As I was reading the latest issue of Inc. magazine today, I came across a special advertising section in the back focusing on franchises of different kinds and how they integrate a Business-2-Business strategy to help their growth.  And then I was pleasantly surprised to see a private duty franchise, Seniors Helping Seniors, featured. Normally, when people think of franchises, restaurants immediately come to mind.

The article discusses different types of franchises available, which are mostly restaurants. However, business to business and service concept franchises lead the franchising field in employment gains in recent months.  The article recognizes business service franchises, including private duty, to be one of the most robust segments of an industry that is growing faster in employment than the rest of the public sector.

Seniors Helping Seniors is a franchise based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Their marketing efforts rely significantly on marketing through other businesses to reach individual consumer customers, so networking and partnering with other companies in the community plays a huge role in their marketing strategy. And, most importantly, it works…for them.

This demonstrates exactly what Stephen Tweed discussed during last week’s web conference on competitive advantage and how you can differentiate your company from the competition.  Your marketing strategy is of utmost importance, but you have to figure out what works for you and your company that you can do well and do consistently well through choosing a primary marketing method to focus on and determining what supporting strategies will make your primary strategy successful.  The Seniors Helping Seniors franchise focuses on networking and partnering with other services that assist seniors in the community, which would fall into the Organizational Relationships category of the Seven Sources of Competitive Advantage.  Forming and maintaining organizational relationships may not work for you and your company, but focusing on making sure your clients receive consistent exceptional experiences from your caregivers may be the best route for you to take.  Different methods work well for different companies.  It’s  important for you to decide on what strategies fit well into your company’s character and culture.

We’d love to help you form an effective marketing strategy and we have a few resources you can choose from:
1. Listen to the web conference on Competitive Advantage…purchase here
2. Join us for the Private Duty Marketing Master Class on May 7-8 in Louisville, KY
3. Join us for one of our Private Duty Field Trips where you can talk with the owners of a multi-million dollar private duty company and ask them what works for them and how you can adapt their strategies into your own marketing plans.