I have been speaking to several owners of local franchises recently about Internet marketing and it has opened my eyes considerably. Purchasing a franchise has long been a way for people to get away from having a “regular” job and live the American Dream of owning a business. In this day and age with people having the worst job security in generations there are more an more of these small shops opening up.

My fear is that in short order they will be closing down as well and here’s why. These smaller franchisers appear to have built a model that is focused on them. They sell the franchise rights and collect fees from the franchisee but have little skin in the game moving forward.

This is most evident in the Internet marketing efforts or support that is provided to the franchisees which in most cases appears to be little or none. This leaves these fledgling franchisees / entrepreneurs to their own devices with regard to promoting their business on the Internet. As a result there is a lot of disillusionment and confusion because Internet marketing is not something that everyone knows or has the time to learn.

What these franchisees get instead are “referrals” to search marketing companies who then put them in poor performing paid search campaigns that produce little or no business. No skin off the franchisers nose here because it’s the little guy, the franchisee, that is shelling out for these services without even considering if this is the best thing for them to do as a part of an overall marketing campaign.

If you are considering buying a franchise make sure that you have the following as a bare minimum relating to Internet marketing and your ability to use it.

• Your own web site – It seems that most franchisers are loathe to let the local franchisee have any local web site that they can control and build for their market. Having a landing page on the corporate site IS NOT the same as having a web site. I see this time and time again and it always ends up with the franchisee wondering because they thought they would have their own web site.

• Internet marketing strategy – If the franchiser does not take the time and invest the money in the overall Internet marketing strategy of their franchisees then there will be trouble. Most SMB’s don’t know much about Internet marketing so when they are pushed out of the nest and told to go do business they end up struggling to find new business, especially online, due to ignorance.

• More than a referral – If a franchiser is just handing out names of search marketing service providers then stepping back and putting their hands up saying “Hey, we gave you a resource, it’s not our fault!” then that will end badly for the franchisee. Most of these search marketing shops are just putting together cookie cutter campaigns that are not addressing the true local needs of each market. They also collect fees on the monthly spend that many of these franchisees think is being spent on clicks. Not good.

• Internet marketing continuing education – If the franchise you are considering is not actively working to make you better by providing educational resources about search and social media then you may not want to buy in to the system. I am shocked at how little support is given to most franchisees I come in contact with.

I guess that there are few performance payments to franchisers because they certainly don’t seem to really want to help the franchisee succeed online from what I have seen (if there is a franchise doing this well out there please tell me about it!)

So the net / net here is that if you are already in a franchise that is not helping with your Internet marketing efforts then you need to go it alone. Take your chances by “breaking the rules” by putting together your own web site or running with social media because your business life may depend on these efforts. if there is no support from the franchiser than it’s up to the franchisee. To wait around for promises from franchisers is business suicide as well because there will always be reasons to hold off on something that may end up being an expense to the franchiser.

If you are considering buying into a franchise and the franchiser cannot provide adequate answers to your Internet marketing questions then you need to seriously consider whether this is the right business partner for you. Right now the environment seems almost adversarial but for what reason (other than cost) I don’t know. Do your homework and hopefully you will avoid some of the pain I have seen recently.

Many people seem to be either shocked or aghast that Google would actually run a Super Bowl ad. There are some who think that it is a sign of weakness or fear that there is a chink in the great Google armor. There are those that just figured that Google should never need to advertise because they are, after all, Google. Well, I think that the Google ad was a smart move and one that was done in typical Google fashion: low cost, no fanfare (except for jittery industry types) and strong impact.

The “ad” has been on YouTube for several months so it’s not like Google ran out and threw together a Super Bowl ad and spent gazillions on it. It was essentially already out there. On Google’s official blog, Eric Schmidt posted the following

“If you watched the Super Bowl this evening you’ll have seen a video from Google called “Parisian Love”. In fact you might have watched it before, because it’s been on YouTube for over three months. We didn’t set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it’s had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience.”

If you like it too, we hope you’ll watch the others. Enjoy.

