I'm The Blog

The holiday season is here, and with it comes a long list of shopping needs for work, home, and holiday gatherings. Now’s the perfect time to grab a Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership for $65, and with it, you’ll receive a $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* to get started. Whether you’re looking to stock the office or prepare for family festivities, a Gold Star Membership has you covered for the holidays and beyond.

This isn’t just any membership. With access to more than 500 Costco warehouses nationwide, Costco’s Gold Star Membership provides access to high-quality grocery and household items, plus a full range of seasonal holiday decor and specialty baked goods. And with the $45 Digital Costco Shop Card*, you have a head start on your shopping list.

Planning a festive office party? You’ll find plenty of holiday-ready items like treats, snack platters, and beautifully crafted seasonal decor. Whether for business or home, you’ll find terrific value on quality products.

As a Costco Gold Star Member, your benefits extend beyond the warehouse. Enjoy member-only fuel savings that are easy on the budget with the Costco Gas Station, which is ideal for business leaders who need to keep transportation costs down. Plus, you’ll have access to the Costco Tire Center and pharmacy, which can help simplify both business and personal tasks.

You can also shop on the Costco website or app, giving you the flexibility to order on the go. This is especially helpful during the busy holiday season when time is at a premium. And with options for delivery and pickup, it’s easy to stock up without interrupting your day.

Don’t miss a Costco 1-year Gold Star Membership with a $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* for $65 through December 22.

Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* – $65

Get It Here

StackSocial prices subject to change.

*Services are provided to Costco members by third parties.

*To receive a Digital Costco Shop Card, you must provide a valid email address at the time of sign-up. If you elect not to provide a valid email address, a Digital Costco Shop Card will not be emailed. Valid only for nonmembers for their first year of membership. Limit one per household. Nontransferable and may not be combined with any other promotion. New members will receive their Digital Costco Shop Card by email within 2 weeks of sign-up. Costco Shop Cards are not redeemable for cash, except as required by law. Digital Costco Shop Cards are not accepted at Gas Stations, Car Washes, or Food Court Kiosks. A Costco membership is $65 a year. An Executive Membership is an additional $65 upgrade fee a year. Each membership includes one free Household Card. May be subject to sales tax. Costco accepts all Visa cards, as well as cash, checks, debit/ATM cards, EBT and Costco Shop Cards. Departments and product selection may vary.

Maybe you have a techie on your shopping list who could use an upgrade. Or maybe you need a low-cost, reliable laptop to take on the road. No matter who it’s for, you’ll pay a lot less than you normally would for an Apple machine.

For a limited time and with limited quantities, you can get your hands on a grade-A refurbished Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ for just $249.97 (typically $999). This means it should arrive in near-mint condition with only the possibility of light cosmetic blemishes.

Enjoy a crisp 13.3″ widescreen display with a 1440×900 resolution, perfect for presentations, video calls, or streaming on the go. And with a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor, you’ll experience smooth performance for multitasking, browsing, and running essential applications.

Weighing in at under three pounds, this MacBook Air is designed to slip into any carry-on, backpack, or tote for easy travel. Plus, it boasts up to 12 hours of battery life, making it a perfect choice for long flights, busy workdays, or keeping up with productivity away from the desk.

This model comes equipped with 128GB SSD storage—enough to keep important files, presentations, and media in one place. The Intel HD Graphics 6000 ensures smooth graphics for video calls, streaming, and more. And you can stay connected no matter where you are with Wi-Fi capabilities, while Bluetooth support lets you transfer files seamlessly from other devices.

This low price makes the refurbished MacBook Air 13.3″ an outstanding gift for anyone who values quality tech, whether a student, frequent traveler, or team member in need of a reliable laptop.

Or, if you’re simply looking for a work-ready device that fits in any bag, this lightweight MacBook Air could be your perfect travel partner.

Get a grade-A refurbished Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ for just $249.97 (typically $999) while it’s still available.

Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ (2017) 1.8GHz i5 8GB RAM 128GB SSD Silver (Refurbished) – $249.97

Get It Here

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Expanding your franchise concept internationally is a challenging decision. It can offer tremendous growth opportunities beyond your current home market. However, doing so prematurely can put undue stress on your system as you try to replicate your U.S. operations for a culturally different demographic while also managing domestic expansion and support.

Before expanding to new international markets, ensure that your business concept is thoroughly developed, all intellectual property is registered and trademarked, marketing materials and manuals are translated, and you have a local team available in the targeted markets to assist with launching and troubleshooting.

Inexperienced franchisors should avoid rushing into international expansion without conducting thorough research and laying the proper groundwork. International units can be more challenging than domestic ones due to travel distances, language barriers and cultural differences. It’s essential to ensure that your products or services are needed or wanted in your target international market.

So, if it’s this challenging, why not just stick with growing domestic units and skip the international headaches? For one, the ability to introduce your products or services to new, untapped markets can be a significant revenue boost, especially if you’re running out of territories to develop domestically. Another plus is that many foreign consumer markets are eager for U.S. concepts. Best of all, American franchises are usually viewed as sound investments because of the proven systems and training they offer.

Related: This Industry Is Making More Money Than Hollywood and the Music Industry Combined — Here’s How Your Business Can Get Involved

Successful franchising always depends on tapping into expert advice and assistance, but nowhere is that more important than expanding into international markets. You need to engage with franchising and legal experts who specialize in international franchising and have knowledge of the countries you’re targeting. They will have a network of colleagues with intimate knowledge of the laws, regulations and political and business climate of the markets you’re exploring. Before you invest in an international program, these experts can help you narrow down the countries or regions where your concept will work.

Some other key considerations for international franchise expansion include:

• The all-important political and economic stability of the target county.
• The country’s franchise regulations or laws. Most countries have some form of business regulations to protect their citizens, but only a handful have specific franchise registration requirements that must be complied with.
• Assess the relative ease or complexity of bringing products into the country. You’ll need to set up appropriate logistics for certain proprietary items to get them there. Or, if you plan to source products locally, you’ll need local connections to help establish a reliable local supply chain.
• How the royalty and ad fund fees will be transferred back to the U.S. in an efficient manner. Remember, you’ll also be dealing with an exchange rate, transfer fees and local banking regulations.
• Being able to find the right partners who are financially equipped to expand your concept beyond one unit. Several different legal structures can be used, from directly granting a franchise to an individual or group to setting up a separate entity via a Master Franchise Agreement for each country, where your master franchisee grants the rights to individual franchises and supports those local franchise units.

  Once again, this is where your trusted advisors can advise you on the best structure for your concept and the country it’s in. Getting to know your partners is essential. You need to be comfortable with them as people and well-informed about their other partners and businesses they may own. Both parties need to follow transparency laws that require disclosure of all entities they are associated with, their owners and the people making the decisions. You need to know where the money is being invested in your concept.is coming from.

Side note: It also goes without saying that the same due diligence and expert support are needed when a concept comes from another country or region to the U.S. as they are for U.S.-based concepts going abroad. International franchisors will also need to find trusted local franchise advisors and lawyers to help them transition from a national or regional concept to an international one as they enter the U.S. market.

Where to expand first?

Canada has long been the first choice for many U.S. franchisors’ international expansion because of its proximity and because English is the first language for most of the country. But don’t be fooled into thinking Canadian culture and business environment don’t differ from the U.S. Similarly, Mexico is often the first foray for U.S. franchisors looking to expand into Latin America due to its geographic proximity, but language and cultural differences also abound.

For example, let’s say you’re expanding your concept to Latin America; not only does the Spanish in that region vary across countries, but it’s also important to be aware that Spanish is not the only language spoken in the region. In fact, in South America alone, the number of Spanish speakers exceeds that of Portuguese speakers by just a few million people.

Another example is that a franchisor looking to expand in the European Union cannot assume that a single approach fits all 27 member countries. In fact, the region has 24 official languages, and each country has its own culture and governing rules.

