Kraus Will Lead the Financial Service Provider’s Marketing Initiatives
Ali Kraus is the new vice president of marketing at Benetrends Financial, a financial services company that provides business owners with funding solutions. She will lead the financial service company’s marketing initiatives. To this new role, Kraus brings years of brand awareness, social media marketing, franchise development marketing, digital marketing strategy, and public relations skills. Kraus was recently the director of franchise marketing at Entrepreneur Media.
“I’m excited to join the Benetrends family with Rocco Fiorentino, Eric Schechterman, and Michael Minitelli. I have a passion for the franchise industry, marketing, and events and look forward to the opportunities ahead as the preferred vendor of the International Franchise Association (IFA),” Kraus said. In Kraus’ view, “Benetrends is a company that changes the lives of franchisees, builds entrepreneurs, and supports families on their journey to creating something bigger and better for their lives through franchising.”
As vice president of marketing, Kraus looks forward to learning even more about Benetrends and looking at it from a new perspective. With the marketing opportunities that come as the IFA’s preferred vendor, Kraus believes that she “came at the perfect time to be a part of that! I also look forward to building a marketing team here at Benetrends to support our new initiatives and tell the Benetrends story.”
Regarding Kraus’ new role, Schechterman, chief development officer of Benetrends, said, “As a company, we’ve committed ourselves to growing our brand beyond expectations. With our growth and recent acquisitions, it takes talented individuals like Ali to drive an effort of this magnitude.” He praises Kraus for her passion for franchising and marketing and believes she will help keep Benetrends on the track for continued growth.
From Teacher to Franchise Pro
Kraus started her professional career as a teacher for students with autism in 2011 before switching into marketing and franchising. “I always say getting into franchising was a beautiful accident because I started my new marketing career as the director of events at Celebree School after meeting the CEO through a good friend,” Kraus said. Kraus joined the preschool franchisor’s marketing team as it went through a full re-brand and launched the franchise opportunity in 2019. “I was blessed to be a part of that milestone,” she adds. For entrepreneurs looking to get into franchising, Kraus suggests getting involved “with the industry by attending events, traveling, networking, going out of your way to meet new people, and keeping up with LinkedIn for news and everything franchising.”
Kraus is a Certified Franchise Executive, a member of the Women’s Franchise Committee and serves as the IFA’s Women’s Franchise Network Chair at the Baltimore Chapter. She is also the assistant coach for the Baltimore Ravens cheerleading program and was a ProBowl cheerleader for that football team in 2019. Kraus earned a Bachelor of Applied Science with a focus on elementary education and special education from Towson University.