As a franchisor with a growing business, not only will you be selling more franchise stores, but also ensuring your current franchise locations remain profitable. You will inevitably encounter one of the common snags when accruing new franchisees — the delay between franchising and the opening of new franchise stores. Wasted time equals wasted revenue and an inconsistent method of launching new stores could leave inconsistent brand messaging in its wake.
When speed to revenue and brand consistency for your business is at stake, you have every incentive to get franchise locations up and running with on-brand, well-designed materials as soon as possible. New store opening kits (NSOs) provide franchisees with every printed item they need while still meeting brand standards. While real estate and construction delays are common hold ups to grand openings, NSO kits ensure franchisees open quickly without compromising their brand messaging. If they’re being honest, no franchisor in their right mind says no to revenue or a seamlessly consistent brand message. For franchisors, NSO kits are essential resources.
What are NSO kits?
NSO kits are a collection of materials predetermined by the franchisor and distributed to the franchisee before opening new locations. Rather than consulting multiple third party vendors for materials, NSO kits allow franchisees the convenience of collectively receiving required items without deviating from brand guidelines. In addition to the speed-of-set-up benefits, they discourage franchisees from going rogue and delivering an experience that isn’t consistent with other franchise locations.
Not all franchises have the same needs for their NSO kits. The requirements for a fast food franchise will differ from a jewelry franchise or a car dealership. For this reason, kits are flexible and adaptable to the need of each business. This is by no means a “one-size-fits-all” model, but one that remains entirely in control of the franchisor.
The contents, which include all of the printed signage, mailing and packaging a store requires, are designed with the unique individual franchise brand in mind. Directions handed down from the franchisor not only affect the contents of the NSO kits, but what franchisees may order on-demand as they request new or replacement print materials.
NSO kit contents
NSO contents vary depending on the standards set by the franchisor. Listed are some of the common items franchises request:
Direct mailers
Posters
Window decals
Gift cards
Inventory Labels
Employee onboarding materials
and other promo items.
Remember that the employees of your franchise are as much a part of the store experience as your signage. As such, NSO kits can include manuals, dress code instructions safety guidelines and other essentials that promote a consistent experience across your franchisee locations. These references are often essential for your business to function properly. The back end of your franchise should live and breathe the brand you establish.
Importantly, if you are at odds with your current brand or see a lack of brand consistency from location to location, designing and determining the contents of your NSO kit could be an opportunity to start with a clean slate.
Franchise branding
Before establishing a proper NSO kit, take the state of your brand into careful consideration. If you haven’t already adopted an NSO kit for your new locations, this could be an ideal opportunity to reflect on the current state of your brand and marketing tactics. Take the chance to ask yourself the following questions:
What are your current differentiators and are you emphasizing them?
Are you satisfied with the interior and exterior design of your current locations?
Are your customers or prospective customers resonating with your brand?
Is your brand telling the world the story you want to tell them about your business?
If you’re on the precipice of some major expansions or you’re a franchise that’s just starting to gain some momentum, rethinking your branding could go a long way. These decisions will define your business for more than a decade, so you not only want the brand to accurately reflect your personality, but you want your brand to be consistently represented across all of your franchise locations.
A facelift could breathe some revitalization into your franchise business and attract higher quality franchisees to boot. Your printing strategy, then, should follow your branding vision in lockstep.
How printing fits into your franchise strategy
The NSO kit is simply a launching off point for your franchisees, not an end point. Many of the printed materials sent to franchisees in their NSO kits will need to be renewed on an on-demand basis from the franchisee. While a franchisor can determine which materials will be available for order, it’s impossible for a franchisor to micro-manage the requests of each location.
As a solution to this problem, several companies offer on-demand printing portals. The interface isn’t far removed from a typical e-commerce site (such as Amazon), so it’s highly intuitive for franchisees to adopt. Franchisees can log into the on-demand printing portal and order printed materials, such as direct mailers, posters or gift cards, and ship them immediately to their location. The franchisor can set the size of the shipping quantities and the materials available within the on-demand printing portal (as well as customization options available to the franchisees).
On-demand printing portals not only save you the time and resources you need to manage each franchisee’s printing needs, but guarantee in-store experience will be consistent regardless of location. Even location-specific promotional events will be on-brand. If your company offers franchise brand management services, where the printing company provides brand consistency oversight for your franchisees in addition to production and shipment, you will have even more peace of mind.
Franchise brand management
In addition to on-demand printing portals and NSO kits, there are companies that offer brand consultation to their clients. As mentioned, if your franchise wishes to explore a tweak in brand messaging or even a complete brand facelift, a franchise brand management company can help guide your business through the process. Likewise, if your company adopts an NSO kit or an on-demand printing portal, that same company can help ensure all materials shipped to franchisees remain on-brand. Brand advisors would be available for franchisees to contact if they desired to put in a special request for printed items or if they wanted to make sure their promotional event remained in the mold of the franchise voice.
Brand management and brand marketing go far beyond the design of a logo or a company’s core values. Many franchisors overlook concepts such as brand consistency and whether or not their current strategy of branding is reaching their intended target audiences. Sometimes a simple change in brand messaging, or a movement to become more consistent, can affect immediate business growth.
What you achieve with NSO kits and on-demand printing portals, in addition to the convenience benefits, can be an immediate cure for your franchise branding efforts. They allow your franchisees to remain autonomous so they can do what they do best — flourish and drive revenue.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Cockrell Jr is the Vice President of Cockrell Enovation, a third-generation, family-owned printing company headquartered in Fort Worth, TX. Bearing a 50-year legacy in the printing space, Cockrell specializes in the design, production and coordination of printed collateral for businesses across the country. In addition to its intuitive, state-of-the-art on-demand printing portal, Cockrell Enovation employs brand consultants that assist franchises, like Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Children’s Lighthouse, Woops! and Dairy Queen of Texas, to market more effectively with print. John and the Cockrell Enovation team are leaders in product engineering, priding themselves in their efforts to create unique, customized work for each individual client.
