Imperfect Marketing

Episode 16: Marketing Lessons from a 5th Generation Entrepreneur

July 07, 2022 Kendra Corman Season 1 Episode 16
Imperfect Marketing
Episode 16: Marketing Lessons from a 5th Generation Entrepreneur
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

This week on Imperfect Marketing I speak with Carol Ward, of FranNet of Michigan.

Carol is a 5th generation entrepreneur and started in PR and Communications. She, like me, believes in integrated marketing and trying new things. Carol is also a fan of email marketing and works hard to grow her list.

She is also dedicated to helping people. Be sure to listen in for more.

In this episode we cover:

  • 00:00:44: A fifth-generation business owner
  • 00:03:43: How does helping others translate to success?
  • 00:09:38: How Carol works to grow her email list
  • 00:18:26: Leveraging "in-person" networking
  • 00:21:47: How her experience in communications helped her grow her business
  • 00:29:04: What's the biggest mistake she sees with new business owners?
  • 00:33:28: What's your biggest marketing lesson learned?

Click Here to access the transcript and follow along!

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Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Send me an email at support@kendracorman.com



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Kendra Corman:

Welcome back. And thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Imperfect Marketing. 

I'm excited today to be joined by Carol Ward, a fifth generation business owner who helps professionals transition into business ownership or new careers. Carol is my kind of people because she loves and believes in serving others and truly helping them. 

I'm a big believer in what goes around, comes around and Carol deserves the best because she is always giving herself to others. I've known Carol for I think, five or six years now.

Carol Ward:

I think so.

Kendra Corman:

And I'm so excited to have her join me on the show. Carol, thank you so much for being here.

Carol Ward:

Thank you Kendra for having me.

Kendra Corman:

I want to start with the fifth generation business owner piece of your bio. I'm third generation American on my dad's side of the family. We haven't even been here in the United States that long. And while my grandfather had a lot of side hustles, I really don't have that history. 

Can you talk to me a little bit about that and what that's done for you?

Carol Ward:

Yes, I think it's interesting because it goes back. There's not one business that was passed down through the generations. It's different businesses that the different generations have had, but starting with my father and kind of working back from there, he was a federal government employee. Getting ready to move the business or the organization to Louisiana. And he just decided to open a business at that time. He had a antique shop. Realized that wasn't for him and he exited and started a real estate business. That was what he did as I was probably from the time I was 10 or 12 on up. 

And we spent a lot of time going on family vacation to look at businesses, but that's another story. 

But then if I go back another generation, my grandparents, they own Cunningham Electric. My maiden name is Cunningham and my grandpa worked at the power and light company.

Carol Ward:

He was a lineman, but they also had this electric company store where they sold... At that time an electric company sold like lamps and anything that plugged in. That was in Kansas. 

And then the generation before that had a... Let's see, I have to... I checked with my mom to make sure I had it right. Grandpa Austin, that was my grandmother's maiden name was a printer. And then let's see, her grandmother owned a furniture store and sold antiques and that kind of thing. 

Plus there was another, and we don't know exactly in that generation. There was a Hal who owned a mill. 

Yeah. I guess it goes back. And so I think the thought of being in a business and not having that sense of security you have with the job comes a little bit more naturally. It's a little easier for me than I think some people.

Kendra Corman:

No, I think that's great. And that's an amazing story. 

I love how, when your dad didn't want to make that move, he's like, "You know what? I'm going to do my own thing." He tested things out and worked to find that out.

Carol Ward:

Yeah, no, it was great. And I think it's one of those things. I think my mom was scared to death when it was all going on, but it ended up being a really good move for the family.

Kendra Corman:

Very cool. 

As I said, I'm a big fan of yours. You're definitely my kind of people. And I love that because again, I think we both believe in service and helping others above all. 

How has that resulted in success or manifested as success in your business?

Carol Ward:

Well, I think that when I really look at what I'm doing, I'm matching people with franchise businesses and that's how I get paid, but I also have a desire to help people with their careers. And if things aren't right, getting them into a good place. And so I think that having that more as my purpose has benefited, because I think I can help people. 

