JStokes Agency

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) shelter in place requirement, JStokes Agency team members are currently working from home offices until April 7, or until further notice. We will continue to service our clients with minimal disruption. The health and well-being of our team, clients and respective family members are of first and foremost importance to us. Thank you for your continued support as we all work through this situation. We believe our collaborative efforts in this time of uncertainty enable us to be better prepared to deal with this pandemic. Working together we will prevail. Jim & Dan Stokes

How to Win at Local Marketing Part One Whether you’re a single store owner, multiunit owner or part of a larger franchise, there are a few best marketing practices that almost always insure success. The first is to establish a goal. Then create a plan to achieve it. You need a plan with specific benchmark goals to succeed (See my blog on Local Market Planning). It’s one thing to say that you’re going to accomplish something, it’s another to actually follow through and do it. ...Continue reading

Local Market Planning A Recipe for Success By: JStokes, Specialists in Consumer Activation and Growth ... One of the many benefits of local marketing for national brands is having a recipe for success market by market. Some local retail groups solely rely on whatever national advertising and promotional materials they get from the corporation. Many don’t have the time or a local funds to help them do a better job of engaging or communicating with their potential customers. Those brands that combine national plans with local reinforcement and activation are almost always more successful in reaching their goals. We’ve seen many examples of this over our 40 years of QSR/ retail experience. Proper planning provides the information needed to make effective decisions about how to allocate local promotional funds in a way that will enable a group to reach its objectives. The effectiveness of local promotions is maximized, and funds are not wasted on projects with little chance of success. A well conceived local plan will set performance goals and include a step by step road map on how to achieve them. It should be flexible to allow for changes in the market. It should include accountability for the success or failure of the plan. Some local ad groups create plans only to abandon them for lack of leadership or accountability. Sometimes plans are simply not followed because business gets in the way. How many times have you heard, I’m too busy. The purpose of planning is to help keep folks focused on accomplishing their goals, regardless of market disruptions or distractions. Fact is, there will always be distractions in business and excuses never accomplished a thing. Local marketing plans can be created to manage one or more years of promotional activity and should always include built in timelines and accountability. Sometimes a specific goal may take longer to achieve due to changing market conditions and that’s ok as long as you still have a target in your sites. Market by market plans should complement the national plan (if any) while maximizing activation of those plans, at the local level. Good planning helps local groups stay focused on specific goals, allows for progress updates and any necessary adjustments along the way. Experts agree that market groups who have solid plans and work them, have a much higher success rate than those who don’t.

Our last hurrah!

Don't make it hard for a potential client to qualify you for a pending legal need...

Celebrating #nationalcreativityday by getting crafty the old fashion way, with markers, glue sticks and scissors #tbt to simpler times! #agencylife

Keeping Your Franchisees Energized or How to Avoid Retail Fatigue By Jim Stokes When franchisees begin operating, they typically are full of energy and can’t wait to take advantage of all opportunities coming their way. Making short-term sacrifices in favor of long-term success. Some do very well, those are the ones that keep a close eye on their business. Others realize that they just bought themselves a job that they either don’t like or can’t handle. Still others think tha...t all they have to do is buy the program, and it will run itself. Absentee ownership rarely works. Thus, is the reality of dealing with the public and increasingly complicated operations. Successful franchisees maintain a high level of engagement throughout the years, never forgetting that long hours and hard work is what got them there. For them, coasting is not an option. They learn from their mistakes and missed opportunities and apply those learnings to bolster future business. Some franchisors forget that many of their operators have been at it for a long time, not realizing that retail fatigue can be a real problem and impede brand growth. We’ve seen retail fatigue set in when market conditions change and become more challenging. Take the Restaurant category for example, traffic has been declining for three years running. Restaurants and really any business, cannot live on check or ticket average alone. You must continue to build traffic in order to succeed. Operators can get used to doing a certain volume of business and when that volume keeps dropping along with their profit margins, doubt and negative thinking become more prevalent. Now add new operational demands to the equation and you have a recipe for malaise. I worked hard to build my business. Now you’re telling me I have to do it all over again? In challenging market conditions, that’s exactly what is required in order to succeed or in some cases survive. For some, it can be overwhelming. If that sounds like you, then you should consider selling and moving on. Remember, franchisors are charged with the health and wellbeing of their system as a whole. If your unit reflects negatively on the brand your neighboring peers can be affected as well. This is a two-way street. Franchisors, without diluting your brand, think of ways to streamline your process, making it easier for franchisees to comply. Be sure to communicate your programs in ways that are easy to understand and easy to implement. Think about ways to simplify operations and reenergize or incentivize your franchisees during challenging times. Franchisees, reach back and rekindle the spark and enthusiasm you once felt when your business was just getting under way. So you don’t lose all that you’ve spent years to build. Hit the reset button and think of this as the beginning of the next chapter of your business.

