1851

<div id="pastingspan1" style="">In 2002, Shelly Sun co-founded <a href="http://franchise.brightstarcare.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=women-leaders-in-franchising-shelly-sun-of-brightstar-care-4423" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BrightStar Care</a> with her husband J.D. as a family business that would strive to provide the full continuum of home care, child care and medical staffing services for individuals, families and healthcare facilities. Born out of a northwest Chicago suburban home, BrightStar Care went on to open three additional locations across Chicago, and soon thereafter, Sun quickly learned that BrightStar Care had the foundation to expand with the right business model in place.</div><div style="">&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">In 2005, just three years after founding BrightStar Care, Sun signed their first franchisee. Today, BrightStar Care is one of the most recognized brands in franchising with more than 280 locations nationwide.</div><div style="">&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">1851 recently had the chance to talk with Shelly Sun to learn a little bit more about what drives her to continue to grow and develop her brand.</div><div style="">&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1">How did you get your start in franchising?</div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">In mid-2004, my mother-in-law invested in two hotels and invited my husband and I to invest as well. I attended the franchise&#8217;s new-owner and new-manager training with her and came away realizing that BrightStar Care could work as a franchise, expanding much more quickly than if we were to open locations on our own. After successfully opening our second and third locations, we knew we had a business model that could be successfully replicated. We sold our first franchise location in late 2005 and moved forward from there.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1">Who was your mentor in business?</div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">One person that I admire as a mother and entrepreneur is Gloria Jean Kvetko, founder of Gloria Jean's Coffee, the first flavored coffee franchise even before Starbucks. She was a member of my advisory board for many years and constantly encourages me to see a different perspective. She has been a great role model and friend to me over the years. She took such a risk to follow her passion and establish the flavored coffee industry despite naysayers. She is brilliant, yet humble, and is the most resilient, positive person I know.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">Catherine Monson, CEO of FASTSIGNS, is also an outstanding female leader. A couple times a year we get together for a girls trip to, not only recharge, but to bounce ideas back and forth. Catherine is an amazing leader. She never settles for the status quo and is always reading, learning and sharing to make herself and others better. As a woman, I feel it is extremely important to have other women in my life I can relate to and talk through problems with.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">Overall, mentoring has made a huge impact in my professional life. From very early on, I recognized that learning from the experts in franchising to accelerate my growth was a key to success. My mentors continue to provide valuable input and have become dear friends. Mentorship has made a profound impact on my personal life as well. I get great joy from mentoring others and I continue to make more and more time for mentoring &#8211; usually having 10-20 active mentees at any one time.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1">How would you describe your leadership style?</div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">I believe in high performance for our entire team and also myself. I believe in sharing success with our team because they are the key to our growth. Every employee in our organization, from the receptionist to the president, has stock options in our company. We work hard and we play hard &#8211; we enjoy each other&#8217;s company inside and outside of work. I also believe in empowering others to make decisions and ensuring everyone in the organization is clear on our plan for the future &#8211; from the one-year plan to the 10-year plan and everything in between so we are all moving in the same direction.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1">What advice would you give to other women that are considering a career path in franchising?</div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">Believe in yourself, surround yourself with positive influences and be adequately capitalized to reach 50-75 units. That&#8217;s the level it typically takes for recurring revenue to exceed expenses.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div id="pastingspan1" style=""></div><div id="pastingspan1">What would you like to achieve in the next five years?</div><div id="pastingspan1" style="">By 2018, we plan to have three brands in total and we will be operating and in at least five international markets. In the next 10 years, I predict that BrightStar Care will be serving 250,000 families and will have grown from $300 million in revenue to $3 billion. I am excited about the start-up phase of our second brand, BrightStar Senior Living and Memory Care, and the international expansion of BrightStar Care in 2016.</div><div style=""></div>

1851 Franchise

Shelly Sun, the Co-Founder of BrightStar Care, has helped the home care service grow in 37 states across the country.