When I think about my success, I don't just measure it in how many people bought a franchise. I mean, obviously that's one measure, but I think in how many people are in a better place, they're in a job that they love or like better or that type of thing. 

And then as you know, through in FranNet of Michigan, I volunteer for the Women On The Move Group, which is for women in career transition. And then the other group is lady bosses. People who want to... Who are business owners or who really want to be business owners. I really enjoy that aspect and especially helping women and families. 

That's really my sweet spot.

Kendra Corman:

Very cool. 

Let me ask you and take a step back, because I probably should have asked this before, but I get so caught up in the excitement of the podcast! 

Tell me a little bit more about what you do with FranNet and how you found your way there.

Carol Ward:

Okay. What I do with FranNet, FranNet is short for Franchise Network. And essentially what I do is I help place people into franchise businesses, help coach them every step of the way through the process, help them find the right fit for themselves and then get them to a point where they can make a wise decision. 

And sometimes that's yes, and probably more often than not it's no, and they decide to do something else, but I do provide those services at no cost.

Kendra Corman:

Let me ask this question. You talk about finding the right fit. And again, this is part of how I know that, again, we both believe in helping people overall else. 

What do you mean by fit? If someone comes to you and is looking for a franchise that may or may not be right for them, what are some of those big flags, I guess?

Carol Ward:

Okay. A lot of it, if you think about the role of the business owner, that's really what I focus on is, okay, for some people like for you, obviously marketing is a big thing, you probably would do well in a franchise that required more marketing oriented activities. 

Some people, if you're getting into becoming a consultant, you have to know how to sell yourself or market yourself. Some people aren't comfortable with that. They're more operations people. For them, they need to be in a business that's really focused more on where they can focus more on the operations side of things. 

A lot of it is finding out how they're wired, what motivates them and what kind of business can work. A few people, I've had clients who are very good at everything, and they have a lot more options when it comes to business.

Kendra Corman:

I want to be them.

Carol Ward:

I've got like two, I think in my whole practice that are like that. But yes, it is amazing.

Kendra Corman:

Okay. Yeah. Because I think everybody needs to be true to themselves. Otherwise, you won't be happy. And it's an interesting thing because you're talking about fit and I always move everything from like your examples to like marketing. 

But I was just talking with somebody who, they talked with a marketing consultant and they're like, "You should go on TikTok and lip sync." Or and I think she actually did an Instagram reel where she was lip syncing and her audience actually messaged her and started like not following her because it wasn't her style and it felt desperate and bad and now she regrets doing it. 

But I think being true to yourself, no matter what you're doing, if it's marketing or becoming a business owner in a franchise, what's true for you is what's going to drive your happiness.

Carol Ward:

Yes. I think you have to know your brand. 

I mean, we all have a personal brand that we need to project and understanding that and not just going with the latest trends, it doesn't make sense. And I think you have to think about, who your audience is. For some people TikTok may be great, but it's not going to be something I'm doing at least for-

Kendra Corman:

I'm on TikTok.

Carol Ward:

The next decade. Are you on TikTok?

Kendra Corman:

I'm on TikTok. I have some work to do. 

Actually. Okay. Hang on. I got to take like a little side trip here.

Carol Ward:

Oh, okay.

Kendra Corman:

I was actually talking with one of my clients and they were laughing because one of their interns was doing an Excel project and they said to the intern, "Do you know how to do that in Excel?" And he's like, "No, I've never done it before. I'll just look up how to do that on TikTok."

Carol Ward:

True. Yes.

Kendra Corman:

I was like blown away. I'm like, "I just Google it." But he's like, searching TikTok for the Excel answers, which I thought was just unbelievable.

 I digress, but I thought that was just like an interesting little story about TikTok.

Carol Ward:

That's one way to get it.

Kendra Corman:

Isn't that crazy? 

But anyway, I know that you're very active on LinkedIn. You do a ton of webinars and that's in addition to your outreach through in forum and other organizations, what's your favorite marketing channel to use?

Carol Ward:

Oh my gosh. That is a hard thing to answer because I think that I like the combination of channels. I think you can't hardly do just something on one and really make things work. I would say that I am a big believer in email marketing as you are.

