The Franchise Trust Engine: How Jim's Group Grew to 5,800 Franchises

⏳ Read time: ~5 minutes

Last month, I gave a talk at the Digital Marketing Conference Australia in Melbourne.

Jimmy Mitchell put my name forward. I am not the standard speaker you get at one of these events, so I owe him for it.

Two things stood out from the day.

First, I walked in expecting to feel behind on AI. I walked out knowing we are a fair way ahead of most digital agencies! What we do at Jim's with content and AI is more unique than I had given it credit for.

Second, a professional media buyer on stage described the exact Facebook ad structure we already run. One campaign. One ad set. Three creatives.

Let the creative do the work. Good to hear it confirmed by someone who does it for a living.

I also met some great people. That is the whole point of putting yourself out there and giving value. You never know what comes back.

Over the next couple of weeks, as well, I will be away, giving a keynote at the FANZ conference in Wellington, speaking at the FCA Franchise Forum and also speaking at the Jim’s Building Inspections conference.

If I don’t respond to your email quickly, you know why!

So this edition is a replay of the talk.

The full version is going on the podcast this week. Here are the key points.

I am involved in our new franchisee training every three to four weeks. We get 80 to 120 new people through each round. I ask a lot of them how they found us and what they did before they inquired.

It looks like this:

They see a clip on Meta. They search the brand on YouTube. They listen to 50, 100, sometimes 200 podcast episodes.

They read the Reddit threads about whether the brand is a scam. They ask a Facebook group what people think.

They find a franchisee on Instagram and send a DM. They ask ChatGPT if buying the franchise is a good idea.

They Google the franchisor by name to see who they will be dealing with. They scroll the TikTok comments.

They read the website. Then they fill in the form.

Half of our prospects listen to podcast episodes before they ever submit an inquiry or speak to a franchisor.

The form is the last step. Not the first.

The prospect does all of that research, then submits it through the website.

So the website gets the credit. The content that did the convincing gets none.

Then the brand cuts the content budget and wonders why the pipeline dries up.

Most brands start at the top with paid ads and have nothing underneath.

Content first. Paid ads last.

The base is where trust gets built:

Founder personal brand. The CEO active online, answering real questions.

A YouTube library. Long form franchisee interviews, day in the life, the honest version. Short form content. Repurposed from the long form, posted daily.

A franchisee podcast. Stories, not testimonials.

Then transparency over the top. We talk about fees openly.

We have used no NDAs since 1989. Inquire about a Jim's franchise and we hand you the full list of current and former franchisees and tell you to call them.

We film Jim answering 30 to 60 negative comments every fortnight.

We interview franchisees who failed the first time and leave it in the video.

Only then do you run ads. One campaign. One ad set. Three creatives.

And the creative is whatever already worked organically. Not a guess.

We have had 8,400 new franchisees join since 2019. 99% said they watched our content before joining and it was influential.

We did not get there fast. The real growth did not show up until we had been consistent for a full 12 months.

Brands who copy this quit at three months because they get impatient.

rust does not arrive on that timeline.

It works for small brands too. A bloke starting Footy Nippers in New Zealand downloaded my playbook a few months back.

He started a podcast and posted content before the brand even launched.

They have been documenting their journey and already have a franchisee!

Check it out and search for ‘Footy Nippers’

Half of prospective franchisees listen to podcast episodes before they ever submit an inquiry or speak to a franchisor.

Most franchise brands do not have a podcast at all. They are absent from the exact place the decision gets made.

Monday: Search your own brand on YouTube. Count the videos you have posted in the last 12 months. Under 20 means you do not have a library. You have a placeholder.

Wednesday: Pick two franchisees who will talk honestly on camera. Not your top billers. Your honest ones. Record a 45 minute conversation on Zoom about what the work involves.

Friday: Find the worst comment written about your brand online. Film your founder answering it in 60 seconds. Post it unedited.

The full talk is on the podcast this week if you want to watch the whole thing. [Add link]

When a prospect spends tonight researching you, before they ever touch your form, what do they find?

Each week, I interview marketing experts or share insights from the strategies I have used to help grow Jim’s by 2,000+ franchisees.

Listen on Spotify and iTunes.

If you would like to be a guest or would like me to cover a specific subject in an episode, please reply to this email.

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