Top Franchise Marketing Leaders: Kyle Kosco, VP of Marketing at Caring Transitions

With a career that spans agency work, logistics, private equity and operations, Kyle Kosco entered franchising with a broad understanding of how companies scale — and what it takes to support business owners at the local level. Before joining Caring Transitions, Kosco ran his own marketing agency, later serving as marketing director and eventually chief operating officer for a logistics company. When he learned more about Caring Transitions and its mission, its model and its ability to support more than 400 franchisees, he saw an opportunity to make a deeper impact.

Today, Kosco leads the marketing efforts for Caring Transitions and CTBids with a focus on empowering franchisees, elevating brand awareness and delivering the tools owners need to grow on their own timeline. His philosophy centers around transparency, trust and building systems that help both new and established owners scale effectively.

1851 Franchise: How did you find your way to franchising and franchise marketing?

Kyle Kosco: I owned my own marketing agency and then I was the marketing director at a logistics company, later a private equity firm. I got recruited to come back with the logistics company and eventually became their chief operating officer.

Caring Transitions was the best decision I could ever make — we are growing a national brand, while helping 400-plus small to medium size business owners growth their business in their community. It’s been very rewarding to see the impact that our team is making and the relationships we have built along the way.

1851: What makes franchise marketing uniquely challenging (and rewarding) compared to corporate-only marketing?

Kosco: You can make a much bigger impact in franchise marketing. The thing that people consider the most challenging and/or rewarding is that you get to work with and meet a variety of people with different backgrounds.

You have to make sure you’re able to earn respect and be transparent so they understand you have the brand’s best interest in mind. You have to make sure that what you’re doing and saying is true. If everyone is bought in and moving in the same direction — growth will happen.

Corporate marketing, the impact can be different because you’re working with one company, not 400+ independent business owners in various markets nationwide.

1851: What is the single most powerful lever a marketing team can pull to directly impact franchisees’ profitability at the unit level?

Kosco: The main thing is to provide local resources and support. In our case, we have a local marketing guide that really sets up franchise owners for success at the pace they want to scale at.

There are a lot of things we do at the national level from a brand awareness standpoint, but the proof of concepts we can add from a local grassroots standpoint are very valuable to ensure that new and existing owners can continue to grow their business.

1851: What is an untapped marketing opportunity you see for franchise brands?

Kosco: AI probably isn’t utilized enough just yet. There are many brands in the franchise space who are becoming increasingly familiar with it and using it at different levels across franchising. It’s important to embrace it — but not let it take over — to maximize what franchise owners and the brand can do more efficiently.

1851: What is one marketing fad or buzzword that you believe will actually deliver real results in the coming year?

Kosco: AI is so relevant for service-based businesses. SEO is so important, but the AI search engine is becoming so important as well. People are using ChatGPT to decide who can help them with xyz service or where to provide a product. Consider adjusting your website to be more conversational so it will benefit from the AI search that consumers are doing, as I think this lead source will only increase over time.