Dear Frannie | How Do I Make My Marketing Dollars Work Harder?

Your marketing isn't underperforming because the tactics are wrong. It's underperforming because of where the money leaks out. Katherine LeBlanc sits down with Bob McKay, founder and chief executive officer of McKay Advertising and Activation — 21 years in business, the last 15 exclusively in food franchising, and nicknamed the franchise whisperers for food brands — to trace exactly where franchise marketing budgets get wasted, and how to plug each leak. Leak one: you hired help without scoping the job. Build the request for proposal with operations in the room, because marketing and operations are fusing into one function whether your org chart says so or not. And budget human hours, not just dollars — big change takes people, and a status quo team will drag down any spend. Leak two: nobody is managing the relationship. Five agencies is five direct reports. Unmanaged partnerships don't get the feedback loop they need, so you end up paying for output instead of outcomes. Leak three: your reach is too wide. Drop a new store and you compete with 25 to 60 restaurants inside one mile — 50 to 120 at two miles. Sprawling grand opening media buys a first visit from someone six miles away who was never coming back, which is a big part of why 75 to 82 percent of first-time visitors never return. Leak four: influencer spend nobody measures. It has gotten a free pass on attribution for three years, and closing that gap takes one coupon code. Also in this episode: what the ChatGPT and Yelp deal means for restaurant discoverability, why a marketing team of two cannot possibly cover a 70-unit brand, and the lead cost benchmark Bob uses to tell whether a market actually wants your product. Connect with Bob: McKay Advertising and Activation — mckayadv.com Katherine LeBlanc and James Vitrano have spent a combined 40+ years in the trenches of franchising — across marketing, operations, legal, and franchise development — working with brands at every stage of growth. They've sat in the rooms where the hard calls get made, and they're not shy about sharing what they've seen work and what they've watched blow up. Want to go deeper? 🌐 apollocmo.com ▶️ @KatherineLeBlanc_Franchise on YouTube 🔗 linkedin.com/in/katherineleblanc 📩 katherine@apollocmo.com #Franchising #RestaurantMarketing #MarketingBudget #FranchiseMarketing #MarketingROI #GrandOpening #FranchiseDevelopment #MarketingLeadership