This brand page has been paid for by 1851. Content within this page that is paid will showcase a Sponsored icon. This means the brand has engaged 1851 FRANCHISE to write the content. Content without the Sponsored Icon is aggregated media placements the brand earned. Questions can be sent to editorial@1851franchise.com

Women Leaders in Franchising: Shelly Sun of BrightStar Care   

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The linear sales funnel is dying. Prospective buyers are no longer filling out a form at first glance and waiting for the phone to ring. They’re doing the majority of the heavy lifting before they even make themselves known to the franchisor. For franchisors, this means one key thing: you must know exactly where candidates spend their time. No guesswork. And you have to adjust your strategy accordingly.And, in today's buyer world, the biggest buzz term is 2026's ride or die for franchise brands – Ai.&nbsp;If you are trying to sell a franchise today, you must meet candidates where they are (four walls, Ai, website, social advertising).&nbsp;Focusing on a strong digital footprint first and then lead generation will help the brand with validation and will lay the foundation for trust before the first conversation even happens. Still, franchisors must know where to find their candidates and be confident the candidates are being sent to the right place.“We consistently see the strongest lead performance from Google Search (paid and organic), social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and our franchise development website,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinlsnyder">Erin Snyder</a>, head of franchise development at&nbsp;<a href="https://handelsicecream.com/handels-franchise/">Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream</a>. “Because all awareness and advertising efforts ultimately funnel candidates to our development site, maintaining a highly optimized, mobile-first web presence is critical for conversion.”<h2>The "Hidden" Channels: Authentic Research via AiSEO</h2>While Google and major portals are often where a candidate might start a broad search, the deep research happens in the shadows. This is where candidates scroll, mindlessly or otherwise, simply observing rather than clicking “apply” immediately; or, ask Ai chatbots about the best franchises to buy, the blind spots, the why nots, and, of course, the whys.Right now, Ai plays a key role in this research stage. Buyers want the truth.&nbsp;For franchisors, this means your content strategy must pivot. It is no longer enough to post stock photos of happy business owners. You must document the journey, showing the behind-the-scenes reality that proves your concept has staying power.<h2>The Pivot From Print to Digital Interactivity</h2>While print media has been a channel for franchise development in the past, its static nature has made it less effective as the buyer’s journey has shifted to digital. Buyers are generally looking for channels that will allow them to click, read and continue the search immediately.“Traditional print media has largely become a thing of the past for franchise development,” Snyder said. “What has been encouraging, though, is seeing many of these publications successfully pivot to digital formats that offer greater interactivity, stronger analytics and far better linkability than print ever could.”This creates a more dynamic experience for the candidate. In addition to a digital article, franchisors can embed a “day in the life” video, for example, or hyperlink a deeper dive on costs and profits for instant validation.This shift also allows franchisors to track return on investment more effectively. Instead of guessing if an article or ad worked, digital publications allow you to see exactly who clicked through, allowing for retargeting and smarter budget allocation.<h2>The Conversion Hub: Your Mobile-First Website</h2>Once a candidate has discovered you on Google, watched your videos on TikTok and read about you in a digital publication, they finally arrive at the destination: your franchise development website.This is the bottom of the funnel, where you will win or lose a candidate. Because all other channels point here, your website cannot just be a digital brochure. It has to be a conversion engine. And crucially, it must work perfectly on a smartphone.The question can’t just be “Do we have a website?” Questions about the website should surround usability and readability. Is navigation easy on a smartphone? Does the site load quickly? Is it readable? If a prospect has to pinch-and-zoom to read your investment costs and financial performance, they will leave.An optimized, mobile-first presence is critical because it serves as the collection point; all other awareness efforts funnel potential franchisees to the site. The user experience here should validate the trust built on other channels. However, accessibility is only half the battle; the content itself must be unsparingly open. The website is the channel where you must prove your value proposition with hard data.