Stewards For The Industry: One Year as Global Franchise's Top Franchise PR Agency

Winning awards is great. Our incredible clients do it all the time. They deserve them. They celebrate them. They market them. And as pillars of responsible franchising, they do the most important thing of all. They keep raising the bar with their businesses in ways that respect and uphold those cherished titles.

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Over the last year, BizCom Associates had an honor to uphold too. At the 2023 International Franchise Association Convention we came home with some hardware as Global Franchise ’s Top Public Relations Agency. You better believe we celebrated it! But like our award-winning clients, we knew we had a reputation to uphold. One that demanded loftier goals. In response, BizCom spent the next 12 months focused on four key areas to become better stewards of franchising. We did so not only to support a growing roster of franchise clients, but all of franchising at-large.

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1. Franchise Development Growth

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According to the IFA, an estimated 254,000 jobs and 15,000 new independent businesses entered the U.S. market in 2023. And smart growth deserves smart support.

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Much like the PE-driven world of umbrella companies using shared services to impact multiple franchise brands, BizCom expanded to provide a mix of services across multiple channels for outbound and inbound marketing, earned media, owned media, shared media and more to deliver stronger and longer-lasting results. A more integrated approach to expanding franchise networks evolved into services “Beyond PR.” Franchisors worked with an entire agency team across BizCom’s divisions to handle a mix of PR, digital marketing, thought leadership, influencer campaigns, advertising and design and more. Only then was success multiplied to grow brand awareness, educate franchise prospects, drive consumer-side business and propel networks toward bigger achievements [923 franchise agreements in 2023 as one example].

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Our team members now regularly advise others how to do the same. BizCom has shared this counsel as a sponsor and presenter at the Titus Center for Franchising at Palm Beach Atlantic University Selling Franchises Summit and at IFA Convention roundtables, giving advice and education to the industry. Moreover, we will continue to do so with any and all in franchising who wish to raise the bar alongside us.

2. Small Business Messaging

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Likewise, with growth and success come responsibilities. PR agencies have been riding high since the pandemic. We were one of the first and most sought-after supplier relationships to support, assist and accurately deliver messaging needed to assist franchisors and franchisees in actively navigating a global crisis. I even researched this topic for my master’s thesis in American Studies at Baylor University . [See: “At the Crossroads of the American Dream and Mass Media in a Global Pandemic as Seen Through the Lens of Small Business in Franchising.”] The results from franchise leaders with almost 340 years of combined experience revealed what desperately needed changing in 2023 and beyond: small business messaging.

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The very success and growth of a franchise network has become its Achilles heel. Because the bigger a franchise brand gets, the bigger PR and communication goals get to overcome the misperception of a giant corporation instead of a collection of small businesses.

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BizCom took this to new heights as a sponsor and a speaker for the IFA’s Open for Opportunity Program. We pushed out digital content on franchising’s important role as a small business economic engine driving and supporting the local economies in which they operate. And we heightened the most important narrative in franchising by telling the stories of franchisees, themselves. It’s one of the most critical tactics to educating key stakeholders – mass media, lawmakers and the general public at-large – that franchising is a fundamental part of small business at its best.

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3. Advocacy

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But franchising goes beyond business. It’s also about good causes. And the last year has been one for the books at BizCom. While exhibiting at the IFA convention, we made our largest donation in company history to VetFran to support its ongoing mission to provide career opportunities for military veterans.

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We also lobbied with the greater franchise community as both a sponsor and attendee for the IFA’s Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC. We joined some 300 franchisors, franchisees and suppliers in meeting with lawmakers to discuss the issues that directly impact franchising. A perfect bonus was using this wonderful platform as communication pros to support and educate on issues of franchise development and small business messaging too. [Read: The Most Powerful “Small Talk” on Capitol Hill.]

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4. Philanthropy

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All of these activities brought bigger passion, stronger results and greater strength to everything BizCom achieved as the Global Franchise PR Agency of the Year. And the natural outcome was a growing company culture that helped put our values into action for how BizCom C.A.R.E.S.

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In 2023, we expanded our program and the themes behind our values: Collaboration. Authenticity. Results. Expertise. (And one of our favorites) Service to our communities and beyond. As a growing team with employees across the country that meant empowering people to pick a service day of one’s choosing to support a charity of one’s choosing. Additionally, we participated in community service activities as groups at the IFA convention, at our own annual agency retreat, at food banks with our clients and more.

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We’ve even taken on new business or project work for clients who aligned with our company values, but who may not have met our minimum financial requirements to execute retainer work.

So, here’s to the best year for the best PR agency doing its best work yet. Work for clients. Work for franchising. Work for causes. And work for communities.

As we prepare to celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2024, the best is yet to come.