Mainland

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the chief development officer and managing partner for Level 5 Capital. We are a small, boutique private equity company that works with emerging brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mainland?

One of the main reasons we work with Mainland is to build out a marketing strategy to grow franchise sales within the emerging brands that we own. We create an organic allegiance strategy across multiple channels to grow the brand, including public relations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mainland assists with budget planning and overall strategy, including putting together a strategic document. They do content marketing and content creation; they’re writing stories on our behalf.

They also have digital technology to post and amp those stories toward our target audience, and they track the number of reads and results of the dollars spent on amping those articles. 

They're also very helpful in website design and website conversion. Not only that, but they're very good at making sure we have the right flow and functionality within the website. Mainland also works in ad design and ad creation. They help with ad buys and handle PPC advertising, retargeting advertising, and any promotional advertising to drive leads to the franchise development site.

They do public relations in markets that we're looking to develop. They'll reach out to business outlets or take a consumer angle in the market to get us exposure as a brand in that market that we want to grow. 

What is the team composition?

We work with writers, editors, ad buyers, and people from their design team, so there are around 5–10 people. Lauren (VP) is our project manager, and she is fantastic.

How did you come to work with Mainland?

We came to work with Mainland through the International Franchise Association (IFA). I've been working with them on different brands across my career for about 10 years.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest around $200,000–$300,000 per year. In the 10 years we’ve been working together we have spent $2–3 million in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together at the beginning of 2010 and continue to use their services across our brands.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They helped me with two brands. For one, we sold 50 franchises and probably 9–10 tier one master licenses for the other brand. We helped grow the first brand from $250 million on system-wide sales to about $450 million, and then we were able to sell the brand for about $129 million. They were highly impactful in how we were strategically able to market the two brands and grow their business.

We started working on another brand 2–3 years ago, and we helped grow the business from zero franchises to 131 locations. When we bought the brand, it was worth about $30 million, and enterprise value today is somewhere close to $100–$200 million. Mainland is incredible at getting quality franchise candidates into the system and driving enterprise value for the brand — they’re a great partner.

How did Mainland perform from a project management standpoint?

I never have to change or educate any new employees because there's always a consistent VP on the account who knows us really well. It's very easy to refine and get better as we work together.

A lot of other agencies will have different associates who turn over, and therefore you have to re-educate them on the account and what we're all about.  Mainland’s team is very good at keeping consistency whenever they have turnover with associates. Project management-wise, they always hit the dates and get the deliverables done. They use Excel and Smart Sheets.

We communicate via email and text, and they’re too fast responding. If I send them something on Saturday afternoon, the response is on my phone by Sunday. If I can get them on Slack, I'd love it since it would make my life easier.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mainland is incredibly strategic and very good at being disruptive in their approach. They don't just do the status quo in the industry. They are always thinking outside the box on how to find the best quality candidates for the brands that we represent.

The services they offer are very integrated and consistent across multiple channels, and very professional. There is nobody better at doing what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their reporting and analytics. They could improve their statistics so that rather than reporting the weather, they can be looking at the data and telling us what's next.

Any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to spend the money. You definitely have to spend money, but they're very good at getting you the return. It's just a matter of being clear on your needs as a brand and who you're looking for. If you are pretty clear on who your ideal franchise candidate is and a budget and a decent budget will help you get the candidates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the president and CEO of a restaurant chain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mainland?

At the time, we were looking to grow our franchise business, particularly attracting the appropriate type of franchisee. We then contacted Nick (CEO) and his team to give them the project, and ended up being a client of theirs for 10 years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project started as a PR push to let the folks in the restaurant industry know about our brand and understand that we were franchising. It then evolved into continuing with that strategy, but we also showcased our franchisees and the success they had. Every week there was always at least one of my franchisees who was featured in the newspaper, radio, or local TV.

From there, we became thought leaders in the industry, and Nick got me on Fox Business News and NBC to talk about my team, what we did to support our franchisees, and how we grew our business. While all of that was going on, we put in a concerted effort into targeted franchise marketing — meaning we were targeting particular areas in the country looking for franchisees using back-office analytics.

Additionally, Mainland also helped us completely redesign our franchise website, and made it more interactive and intuitive for our customers.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Nick, and one account manager who utilized the entire team.

How did you come to work with Mainland?

I asked other vendors, franchise attorneys, and other folks about who was on the cutting edge of PR during that time. I believe I was one of Nick’s first five clients, and then we just grew our business together over the years.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000 a month on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with them from May 2009–March 2018. We sold the company to a private equity company, but I believe they’re still using Mainland.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The partnership must’ve worked because we kept them for 10 years. By utilizing Mainland, we were able to achieve record growth from a franchising standpoint year-over-year. Couple that with how we were able to see continued results from our franchisees, and overall, our ROI was excellent and I would do it all over again.

How did Mainland perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent from a project management perspective, because our relationship was more of a partnership. We typically communicated through the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their ability to think outside of the box and come up with new ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No company is perfect, but they got great agility. Whenever there was a misstep, it was always corrected.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to just be upfront.  Make sure that you communicate the good, the bad, and the ugly of what your company is going through, so that Mainland can understand exactly where your company is in its growth cycle. I would also highly suggest having what I call an executive sponsor, like a president, COO, or CEO, be involved with the Mainland team on a weekly or quarterly basis.