So, as part of the planning for international expansion, when preparing both your documents and your training materials, don’t rely on your high school foreign language skills or Google Translate. Not even the latest in AI is likely to be fully reliable in this case. This is when utilizing actual human resources in each market you’re expanding into is critical. They will know the regional vocabulary and the idioms used so that you don’t include embarrassing mistakes in your materials. The extra step in doing so is also a sign of respect; it shows you are culturally sensitive and professional.

Related: Tips and Strategies for Navigating Cultural Differences in International Business

It’s a small world

With advances in technology, including video conferencing, messaging apps, AI-powered communications tools, and more, the world is getting smaller, and the ability to bring services to people beyond your borders is, in many ways, easier than ever. There is financial as well as personal gratification in bringing your business to another culture, but it comes with an all-in investment of time and resources to do it right. International development is not something you can dabble in; it is a serious commitment.

Of course, as we’ve always been told, nothing worthwhile comes without hard work. That hard work must be supported by a team of experts, both internal and external to the franchisor organization, who can effectively implement a well-thought-out international game plan.

In the week following the U.S. presidential election, X alternative Bluesky gained over a million new users, most of whom live in the U.S., Canada, and Britain, according to a Bluesky spokesperson.

The influx of new users propelled Bluesky to a new milestone on Wednesday: The platform crossed the 15 million user mark. One month ago, it had 12 million users. Bluesky was at the top of the iPhone free apps list on Tuesday, ahead of Threads, ChatGPT, and Google.

According to the New York Times, Bluesky is benefitting from X users leaving the platform due to its owner Elon Musk , and the results of the U.S. presidential election.

But the Bluesky is no stranger to growth following changes on X. In October it obtained 1.2 million new users in two days after X announced that the block button would no longer block someone from seeing public posts.

Related: X Is Making a Controversial Change, and One of Its Rivals Gained 1.2 Million New Users in 2 Days

Meta’s Threads also appears to be drawing more users; it passed 175 million users in July and 275 million in November, the company says.

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky began as an independent research project within then-Twitter in 2019 to create an open standard for social media platforms so that apps could work between them.

It became its own company in 2022.

Bluesky adds a .bsky.social to the end of your user handle. So if your name is “example” the user handle @example.bsky.social would be yours.

Who owns Bluesky?

Bluesky is mainly owned by CEO Jay Graber and the Bluesky team. The company’s board consists of Jabber/XMPP inventor Jeremie Miller, Mike Masnick; and Kinjal Shah.

What is the difference between Twitter and Bluesky?

Though Bluesky may look a lot like X, it gives users more choice. When you sign up, for example, you can choose to host your data with Bluesky or with a custom server of your own.

Related: Jack Dorsey Explains Bluesky Exit: ‘Literally Repeating All the Mistakes We Made’ at Twitter

Bluesky users also have more control over what they see when they’re scrolling. They can access feeds created by other users like “Science,” “Art,” and “News.”

The platform currently does not have ads.

“We believe that there must be better strategies to sustain social networks that don’t require selling user data for ads,” Bluesky wrote in a blog post on July 2023.

Another difference: Bluesky’s limit for posts is 300 characters, which is slightly more than X’s 280 characters for free users.

What does a post look like on Bluesky compared to a post on X?

This is what a recent post from Mark Cuban looks like on Bluesky:

Hello Less Hateful World

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 8:37 AM

This is one of Cuban’s recent posts on X:

How to drive @X users crazy

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 12, 2024

Is Bluesky still invite-only?

Bluesky was invite-only until February when it opened up to all. The platform amassed 3 million users when it was invitation-only, with 800,000 added on its first day going public.

Related: I Tried the ‘Anti-AI App’ That Suddenly Drew Half a Million Artists Away From Instagram

Across the globe, a new wave of leadership is emerging — 49% percent of startups are founded by bold and resilient women driven to make a significant impact on the world. On this episode of Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch, our board of investors hears pitches from women founders representing three innovative companies in industries ranging from apparel to health to tech.

