Tag: Local Customer Engagement

The Silver Bullet for Local Store Marketing

The Silver Bullet for Local Store Marketing

When I look back at the years that I’ve spent helping local franchisees build their sales, they all seem to face the same challenges.  They are running multi-million dollar businesses that require intense coordination of many disciplines—hiring, staff management, training, equipment acquisition, equipment maintenance, inventory management, customer service, accounting and of course, customer acquisition and marketing.  While all franchisees have a strong interest in driving sales and transactions, many don’t have the resources, bandwidth or expertise to effectively develop local marketing strategies.  It’s easy to rely upon national marketing initiatives to drive sales at the local level—and often times these efforts simply trickle down to the individual franchise locations.  I believe that these incredible business owners deserve more.  That’s why I have developed HubKonnect, what I consider to be the silver bullet for Local Store Marketing.

It’s clear that local franchisees have hundreds of opportunities within their local trading areas and it’s time for them to have the ability to advance their business within their specific communities.  HubKonnect is a software platform that utilizes AI continuous learning to create customized Local Store Marketing plans.  Franchisees have immediate access to the customer demographics for each of their locations; as well a complete listing of traffic generators, competition and more.  HubKonnect’s AI brain, Kirby, scours the internet gathering thousands of data points, analyzing and determining the optimal LSM plan for a specific location.  Re-Grand Opening or location anniversary?  No problem, HubKonnect provides the guidance for how to market and showcase your location.  Launching a new product, simply ask Kirby to create a plan to support and extend the impact of a new product launch at your specific location.  Facing a new competitor, HubKonnect will not only create a Local Store Marketing plan for you, but it will provide you with an implementation checklist and a communications plan that will help you get the message out to your local customer base.

I’ve very proud of HubKonnect.  It is the culmination of my lifetime of passion for Local Store Marketing and for helping franchisees really bring their local marketing efforts to fruition at each individual location.  To bring this vision to life, we’ve brought together an amazing team of tech experts with experience with companies like Amazon, IBM and Google.  Collectively, we have harnessed LSM expertise and Silicon Valley technology to create leading learning algorithms and solve business problems for the local franchise level.

I invite you to check out our website, HubKonnect.com, to learn more about this great new product.  I’d love to personally tell you more about it and help change your local store marketing world forever.

Can You Rely on Corporate Marketing to Drive Sales to Your Local Franchise Location?

Can You Rely on Corporate Marketing to Drive Sales to Your Local Franchise Location?

Every franchise and multi-unit retailer faces this question all the time.  Many franchise organizations require a contribution to a national marketing fund and when Continue reading “Can You Rely on Corporate Marketing to Drive Sales to Your Local Franchise Location?”

Who is Your Marketing Target?  I Bet You Don’t Really Know!

Who is Your Marketing Target? I Bet You Don’t Really Know!

Local Store Marketing 101:  The first question we all learn is “Who is Your Target?”.  Initially, we want to understand basic demographics:  age, sex, ethnicity.  Those are the easy data points that we can learn from any US Census.  Today’s CRM and big data strategies allow companies Continue reading “Who is Your Marketing Target? I Bet You Don’t Really Know!”

Thank You to the Houston Community

Thank You to the Houston Community

Community connection plays a pivotal role in Local Customer Engagement and my blog this week simply can’t ignore the impact that Hurricane Harvey has had on the Houston community.  The devastation in Houston, due to Harvey, brings to light the true importance of community connections.  What has struck a real chord with me, is the authenticity and genuine relationships that have been demonstrated over and over again by local (and national) businesses during this time of need.  These are relationships that are real—not just parts of a marketing plan.

One of my favorite Houston community connection tales is the story of the two grandparents, who are Chick-fil-A regulars, and who were trapped in their home just north of Houston.  They called Chick-fil-A to order two grilled chicken burritos, with extra egg and a boat.  The Chick-fil-A Manager called her husband, who has a boat, and the rescue was set in motion.

Local McDonald’s restaurants offered free coffee, to first responders in uniform, and donated bottled water to relief efforts.  Even My Pillow, the national late-night infomercial king, donated 60,000 pillows to emergency housing facilities.  I’m sure there are hundreds, even thousands of these stories.

This is a time when the true and authentic meaning of community connections comes to life.  When local residents know they can count on their local businesses—-so much so that they call to ask someone to help save their lives.

Digital and social media have played a critical role in connecting individuals that needed assistance from rescuers—a way more important role than traditional media could ever dream of playing.  Again, this is the authentic part of social media—not the formulaic calculations of marketing efforts, based on the websites you visited and the products you purchased.  This is social media brought to life by community need and community relationships.

I’m so proud of these local (and national businesses), who are such a part of the fabric of the local community.  I’m touched that people knew and trusted that these businesses could be counted upon for assistance.  I know they will continue to support Houston for years to come with fundraisers and other community programs.  Local Customer Engagement carries a strong responsibility and accountability—and now, we’ve all seen first-hand why it’s incredibly important.  All I can say is “Thank you, you are amazing”.

#LocalCustomerEngagement #CommunityConnections #LoveUHouston