“Across all channels, the messaging needs to be clear, concise and consistent,” Snyder said. “Candidates should be able to easily find transparent investment ranges and financial requirements, a clear value proposition, compelling franchisee success stories, key differentiators from competitors and straightforward next steps for how to inquire.”When you treat your website as a transparency engine rather than a gatekeeper, you change the dynamic of the eventual sales call. A candidate who has already consumed your financial data and success stories arrives at the inquiry stage educated and qualified. This allows the development team to skip the basic fact-finding and move straight to strategy and fit.“When a candidate submits an inquiry, the first conversation should build on what the candidate has already learned,” Snyder said “ensuring they understand the opportunity they are considering, clarifying details, personalizing the discussion to their goals and moving them into a structured education process rather than starting from scratch.”<h2>Allocating the Budget: The "Ideal Candidate" Approach</h2>While a presence across multiple channels — from search and social to digital publications — is key, understanding exactly how much to invest in each option is the next hurdle. There is no single, magical approach to budgeting; a brand selling multi-million-dollar franchises needs to develop a presence in different places than a low-cost, mobile franchise will.To spend effectively, you must deeply understand your ideal franchisee profile. Once you know who is investing, you can begin working on where to find them. For example, a high-net-worth investor might be on LinkedIn and reading digital trade journals, while a first-time investor or someone seeking an owner-operator model might be influenced by local Facebook ads.“Franchisors should start by understanding their ideal franchisee profile and then allocate budget toward the channels where those prospects spend the most time,” Snyder said. “The mix will naturally look different for a high-investment, multi-unit candidate than for a first-time owner-operator. Beyond that, it’s critical to consider overall brand awareness and invest in channels that consistently get both the brand and the franchise opportunity in front of qualified prospects. A balanced approach that supports both awareness and lead capture tends to produce the strongest results.”<h2>Key Takeaways and Next Steps:</h2>Make sure you have a content footprint that answers the top 25 questions asked about your brand in Ai and Google searchs.Review your mobile experience: Open your franchise development site on your phone. If it takes more than three seconds to load or if the "Apply" button is hard to find, fix it immediately.Embrace "lo-fi" video content: You don't need a production crew. Use a smartphone to record "day in the life" videos with your franchisees and post them to social to build authentic trust.Ensure transparency and continuity:&nbsp;Candidates need to be able to find the information they’re looking for, and the experience should be consistent between a social page and a franchise development site. Make sure your value proposition is clear across all channels.Embrace innovation, but don’t count out the classics:&nbsp;Look at the whole picture. Many candidates are exploring opportunities on supplemental platforms like social media or in the results of a Google search, but they’re still looking at the franchise development site, too. Don’t confine yourself to the “old reliable” methods, but don’t leave them behind, either.Budget by persona, not platform: Don't just "do Facebook ads." Define exactly who your buyer is, and spend your money only on the channels where that specific person consumes content.For more information on franchise growth channels, check out these related stories on 1851 Franchise:<ul><li><a href="https://1851franchise.com/how-to-use-social-media-marketing-to-promote-your-franchise-2727185#stories">How To Use Social Media Marketing To Promote Your Franchise</a></li><li><a href="https://1851franchise.com/building-a-franchise-website-that-converts-key-features-and-best-practices-2727363#stories">Building a Franchise Website That Converts: Key Features and Best Practices</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlfduHqGy7I">How to Sell Franchises | The Buyer Persona</a></li></ul>