Kendra Corman:

Yay!

Carol Ward:

And I think that a lot of the things that I do, I'm trying to get people to sign up for my updates on email and to attend my webinars and that type of thing. I think that, and lately LinkedIn has been a big place where I have spent money and spent time on. And I think it's been very successful in both getting more referrals because people see me more. It's kind of like that old school networking, when you go to LBN or BNI meeting and you see people once a week. People see me and I think that really does help with getting referrals.

Kendra Corman:

And it's definitely about staying top of mind. Email keeps you top of mind, even if people don't open your email and they just delete it because the subject line didn't appeal to them that time, they still see your name.

Carol Ward:

Right. And I can tell who's clicked on my links too, which is... I don't know that the world needs to know that, but I mean it's possible. It's helpful to know who's maybe a little bit more interested.

Kendra Corman:

Yeah, no, it definitely helps in targeting and personalizing. People love personalization and they buy and interact off of it all the time. Helping people and being more specific and serving them value that's valuable to them is important. And I think it really comes down to knowing your audience. 

One of the things you were talking about was LinkedIn, email, webinars, that's your audience. I mean, that's where your audience is spending most of their time, not just referral partners, but people looking for new opportunities are going to LinkedIn.

Carol Ward:

Absolutely. 

And that's really, I've been getting more and I'm really working on trying to make sure that in my LinkedIn videos and post have a way that they can sign up for. And I took your suggestion to give them something for signing up. 

Now I do the roadmaps, a success guide that I send out to them. And I think that is really helpful. It all kind of fits together. And so I think it's... You can't just do one thing. I don't think. But I do know that driving people to your email list can be really great.

Kendra Corman:

Yeah. Probably my most favorite tactic is email. And then I've got a couple others in the... Like that go, but yeah, it needs to be a 360 degree plan, because you're not going to be able to grow your email list unless you're doing other things. And if you're doing other things and not driving them anywhere, when Facebook went down-

Carol Ward:

Yes.

Kendra Corman:

Was that couple years ago now? 

You lose all your contacts. You don't own them.

Carol Ward:

And I will say that LinkedIn is a great place because a lot of the clients that I have are people that are looking for what's next career wise. And so that's usually where they land when they're in that process. And so being able to find out what else is next and a lot of people don't think about buying a franchise when they're thinking about what's next, they're thinking about a job. And so that's a good vehicle too.

Kendra Corman:

Speaking of franchises. Actually it was interesting because before I started my company, I met with the head of my MBA program and I was like, "I got to figure out what I'm going to do next." And he's like, "Well, have you ever thought about starting your own company?" And I was like, "I don't have money for a Subway franchise." 

That was the only thing I could think of that I would do, would be a franchise. And he's like, "No, no." Like, "Why don't you do marketing?" And I was like, "Well, who's going to pay me for that?" 

He goes, "Someone does pay you for that." And I was like, "Oh, I didn't even think about that." And then I was like, "This'll be awesome." 

I was all excited, but yeah, franchises like came to mind, but I had what I would call the misconception that they were really expensive.

Carol Ward:

And I think that is a big misconception. I mean, you can pay a lot for a franchise, like a McDonald's or something like that is in the millions. 

But if you're looking at... And it's really hard to even get asked to be a franchisee and there's not many left, so they start anywhere from 50,000 on up the ones I work with. And so it's not really a huge amount. And the main thing is that you get what you pay for. 

And there are ways that you can take money that you have, your net worth and that kind of thing, and apply that toward a franchise, without taxes and penalties. And that's a whole other story, but there's really some good opportunities that I think a lot of people don't think about, they think about going cheap or whatever, and starting from scratch and bootstrapping it, which can work if you don't need to pull money right away.

Carol Ward:

Because it does take some time to build up what you need. And it can be a great idea for some people. But if you don't have that idea, that's when a franchise can work and there's lots more that people think food and that type of thing. 

And we really have very few food concepts. We have everything from a parking lots, maintenance, pothole filling, lines dropping franchise, gutters are really big right now.

Kendra Corman:

Wow.

Carol Ward:

Gutters in the house. 