How to Survive the Retail Shakeout: With all that’s been published about retailers, restaurants, online ordering and delivery, there is one very important engagement that each retailer or franchisee needs to be successful long term and that is community relations. When people do good things, others notice. Most are too busy trying to keep up with running their business and staying ahead of comp sales. Whether you are a stand alone or part of a large chain, you should embrace ...a cause in your community, not just because it’s more and more meaningful to Millennials and Gen Z’ers but if you are successful, you owe part of that success to the community(s) that’s been supporting you and everyone appreciates a retailer who gives back. According to a recent CSR study, Consumers, especially millennials, are gravitating towards brands that value community engagement and embrace social and environmental responsibility. 88% of millennials expect companies to produce and communicate the results of corporate social responsibility efforts, and 89% of consumers are likely to switch brands to one that is associated with a good cause, given similar price and quality. Community relations is high on their list of criteria for doing business with a given brand and even local stores and Gen Z consumers are even more fervent about this than Millennials. Let’s face it, in this ever-increasing climate of competition, consumers have to decide who will get their business, whether they’re buying something to eat on the run or a pair of sneakers you have to find a way to differentiate yourself from all the others who sell similar products or services. Being a champion of a cause in your community could be the thing that sets you apart. It sounds like a daunting task but it could be as easy as doing a little research, finding a worthwhile local cause that you can support and letting your clientele know that you are behind them. Be sure to put forth a genuine effort. Customers can smell fake self-praise, a mile away. It could be the local chapter of the American Cancer Society that has an event in your community, a local school trying to raise funds for band uniforms or an individual athlete or musician who can’t afford to make a trip to a competition. Sponsoring a Little League team is nice but that alone won’t be enough. Also, try to avoid politics as it tends to be polarizing. Supporting a local cause is a simple way to show that you care. Some operators have known about the importance of community involvement for years and they’ve reaped the benefits. We know an operator who raised funds for a good cause simply using POP in her shops. Not only did she gain the admiration of her customers, but she got excellent media coverage for her efforts. In the coming years, there is going to be a shakeout of retailers, of all kinds. All things being equal, those with the most assets in customer perception, will ultimately be the winners.

Milestone moments deserve milestone celebrations. A big congratulations to our super talented PM Supervisor Claire on reaching the 10 year mark with the agency.

We’re proud to announce that we received a top-20 ranking from Clutch for B2B Advertising and Marketing agencies in San Francisco for 2019. Clutch, an independent B2B research, ratings and review platform, today announced its 2019 Top 200 business-to-business (B2B) service providers in the Bay Area, based on their excellent client feedback, market presence, industry expertise, and portfolio of current and past work. According to Clutch, These companies stand out as experts in their respective industries based on their commitment to client satisfaction, transparent project management, extensive thought leadership, and valuable service offerings.

A sneak peek into the behind the scenes magic as we help our client Pizza Factory, Inc. Wing In The New Year.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Here’s a look back at some of the fun from 2018, looking forward to 2019. #happynewyear #cheerstothenewyear #agencylife