The Franchise Marketing Specialist Looks Forward to Working on the Franchisor Side of Franchising
Phoenix Franchise Brands, a franchisor of emerging service brands, has appointed Michael St. Jacques to serve as chief marketing officer. As CMO, he will oversee the marketing efforts for Phoenix’s franchise portfolio, which includes Fetch! Pet Care, Door Renew, Spray Foam Genie and Furry Land Mobile Grooming. The seasoned marketing pro brings more than three decades of experience to the position.
St. Jacques was familiar with Phoenix through his longstanding relationship with CEO Greg Longe, whose wife, Maria Longe, serves as president of the company. He described the Longes as “phenomenal folks to work with” and praised their ambitious goals for the company. St. Jacques plans to utilize his skills in brand strategy, marketing technology, thought leadership and sales to take Phoenix and its portfolio of service brands to the next level.
“Michael is an amazing talent to lead the charge on all marketing fronts,” Greg Longe says. “His unique approach to ‘ground-up’ development of marketing plans produces world-class results, and has already for several of our brands.”
St. Jacques’ background includes serving as co-founder with twin brother, Philip St. Jacques, of St. Jacques Marketing, providing marketing solutions for franchise brands. He said making the transition to franchisor is “new but very familiar at the same time.” He explained that he thinks of franchisees as clients because, as a franchisor, Phoenix has an obligation to assist them with their marketing efforts.
Marketing a Brand
In marketing a brand and facilitating its growth, St. Jacques said getting the business’s digital marketing, lead processing and other basics correct is essential. “If you don’t get the basics right, everything upstream or downstream – think of a sequence – isn’t going to be as effective as it needs to be.”
St. Jacques said storytelling is crucial to differentiating brands from competitors. “Getting the brand’s story into the marketplace is where the battle is fought and won,” he said. Whether the brand is established or mature, he said the power of marketing involves identifying demands for valuable services for people who are being underserved.
Embracing Franchisees
For individuals interested in franchise marketing, St. Jacques said embracing the franchisor and franchisee – by being available and accessible, and clearly communicating goals – is nonnegotiable.
St. Jacques’ career has included serving as senior vice president of marketing at Energybox, a global Internet of Things (IoT) company developing smart solutions for multi-site facility automation, control and efficiency management. During this tenure, he led the company’s repositioning, re-messaging and re-engagement efforts to drive growth. After St. Jacques Marketing was acquired by WorkWave in 2018, he maintained profit and loss responsibility for the technology business’s full spectrum digital internal agency until 2023.
About Phoenix Franchise Brands
With more than 130 years of combined franchise experience, Phoenix Franchise Brands is on a mission to help “those with an entrepreneurial spirit create a legacy for themselves, their families and the communities they serve.” The company has grown to more than 200 offices across the country, and lives by its core values of character, integrity, honesty, inclusivity and courage.