Yes. And very need based type franchises too. I just got back. I told you from Club Pilates, it's a franchise. There's a wide range of different business types that are out there.

Kendra Corman:

Yeah. I think some people are surprised to find that there's certain franchises like Club Pilates. I think you told me one time and correct me if I'm wrong. Sola Salons is a franchise, right?

Carol Ward:

Yes.

Kendra Corman:

Where stylists and makeup artists and hairstylists and all those in between can actually rent their own little place and build their own business, which gives them a lot more, I think, independence than necessarily working inside another salon or even just renting their chair.

Carol Ward:

Right. 

And as the owner, that's a very passive business that kind of has that look and feel of a real estate business. Same thing with there's, we have a co-working space, that's a franchise they're very... You don't have to spend much time once you get the place rented out, you just have to keep getting people to sign up. 

Yeah, those are franchises.

Kendra Corman:

Wow. 

Yeah. No, and I think it's really interesting and I think that goes back to that fit piece again, there's usually something for almost everyone. 

Now not everybody's cut out for it because it does take time, effort and-

Carol Ward:

Yes.

Kendra Corman:

To at least get you started.

Carol Ward:

And I tell people if they're looking for a quick return, so let's say you need income right away. The best way to get that is just to go get a job. 

You're going to need to take some time with any business, but especially a franchise business that you are spending money on to get started, but the returns and when you sell it can be great. And so that's really what... I have a client, I just talked to you yesterday that they're building up their business. They got it to a million dollars last year and it looks like they're going to hit at least 1.2 million this year in revenue. And they just got started right before the pandemic. Anyway, and eventually they're going to be looking for an exit plan to sell that business and can use that money as well. Because it's more about the brand than about them.

Kendra Corman:

Oh, pretty cool.

Carol Ward:

Yeah.

Kendra Corman:

Talking again about finding the right people and the right fit and marketing, I know you do a lot of... And you can't... The listeners cannot see my air quotes for my "in person", but air quotes around "in person" through networking. 

Can you talk a little bit more about how networking, because we talk again a lot about LinkedIn and YouTube and email marketing and that's great and it's all digital, but there's a piece to really getting to know you in person too, that helps fuel your business.

Carol Ward:

Oh, absolutely. 

And for me personally, I'm an extrovert. In order for me to get filled up with energy, I need to get out and about. That's part of it, but I love to go out and network. 

I was really having a rough time during the pandemic when I couldn't get out and do that. But I think it's really important to build relationships with individuals, groups, that type of thing. And then that leads to referrals that leads to other opportunities that make sense for you, for your business. And the main thing too, is if I can provide people value, that's really, it's all about giving. And I really love to do that. 

I love to connect people, people who are looking for a job with people that might be able to help them. I think that all of that is really important and you can do it to some extent on Zoom and that type of thing. But I think if you haven't met that individual in person, it makes a little harder. 

I do love the in person side of things. And in fact, I'm going to an event tonight and in an hour.

Kendra Corman:

I'm an outgoing introvert. I get fueled back up by like giving me my space and my tone of silence with my Kindle. But yeah, I do, I sometimes feel that I have gotten to know people over Zoom, which is crazy, but, and then I see them in person they're like, "We haven't met yet in person." And I'm like, "We didn't."

Carol Ward:

Well, remember Jamie Trull the lady who was so helpful and over code, I kind of feel like I know her and that's a good point. Seeing people on the video and that type of thing, pictures and everything makes you do... Makes me think I've met her. And I haven't, she's in Nashville. I've never met the lady in my life.

Kendra Corman:

Yeah, well, no. And I think that's, and I'm a big fan of Jamie Trull. I took her financial fitness formula and that's what actually got me started in the online course business. But it's about staying top of mind and it's about connections. 

But I do think that the in person connections, especially when you're doing something as significant as investing potentially your life savings into a franchise that there's a lot to say for meeting the people in person.

Carol Ward:

Yeah. 

In fact, I just had a meeting not too long ago. I happened to be on my way to Texas got a referral from when I used to live in the Houston market, from a friend that I used to work with. And so I just said, "Hey, let's... If you guys want to meet in person?" 

