Last week at the 2016 IFA Convention, newly inducted IFA Chairman Aziz Hashim took the stage to tell us all franchising has a huge problem – few people outside of that room know what franchising actually is.
Case in point, when people ask what kind of Public Relations I do and I tell them Fish has a niche in franchising, I usually get a blank stare.
In the February issue of Franchising World, Hashim makes the case for educating the general public about franchising and developing a “common terminology” to describe the business model that resonates with people outside of our industry. And we all – franchisors, franchisees and suppliers – need to play a role.
“Leaders in franchising have to become ambassadors for the business model as well as their own brands,” Hashim writes in Franchising World. “Our conversations now have to include explanations of business format franchising in order to educate people on what franchising truly is: a reliable way to be in business for yourself, but not by yourself. We have to explain that most franchisees are local, family-owned businesses, owned and operated by individuals, who chose a less-risky path into entrepreneurship.”
I asked a few non-industry friends to define franchising. Here are some of the responses I received:
- “Opening a business in multiple locations with the same name and branding.”
- “Franchising is something you can buy into or start from scratch. Or it’s something you dip your chips into.”
- “Selling or creating a business or service and offering it in multiple locations. I think the key thing to distinguish franchising is that the name, brand and services or products being offered remain the same at the very least, under the same umbrella. Like McDonald’s, for the most part is burgers, fries and a shake, right? But the menu and cost vary based on location and cultural surroundings.”
Then I asked some of my Fish colleagues, who live and breathe franchising every day:
- Taking a successful business model and developing new locations across the country with small business owners.
- Using a proven business model to replicate the success of a brand.
- Franchising is a type of business enterprise that’s similar to a parent-child relationship, with a franchisor as the parents and a franchisee as the child. The child is an independent person and makes its own decisions, but it is influenced by the parents and must follow the rules set by the parent.
- If you’re wondering how to franchise a business, it’s probably best to check out a website like thefranchisemaker.com to learn more. Franchising is a business opportunity where the owners allow third parties (aka: franchisees) to buy into the business and allow them to operate their own franchise using the company’s business model, logo, services, etc.
It’s clear people define franchising slightly differently, whether they’re in the industry or not. But imagine how much bigger our industry could be if the general public understood it. And imagine how much stronger our voice would be as we continue to battle unfair regulations like NLRB and minimum wage if the general public understood it.
That’s why franchising needs Public Relations and it needs it now. But how do we do that? Here are a few suggestions:
- Talk about franchising – and in a simple, clear way so everyone gets it. The IFA’s definition is somewhat long and convoluted, so I suggest boiling it down to the following: Franchising is a way for local entrepreneurs to own and operate a small business using the proven concept and systems offered by a company.
- Tell media your story. It puts a face to franchising outside of the trade publications where we usually are talking to ourselves. Last summer, we coordinated interviews for several Tropical Smoothie Café franchisees, landing stories in The Associated Press and The New York Times, among others, that helped show readers exactly how these sweeping regulations will negatively affect local small business owners.
- Register for the IFA’s Franchise Action Network Annual Meeting. You’ll get to spend a day on the Hill lobbying Congress as a representative of nearly 800,000 franchise establishments, which is a pretty cool experience.
