The Kardashians: Marketing Lessons for Every Business Owner
The Kardashians may not have any meaningful significance, but it's tough to deny their commercial relevance. The family is a well-oiled marketing machine: when you consider their four television shows, chain of clothing stores, book deals, and fragrances – to say nothing of endorsement deals for everything from pistachio nuts to sneakers, and a wedding worth $17.9 million for broadcast rights alone – the Kardashians can justifiably call themselves a lifestyle brand. As much as we hate to admit it, business owners can learn some marketing tips from the Kardashians. A few key lessons:
Accept lemons, make lemonade.
It’s no secret that the Kardashian family rise to celebrity fame was the result of Kim Kardashian's sex tape leaked in 2007. However, there is a business lesson that can be derived from the debacle. When Vivid Entertainment bought the rights for $1 million and released “Kim Kardashian: Superstar," Kardashian first sued Vivid for ownership of the tape, but was later persuaded to drop the suit and settle with the company for $5 million. Mortfiying? Yes. But profitable? A resounding yes. The Kardashians show business owners that when handed an obstacle, tackle it–it may even be a profitable opportunity.
Keep it in the family.
Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner has been criticized for “pimping out” her children, but the mother’s shrewd dealings may be a smart move. Of the 10% manager fee Kris takes from her family members’ earnings, daughter Kourtney says, “We’d have to give it to someone else; I’d rather keep it in the family,” and Kim states, “She has this vision for us, and she makes it happen.” In fact, it has been reported that Kris “makes it happen” to the tune of $65 million a year. What can business owners learn from this? When the goal is to build wealth, keep it in the family – all of it.
Talk yourself up.
As Barbara Walters recently explained, the Kardashians are maligned as much as they are beloved because they are “famous for being famous." Regardless, the Kardashians are massive earners because they have presented themselves as important to television, profitable for companies, and valuable for consumers. When Kris Jenner says, "People love looking at the growth of a brand" in regards to her own family, we are also inclined to see them as an established, lasting symbol. What can business owners learn from this? Projecting confidence is the key to success – take it from the Kardashians.
4 Signs a Franchisor May Not Be Around for the Long Haul
A critical part of the due diligence process for prospective franchisees is trying to discern (to the extent reasonably possible) whether the franchisor will be around for the long haul. After all, much of what you pay for in a franchise opportunity is the right to be associated with the franchisor’s brand and system, the right to use the franchisor’s proprietary materials, and in some cases, the right to an exclusive territory. If the franchisor goes out of business, all of these rights go up in the air (if not out the window), and you may well be left in a worse position than if you had just gone into business on your own in the first place.
How Do You Pay for a Franchise?
Whether you’re purchasing a whopper from Burger King or joining the Burger King franchise system, the old mantra holds true: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. When you first get started running a franchise you need to pay a fee to allow you to enter into that franchise. These fees are the largest fees that you will normally pay a franchisor and typically range between $5,000 and $1,000,000 depending on the franchise. The franchisor charges this fee as a way to recoup the costs of expanding the franchise and to continue to grow. From a franchisee perspective, this is a major outlay and can take a long time to make back, but is a necessary step. Aspiring business owners must understand how much capital is available to them so they can ascertain how much they can afford. The cash you have at your disposal is known as liquidity, and there are numerous ways to increase your liquidity above the balance in your bank account. As a result, many people don’t realize how much capital they actually can use for investments, like launching a franchise branch. We’ll run through some of those methods below.
2015 Top 5 Restaurant Franchises
Without a doubt, the industry most tied to franchising in Americans' minds is food. Some of the most popular restaurants out there, including McDonalds, Subway, Chik-Fil-A, and many more, can credit theirmeteoric growth to the skill of theirfranchisees.