And so it was really nice. It was a family, two generations, husbands and wives that I was able to meet with in person. And now we meet on Zoom.

Kendra Corman:

That's great!

All right. Let's go back in time to when you started your career in public relations and communications, you've got a lot of experience, especially in public relations and communications. 

How did that help you when you decided to go out on your own and start your own business?

Carol Ward:

Well, my first business that I started was actually a PR business. And so while I started out trying to get a little bit more broad and focused more on branding and realized that I needed to get a little bit more narrow focused. And so I did that. 

Obviously that helped there, but it didn't translate when I moved markets very well. And that was where I stumbled upon FranNet. I think it was more of a God thing, but I ended up finding FranNet. And I think what I realized is especially doing my own business here in Michigan, is that I'm able to use those techniques and knowledge and everything to really help my business.

Carol Ward:

I mean, I probably am more marketing focused than some of my colleagues who do what I do. They may have to hire more things out, although I do hire things because I can't... What I find it's harder for me... It's the cobbler has no shoes or whatever that saying is. 

It's sometimes harder to implement your own stuff. I can tweak and all that kind of thing and come up with the ideas. But I really do need some other services out there to help me with it. But I think it's been great. I was featured at the FranNet conference for what I'm doing on LinkedIn.

Kendra Corman:

Congratulations! That's awesome. 

Yeah, I agree. It's hard to do... It's hard for me to do my own marketing. Yeah. I can't write my own press release. I can't write a quote. I can write a quote for someone else all day, every day. I can't write that. 

I stumble with what I want to say in my email marketing and I probably type up four to five email marketing newsletters a week for clients in no time. And it's like how I spend eight hours on mine because I couldn't think of what to say.

Carol Ward:

I think we get bogged down and we know too much and it's a matter of like, "Okay, we've got to be able to kind of condense it down to what people care about." 

And that's always a challenge.

Kendra Corman:

Now, one of the things that I've seen you speaking of LinkedIn in what you're doing on LinkedIn, I saw you talking a little bit about retirees coming back to work recently. They're un-retiring. They retired too early and it might be financially or they didn't want to go back to the office. 

Can you talk to me a little bit more about that trend that you're seeing?

Carol Ward:

Oh yeah. 

I think that during COVID I think people, if you were on the edge, it pushed you over. For a lot of people. And I know a lot of my friends, I'm 60. I have a lot of friends who ended up taking that plunge during that time. 

Now for some people they're fine. They want to stay doing that. But a lot of people really get that itch. It's like, "Wait a minute, what am I doing? I've had enough chill time. I need to do something productive." 

And those are the kind of people that are un-retiring and they're getting back in, but they may not be getting in as full on and stress related and all that kind of stuff. They're not getting onto the place where they were before. They're looking for more flexibility, that kind of thing.

Carol Ward:

And I've been working, I've got client who's... He's probably, I don't know if he's 70 yet, but he's one who's going to be un-retiring his wife is like, "I need to get him out of the house." She'll be part of the business too. 

And then I had a father and daughter client who he was with Ford, she was with Ford. He actually came out of retirement to help her build her business. There's a lot of things like that are going on. 

And I think people are like, "Wait a minute, it's either maybe I need to build more money or maybe I need to do something. Because this is driving me crazy." Being retired. 

And there's businesses that you don't have to put in full-time commitments. There's semi passive, semi absentee that allow that.

Kendra Corman:

Okay. Very cool. 

Talking about again, your LinkedIn and the topic of retirees coming back to work recently, where do you get ideas for what you're going to talk about?

Carol Ward:

Ah, okay. What I do? 

I'm a voracious reader, a business, magazines and I subscribe to all these different things. I like the Hustle, I like Inked, I like Wall Street Journal, I like New York Times, I like Forbes, Fortune. I'm trying to think of those... That's my thing. I'm going to read it anyway. 

And before I would read it and not do anything with it, just keep it in my mind. And so now that's usually a lot of my inspiration comes from what I've read and then I'll take, if it inspires me based on my business or helping people in a certain way, then that's what I use as a jumping off point.

