In an Effort to Score Qualified Franchise Candidates, Runningboards Marketing® Did What It Does Best — Mobile Advertising

Founded in Watertown, New York in January 2018, Runningboards Marketing (RBM) offers a modern twist on marketing combined with an old-school feel. RBM’s digital advertising vehicle DAV® (pronounced “Dave”) is equipped with three independent digital LED screens to display brand messaging and customizable images using their proprietary software.

RBM is the premier mobile-based advertising business, and, thanks to DAV, any location, no matter the territory, is a prime location for franchisees since they are able to take DAV anywhere.

The digital-mobile advertising franchise is looking for franchisees and, in an effort to find qualified candidates, decided to do what it does best: mobile advertising. RBM’s co-founder and CEO Calvin McNeely took DAV on a southeastern U.S. tour to meet with potential franchise candidates to illustrate what a unique and exciting opportunity franchising with RBM really is.

**Instead of having candidates come out to the brand’s headquarters in northern New York, McNeely brought RBM to them by making the discovery days mobile. Over the course of 21 days and 2,600 miles, McNeely drove DAV to 16 cities across the southeastern U.S.

— beginning in Atlanta and finishing in Orlando, Florida. “What sparked the decision to make Runningboards Marketing’s discovery day mobile was solely the fact that we’re just different,” McNeely said. “We are the first and only franchise of its kind — we are a mobile-based brand so it just made sense.

We didn’t feel like sitting and waiting for candidates to discover us, we wanted to discover them.”

The January 2020 Southeastern DAV tour was successful for the brand in several ways. For one, McNeely noted how he was able to refine his sales pitch. “From meeting with franchise consultants and prospective franchisees in 16 different cities, I was able to really nail my sales pitch. I figured out which parts of my pitch were solid and which parts needed some tuning up.”

**One franchise consultant who was able to experience McNeely’s RBM sales pitch is Sue Derene of Franchise Connect Pro LLC. Having first learned about the brand from Chris Brooks, RBM’s Franchise Development Director, Derene noted how helpful the mobile discovery day was. “Calvin actually driving DAV to Atlanta so we could experience everything the brand was about in person was extremely helpful,” Derene said.

“During the discovery day, Calvin gave us a detailed run-down of the business, including who the clients were, whom clients would market to, the technology behind DAV and the simplicity of operations.** Seeing DAV in person made Runningboards Marketing a lot more understandable **from a consultant perspective, and I am confident I will be able to help the brand find the right franchise partners because of it.”

In addition to refining his sales pitch and meeting with different consultants, McNeely learned all of the best (and worst) places to park and drive DAV. He took DAV everywhere — from hotels, to airports and even drive-thrus. “I even had people rolling down their windows while stopped at a traffic light to ask me about DAV.”

And most importantly, McNeely achieved what he originally set out to do on the tour — recruit franchisees. Currently, RBM has three pending franchise agreements, and one of them came from the mobile discovery day. “While in Charleston, South Carolina, I met with one candidate and his wife. They loved the idea of RBM and committed to opening multiple territories in Orlando.”

McNeely hailed the 21-day DAV tour as a success and is excited to continue making his way around the country. “Right now, DAV is parked in Orlando,” McNeely said. “When I head out on the next tour I will be driving DAV around the southern part of Texas and eventually making my way back up north.”