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Local area marketing is a must at Xpresso Delight

Sarah Stowe

Janet Gough with her husband Kevin.

According to Janet Gough, Xpresso Delight franchisee in Hemmant Queensland, the best part of buying into a franchise system is the support and assistance provided by the franchisor, especially in terms of marketing.

“The main advantage I feel is that you have that back up and support. The branding and marketing is pretty much covered by the organisation,” she says.

Janet joined Xpresso Delight in February last year after 16 years at McDonaldÕs, where she helped to establish the McCafe concept. Since then, she has taken an extremely proactive approach to the local area marketing that she considers to be her own responsibility, despite the support offered by Xpresso Delight.

SheÕs a member of the Wynnum Chamber of Commerce, a networking, training and mentoring organisation for business people. She also provides coffee machines and helps with fundraising efforts for the Moreton Bay College Gymnastics Organisation, the local Hemmant scout group and also a local ballet group, the Annette Roselli Dance Academy.

“It helps to raise the profile of the brand,” she says. “It gets my name out into the local community so that when people are looking for coffee solutions for their workplace IÕm the first person that they think of.”

Janet says 90 percent of her business is generated from referrals, proving her theory correct that getting her face out there makes a difference.

“I think that anything you can do to promote your brand locally is a positive. You may not see immediate results, you might not go to a function and get an income producing result from it, it might be further down the track, but you are definitely raising awareness. IÕm convinced of that.”

And while her local area marketing might not bring in the dollars immediately, it is extremely cost effective when compared to other forms of advertising.

An Xpresso Delight system

“The cost of being involved with the Wynnum Chamber of Commerce is fairly small, plus there is training involved as well so itÕs helping with my business acumen. The costs are minimal. Costs in sponsorship of the ballet group and the scout group are negligible. TheyÕre not even $500 a year. If I was to do print media or an advertisement, well I donÕt have those costs,” she says.

Janet was initially attracted to Xpresso Delight because of the flexibility if offered, and the time it would let her spend with her small children. Today she manages six full coffee systems and six smaller pod systems, and has her eyes set on expansion.

“At the moment my husband is the primary income earner and this is a supplementary income, but our long term plan, over the next 12 months to two years, is to have a full franchise, 20 systems, at which point my husband will be able to step down or do something else.”

And while Janet wasnÕt initially looking for a coffee business, or a franchise system, sheÕs glad that thatÕs how it turned out.

“I had known from working with coffee that the coffee industry was a great industry. I felt that there was a lot of momentum still to come É and because IÕd worked with McDonaldÕs, which is one of the biggest franchises in the world, I was familiar with the franchise process and I was comfortable with it, so I was quite thrilled to be working with one rather than working alone.”