“I started my VC career by investing in women entrepreneurs,” notes investor Pocket Sun, founder of SoGal Ventures. “I am so excited to see who is going to share their brilliance with us.”

Like all episodes, contestants have just 60 seconds to pitch their business. See what happens as they take their shot at earning life-changing money on an all-new Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch!

Related: Epic Elevator Pitch Disaster Takes a Shocking Twist You Have to See!

Season 12, Episode 5 Board of Investors

Season 12, Episode 5 Entrepreneurs

• Vicky and Charisse Pasche, co-founders of Dapper Boi, an all-gender, body-inclusive, online apparel line with a mission to inspire people to find confidence in being their authentic selves
• Carli Abram, founder of Pollynation Apothecary, eczema-friendly, holistic, plant-based hair, scalp and skin therapy
• Harmony Oswald, founder of Lucy, a pre-lawyer legal platform empowering small-to-mid-size business owners to earn, protect and attract more money into their companies

Related: Did This Entrepreneur Find the Holy Grail for Burning Fat? Find Out What the Elevator Pitch Judges Think.

How to Watch

Season 12 of Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is presented by Amazon Business. New episodes stream on Wednesdays on Entrepreneur.com and EntrepreneurTV. Follow Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch on Facebook, YouTube and IGTV.

A year or so ago, not that many people had heard of Louisa Schneider’s ear piercing brand, even those who’d actually gotten studded or hooped by its licensed nurses. But she pulled a dramatic move to change all that, and today if you have a tween (even a body part to bedeck), you likely know her company’s name: Rowan. It’s not just safe; it’s the cool place to go.

Schneider punctured the market, so to speak, by treating piercing as a medical procedure. It was a novel idea in 2017, and perhaps obvious in retrospect, but it took failing and pivoting to find the right business model, one that would let her brand shine like the hypoallergenic jewelry it sells. Today, by all accounts Rowan has found its groove. With 400 employees, it’s on track this year to have 65 stores and an annual run rate of $100 million in revenue. All of this made Schneider one of 20 finalists on our Entrepreneur of 2024 list of innovative leaders.

So you started Rowan in 2017 as a niche concierge piercing service in New York City, where nurses would go to people’s homes and do the honors. How did the nurse thing come about?

I was working at a hedge fund, looking at retailers like piercing companies that were doing well in malls. Around that time my daughter was born and I thought, I’m not going to take her where I went as a 12-year-old. My parents were both doctors. My sister’s an ob-gyn. All my aunts are nurses. And they said, “Oh, we pierce patients’ ears all the time.” That’s when a light bulb went off and I realized that this is a medical procedure – and no surprise that a woman’s health care issue hasn’t been properly addressed yet. So I started really doing the research, and the rate of negative outcome was about 30%, if you can believe it, meaning an embedded earring back or an infection or a poor placement. And now we can reduce that rate to less than 1%.

Related: What Does it Mean to be an Entrepreneur and How Do I Get Started?

Fast forward to the end of 2022 when Rowan had kiosks in about 300 Target stores. What happened next?

Target gave us a tremendous amount of credibility where a nurse might be willing to forfeit a shift to come join Rowan and supplement her hospital work, which otherwise would have been a lot harder at the time. But our customers didn’t realize they were getting a Rowan piercing, they thought they were getting a Target piercing by a nurse. And so for me, who was building a brand, it didn’t work. I wasn’t going to be able to develop a profitable business doing that. And so we stepped away.

Was that a difficult decision?

Very very hard. A lot of sleepless nights. As I said, it’s really tough to build a branded experience in someone else’s four walls. And that wasn’t a shortcoming of Target. That was just the reality of the situation. It could have been anywhere. Target was a great partner. They’ve done beautifully bringing in well known, established fashion designers or even Starbucks, but in the case of a new company just starting, it’s challenging. So while a Target growth opportunity looks really interesting to investors and in an Excel spreadsheet, that can oftentimes be very misleading when you talk to the human beings involved like your customers and employees. After I did that, I realized focusing on building Rowan’s own studies made more sense.

