Explore every episode of the podcast Franchise Freaks

Why do we see many marketing messages that are generic and don’t make emotional connections? Scott White of BizCom Associates and Dan Wiley of Brand J share ideas on finding the best stories from Franchisees and Franchisors. These stories are the best way to share a brand’s or leader’s passion and change lives! Special Guests: Dan Wiley and Scott White.

BizCom Associate’s Loren Thum and Sylvia Shtraym discuss Media Pitching for growing a Franchise brand. They’re sharing: • Advice on enhancing brand awareness & credibility, specifically in the franchise space • Best practices for pitching CEOs and brand leaders as well telling stories of local small business owners • Some examples of some recent compelling and fun stories Special Guests: Loren Thum and Sylvia Shtraym.

What makes a great personal brand for a franchise industry executive? How can brand leaders share the right stories and be found by new potential franchisees? Andrea de Leon joins Jack Monson to share tips on growing your own personal brand using short-form videos. Andrea is Brand J's project manager and is overseeing the personal branding and videos on social media for more than one dozen CEOs, CMOs, and Franchise Developement executives. In less than one year, Andrea's videos have become the hottest vehicle in the industry to tell stories so potential business owners will get to know, like, and trust the people and the brand.

BizCom Associates’ Lauren Moore and Emily Seabaugh share strategies and tactics for using Influencer Marketing. We’ll discuss: • How influencers can bring visibility and credibility to a brand • Micro versus Macro Influencers • What’s next in this space – has it peaked or is there more growth coming? Special Guests: Emily Seabaugh and Lauren Moore.

Monica Feid and August Johnson of BizCom share stories and their expertise on Crisis Communications with host Jack Monson. We’ll explore: Why is a franchise brand’s crisis potentially more explosive than other brands’? How does a communications team jump into action when news is about to break? What should all brands have in place to plan for a potential crisis? And why “no comment” is a poor response in any situation! Special Guests: August Johnson and Monica Feid.

Joining the podcast today from the BizCom X Brand J team: Monica Feid, Lauren Moore, and Andrea de Leon with host Jack Monson. They’re sharing best practices and tips from their work with the most prominent franchise executives in Thought Leadership and Personal Branding. What are the types of thought leadership content that are most compelling? Where are the best places and channels to share and engage? And … why do today’s leaders need some extra expert help in crafting their messages and implementing a communications campaign? Special Guests: Lauren Moore and Monica Feid.

Today: Fran Dev Website Tips and Best Practices with Jason Weaver, Angela Moore, Sophia Giordano-Scott, Andrea de Leon! Our team of Franchise Freaks from Brand J have an authentic conversation about what’s working – and what’s not – in creating an informative yet friendly & engaging Fran Dev website. We’re review functional items like forms, CTAs, FDDs, and more. And … do we really like territory maps anymore? Plus: How often should the storytelling content like videos and articles be refreshed? How often should the website be completely redone? How has ADA compliance affected fran dev websites recently? Special Guests: Angela Moore, Jason Weaver, and Sophia Giordano-Scott.

Brand J Lead Generation experts Alex Gilleland, Alyssa Alvarez, and Jason Weaver answer a series questions about Social Media advertising for Franchise Development including: • Is Facebook advertising dead? How is it working for franchise development leads? • What types and formats are working best to get engagement? And what’s different with Meta this year from last year? • How can franchisors approach the special category issues on Meta? How can they mix specific targeting with AI’s copy-driven targeting? • And, are franchise brands gravitating more to LinkedIn for fran dev? Special Guests: Alex Gilleland, Alyssa Alvarez, and Jason Weaver.

Dan Wiley, Director of Video at Brand J is today's featured Franchise Freak! Dan is the most highly sought-after filmmaker in the franchise space and has produced hundreds of brands' franchise development films and videos. Today he's discussing the most popular types of videos for franchise development such as The Brand Story and Day in the Life Videos. Dan also shares his MUST HAVE signature shots that will improve your brand’s videos. Special Guest: Dan Wiley.

Jason Weaver, Senior Account Manager at *Brand J *shares what’s working best right now for generating franchise leads (you might be surprised!). Are Google Ads and the website still the backbone of lead generation? How are form-fills working versus driving website traffic? Jason also shares tips on a diverse approach with Facebook campaigns, formats, and types of content. We also discuss: • Different calls to action and tactics for emerging brands versus well-recognized established brands • Creating consistent messages between paid lead gen and other content • The importance of feedback from the fran dev salespeople • Recommended ad spends to get consistent results on Meta and Google Ads Jason also shares his views on budgets for this year and the biggest changes he’s seen in lead gen in the past few years. Special Guest: Jason Weaver.

Sophia Giordano-Scott is the Senior Editor at Brand J and is responsible for dozens of franchise brands’ monthly content and online storytelling. Sophia discusses The Art versus The Science of web content specifically for websites that are designed for franchise development and shares tips on writing compelling, attractive, impactful stories for franchisors. We’ll share the best ways to prepare before the writing starts including: • Researching keywords and competitors • Discovering how, and for what, candidates are searching • Interviewing the brand team, franchisees, and other stakeholders • Finding the purpose and reason for each piece of content We also touch on how AI has changed the role and workload for all content creators and the difference between using AI to help your writing process rather than having AI write content for you. Special Guest: Sophia Giordano-Scott.