Wall Street Journal

There you have it. One of the most credible sources in the world, Wall Street Journal, has reported a study showing that 46 percent of online users with investible assets of $1 million or more are members of Facebook. This number is up 20 points over last year. In comparison, Twitter’s demographic in the same category has dropped two points to 3 percent, according to the Spectrem Group.

And now, for the relevancy factor.

In today’s marketplace, it seems that every franchisor is focused on the multi-unit, multi-brand, homerun-hitting Albert Pujols of franchising. Rightfully so. The economic downturn forced the lowly franchisees to go back into the corporate world for many reasons, but one in particular, THEY WERE NOT GREAT BUSINESSPEOPLE. Great businesspeople know how to make money – such as the 46 percent of people with more than $1 million to invest.

This can simply be extended into the ideal franchisee candidate focus for franchisors. Who is your ideal fit? What do you they look like? How do they act? If, one of these millionaire investors approached you with interest in owning your brand, would you say no?

Of course not (especially if you wouldn’t say no to the zee who barely could inch together enough pennies to pay for your franchise fee three years ago).

So, if these millionaire investors play on Facebook – where is your development campaign playing? Where are you spending your advertising dollars? How are you getting your business plan in front of those who could actually make a difference?

The reality is – very few of you actually are. You are still using the portals as your advertising spend or perhaps some classifieds.

What happens to that lead if they don’t fill out one of your applications? They remain a ghost. What if I told you I had an answer? Perhaps not the be-all, end-all, but a good answer? Would you listen?

Max Muscle Sports Nutrition did. In fact, during a two week test of marketing specifically to the franchise prospect, their Fan Page (a blend of consumer and franchisee) generated an increase of 15,000 fans – all of which clicked on an advertisement that was franchise focused. Now, instead of being a ghost lead, we know who they are and can constantly market to them because they clicked ‘like’ (the opting in of 2011).

At every IFA Convention for the last four years, the majority have spoken skeptically about frandev and Social Media. Perhaps that opinion will now change. That same Spectrem Group study revealed that only 19 percent of millionaires used LinkedIn – unchanged from a year ago, according to the group.

However, beware of your frandev strategy because, based on your demographics, your strategy might be slightly different:

“But age also plays a role,” The Associated Press said. “According to the study, among those with $5 million or more in investible assets, the boomers are slightly more likely to use Facebook than the youngest investors — 56% vs. 50%, respectively. (Warren Buffett is an exception, of course). Twitter was generally more popular with the younger-millionaire crowd.

“They also are split on where they get their financial news. Millionaires younger than 55 years old are at least twice as likely as those ages 55-64 to get their information from social media than from traditional media outlets.”

And lastly, according to the report, “blogs remain popular among all millionaires. Nearly one-third of investors worth $5 million or more say they either read or would read blogs by trusted financial advisers.”

So, they are on there. They are waiting for your marketing. Now, go get em.

A blog post by:
NICK POWLLS
Nick is the CEO of No Limit and is ready to cheer on the Bears this season.

While attending the IFA Convention

Small Franchisor? No Problem -- Good Morning WSJ

in San Antonio this year, we noticed a trend – a trend in opinion. Every single franchisor is trying to figure out what’s next in developing qualified franchise leads. Unfortunately, though, just like the last 50 years of IFA, I doubt the next 50 is going to produce that magic bullet.

The same goes for PR.

While our methodology may not be the ultimate solution, it is working. Case-in-point, we have a 10-unit tax preparation concept that we just placed in the Wall Street Journal. Take a peek at the online story, but take a good look at the print story – a giant photo of the CEO, Nick Rizzi, full of branding and powerful words – including our favorite, franchising. Additionally, we placed our supplier client, Store in a Box, and our powerhouse brand, Qdoba, in the story.

Old technology would have been us praying for this story to appear. New technology was us taking control.

Over the last year, we have eliminated the term “PR” and replaced it with progressive communications, a fine-tuned blend of Social Media + Traditional PR that is built on relationships. This story wasn’t chance. It was built from a relationship with a reporter – a reporter who understands that when No Limit calls, we are actually calling with a story.

This is just one example of our relationships coming to fruition. Three hour segment on Fox & Friends; a return visit to Fox & Friends; Business Week, New York Times, 15 + WSJ interviews; local press that drives franchise leads; local TV that drives consumers; Social Media that interacts; Associated Press; Reuters; Fox Business; CNBC. This is what progressive communications tastes like.