Franchises of all sizes are successful because of their ability to build on proven systems and brand recognition to help entrepreneurs accelerate their path to success. To achieve this success, the franchise community works together with other franchisees and suppliers to provide the best tools and resources for their businesses.

Recently, Evan Uyetake, president of Trost Marketing, was invited to participate in a franchise marketing panel for the International Franchise Association’s Franchise Business Network as the only supplier partner. The panel also consisted of top-level marketing directors from companies like Express Personnel, Mazzio’s, and Just Between Friends franchise.   “Participating in a panel like this is a huge honor. The franchises represented here bring a wealth of marketing knowledge and expertise. I am excited to be able to represent the importance of a vendor relationship with franchisees/franchisors and how aligning with the right partners will help accelerate your businesses growth,” said Uyetake.

The panel was presented in an open conversation “View” type forum with each representative presenting their thoughts and expertise related to the questions presented. Topics discussed ranged from challenges brands face when allowing franchisees to inject their own local flare to their businesses while still aligning with the franchisor brand to the struggles of getting a franchisor to engage in marketing. The successful franchisees understand the marketing is essential to their success while others believe the marketing is the role of the franchisor. The group discussed ways they provide marketing support to their franchisees and best practices. To learn more about the event check out the article in the Tulsa World.

(http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/employment/franchising-group-meets-in-tulsa-aiming-to-grow-stronger-together/article_2413b1ad-b6c8-5b9a-94d3-7da3d7687b41.html)

Branding is your company’s way to show how you define and differentiate yourself from the competition. It’s what you think of when you see a logo, it’s how the mention of a company name makes you feel, and it’s the identity of your company.  Companies spend millions of dollars creating and developing their brand and branding strategy to cultivate your impression of them.  Small businesses don’t have the luxury of huge market budgets to create and tell their brand story, so they have to be smarter when presenting their brand.  If they want to be the best, they have to look the best and create marketing materials that communicate why you should choose them over the competition.

When you host the premier high school lacrosse players across the country and you want your event to look professional, you need strategically branded marketing materials to show your participants that your event is the premier event in the country.  That’s why the Chicago Lacrosse Cup chose Trost Marketing to help them take their brand to the next level.  With the help of Trost’s design team, they were able to create branded event items for their upcoming 2017 tournament to professionally showcase their brand and tournament.

“Thanks to the team at Trost Marketing, I know that my brand and tournament will look better than ever! I am excited to create more for future tournaments as we continue to grow and attract the best players and teams from across the country”
-Chicago Lacrosse Cup

When marketing, make sure that your brand is professionally presented every time.  Everything that you put out to potential customers is shaping their impression of your brand.  From the direct mail, you send out to the signage in your store.  Your customers are watching.  What kind of message are you presenting?