Tropical Smoothie Cafe - FranTech Award Presentation
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Transcript of Tropical Smoothie Cafe - FranTech Award Presentation
Charles Watson, CFE
– Chief Development Officer for Tropical Smoothie Cafe
– Contact: [email protected]
Tropical Smoothie Cafe
• We are a quick-casual concept that provides better-for-you, great-tasting food and smoothies. – Started as a single location in Destin, Florida in
1997
– Opened the first franchise in 1998
– Primarily grew on East Coast until 2014
– 500th location opened in 2016
– Locations coast to coast
Objective
• Generate qualified leads for Tropical Smoothie Cafe in order to award 150 new locations in 2015.
Strategy: Integrated Marketing & Media Plan
• Designed to create awareness for the opportunity and generate qualified leads
• Rationale:
– Allows the brand to stay in front of prospects both nationally and in key markets as they are researching online
– Continue the conversation with potential prospects even after they visit the website or submit a lead
Strategy: Integrated Media Plan
• Tactics: – SiriusXM Radio
• Talk radio station mix that met target audience requirements
– Entrepreneur Magazine • Print ad in the Entrepreneur 500 issue with pre-
selected location on the category page for added exposure under the ranking
– Entrepreneur.com Display Ads & Listing • Complement to the print ad that was placed in the
January issue of Entrepreneur
Strategy: Integrated Media Plan
• Tactics: – Display Ads
• Contextual ads were served to those who fit our target audience parameters. This ensured we would pay for interactions with qualified individuals who are exploring sites/topics that mimic our current franchisees’ interests.
• Retargeting ads allowed us to stay in front of consumers who visited the consumer site and may have an interest in owning a location, as well as stay in front of those who previously visited the franchise development site.
Strategy: Integrated Media Plan
• Tactics:
• Blog posts, press releases, and other timely content was shared out through LinkedIn. The posts were used as a preview to the content, which prospects had to click through to the website to access…they were one step closer to converting.
Strategy: Integrated Media Plan
• Digital Tactics: – Email Marketing
• “The Well” became Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s quarterly newsletter to current and dormant leads.
• Content includes: – Brand updates
– List of new cafe openings
– Franchisee profiles
– Links to TSC in the news
– General franchise tips
Strategy: Target Key Markets
• Strategy: Target key markets that have room for growth and market penetration.
• Rationale:
– The advertising will increase awareness for the brand in key markets, which would increase sales and encourage franchisee validation.
Strategy: Online Advertising
• Tactics:
– Facebook & Display Ads
• Facebook and display ads were served in the area that advertise the “Meet the CEO” event explicitly.
Strategy: Online Advertising
• Tactics:
– LinkedIn Sponsored Post Ads
– Email Marketing
• Emails with “Meet the CEO” event details were deployed to current and old leads in the target market and surrounding areas.
Strategy: Improve Website Conversions
• Strategy: Update website to create a better user experience in order to convert more visitors.
• Rationale: – More than one click was required to get key
information.
– A content strategy was needed to improve SEO and further connect prospects to the brand.
– The website was not mobile responsive, and 60% of traffic was from mobile.
– Conversion Rate = 1.9%
Strategy: Improve Website Conversions
• Tactic:
– Benefits of the new website design:
• Messaging was consistent with external advertising.
• Mobile conversions increased after the site was responsive.
• Unique landing pages were created with exclusive content for niche audiences.
Strategy: Website Update
Strategy: Creative Positioning
• Strategy: Effectively position the brand to our target audiences.
• Rationale: – In 2014, Tropical Smoothie Cafe rolled out a new Cafe
design. All consumer-facing creative was updated, and we saw the need for a franchise development creative update as well.
– We wanted prospects to clearly know what brand they were exploring when they looked at our collateral, and we wanted prospects to have a good preview of what they’d see at a Cafe.
Strategy: Creative Positioning
• Tactic:
– Updated Messaging
• Prior to the 2015 creative update, Tropical Smoothie Cafe was using Treat People Well | Feed People Well | Do Well as our campaign messaging, which was speaking to our better-for-you franchise concept and opportunity to do well for your community.
Strategy: Creative Positioning
• Because a creative change was being executed, we also updated the messaging from Do Well to Invest Well. – More action-oriented
– Spoke to multi-unit owners who were looking for a good financial investment
Strategy: Creative Positioning
• Tactic:
– Brand Video
• A brand video was created for the franchise opportunity and edited to be used across numerous digital platforms, including the website, display banner ads, and social media.
• The video included the updated brand messaging, views of the new Cafe design and people enjoying their TSC experience, interviews with consumers and employees, and a call-to-action.
Strategy: Creative Positioning
Results
• Cost per Lead = $103.69
• Overall Cost per Sale = $2,227.94
– Well below the industry average of $6,000
• Website Conversion Rate = 3%
– Up from 1.9%
• Lead-to-Sale Ratio = 5%
– Up from 3% in 2014
– Exceeded industry average of 2%
Lessons Learned
• There was a greater appeal to multi-unit franchisees after the 400th location opened and the AUV exceeded a 2:1 investment ratio.
– The average number of units purchased went from 1.3 to 2.2
• Indicating we were attracted a more sophisticated buyer
Lessons Learned
• LinkedIn is an effective “drip campaign” vehicle when timely, organic content is shared.
Lessons Learned
• Referral traffic from the consumer website is an important traffic metric to follow closely.
• When the consumer website changed how they communicated the franchise opportunity, our leads decreased.
QUESTIONS?