To succeed in the shifting landscape, franchisors must understand the buyer’s journey, identify the ideal franchisee profile, and build a digital presence that meets candidates where they are.

How To Sell Franchises in 2026 — Top Channels Franchise Buyers Use Before They Inquire

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Selling franchises isn’t just about sharing profit potential anymore. It’s about earning trust. Franchisors need to gain the trust of their candidates, providing fact-based solutions and dismantling the fear associated with a major business investment.Whether they are first-time owner-operators or experienced investors, candidates are operating in an era of heightened economic scrutiny, looking to make the most of each dollar. To win them over, development teams must pivot from a mindset of "selling the dream" to one of "proving the reality."Focusing on the reality over the dream often means proving a reality of stability. Candidates are looking for safety, predictability and partnership. To convert high-quality leads, franchisors must deploy specific trust signals that validate the investment before the contract is even signed.Here is how to leverage transparency, operational data and human connection to sell franchises in the current market.<h2>Lead With Consistency and Resilience</h2>Think about the mindset of a buyer reading a Franchise Disclosure Document for the first time. They’re often looking for holes in the boat, not just doing a casual review.Information about how much it will cost to get started and how much they’ll pay on an ongoing basis is key, but investors also want to know if the concept can survive turbulence. The strongest trust signal you can offer is historical consistency, particularly through economic downturns.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aworsham02">Adam Worsham</a>, chief franchising officer at&nbsp;<a href="https://viocfranchise.com/">Valvoline Instant Oil Change</a>, says that buyers today prioritize confidence that the business can deliver returns without unnecessary risk.“The first thing we highlight is consistency,” he said. “Valvoline Instant Oil Change has 19 years of same-store sales growth, including growth through the pandemic. That kind of performance gives entrepreneurs, family offices and private equity firms a clear signal that the model is resilient.”In most cases, this will come through in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuHzzXoEQI">Item 19</a>, with historical financial data and the Item 20,&nbsp; if a franchisor can demonstrate steady unit growth and provide contact information for successful, tenured owners.The Strategy: Do not bury your resilience data. If your brand grew during the pandemic or performed well during high-inflation periods, this should be a headline, not a footnote.<h2>Demystify the Operations</h2>If a candidate looks at your model and feels like they need an advanced degree to run day-to-day operations, it’s likely they’ll walk. Franchises that don’t require this level of experience must prove that the operating system is built for scale. For brands that do require a specific level of education or experience, it’s crucial to communicate exactly what kind of knowledge is needed and why.&nbsp;No matter the level, being transparent about exactly what will be required creates clarity for prospective owners, and clarity empowers an educated decision. The feeling of knowing exactly what they’re getting into can significantly reduce perceived risk for entrepreneurs.For example, Valvoline highlights key operational data to paint a clearer picture for candidates.“Most centers run with about eleven employees and generate roughly $1.7 million in average unit volume,” Worsham said. “Those fundamentals help reduce uncertainty and build trust quickly.”The Strategy:&nbsp;Translate your experience requirements and unit-level economics into operational reality. Don't just show the initial investment and profit potential. Show what it takes and how existing franchisees make it happen.