So, starting in 2023, how did you grow your brand to 65 stores this year and an annual run rate of $100 million?

We already had a few Rowan studios that were performing well. And we were easily able to open in cities where we had a Target presence and already had trained nurses that wanted to work with Rowan. At this rate, we are pretty much growing 100% a year. It’s just been a lot of pivoting.

Rowan sells earrings and after products too. Any new innovations there in the last year?

This is one I’m excited about. So many girls play sports and they get their ears pierced and hop on a soccer field and they have a big problem. So last year we introduced our sports studs — soft earrings that you can put in and you can play hard wearing them. Having spent a lot of time on fields myself, I know that it’s a real pain point and when it happens, it’s pretty traumatic.

Now that people know they’re getting pierced at Rowan, how do you bring in more customers? What’s your secret sauce?

When you go back to third grade with your ears pierced, everyone notices and they ask, “Where did you go?” So we make sure that every customer who leaves feels like they had a five-star experience. And that pays for itself in word of mouth marketing.

Related: I’ve Worked With Dozens of Highly Successful — But Unfulfilled — Entrepreneurs. Here’s How I Helped Them Find Their Purpose.

For busy business professionals, managing PDFs efficiently is crucial. And if you work with them, you know how challenging they can be to manipulate.

PDF Extra Ultimate offers all the essential tools to make it happen. Right now, you can get lifetime access for only $79.99 (regularly $239) using code HOLIDAY20 at checkout. With a 4.5-star rating on Trustpilot, PDF Extra Ultimate has become a go-to solution for professionals who need a reliable, feature-rich PDF editor.

PDF Extra Ultimate is designed to streamline your workflow and includes everything you need for professional PDF management. This software’s familiar interface and user-friendly design make it easy to work across multiple PDFs, add annotations, combine files, or fill in forms digitally.

PDF Extra Ultimate is packed with features that simplify document management. You can easily edit text and images, adjust text styles, fonts, and colors, customize images, and even add shapes or drawings.

Are you looking to fill out forms more easily? This tool lets you digitally sign forms or documents, apply stamps, and quickly add checkmarks. You can rest assured that your sensitive documents are protected with passwords, timestamps, and digital certificates.

You can also merge files, rearrange pages, and extract specific sections effortlessly. And you can add comments, highlight text, and insert shapes for a more interactive PDF experience.

The software is designed for versatility. It allows you to convert PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more and even utilize OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to make scanned PDFs searchable and editable. For business professionals who rely on PDFs daily, these features save time and add a layer of convenience and security to every project.

Don’t miss this price that’s the lowest online right now.

Get lifetime access to PDF Extra Ultimate for only $79.99 (regularly $239) using code HOLIDAY20 at checkout for a limited time.

PDF Extra Ultimate: Lifetime Subscription – $79.99

Get It Here!

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Usually, franchises think of video as just a tool for ads or social media clips. But video can go much deeper — it can drive franchise development, support franchisees on the ground, and keep your brand consistent across locations. Here are four video types that most franchises overlook, and skipping them might mean missing out on some serious growth opportunities.

Related: Considering franchise ownership? Get started now to find your personalized list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.

Franchise development videos

When you’re recruiting new franchisees, another polished pitch just isn’t going to cut it. What prospects really want to see are real success stories. That’s where franchise development videos shine — by focusing on actual transformation.

Think about it: 92% of consumers prefer brands that make their ads feel like stories. Imagine a video where a franchisee shares their journey from feeling unsure to building a successful business, all with your brand’s support. Seeing real people on screen makes it relatable. Potential franchisees can picture themselves in these stories, and that makes them more likely to trust and join your brand. Missing out on this type of video? You could be missing a big chance to make an emotional connection with future franchisees.

Related: Want to Become a Franchisee? Run Through This Checklist First.

Customer testimonials

Customer testimonials are gold for trust-building, but many franchises aren’t taking full advantage of them. Most franchisees don’t have easy access to a library of these testimonials, which means they’re losing out on a powerful tool to build credibility in their markets.

