Significant changes in the way consumers prefer to receive information, coupled with an unpredictable economy, have many franchises reexamining their traditional marketing communication plans to gauge effectiveness. Both retaining Clients and attracting new Clients requires applying the latest digital tools to maximize leads received and covert them to sales. To address these goals, Sport Clips, the nation’s leading men’s and boys’ hair care franchise, has partnered with ElementsLocal™ to maximize their online solutions specifically designed for franchises. Using the latest technology, ElementsLocal™ is providing Sport Clips unparalleled abilities to market online and communicate with their existing clients through email and text messages.

Sport Clips searched the existing product offerings for a solution that would support and encourage loyalty among existing Clients and offer innovative ways to communicate with and attract new Clients. After this search, Sport Clips signed on with ElementsLocal™ to significantly improve its online presence and develop lasting relationships with Clients through local web sites and creative email and SMS campaign strategies.

With 90% of online users conducting local online searches

A turn of a new decade invokes a reflection of trends from the past ten years, while stirring up curiosity as to what’s in store for the next ten. We couldn’t agree more with these 5 recommendations for online marketing in the new decade from Borrell Associates, a research and consulting firm that tracks and analyzes advertising and marketing trends:

1. Identify and copy the fastest-growing companies. The gap is widening between the “get it” and “doesn’t get it” companies. The ones who get it are growing fast. Watch – and copy – what they’re selling and how they sell.

2. Partner with someone. Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft and other tech companies are all hungry for local growth. So are local media companies that are partnering. The fastest-growing revenue streams are likely to come from partnership deals in 2010.

3. Use the Internet as a utility to tap faster-growing “non-advertising” marketing dollars. The amount spent on traditional advertising may be in perpetual decline. Monitor this trend, and start helping businesses where they’re spending more dollars – on the “non-advertising” side – including social networking, search engine optimization, promotions, rebates, contest and coupons.

4. Keep your hands on the wheel with mobile advertising. Mobile is the new disruptor, and absolutely worth experimenting with. But don’t over-commit resources. Like the Web 10 years ago, it will take several years for local advertisers to warm up to mobile en masse.

5. Capitalize on the transformation to video. Consumer comfort levels with Web-based video are high, and local advertisers are likely to follow in much larger numbers next year – not only buying up pre-roll commercials, but also buying longer “infomercial” type video embedded within online directories and inside banner ads.

The International Franchise Association is the largest and oldest global franchising organization that protects, supports, and promotes more than 1,300 franchise systems and over 10,000 franchisees.

This year will be the IFA’s 50th Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas on February 4th through the 8th. Speakers include former U.S. President George W. Bush, who will be opening the convention. Some of the other speakers include an impressive ensemble of leading franchise professionals such as Jack Earle, a McDonald’s multi-unit franchisee, Jon Luther, Chairman of Dunkin’ Brands, and Michael M. Isakson, President & COO of ServiceMaster Clean.

IFA has respectively chosen Elements’ CEO, Jeremy LaDuque, to lead the Round Table discussion “Handling Internet Leads”. LaDuque, a leader in online marketing solutions, teaches ongoing webinars and seminars on the subject of online marketing. Several of his articles have been published in numerous publications, including IFA’s Franchising World Magazine. Steve Bridge, CFO of Elements and founder of the franchises Local Copies and California Fresh, has been chosen to lead the Round Table, “Mobile Marketing Opportunities”.

The Elements team will be offering expert advice at their booth 237 to assist franchise professionals wishing to maximize their online presence. Valuable tips on email, mobile, and social media marketing will be given, as well as a Nintendo Wii and other fun prizes for those who test their luck at the Roulette wheel. To learn more about what else is happening in the Element’s booth, register for the 15 minute webinar. http://elementslocal.com/Join/2010PreConvention.php

Do you know what words get retweeted the most? Do you know which post titles get clicked on the most? How about what to include or exclude from your profile bio to gain more followers?

There are hundreds of webinars out there on the topic of social media; however, it is very difficult to find a webinar that is more of “how to” rather than a “what is” when it comes to social media. That’s why we’ve developed a webinar that really demostrates how to implement a successful social media strategy. Please keep in mind, this webinar is NOT simply an introduction to the concept of social media, but rather a step by step guide with tricks and tips, do’s and don’ts, and lots of resources to help simplify your social media plan.

Date: Friday, December 18, 2009
Time: 10:00am PST
Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/896729841

After analyzing several studies conducted over the past few years regarding the ROI on email campaigns, I’ve put our findings here in a straight-forward summary on which days and times are the most effective to send emails. The best days to send emails depend on whether it is B2B or B2C.

The best day for B2B: Tuesday (the same as with social media blogs)

The best day for B2C: Friday

This chart, although from a study from 2006, is a simple visual and reflects similar findings to the latest studies.

The best time to send emails: 9 am
Unlike social media sites, emails, especially ones sent to a work email address, are more likely to be considered as high priority. Therefore emails get checked first thing in the morning.

• 9 a.m. performed 15.63% better than 4 p.m.

• 9 a.m. performed 9.4% better than 12 p.m.

• 12 p.m. performed 6.9% better than 4 p.m.

Some regions generally start their work day at 8am, therefore depending on your target market, sending emails as early as 8am is wise.

Click here to access the full case study (subscription required).