growing PR Agency Categories 919 MARKETING GUIDES 919 News and Awards Earned Media Franchise Sales and Marketing Nonprofit Sales and Marketing Owned Media Paid Media Podcasts and Webinars Public Relations SEO Shared Media Social Media Uncategorized Start Exploring a New Data-Driven Approach to Your Franchise Marketing Efforts Today. 919-459-8156 Email
Read moreOct 26, 2020
Nonprofit Content Marketing: Creating a Strategy That Works
Nonprofit Content Marketing: Creating a Strategy That Works As a nonprofit, you are uniquely positioned to take advantage of an entire range of content marketing that for-profit industries may not be able to tap into. Content marketing gives you the chance to tell your story in a way that draws people to your nonprofit and encourages them to stay engaged with you. In a nutshell, content marketing is everything you write and/or present that engages, inspires, and attracts your supporters. Content marketing should educate and should make those who work with you want to see your goal achieved. Your content marketing should pull people in and inspire them to work with you in whatever capacity you’re targeting, whether it’s volunteers, fundraisers, or sponsorships. While some nonprofits utilize content marketing, not everyone has a content strategy or feels like they’re able to use content marketing effectively. That’s why we’re going to share tips on how to make your content marketing soar. Focus on the Story Nonprofit branding has the unique advantage of almost always being connected to a core goal or mission that aims to do good in the world. Whether that’s through animal rescue efforts, fundraising, or improving the health and success of less-privileged people, your story is tailor-made to resonate in both the hearts and minds of the people who find you. So find your core statement that you want to convey, and build a story around that. For example, if you’re a nonprofit that supports after-school programs for at-risk teenagers, your core might be something like “The students we serve struggle with a school-home balance that hinders their success. We’ve seen firsthand how a nurturing, supportive environment can improve their performance and help them reach their goals.” From there, you can build out a personal connection with your supporters. Make a video of your after-school programs. Interview volunteers and families who use your service. Write blogs that show the quantifiable impact your work is having. Don’t be afraid to get personal; these stories are what will draw in and keep donors and supporters engaged with your nonprofit. Another great option is to focus specifically on pain points that people search for that are related to the work you do. Then you can write to those pain points and get new interactions with people who may not have heard of you before. Tools like 919 Insights can help you identify the pain points and keywords that are most important to your potential audiences! Write to Your Audiences Yes, audiences. Content marketing is not one size fits all; what you put in front of a volunteer may look very different than what you present to big donors or corporate sponsors. Defining the audiences you want to communicate with helps you define what content is most likely to resonate with them. So how do you define your audiences? Creating audience profiles is a great place to start. While most nonprofits focus primarily on donors, it’s important to remember that there are a wide variety of people who can both impact your business and contribute to your nonprofit’s success. Volunteers, influencers, internal employees, and even people who are direct beneficiaries of your nonprofit’s actions are all different groups that your content marketing needs to take into consideration. By researching and interviewing your audience, you can build a profile around their wants and needs and use that information to drive targeted content that best expresses your nonprofit’s impact and the needs this audience can fulfill. Targeted content marketing has a higher rate of success than generalized content and will help you achieve your goals faster. Utilize Multiple Mediums When considering where and how to share your content, it’s important to take into account all the different platforms you have at your fingertips. Is your statement best shared through a blog? A video? A tweet? A social media campaign? Having an understanding of where your different audiences are most engaged will help you know which publication mediums to take advantage of. For example, if most of your audience is engaging with your Facebook, it makes sense to put a lot of your messaging on Facebook. If you’re seeing high engagement with campaign emails, put effort into your emails. 74% of nonprofits use email newsletters and updates to keep their supporters informed. Just be sure that you allow people who have subscribed to your emails to adjust how many or what type of emails they’re receiving; 79% of nonprofits don’t. Most nonprofits are working with a small marketing or social media team, it’s important to know where your time will best be spent, and where you’ll receive the most engagement with your content. Keeping an eye on your engagement across multiple mediums will let you target your content with precision. Utilize PR to Build Awareness As a nonprofit, you have a unique advantage when it comes to PR. News organizations are often more open to pitches from nonprofits than for-profit businesses. However, many nonprofits don’t fully utilize PR, choosing to just send press releases. But just like the rest of your