Colin Berry: Building Smart Franchise Marketing at Children’s Lighthouse

Name: Colin Berry Role: Vice President of Brand Development Brand: Children’s Lighthouse Early Learning Schools Brand Website:

With almost six years at Children’s Lighthouse and a career spanning leadership roles at iconic restaurant brands like TGI Fridays, Mr. Gatti’s Pizza and MOOYAH, Colin Berry is no stranger to the fast-paced, people-driven world of franchise marketing. Now as vice president of brand development for Children’s Lighthouse, Berry is helping shape a marketing strategy that balances system-wide consistency with local market nuance — all while helping franchisees build sustainable, high-performing businesses.

“What I love most about franchise marketing is watching a plan come to life that has both an immediate impact on traffic and a long-term impact on the bottom line,” said Berry. “You find common ground with a lot of small business owners, especially in smaller systems, where the franchisor and franchisee win together.”

Berry’s approach combines cutting-edge tools with human insight. He champions local marketing support, hyper-personalization and immersive technology as the keys to creating high-value experiences for both franchisees and their customers.

Colin Berry: What I love most about franchise marketing is watching a plan come to life that has both an immediate impact on traffic and a long-term impact on the bottom line. Oftentimes, franchise owners come into a system with little knowledge of franchise ownership or marketing experience. Helping people invest their life savings in this business makes it even more important to succeed. You find the common ground with a lot of small business owners, especially in small systems, where the franchisor and franchisee win together.

Berry: One is to provide support and tools. As franchise marketers, we need to recognize that local marketing is just as — if not more — important than national marketing. That includes offering those resources for a local franchisee to be successful. That might be a strong support network, strong social media tools, social listening tools or custom creative help.

Also, the ability to not just provide consultation, but also to create and execute a full-scale, multi-layer marketing plan. If a franchise pro can provide these things, they will have an immediate impact on top and bottom line.

Berry: With the many brands I’ve been with over the past 15 years, it’s all about leveraging data and analytics. If done correctly and often, you can tailor messaging and content to specific audiences. The truth in franchise marketing — and not a lot of people want to say this — is that no two units are the same, no matter how good branding or operations may be. We strive to create a seamless experience across all locations, but that can be impossible because of locales and demographics. When a franchise pro can understand that and tap into it, that alone makes a brand more successful.

Berry:

• Hyper-Personalization: For a long time, personalization was really just done with things like CRM and emails. But as AI gets better, brands will be able to personalize experiences across all content points, including content, recommendations, and unique interactions.

• Voice and Visual Search Optimization: My kids can sit at the kitchen table and use our Amazon Echo to search for things. That behavior is only going to grow, and brands need to optimize for it with strong keywords, high-quality images, and video.

• Subscription and Membership Models: More brands are following the path of streaming services and gyms. I think we’ll see more franchise concepts lean into that recurring revenue model.

Berry: One thing that is increasingly becoming a reality is full-scale, immersive experiences. AI is moving at speeds most of us can’t understand. As tech becomes more accessible, brands are going to be able to create super, highly immersive experiences. A world where you aren’t just on your phone or in a physical store — you can attend a virtual place where you try products, meet people, attend events. In our business, for example, you could tour a potential school in an immersive experience. That is becoming more possible as time goes on.