Here’s the reality: 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a friend’s recommendation (BrightLocal). Imagine if every franchisee could share testimonials from real customers in their area. That’s a game-changer. New customers would be way more likely to choose your brand after seeing locals rave about it.

Without these videos, franchisees miss out on a simple but effective way to boost credibility, keep brand messaging consistent, and increase sales.

Related: Find Out Which Brands Have Ranked on the Franchise 500 for Longest, Earning a Spot In our New ‘Hall of Fame’

Training videos

One of the biggest challenges in franchising is keeping the brand experience consistent across all locations. Since each franchisee runs things independently, a standardized training process is a game-changer—and training videos make it happen.

Training videos create a unified way to onboard and educate teams. Instead of each franchisee scrambling to come up with their own methods, a shared video library sets the standard for everything from operations to brand values.

Skipping these? You’re leaving franchisees to figure things out on their own, which leads to inconsistent customer experiences. With these videos, you save time, reduce training costs, and build a team that’s in sync on brand standards—resulting in better customer experiences and a stronger brand overall.

Related: Learn the Secrets of Running 20+ Businesses as a Side Hustle — Finding and Nurturing Your ‘STIC People’

Meet the team videos

Consumers today crave authenticity. They want to feel connected to the people behind a brand. In fact, people are 2.4 times more likely to view user-generated content as authentic compared to brand-created content (Stackla). Meet the Team videos introduce the real people in your business, helping to humanize the brand.

For franchisees, it builds a sense of community. They get to “meet” the leadership team and support staff, which creates a more personal connection. And for customers, knowing who’s behind the brand builds trust, making them more likely to choose your business over a faceless competitor.

Without this personal touch, franchisees and customers might see the brand as just another corporate machine. Meet the Team videos help your brand come across as approachable and relatable—qualities that help you build loyal relationships over time.

Related: See The Entrepreneur 2024 Top Franchise Supplier List

Why video matters for franchise growth

Video doesn’t just grab attention — it drives action. It’s a huge boost for franchise brands aiming to attract new franchisees and local customers. Using the right types of videos makes your brand memorable, relatable, and trusted across every location.

Brands that embrace video aren’t just “marketing” — they’re connecting with people. From storytelling that attracts franchisees, to testimonials that build local trust, to training videos that ensure consistency, video can fuel growth across the board. Don’t miss out on these opportunities. Start creating story-driven content that connects, converts, and helps your entire franchise network grow.

Related: Don’t Have Time to Start a Business? This Doctor, Lawyer and Now Part-Time Franchisee Would Disagree.

As generations move into different life stages, the way we market to them evolves. It’s a unique challenge to consider how to attract different generations of customers as purchasers of our products and services.

The up-and-coming generation of 12-to-27-year-olds, also known as Generation Z, are changing the way companies do business. We must understand that this generation embraces different values from those who came before them and favors alternative trends. For continued success, businesses should prepare to meet the needs of this demographic cohort as it grows and changes.

As Gen Zers enter adulthood, they are making purchasing decisions that are having an impact on the bottom line. This means it’s time franchisors examine the ways they can adjust their practices to accommodate this market segment. Here are specific ways businesses can appeal to Gen Z:

Focus on authenticity

It’s not enough just to say you do or stand for something—you must put it into practice in a way that is transparent and authentic to your consumers. Gen Z, in particular, favors brands with strong values that show through in customer reviews, digital marketing, social media and advertising, as well as through the brand’s actions in the real world.

For example, don’t just say you offer work-life balance and flexibility to potential employees. Show it on social media through posts highlighting how your organization’s benefits and programs support employees that are working parents. Emphasizing a supportive work environment that offers wellness programs can address this generation’s desire for a mental and physical health focus that’s supported by the brands they love. When a brand supports its workforce, it’s putting its words into action.

Stay at the forefront of tech

With a focus on convenience and speed, Gen Z is fully immersed in innovation and tech. Their digital-first approach means that companies need to place the same emphasis on social and digital development, making it a top priority. Mobile ordering, digital-tour scheduling, social media engagement, e-commerce and app integration are just a few of the things to focus on when marketing to Gen Z.