content creation, you should consider multiple forms of PR. Would the thing you want to share be better reflected as an infographic? A video? A Q&A interview? Do some work and research into the journalists and reporters you want to contact. Personalize your pitch so they know they’re not getting a form letter. Assemble eye-catching assets that are easy to access. Take advantage of your supporters to get their thoughts and stories. Make PR work for you! Target outlets and influencers that vibe with your vision and goals – you’ll get good PR that will link back to you and your other content pieces, driving more people to your nonprofit. And if you need help with your nonprofit PR outreach, 919 is here to help. Utilize Advertising Grants As a nonprofit, you’re likely working with a razor-thin advertising budget. That’s why it’s vital to take advantage of the numerous advertising grants available, including Google’s Ads grant. You may also be able to find local, state, or federal grants that will help you make full use of your advertising. Invest time into searching for and applying to grants. Every grant you receive is that much more opportunity to connect with volunteers, reach potential donors, and get your message out there. Position Your People as Thought Leaders When thinking about ways to increase your organization’s capacity and reach, consider establishing your CEO and key people within your organization as thought leaders. What is a thought leader? Michael Brenner, CEO of Inside Marketing Group, says “I define thought leadership as a type of content marketing where you tap into the talent, experience, and passion inside your business…to consistently answer the biggest questions on the mind of your target audience.” In essence, a thought leader is someone who can tap into your organization’s core message and use that to build trust and inspire action while becoming a trusted resource. While establishing your organizational leaders as thought leaders is a long-term process, it can really pay off. Thought leaders can influence public policy, attract strong board members and fundraisers, and more. It’s a type of content marketing that can have huge dividends. Think Long-Term SEO is an incredibly useful long-term investment for nonprofit organizations. It’s a way to help you stand out against competitors that costs very little money and can have increasing benefits the longer you prioritize it as a component of your content marketing. Consider it this way – when you plant the seeds of SEO through your content, website optimization, and more, you’re giving your organization the chance to build a forest for your future. While there are short-term SEO boosts available, like PPC (pay-per-click), these options don’t always net the best results. They can also be costly, and the results go away when you stop paying. Instead, your organization should be focused on creating and developing long-term strategies to help maximize your organic search results and overall success. Keep Your Hand on the Pulse When was the last time you checked the pulse of your nonprofit brand? And what does it mean to “keep your hand on the pulse”? In a nonprofit, it’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of your organization and putting your message out there. You can lose touch with your core audience or your repeat supporters, and in doing so lose the personal, story-driven marketing touch that helped you connect with them in the first place. Not only can you lose your connection to your audiences, you can also fall behind other organizations in your sector. You should be monitoring other nonprofits that have similar operations or goals; if you see something working well for them, you might want to replicate it. If you see a particular trend that seems to be having a positive impact on nonprofit funding, you’ll want to grab that opportunity. It can also be helpful to take advantage of tools like Google Trends. Search for topics or keywords related to your nonprofit and see which are most active, so that you know how to target your next content marketing piece. Doing these small things to keep your hand on the pulse of information around your nonprofit can really boost your chances of success. Show Impact All of this planning won’t matter if you don’t create and push for attainable goals or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Using KPIs to measure the overall effectiveness and impact of your content marketing strategy is vital; your marketing probably won’t be perfect from the get-go, and analyzing the successes and failures helps your nonprofit tweak your strategy until it works for you. KPIs will also let you demonstrate visible success to your stakeholders. For example, if you set a KPI for your social media to get 1000 shares a quarter, hitting that goal lets you see measurable proof that your organization is succeeding in your social media marketing. If you set a goal to raise a million dollars through a video campaign and you hit that, that’s a success you can share with your stakeholders. Conversely, if you don’t manage to hit a goal, you can assess the content marketing around that goal and see what you need to change for the future. Planned, well-written and organized content marketing can bring your nonprofit’s success to the next level. With a team like 919 Marketing on your side, you can build brand awareness, set yourself apart from others in your field, and see measurable success with your content marketing strategy that will last for years to come. 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