<h2>Humanize Success Data</h2>Whether it’s an average unit volume, low-to-no closure count or strong renewal rate, strong statistics can come off as too good to be true for some candidates. Even the best data, when presented incorrectly, can make a skeptical candidate suspicious. For franchisors, the key is to translate abstract information into a more digestible narrative about day-to-day operations and long-term franchisee success.Valvoline, for example, boasts a 100% renewal rate. But highlighting that 100% doesn’t always mean something to a potential owner. According to Worsham, this isn’t just a stat. It’s a number that alludes to a deeper, more powerful pattern.“The 100% renewal rate is impressive, but what matters more is&nbsp;why&nbsp;it happens,” he said. “Franchisees know we’re in their corner, and they feel confident about the future they’re building with us.”Highlighting the “why” behind the “what,” even when the “what” is impressive, can bridge the gap and start building trust with entrepreneurs investigating a franchise opportunity.<h2>Front-Load the Relationship</h2>In a digital-first world, where candidates do deep research before they ever inquire, the human element is the ultimate differentiator. Candidates want to know who will answer the phone when things go wrong.Building a relationship early minimizes the perception of risk. If all other variables are equal —investment cost, return, territory — the candidate will choose the team they feel safest with.“When someone gets to know our team early on, they see how we operate: collaborative, responsive and invested in their long-term success,” Worsham said. “That relationship becomes proof of what it will feel like to be part of the system.”<h2>Address the "Ugly" Head-On</h2>No franchise system is perfect. Franchisors may worry that addressing concerns directly may hurt the sale, but the opposite is true. Attempts to hide or talk around closed units, litigation or disgruntled owners will degrade trust.While franchisors shouldn’t dwell on the negative, confronting it head-on with the facts and a calm, logical approach can actually build trust with the candidate. Not only can they tell that their potential franchise partner doesn’t hide from the tough spots, but they can also get a look at how problems are solved when they arise.When you explain why a unit failed or how you handled a dispute, you control the narrative. You demonstrate that you are a problem solver — a trait that most candidates will celebrate in their future partners.“We don’t hide the hard stuff,” Worsham said. “We address it, learn from it and use it to build an even stronger system for every operator. When something doesn’t go as planned, we explain the context, what we learned and how we strengthened the system because of it.”<h2>Key Takeaways and Next Steps</h2>Contextualize economic risks to silence fear: Don’t wait for the candidate to ask about the economy or the future of your segment. Proactively discuss the future of your industry and how your model performs in a range of economic landscapes.Build trust through radical transparency: Encourage candidates to visit physical locations to observe the culture and pace firsthand. Letting candidates see the real business removes the fear of the unknown.Use franchisees to combat skepticism: Encourage unfiltered conversations between candidates and operators. Hearing directly from current franchisees about the support they receive reduces the risk of "sales talk" and provides social proof that the system works as advertised.Prove systemic safety: It's not just about today's sales, but tomorrow's viability. Demonstrate that you have the infrastructure, like advanced supply chain forecasting or data analytics, to handle future threats.Establish a partnership dynamic immediately: Trust comes from being treated as a partner, not a lead. Have conversations around the candidate’s goals to signal an investment in their success rather than just a commitment to closing the deal.For more information on building trust with franchise buyers, check out these related stories on 1851 Franchise:<ul><li><a href="https://1851franchise.com/how-franchisors-can-build-a-marketable-item-19-2727750#stories">How To Build a Marketable Item 19</a></li><li><a href="https://1851franchise.com/happy-franchisees-more-leads-why-positive-validation-is-key-for-organic-growth-2719171#stories">Happy Franchisees, More Leads: Why Positive Validation is Key for Organic Growth</a></li><li><a href="https://1851franchise.com/trust-in-franchising-2726050#stories">Trust is the Foundation of the Franchisee-Franchisor Relationship</a></li></ul>

