ChoiceLocal, founded by CEO Joe Soltis in 2015, is the first and only digital marketing agency serving franchise systems and offering a money-back satisfaction guarantee. The company is a franchise marketing agency that services 50 franchise brands in 35 different industries; today, it is one of the fastest-growing companies in America. In fact, ChoiceLocal’s top-line numbers have gone up 1,207% in the last half-decade alone.
But it’s not about profits. For Soltis, what his business does is offer hope. He created a foundation that sponsored a home for a family through Habitat for Humanity. It provides bereavement support for children who have tragically lost family members, funds summer camps for kids, and helps build wells in poor villages without clean drinking water. In addition, it supports school meals for underprivileged children and provides funds to families struggling financially after a cancer diagnosis.
Further, Soltis’ aspirational goals are to support hospitals and schools for the poor of the world. For Soltis, his faith and helping others drives this work and meaning.
“We serve others. Franchisors and franchisees don’t select a partner because of what they do; they choose a partner because of how a business makes them feel. We’re about serving, listening, and exceeding their expectations. We do the same for our teammates, which most companies call employees,” said Soltis. “We care about each person and their dignity, goals, and happiness. I think that’s a big part of why we have such an incredible team. We won Top Workplace the last four years running, and it’s the only four years we’ve applied for the award.”
The ChoiceLocal Guarantee
To back up its no long-term contracts policy, ChoiceLocal instills ‘The ChoiceLocal Guarantee’, which offers a money-back assurance in the event of dissatisfaction, a phenomenon to which Soltis seems to be a stranger. The ChoiceLocal Guarantee has netted the firm colossal growth and a nearly 100% client retention rate. Additionally, ChoiceLocal is known as “The Top Performing Franchise Marketing Agency” after posting several successful testing results when matched with its competitors.
The firm focuses on ROI and real, measurable growth in its partners’ businesses. This focus translates into the average franchisee partner netting $15.54 for every $1 spent on marketing.
The Cherry on Top
ChoiceLocal has been the cause of up to 282% increase in new customer inquiries, which can create staffing problems because these franchises grow so fast with the company’s help. Soltis, who has a knack for seeing a need and serving the solution, took this as a sign to develop ‘ChoiceLocal Recruiter’. This recruitment system provides a 2x lift in quality job applicants while maintaining or improving hiring rates for franchisees. In addition, the new service improves close rates on leads, customer loyalty, referral and word of mouth sales, and job applicant hire rates, all at the same time.
The Benjamin Isaac Foundation
Soltis believes that care needs to remain the first priority in our professional and personal lives, and he maintains that moral needs to be followed through with actions.
Soltis lives with great purpose and significant meaning. After the tragic loss of his son Ben, Soltis created the Benjamin Issac Foundation. ChoiceLocal donates 10% of its profits to help those in need in honor of Ben’s life. The Foundation gives children worldwide nutrition, healthcare, education, safety, love, and faith.
The Foundation is already building water wells overseas and has plans to help fund a hospital in Africa.
Purpose Leads to Prosperity
With ChoiceLocal’s genuine mission making so much headway, Soltis believes that the good he and his team do in the world is the reason for his 96% client retention rate. In fact, its net promoter scores are higher than Mercedes, BMW, Samsung Galaxy, and John Deere. That is because it elevates care, love, and goodness – not profits – as its accurate measure of success.
“Profits are just a byproduct,” said Soltis. “I believe in leading with the heart – I sincerely love each and every person on our team and each and every partner and each and every person we are brought to help. My job, as CEO is help them find success and joy in their lives. All people are precious in the eyes of God, if I can serve them and give them not only hope for a better future but through our marketing services, our employment and our faith-based charitable giving to those in need, I can’t think of a better way to live a life.”
About ChoiceLocal
ChoiceLocal is a purpose-driven and results-focused digital marketing agency for franchisors and franchisees with the digital ecosystem of search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click marketing (PPC), social media marketing, remarketing, targeted display and mobile advertising, SMS and marketing automation, reputation management, employee, customer and franchisee retention, CRM integration and much more. They are a member of IFA (International Franchise Association), named on the Inc. 5000 list, and rated as a Top Workplace for the last four years. To find out more about their purpose-driven franchise marketing agency, please visit https://choicelocal.com/
