After 19 years in the radio-sales business, 40-year-old Stephen Facenda decided to start fresh and open an ad agency. He had saved $100,000 for expenses, overhead and whatever else he might need to jump-start his venture. He then set out to win business through the relationships he had spent years cultivating in the Philadelphia area.
But he didn’t invest in his own logo, talent or infrastructure. Instead he joined ViaMark, a local ad agency on the east coast, as the owner of a franchise. Working independently, he paid an annual and monthly franchise fee, much like a Denny’s or McDonald’s franchise owner. But unlike the fast-food chains, he didn’t buy into the brand. “Nobody knows Viamark,” he said.
Instead, the franchise gave him access to infrastructure and automated billing services — the “systematic, boring stuff I don’t want to think about,” he said. He was also gaining remote creative and media-buying resources to tap into — for an extra cost, on an as-needed basis — as well as Viamark case studies.
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