From demystifying operations to focusing on trust early on, here is how top franchisors are reducing perceived risk to win over candidates and sell more franchises in 2026.

How To Sell Franchises in 2026 — Trust Signals That Reduce Perceived Risk for Buyers

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Walk the floor at any franchise conference and you’ll see the same playbook: glossy booths, bold growth claims and sales teams hoping to catch a multi-unit operator in a good mood. The problem isn’t effort. It’s targeting. Most serious multi-unit operators aren’t wandering the expo hall hoping to be surprised by a new concept. They’re watching from a distance, looking for signals that a brand is already producing repeatable outcomes.If you want to understand how brands create those signals, join me at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYoYh1wSeGsT6GH4f7iR6GWMvRI8Pd2J3">Coffee &amp; Analytics</a> at 11 a.m. CST, Friday, March 20 (<a href="https://streamyard.com/watch/9GKZu2ft4ihs">REGISTER HERE</a>).&nbsp;Because the brands that win with multi-unit operators don’t chase them down — they give them a reason to lean in, and it all comes down to one thing: momentum.Not marketing. Not lead generation. Not a franchise portal listing.Momentum.When you have momentum, what happens next? Here’s how multi-unit franchisees actually think.I’ve sat across from some of the most sophisticated franchise operators in the country. The questions they ask are simple — and brutal:<ul><li>Is leadership credible?</li><li>Is there a vision?&nbsp;</li><li>Is this brand meaningfully different?</li><li>Does the investment produce real wealth?</li><li>Is the growth strategy intentional?</li><li>Are existing franchisees reinvesting?</li></ul>Notice what’s missing from that list. They’re not asking how many leads you generate, how pretty your franchise deck looks or how big your booth is.They’re evaluating whether your brand deserves their capital. Your website, your PR, your content and your industry presence should answer those questions before you ever meet them. Most brands fail here.<h2>The ROI Truth Nobody Says Publicly</h2>Serious franchisees are capital allocators. If they extract all available cash flow, they want to recover their investment in about three years.If it takes longer, they categorize the brand as lifestyle, not scalable.Many franchisors struggle to attract multi-unit buyers because they designed a franchise, but not an investment vehicle. Multi-unit operators don’t buy concepts; they buy compounding opportunities.<h2>You Are Not Selling Franchises</h2>This is the mindset shift that separates breakout brands from stalled ones. You are not selling franchises. You are building a machine that opens profitable units repeatedly.Franchise fees don’t create enterprise value. Open locations do. Healthy unit economics do. Operators expanding inside your system do.Brands that go from 20 units to 200 understand one thing: One great franchisee is worth millions in lifetime system value.The goal is not more deals. The goal is better operators who keep building.<h2>The Broker Conversation Franchisors Avoid</h2>Brokers have a role,&nbsp; but you need to understand the math. Most broker models favor large territories and multipacks because commissions scale.Here’s the unintended consequence: You accidentally drain the franchisee’s growth capital before they ever open location two. Then development slows, validation weakens and future multi-unit buyers walk away.You didn’t fail at sales. You weakened your future pipeline.Smart franchisors protect franchisee capitalization like investors protect cash reserves.<h2>So, Should You Go to the Multi-Unit Conference?</h2>Yes, but not for the reason you think. You are not there to sell. You are there to signal legitimacy.If I ran your booth, I’d do five things:<ol><li>Book relationship meetings before the show starts.&nbsp;Do not rely on walk-up selling.</li><li>Ask operators for advice.&nbsp;Nothing builds credibility faster.</li><li>Lead with your unfair advantage.&nbsp;If someone walks past your booth, could they explain your brand in five seconds?</li><li>Engineer follow-up momentum.&nbsp;Webinars, content and visibility should be planned before you arrive.</li><li>Bring franchisees, not executives.&nbsp;Operators close operators.</li></ol><h2>The Hard Truth Most Brands Need to Hear</h2>If multi-unit franchisees are not engaging your brand today, it is rarely an economics problem first. It is usually a signal problem.You haven’t yet shown the market predictable success, scalable economics, leadership clarity or industry momentum.Multi-unit buyers don’t gamble. They invest where confidence already exists.Winning brands understand a simple reality: You don’t chase multi-unit franchisees. You build a system they start researching before you ever meet them.That happens when three things align:<ul><li>Business Model: a clear path to wealth creation</li><li>Drumbeat:&nbsp;constant industry visibility</li><li>Expectations:&nbsp;transparent outcomes</li></ul>When those align, something interesting happens. You stop pitching, and sophisticated operators start calling you.If you’re reading this and thinking, “We’re not there yet,” good. That’s the moment real franchise growth begins.Join me at Coffee &amp; Analytics at 11 a.m. CST (<a href="https://streamyard.com/watch/9GKZu2ft4ihs">REGISTER HERE</a>).We’re going to talk about how franchise brands move from selling franchises to becoming platform brands multi-unit operators compete to join. Because the next generation of franchise winners won’t be the loudest brands. They’ll be the brands that built momentum before everyone else realized what was happening.

