Due to its Home Market Success in Watertown, Runningboards Marketing Targets Buffalo and Rochester for Franchise Expansion

Our goal is to attract entrepreneurs who are ready and willing to get up and running with multiple locations in their respective territories, said McNeely. There are so many people out there looking for that right opportunity to start their own business and take ownership of their livelihoods, and this strategy will help them reach a large, yet targeted, demographic over a short period of time.

Pandemic impact

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have fueled the need for the brand's affordable advertising. With so many small businesses looking to stand out and convey to customers that they have indeed reopened, the Runningboards Marketing model has attracted many new clients. The brand's success has also drawn interest from entrepreneurs looking to make a career change in a difficult economy, and recently signed its first two franchisees. Both locations — Paducah, Kentucky and Marlborough, Massachusetts — have successfully opened for business this summer amid the pandemic.

• Mark Frederico, Marlborough's new location owner, told 1851 he's thrilled with Runningboards and their business model thus far.
• An owner of multiple health clubs, he was looking to expand his revenue stream through a new business venture.
• After seeing a Runningboards truck drive by while he was in Pennsylvania opening a new health club location, something struck a chord with him, and he decided to look into the marketing franchise.
• We were getting ready to open a new club, and I said that would be the perfect way to market our club in the neighborhood, said Frederico.
• I called for more info, and I was just going to use the truck to promote the club at first; after learning more, however, I loved the business model and thought it would be a great business to get into.
• This model is easy to scale and has no physical location — just a truck and the ability to sell advertising.

New owners Jesus Espinoza and Ian Brown in Kentucky are both just 23 years old and finishing college degrees in nursing and programming, respectively. The friends-turned-business partners were impressed with the flexible model and are able to serve their customers while balancing school. Espinoza and Brown believe that Runningboards is the perfect advertising model for small-town Paducah businesses who are looking to get the word out about their services.

New york expansion

With Runningboards Marketing seeing such success at the height of the pandemic, McNeely and the development team believe the same strategies for success can be replicated within their home state of New York. The digital mobile franchise concept has proven to be recession-proof, with its low-cost entry point for new business owners. Not to mention, the brand's customers are finding their money is being well spent on Runningboards' advertising services, especially within the tumultuous economy.

• Overall, we're not only a fun business to franchise with, but we prove time and time again that we're worth the investment, whether you're on the franchisee or the customer side, said McNeely.
• The pandemic will surely bring new challenges in the near future, but as we look to Buffalo and Rochester to expand our business, I think potential owners will respond positively to our simple model and ability to grow with quick turnaround.

In the short term, the Runningboards development team has its sights set on expanding to two key cities: Buffalo and Rochester. Presently, both Buffalo and Rochester have market capacities for two to three franchisees and potentially nine territories divided between them. The brand is currently offering two free territories with the first territory sold, so each new franchisee would acquire three territories upfront.