Kendra Corman:

Just to dive a little bit deeper into that, you recently started a YouTube channel not too long ago, right?

Carol Ward:

Right.

Kendra Corman:

How long have you been a YouTuber?

Carol Ward:

Okay. YouTube, I usually I'm using it primarily as a place to house my videos. Right?

Kendra Corman:

Mm-hmm.

Carol Ward:

Because they're uploaded my... The firm that I work with, they upload it directly to LinkedIn because you get better numbers that-

Kendra Corman:

Any time you can keep people inside the social network where they are, you're going to get better performance because LinkedIn makes money off of ads. 

If people stay on LinkedIn longer, then they can make more money so they don't want to necessarily send everybody to external sites. 

I mean they do, but it messes with the algorithm.

Carol Ward:

YouTube just became a vehicle for housing and then, but I needed to create a channel and what I've realized. 

Okay. Now I've started adding the... When I do my emails, right? Miss email marketer, it's very effective. Because what I do is I'll put my LinkedIn video in the email. People click on that and because I'm promoting webinars. 

That's usually what I'm doing is webinars that are coming up about a particular franchise. That's usually what I send out in my email marketing and it's been great because then I can see people are getting on YouTube. 

Now I have like 24 subscribers. I need everyone here that's-

Kendra Corman:

Everybody check out the show notes and subscribe to Carol's channel.

Carol Ward:

But anyway, so it's... And I am getting people popping around on that. It's something and I know that it's a good... And I haven't really explored this whole idea of it being a really good search engine and how I write things. But that's one thing I need to really look into.

Kendra Corman:

Okay. Very cool. 

Yeah, definitely check out the show notes and subscribe to Carol's channel.

Carol Ward:

It's called Own Your Path Forward.

Kendra Corman:

Own Your Path Forward. 

Very nice. Okay. 

You work with a lot of people who are starting out on their own. What's the biggest mistake that you see people make? 

If they're starting their own business, purchasing a franchise or six. I loved that when you always used to say like, yeah, some people buy three packs in six packs and I'm like, "Why would I want six? I can barely handle one." But it makes sense. 

And what do you see them making mistakes with their marketing or their communications?

Carol Ward:

Well, I think like specifically you're looking at franchises and then I could kind of broaden out. But when I think about people who are franchise owners, they need... The franchise provides the roadmap. For the most part, if you're getting a good franchise and that type of thing, you're vetting them out. I work with people to help them do that. They've got a playbook. 

Now, typically you're having to put the marketing like for the media. For instance, if it's a Facebook campaign, you're going to have to pay for that. 

If it's email, it's just a matter of getting it set up and sending it out, free or very inexpensive. If they have a tool that allows them to send out the mass emails. 

And I think that people cheap out when it comes to spending money on marketing.

Carol Ward:

And especially when you're getting a business started, that's when you really got to put out a big bang and then you have to keep it up and it's better to do that than to go later. It's like, "Wait a minute. My numbers, aren't exactly where I need them to be." And then you have to push it from there. 

And I think in general, people starting their own businesses, what I see as not having the focus and knowing what kind of business they're in and how to build it. And that's one thing I get a lot of insight from, and I'm glad to help coach people on that. 

There's certain businesses that are going to require more, like the business to businesses, more networking, more that type of thing versus, and then you get recurring revenue a lot of times with those businesses.

Carol Ward:

On the other hand, something where it's like a one shot at a time, that's going to be a different marketing plan in a different way to go to markets and you can learn a lot. I will tell people, "Listen to my webinars, you can learn a lot on how to run a business from understanding how some of these people that are doing it." 

And they're beating out the mom and pops out there and because they're doing it well.

Kendra Corman:

Okay. Very cool. 

But yeah, I mean investment and again, depending on the size of your business, if you're a solo entrepreneur and you're starting your own consulting business and stuff like that, it may not be money. It may be more time.

Carol Ward:

Right.

Kendra Corman:

But again, investing in marketing is key.

Carol Ward:

Yep.

Kendra Corman:

When I worked in wholesale insurance. I mean the one thing that happened was, I mean, I'd go into the CEO's office with a great idea and it wouldn't be in my budget and he'd be like, "Okay, let's do it." And he was actually investing back in the great recession of 2009 and 10 and throwing more money in the market. 