Here’s the “ad” in case you missed it:

Now that was the entire post and quite honestly, I don’t get the surprise or the issue. Considering Google’s advertising budget can probably take a $3 million hit pretty easily (do they even budget for marketing ?). Couple that with no other search ads and you have a simple opportunity to win kudos for an “ad” that tells just what people use the search engine for: their life.

Hats off to Google. I hope they advertise more because maybe people can take the hint that simple is better, demeaning any man’s capability to think is lame and the whole idea of seeing regular people in their underwear will not sell product (who did those stupid ads anyway?). Thank God the game was a good one because the rest of the show wasn’t anything to really talk about.

Starting today I will be getting an opportunity to write for a another blog, the HubSpot Inbound Internet Marketing Blog. I’m excited to be asked to be part of such a dynamic blog that truly addresses the real needs of businesses from SMB’s to the enterprise as it relates to all aspects of Internet marketing. I will be focusing on some of the news of the Internet marketing and social media industries as HubSpot looks to expand its blog so it can keep its growing company on its current upward swing. This is a trial run so don’t be afraid to head over there and check it out.

In addition to client work and writing for Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim plus Mike Moran’s Biznology blog my days are pretty full. There’s room for more though as I work on trying to build a community in an area that is very close to my heart. I’ll share that experience as it gets under way.

Thanks for coming by and checking in with me. I hope that you get something from my efforts every time you come here. If you don’t always get ‘filled up’ I apologize but some days I can’t write for crap. Hey, I ‘calls’em likes I sees’em’.

If you would be so kind as to leave a comment or two giving me your take on what I have shared that would be pretty cool.

Thanks for your continued support. It means a tremendous amount to me.

There is a pretty funny movie with Will Ferrell called “Kicking and Screaming”. Being a soccer family at certain times of the year we enjoyed the goofiness. One of the funnier moments is when the ex-Chicago Bears football coach, Mike Ditka, gives a rather inept soccer player the rather inept nickname of Bing Bong. His “Way to go Bing Bong!” line at one point is maybe only really funny to me but I smile when I think about it.

So what’s the Internet marketing angle here? Well, every time I hear about Microsoft’s Bing decision engine I can’t help but think about that movie. Too bad for Bing I suppose. I haven’t used the engine yet and honestly don’t have much intention to do so. Google is fine for me. The early results are in and it is a TBD as to what a difference maker Bing really is. Go over to my post at Marketing Pilgrim to learn more about the early results of Bing’s impact on the world of search.

This is a totally unsolicited rave about a group here in Raleigh, NC called ROI Revolution. I am going to talk them up for the next little while but there is a twist. I have never used their service.

A few years ago I was introduced to the company as one of the leading Urchin Software specialists in the country. I think they were one of only a handful of organizations that has some form of certification around what was a premiere analytics tool. The tool was so good it was swallowed up by Google and is now Google Analytics.

ROI Revolution now carries its expertise into helping people get the most from Google Analytics and other Google offerings. I don’t know the true nature of their arrangement with Google but I suspect it’s pretty tight. Right here I am proving my ignorance of what they really do.

Well, despite this ignorance I decided to purchase their online Google Analytics training to help out some folks to get more out of analytics. I like to let real experts tell the story as much as possible and people I trust had said these guys are the experts in analytics.

Long story short, based on these recommendations I put down my money to purchase this online training module last Friday. As it turns out Google yesterday announced its own training for analytics that would conclude in a certification of sorts and in fine Google fashion it’s free.

I shrugged my shoulders and said “Well, that pretty well stinks” since I had just spent money with ROI Revolution for the same thing from a third party. I decided to send an e-mail to see what I was getting from their training that I wouldn’t get from Google. Below is the response I received:

Hi Frank,

We were aware they were working on a training, but no timeline was given.

Your training purchase has been refunded and we highly recommend Google’s program at http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20090303_analytics-iq.html.

Have a great day!

Kathy Scott, Product Marketing Manager
ROI Revolution, Inc.

