Nemo Swimming, the North East-based private swimming lesson company, is realising its national scale-up ambitions by launching a UK-wide franchise programme.
Nemo Swimming was founded by swimming industry entrepreneurs Phillip Groom and Theresa Nicolson. It provides a complete pathway of swimming lessons for parents and their babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers and older children.
Having proven their business model by growing the company to cover twelve locations in Tyne and Wear, Phillip and Theresa are now expanding Nemo Swimming to the rest of the UK by selling their successful business model to franchisees.
Nemo Swimming has been supported by strategic brand and digital agency Unwritten Creative, which has worked with it to create buyer personas to help clearly identify customers and potential franchisees. Buyer Personas allowed both parties to better understand the needs of the company’s customers and future franchisees, and how to communicate with them.
One important aspect of Nemo Swimming lessons that Unwritten’s Buyer Persona process revealed was the significance of lessons as a social activity for new mothers, who often see this as an opportunity for interaction with other parents, which adds value on top of the educational benefits of the tuition itself. In addition to this Unwritten creative is also providing Nemo Swimming with a state-of-the-art website.
Phillip and Theresa are offering potential franchisees the benefit of their 10 years’ experience working in the business, the opportunity to own and operate their own businesses, the ability to set their own work and family life balance, a proven and successful business model, and the benefit of Nemo Swimming’s marketing and branding activity.
Phillip Groom said: “Setting up your own business can be daunting, many people want to be their own boss, but don’t always know where to start. Nemo Swimming’s new franchise scheme can solve this problem. Working with Unwritten has allowed us to understand how to best connect with and support both customers and franchisees. Our scheme is ideal for motivated people who want to run their own business and guide parents and children through a complete pathway of learn to swim, in a safe and supportive environment.”
Theresa Nicolson said: “We have designed our franchise system to provide everything someone needs to start their own successful swimming business based on our model. We provide franchisees with comprehensive training and support, their own exclusive territory, help to launch and monitor their business during the start-up phase, ongoing marketing and sales promotion initiatives, an operating manual to help them day to day, and teacher training and support.”
Amy Mooney, Director of Unwritten Creative, said: “We are delighted to support Nemo Swimming. Phillip and Theresa have developed a fantastic business which is now ready totake on franchisees. We used buyer personas to look at the Nemo customer, and potential franchisees, in depth. This gave us all an excellent insight into what parents want when considering swimming lessons for their child, and importantly how that requirement changes as their child grows. This level of understanding will prove invaluable to the new franchisee, allowing them to quickly get to grips with the customers they need to attract.”