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Your franchise brand can be its most single valuable asset.  It takes years to build a reputation and a name that is identified with your business.  AllBusiness.com has provided some tips on protecting your franchise brand.

What does all this mean for your franchise brand? A strong business brand is particularly important in a franchised network of businesses because it is the singular symbol and the common identity used to identify independently owned franchises to the public as one organization. The products and services offered by franchisees are all represented by the brand; it’s the one name that appears over everyone’s door.

Given its importance in any franchise network, great effort goes into promoting the brand and, of course, protecting it. Wise franchise managers know that their brand is as fragile as any person’s reputation. It can be irretrievably injured by bad decisions and bad behavior, and it can be sullied and devalued as easily as a jilted high school friend can start a gossip campaign.

Franchisors and their franchisees should take these four basic steps to protect their common brand:

1. Trademark Legal Protections. Although branding goes beyond the words and designs that are your trademark, the trademark itself must be protected to the full extent legally available. The triple goals of the franchisor as a trademark owner are (1) federal registration, (2) consistent enforcement of trademark rights against infringers, and (3) both proper use and consistent presentation by the authorized users of the trademark, your franchisees.

2. Protect Confidentialities, But Know You Live in an Internet Fishbowl. Your franchise counsel will advise you to protect your instruction manuals from reproduction, put your sensitive online operational guidance behind password protection, and be smart about email communications and social media.

Everyone in your franchise organization, particularly franchisees who are new to the system, must be reminded to write every email, Facebook post, or tweet with the thought that it may very well appear publicly on the Internet the next day for national ridicule.

3. Reach Out to Your Customers with Social Media. Not only has the Internet created a powerful voice for the customers of your franchised businesses, it has also spawned tools that you can use to promote your brand and talk directly to your customers. Business marketing has become a running conversation. Use the new tools available to promote your brand. This means responding to your customers and immediately handling any complaints posted.

4. Surprise Your Customers with Service. There is no greater brand-builder than surprisingly good service, and the word-of-mouth buzz that it generates is invaluable. Encourage everyone, including franchisor managers but particularly franchisees and their employees, to shock their customers with a little extra service, a complimentary extra something, an un-asked-for and unexpected expression of generosity. It can be as small as a genuine smile delivered with a “Thank you for your business.”

That smile, that simple human gesture, is the essence of your brand.

Photo by Betty AN