The People of Digital Marketing

Scaling Franchise Businesses Using Performance Marketing with Aren Johnstone - Episode #160

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Aren Johnstone is the President and Owner of Franchise Ramp, a leading marketing agency in the franchising industry that partners with the world's top fitness and wellness franchise brands. During his senior year of high school at the age of 18, Aren bypassed multiple full-ride college scholarships to purchase his first company, an ecommerce business. By 19, he ventured into marketing and software consulting, hiring his first employee. By the age of 20, his team had grown to five, and he co-founded an agency specializing in media buying for top ecommerce brands, overseeing more than $100M in ad spend.

In 2019, Aren joined Franchise Ramp to introduce cutting-edge marketing strategies from the Ecommerce world to the franchise industry. Since then, Franchise Ramp has served thousands of franchise locations and has been recognized on the Inc 5000 list for two consecutive years, achieving a notable #49 ranking in 2022. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and committed to developing products and businesses that address real-world challenges. 


  • Aren’s story of how he got started in business during his high school years by selling t-shirts and apparel in Tulsa and then by purchasing an online figure-staking store at 18 years old
  • Aren’s journey into Facebook advertising back in 2015
  • The specific challenges that come from marketing franchise businesses
  • The basics of “hyper-local” ad targeting
  • Ecomm vs franchising: the main differences in paid media strategies
  • The essential skills needed to be a great media buyer
  • The nuances behind high-performing performance creative (*now that’s a mouthful hehe)
  • Changes in performance marketing that brands need to be aware of


    • And more!

    Here’s the episode I mentioned about MasterMind groups, featuring Liz Scully - https://www.kennysoto.com/podcast/interview-liz-scully-could-a-mastermind-group-elevate-your-marketing-ep-14/


    You can connect with Aren via email here - [email protected]

    You can say hi on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aren-johnstone/

    You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/


    Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more.


    Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

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    The People of Digital MarketingBy Kenny Soto
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