The Franchise Marketer's Guide to Signal Over Noise

Aren Johnstone (Franchise Ramp) and Dan Wheeler (CMO, K9 Resorts) join Katherine for a direct conversation about what franchise marketers are actually measuring and whether it's doing anything useful. This episode centers on the gap between data collection and decision-making — and what it takes to close it inside a real franchise system.In this episode:Why "if it doesn't drive a decision, you don't need it" is the right test for your scorecardCash flowable CAC: a franchisee-friendly framework for understanding marketing payback that goes beyond ROASThe tornado vs. the funnel: how rethinking the customer journey changes what you measureBuilding one source of truth: what it really takes, and why consistent imperfection beats perfect paralysisWhy single-platform dependence is one of the biggest risks in franchise marketing right nowGuest: Aren Johnstone, CEO, Franchise RampAren leads a paid media and creative agency built specifically for franchise brands and franchisees — two of his partners are franchisees themselves. Franchise Ramp works with over 1,300 locations across 25+ brands, and Aren has spent seven years building the internal systems and tech stack to aggregate performance data across hundreds of disparate ad accounts. He knows the franchise data problem from the inside.Guest: Dan Wheeler, CMO, K9 Resorts Luxury Pet HotelDan came to pet care from a career in restaurant and hospitality franchising, and he's bringing the same rigor to K9 Resorts — a brand with 50 open locations and 150 in development. He's currently overseeing the build of a first-party data platform that ties reservation data, franchise-level P&L, and media performance into one place. His frameworks on franchisee communication and demand creation are the kind of thing you don't hear enough at franchise marketing conferences.Host: Katherine LeBlanc, Fractional CMO | Apollo CMOAre you a franchise brand leader working on a growth challenge?Katherine works with franchise brands as a Fractional CMO. Want to go deeper? 🌐 apollocmo.com ▶️ @MyPodcastHost on YouTube 🔗 linkedin.com/in/katherineleblanc 📩 [email protected]