FC運営の秘訣！開業前に知っておくべきマーケティングの基本 | フランチャイズニュース

The key to marketing is, "To whom, what, and how will you provide it in order to make a profit?"

There is no single correct answer to the question, "What is marketing?" This is because various definitions exist.

For example, according to the American Marketing Association, marketing is broadly defined as "the activities, a set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, providing, and exchanging offerings that have value to customers, clients, partners, and society as a whole." However, the definition by Peter Drucker, familiar from "Moshidora (If a High School Baseball Team's Female Manager Read Drucker's 'Management')," is extremely simple: "Marketing is the creation and retention of customers."

Other organizations, such as the Japan Marketing Association and marketing authority Philip Kotler, have slightly different views, but broadly speaking, they seem to define "marketing" as encompassing "all activities aimed at increasing profits."

Therefore, market research, product planning, sales promotion activities, management strategy, branding, pricing strategy, and customer service can all be called "marketing."

Looking at it this way, there is only one key point to grasp about marketing, which is often perceived as difficult.

It's about "To whom, what, and how will you provide it in order to make a profit?"

The secret is creating a reason for customers to choose you. The necessity of marketing in FC operations

In the case of franchise management, most of the necessary marketing preparations are already taken care of. The business strategy is already established, and know-how such as product creation, customer service manuals, and customer acquisition methods are also prepared.

Therefore, some people think that once you open the store, everything will work out on its own, but unfortunately, that is a big mistake.

Certainly, in areas where a well-known franchise store is opening for the first time, attracting customers may not be a problem at first. However, in most cases, attracting customers gradually becomes more difficult. This is because people are easily interested in novelty, but they quickly get used to it.

So, what should you do? The key is how to become a store that is easy for customers to use and a favorite store.

To achieve this, you will need to create "reasons for customers to choose you" through your own market research and management strategy. This is also an important part of marketing activities.

Before starting a franchise operation.

If you understand that unique marketing activities are also necessary as a secret to franchise operation, then you're probably wondering how to study marketing.

If you search on the internet, you'll find many courses and entrepreneurship schools that teach marketing, and you might be wondering which one to choose, but we recommend starting with books.If you have the funds and time and really want to be taught directly by an instructor, then choosing a course or school is an option, but otherwise, learning from books is cheaper and quicker.

The key point when choosing books is to select books related to Drucker's definition of marketing, "creating and retaining customers," especially books about attracting customers.The reason is that you can acquire knowledge that directly impacts sales in the shortest possible time.

Incidentally, books like "What is marketing?" often contain a lot of information about concepts, and there's a risk of giving up reading them halfway through, so I don't recommend them as introductory books for entrepreneurs.

And there's another way to cultivate marketing skills without spending money.That is, to objectively observe your own consumer behavior and thinking.

Clearly define your "why?" by asking yourself, "Why did I decide to buy this product?", "Why did I choose to go to this store?", and "Why wouldn't another store have worked?"

For example, "I became a fan of a store because I was treated 'a little' specially," or "I stopped going because I felt 'a little' uncomfortable." These "little" things contain important secrets to becoming a "customer-friendly store." Finding these "little" things is also marketing.

Learning Marketing is Essential for Getting Off to a Good Start as an Entrepreneur

This time, we introduced "To whom, what, and how will you provide it in order to increase profits?" as a key point in marketing, but the "how" part is truly profound.

Therefore, learning marketing now, before operating a franchise, is essential for getting off to a good start as an entrepreneur.As a first step, why not start by reading books and objectively observing your own consumer behavior?