And it paid off because last year I think was their most profitable year ever. And there are at least... And definitely their highest revenue year ever. And it was just that investment back then paid off back then, but it paid off even more over time. Because it really builds on itself.

Carol Ward:

And that's one thing I do see people making the mistake of they'll start something and it didn't work in a month or two months, even three months and then they pull back and it's like, "Wait, wait, wait. That's not how it works. You got to give it some time, to be able to see how it really performs."

Kendra Corman:

Yeah, no, you definitely... It's definitely about keeping things up and going for sure. 

Let's go ahead and jump over to one of the questions that I got two questions that I ask people all the time. The first is that this show is called Imperfect Marketing because marketing isn't perfect. 

What's your biggest marketing lesson learned with all of your business experience?

Carol Ward:

The most recent and the one that hurts the most, I guess, is when I did during the pandemic, I did a Facebook campaign and I partnered up with one of my colleagues and together we spent about seven grand on it and it did not work. 

I ended up being very disappointed with it. The person who had used the same supplier had done very well and he was on the left or expensive side. But by the time you add the media and everything it was... And it was probably not a great time to have launched this. 

It was a good lesson and I...

Kendra Corman:

What is the lesson? What's the takeaway? Is it just that your people aren't on Facebook or?

Carol Ward:

I think they're on Facebook. I think that they may not respond to some of the Facebook advertising, the people that are on there. 

I don't know. What I've found is that LinkedIn works a lot better and I know that the people are on there when I want them to be on there. I just had put more of my focus on that. And I think that's paid off more than-

Kendra Corman:

Well, and I think it's about trial and error. I mean, yeah, a $7,000 lesson is a hard one to learn for sure. But I do think that you are correct that, I mean, there are... Like I said, like your people aren't on Facebook, but I'm like the first person to say that there's very few people not on Facebook because they get 1 billion unique users a month, but people treat it differently, they do. 

They Interact with it differently than they do LinkedIn and their email and stuff like that. I do feel that it's a much different platform.

Carol Ward:

Right now what I've noticed though, if I had my videos and I don't try to market too much to my personal Facebook, but I've gotten deals out of that.

Kendra Corman:

Wow.

Carol Ward:

Yeah, it's a good thing to let your personal audience know what's going on, but I can't bash them with it.

Kendra Corman:

Yeah.

Carol Ward:

Then when I was looking for subscribers on YouTube. They were my first ones that kind of jumped on it and subscribed it.

Kendra Corman:

That's good.

Carol Ward:

Yeah.

Kendra Corman:

And I appreciate you being open with us that way, because I really want this podcast to help small, medium sized business owners and solo entrepreneurs do better with their business and marketing overall. And so I think, again, you want to test new things, but you want to be testing multiple things while you're testing them.

Carol Ward:

And I think I have a tendency to jump on the more innovative ideas in my business. And I think, we have kind of a game plan and that type of thing, but usually it's the individual franchisees that are out there expanding into areas that and testing it and then others jump on. I think that's really how that works in our business a lot.

Kendra Corman:

Okay. Very cool. 

A question that I always ask before we wrap up is, what superpower would you choose for yourself if you could?

Carol Ward:

Okay. I would choose the ability to fly, like, without a plane.

Kendra Corman:

That's the key.

Carol Ward:

And so I could go places... I could see more people, I could go places, I could go see my grand kids more in Texas, my kids in Texas and that type of thing. 

And then clients and going to events and that kind of thing. I could definitely use that ability. That's probably what I would take.

Kendra Corman:

Very cool. 

When anybody tells me that they want the power to fly. I always think about those like Superman capes with the disclaimer that says, "Does not allow wear to fly." I was like, "Who needed that?" 

Okay, so thank you so much, Carol, for spending time with me, being so open, sharing a little bit about the world of franchises and the marketing and communication that you do behind it. I really appreciate it. 

And thank you all for tuning in for another episode of Imperfect Marketing.

 

A fifth generation business owner
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What's your biggest marketing lesson learned?