I was floored. There was no trying to save the sale. They just did the right thing. I realize that they must have some deal with Google that far outweighs the value of my little purchase but that doesn’t always mean a company will do the right thing. ROI Revolution did the right thing and I have decided to tell people. I like sharing about businesses with integrity. These folks have it.

FT Takeaway: There are people in this world who are ready to tell everyone when you do good. We are conditioned to think that people only get vocal when they have been wronged. Not so. Tell someone they did a good job for you today and then follow up with the question of “How can I serve you today?” You may be surprised with the results.

With layoffs happening at a rapid rate and no industry being insulated from the turmoil there are going to be a lot more people hanging out their shingle of “consultant” for any number of things. Many people take the opportunity to venture into something more entrepreneurial when they have been unceremoniously dumped by their employer. It makes sense.

This phenomenon is both good and bad. The good news is that there is a lot of knowledge in the marketplace that used to be restricted by their corporate boundaries. The bad news is that knowledge doesn’t always translate into effective business for either the consultant or the buyer of the service. What is the worst case scenario is that people look to reinvent themselves and venture into areas that they are interested but have no real experience in then label themselves as an expert. Caveat emptor has never been more real.

Internet marketing consultants are now growing like a fungus in the wake of these economic times. Here are some thoughts for business owners to consider when making the decision to enlist the help of an ‘expert’.

• Use your gut. While this sounds a bit amateurish I tend to recommend this technique before the usual ask for references routine. My years of experience have shown me that references are usually so ‘canned’ that they have little value. In addition, anyone can say they worked on anyone’s Internet marketing campaign and there is no way to prove it. You are a business person for a reason and you can tell if someone is a good fit or not. Honestly, there may be greater benefit in working with someone who has less ‘expertise’ but stronger people skills and a willingness to show flexibility. In other words, this is someone who is interested in serving you rather than delivering to you.

• Do only what you can handle. Lots of consultants want to make you try everything that they can ‘provide’ using the theory that if you throw enough up against the wall something will stick. This will lead to frustration and will not benefit your business in the long run. Look at what fits your style and your industry and concentrate there. Have success first then experiment if you wish.

• Be optimistic but be realistic. There are simply no guarantees in Internet marketing. There are best practices and opportunity but being in it doesn’t always mean you are going to win it. Life is that way and so is Internet marketing. Silver bullets and magic potions aren’t real so don’t get sold one.

• Be willing to spend. Sure you want to do it cheap. I would suggest you look to do it effectively. You can spend $500 and get no results or spend $2,500 and see a sharp increase in sales and profit. I have found that if you want to be real cheap your results will tend to be real thin.

As always there is more. Would love to hear your thoughts.

FT Takeaway: Internet marketing consultants are multiplying rapidly due to the current economic conditions. Be sure you use some old fashioned common sense and intuition when choosing a provider for these valuable services. Stay real and don’t get sold a bill of goods that cannot be delivered on.

The latest series of Internet marketing seminars from Frank Reed of Frank Thinking, Inc will be offered at the Morrisville, NC Chamber of Commerce on March 18th, March 25th and April 1st. Reserve your spot today!

These free seminars are offered in a relaxed environment (bring your lunch with you please!) and are designed to help any business better understand the disciplines of search engine optimization (SEO) on March 18, blog marketing on March 25 and social media marketing on April 1. All sessions begin promptly at noon and run for about 1 hour.

Each session will give attendees the most current foundational knowledge in each of these important areas so they can:

• Make more informed decisions about what is right for their business

• Understand what vendors may be saying and what to look for to protect their interests

• Takeaways that can be applied to their business immediately

• Opportunity for Q & A to talk about specific needs for their business

These seminars are offered to all members and prospective members of the Morrisville Chamber as a service to help them do better business in the Internet economy. The Morrisville Chamber is located in the modern White Ventures Building in Morrisville, NC.

If you would like more information please click here for details or e-mail me at freed@frankthinking.com

We look forward to seeing you at these great free seminars!