image of coffee and analytics with nick powills explaining multi-unit franchisees

1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills explains why your $20,000 conference booth is failing and the "signals" you actually need to attract sophisticated capital.

Stop Chasing Multi-Unit Operators. They Aren’t Looking for You

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For more than 15 years,&nbsp;<a href="https://hellomainland.com/">Mainland</a> has secured coverage for brands on FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC, as well as placements in local outlets such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.noozhawk.com/">Noozhawk</a> in Santa Maria, California, or&nbsp;<a href="https://tbbwmag.com/">Tampa Bay Business &amp; Wealth</a>. With hundreds of PR placements each year, there must be some secret sauce to their stories — a possible angle that is irresistible to a producer who doesn’t seem interested in anything you have to offer. A secret phrase that unlocks doors and turns on TVs in your target market.&nbsp;What if we told you the answer was simple?<h3>Let’s Do an Experiment</h3>Imagine a franchise brand is opening its doors in your city, and you see this headline on Facebook:&nbsp; National Fitness Franchise Announces Expansion Into Downtown With Three New Territories Signed.If you were a news producer, that headline might not inspire much beyond construction and, maybe, a grand opening months down the line. By the time the scissors are ready to cut, you’ve moved on.&nbsp;Now try this:&nbsp; After a Career-Ending Injury, Former Ohio Track Athlete Is Bringing National Fitness Franchise to Combat the City’s Post-Pandemic Health Crisis.See the difference? Maybe images of a former athlete jumping a hurdle spring to mind, or an in-studio demonstration. Suddenly, there’s an opportunity to highlight statistics around an important, timely health issue that the brand is working to address.&nbsp;Framing matters. People matter — more than brands think. This isn’t just a happy accident of copywriting. It’s a calculated editorial strategy that is heavily implemented at Mainland to land placements and media buys.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-wood1/">Morgan Wood</a>, content manager at Mainland, has personally published more than 2,000 articles for&nbsp;<a href="http://1851franchise.com">1851Franchise.com</a>. She is the exclusive writer for record-breaking brands like&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/layneschickenfingers">Layne's Soon To Be Famous™ Chicken Fingers</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/parisbaguette">Paris Baguette</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;To understand how to consistently find the "human hero" in brand stories and start winning at PR, 1851 Franchise sat down with Wood to get some recommendations.1851 Franchise:&nbsp;How do you approach writing and telling someone's story?Morgan Wood: I've always been a “why person.” You know those little kids that ask a question, and you answer, and they say, “But why? But why? But why?” That was always me as a kid. I think I have a natural curiosity for everything, and I really think that everybody has an interesting story. It's just a matter of getting to it.A lot of times, the franchisees we’re working with will come on the call and say, "I don't know why you want to talk to me. My story is not that interesting.”&nbsp;There's a level of fulfillment and satisfaction in being able to see them see themselves in someone else's eyes and realizing what their story can mean and can do. It’s really fun.1851:&nbsp;What do you think about Mainland’s “Brands don’t sell brands, people do” method?Wood:&nbsp;When I'm browsing, I'm going to click on stuff that I feel like I relate to or something that is a human interest story.In franchising, people often think, “I'd love to do that, but I don't know if I can,” or “Somebody else can do it, but I just can't.”&nbsp;Being able to see the kind of person that's doing it, and, no matter who you are, there's someone who has a similar background or that you can relate to in some way, that has done it. I think putting that out there makes people curious. And then you click in, and it's their life story and their experiences. The reader likely doesn’t know this person, specifically, but it’s possible they have very similar experiences.I think that can draw people in more effectively than “This restaurant is growing!” or “This business is opening!” ever could.1851: How do you tell your writers to find the human hero in the story?Wood:&nbsp;We have talked a lot about continuing to ask the questions. Again, everyone has a story. We just have to get to it. I've said countless times, “Just keep asking. There has to be something. Think outside the box. Get curious on these calls with the franchisee, and really think about what is special about this person.”&nbsp;One of our questions for franchisee feature interviews is “What do you want me to know about you?” That opens it up. Regardless of your business or what you did before you bought a franchise, what do you want me to know about you?Being able to do that and dig deeper, even when there may not be an immediate connection between this story and their franchise journey, is really valuable. There have been times when it “clicks” later, and the writer realizes, “Oh, that's why they're the hero!”1851: Headlines and images are the first two things that people see. Are there any tricks in your bag when it comes to headlines and imagery to get picked up?Wood: Specifically in headlines, we want to talk about the human hero, but we don't necessarily want to say their name. We want to say who they are.&nbsp;More people are going to search for things like “veteran franchisee” or “moms in franchising”&nbsp; rather than a name that they’ve never heard before.It also has to be interesting, but you can't give everything away in the headline.&nbsp;And then with the image, just as much as possible, get a picture of a real person. It’s as simple as having something that people care about, and something that will catch a reader’s eye. If we’re talking about a person, we don’t want a stock image that someone will scroll right past.1851: Do you have any advice that you would give brands looking to get started right away?Wood: I think many in the franchise space have heard of the franchise horror stories: “I pay my franchise fee and the franchisor disappears,” or “I'm just a store number to them, I'm not a person.”One of our clients often says that, to be a franchisor, you need to understand what the franchisee is going through. When someone at the franchisor gets home from work, their family will ask, “How was work?” When a franchisee gets home, their family is asking, “How were sales today?” or “How was traffic?” These are franchise units, but they often represent the investment of someone’s life savings and a manifestation of so many hopes and dreams for the future. We can’t lose sight of that.&nbsp;No matter how big the brand gets or how fast they're growing, franchisors need to remember that these are real people with real backgrounds. Many have real families that this is supporting, and they've invested so much into this business. They’re building something in their communities and trying to make the most of the opportunity.They can’t just be viewed as “the person that's going to help me get a PR win.” They're still people. When you start from a place of humanity, the rest comes more naturally.Growing and selling franchises is difficult. Want to learn more about how Mainland helps franchisors grow their franchises with confidence? Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://hellomainland.com/">https://hellomainland.com/</a>&nbsp;and see what we can do for you.

image of morgan wood, content manager at mainland, pr methods at mainland

Content Manager at Mainland, Morgan Wood, shares the vital theory behind achieving PR success for franchise brands and beyond.

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