The ability to be nimble when it comes to advances in the tech space is a competitive advantage that can set a company apart in the eyes of consumers. Artificial intelligence, for example, is a key area to practice this type of adaptability. Stay open to all the developments that will propel your company forward in the eyes of a tech-savvy generation.

Mitigate risk

According to Emarketer’s Gen Z’s Path to Purchase report, Gen Z consumers conduct a lot of research before making purchasing decisions and are typically not impulse buyers. Their focus on risk awareness and mitigation efforts means providing enough information to make them feel comfortable with their buying decisions is essential.

Personalization of this experience is a huge factor in the purchasing journey of Gen Zers—they want a website that offers personalized recommendations in real time. And they’re more willing to share their data for this purpose. If a brand experience doesn’t meet their needs, they’re prepared to seek out others that will. Even though they are used to sharing data more readily, these consumers are still very privacy conscious. They’re more open to sharing data if they receive a reward like a discount or unlock more personalization features.Helping this set of consumers feel at ease with making a purchasing decision and sharing data is necessary to earn their business.

Take action in the community

Gen Z is big on community engagement on a large and small scale. They like to see a brand participating in sustainable sourcing and local partnerships to maximize its social impact while also doing good within the communities it serves.

Eco-friendliness and sustainability are two values that can attract a socially conscious Gen Z consumer and entrepreneur to your franchise brand. A company that says it values sustainability but has a high carbon footprint is not going to come across authentically to consumers willing to investigate. Make sure what you’re doing is in line with your brand values and not just something to make it look like you’re active in this space—discerning consumers can tell the difference.

At Kiddie Academy, we truly value our corporate social responsibility efforts—whether it’s seeding a community fund to help teachers during hard times or helping our franchise locations organize local fundraisers—and we share them loudly and proudly so customers and franchisees can see if their values align with ours.

As a franchisor marketing to a rising generation, you’re not just selling your product or service, you’re selling your brand. Make sure you are learning from and embracing what Gen Z finds important to amplify your business and grow your customer base.

The Federal Trade Commission banned businesses from writing and buying their own reviews in an August ruling. Now, it’s alleging that a customer review site, Sitejabber, published “misleading” ratings and reviews on behalf of the 130,000 businesses on its platform. The FTC’s proposed order would stop Sitejabber from “misrepresenting” customer ratings and reviews “in the future.”

The FTC’s complaint alleges that Sitejabber collected reviews at the point of sale, or before customers received or experienced a product or service. In one example, customers were asked to rate their overall shopping experience out of five stars and write something quickly directly after checking out.

Related: Do You Own Pyrex Measuring Cups? The FTC Might Send You a Check in the Mail

These quick ratings and reviews, or Instant Feedback Survey results, become part of a site’s profile on Sitejabber. The FTC says this could mislead people into thinking prior customers rated a business’s product or service highly when they were actually just rating the shopping experience.

“Presenting [Instant Feedback Survey] results as post-fulfillment reviews and ratings can mislead consumers into believing that a business’s high review count and high rating means thousands of customers have had positive experiences with the business’s products or services, when in fact the ratings and reviews displayed primarily reflected only customers’ experiences shopping on the business’s websites,” page four of the FTC complaint reads.

How to Avoid FTC Scrunity on Your Website Reviews

Businesses can avoid FTC scrutiny by making sure their Instant Feedback Survey ratings and reviews are unentangled from their product ratings and reviews — so customers clearly know what’s being rated.

This is one of the FTC’s first enforcement actions under its new rule.

“Along with our rule on fake reviews and testimonials, cases like this one show that we’ll act to stop all forms of deception in the review ecosystem.” FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director Samuel Levine stated.

The FTC’s earlier rule on fake reviews and testimonials stops businesses from buying or selling fake reviews, including AI-generated ones.

Related: Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp All ‘Engaged in Vast Surveillance’ to Earn Billions, According to the FTC