The International Franchise Association (IFA) states that the 2010 economic outlook for the nation's franchise businesses forecasts a slow recovery with marginal increases in the number of jobs, economic output and the number of establishments. As a result, it is more important than ever that franchisors and franchisees begin to adjust their strategies to account for the new market conditions.

V12 Group provides a suite of offerings that address the top issues facing franchisors as well as franchisees in 2010, which can be marketed in a private-label or transparent manner.

V12 Groups research has identified the following primary business issues, goals or objectives for 2010:

More efficiently target prospective franchise buyers

To fully understand the potential franchisee audience, franchisors must recognize the appropriate levers and forces that drive interest in the franchise concept. At the core, there is a baseline profile of people, with common financial and lifestyle factors that are attracted to the franchisor's concept.

• In V12 Group's experience, the most efficient use of marketing investment is to focus on the right target audiences. Our Customer Profiling develops a profile of the typical owner and then creates a target audience of those that match that profile.

Low costs marketing method that drives new franchise acquisition

The 2010 IFA Franchise Business Leader Survey shows the issues of greatest concern currently and in the year ahead are financing and access to capital. Nearly half of the survey respondents (49.2 percent) ranked "financing and access to capital" as their greatest concern, followed by nearly one-quarter of survey respondents (23.8 percent) who ranked "franchise sales/development" as their next greatest concern.

V12 Group's prospect email marketing is a cost effective way for franchisors to directly communicate with a targeted franchisee audience to market the franchise concept.

• V12 Group is one of the direct marketing industry's proven full-service provider for prospect email marketing. As a result of our infrastructure, 75+ million opt-in email database, consistent results, stringent adherence to CAN-SPAM legislation and flexibility in private labeling our services, the majority of the industry's largest companies turn to V12 Group for prospect email marketing.

Use social media attributes as a means to drive engagement into the social sphere

Social networking has become an essential part to creating and adding value to franchises and attracting possible franchisees. With close to 250 million users networking and socializing online, using outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, franchises are starting to adopt this fresh marketing perspective to acquire the connections needed to spread a franchise's marketing message and encourage more interaction and inquiries from potential franchisees.

• In addition to our standard Consumer Database information, such as demographic, lifestyle, behavioral and channel data (email address, postal address, cell phone, landline phone), V12 Group also contains social media attributes. These social media attributes include social memberships (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), social graphs to identify "social influencers" and online psychographic data points. This will enable marketers to drive relevant campaigns offline, online, through email and into the social sphere.

Franchisee marketing tactics that address the shift away from mass media

E-channels are taking the lead in transforming the traditional mass media landscape. Social media and email marketing are replacing traditional marketing elements such as direct mail, and newspaper advertising with targeted email campaigns and social media branding.

Marketing today, more than ever, is about relevance. Adopting e-channels allows for targeted campaigns and messaging, measurable results, and a lower cost medium compared to traditional mass media.

V12 Group's email marketing is a cost effective way for franchisees to directly communicate with a targeted audience.

• V12 Group is one of the direct marketing industry's proven full-service provider for prospect email marketing. As a result of our infrastructure, 75+ million opt-in email database, consistent results, stringent adherence to CAN-SPAM legislation and flexibility in private labeling our services, the majority of the industry's largest companies turn to V12 Group for prospect email marketing.

Using V12 Group's social media attributes, franchisees can acquire the connections needed to spread a marketing message and encourage more inquiries from audiences.

• In addition to our standard Consumer Database information, such as demographic, lifestyle, behavioral and channel data (email address, postal address, cell phone, landline phone), V12 Group also contains social media attributes. These social media attributes include social memberships (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), social graphs to identify "social influencers" and online psychographic data points. This will enable marketers to drive relevant campaigns offline, online, through email and into the social sphere.