About Us

Franchise Elevator PR

Whether it’s educating potential franchisees on the franchise industry’s hottest invest new franchise brand or to drive more customers to your existing locations; earned media and influencer coverage plays a pivotal role in elevating the growth of an emerging brands.

With over a decade of experience in understanding the mind of the emerging franchisor, Franchisor Elevator PR genuinely understands the proper approach to take when inventing a new franchisor category, working with a founder directly,  coaching a brand who has never utilized PR before or helping brands get to their next stage of growth.

Just Like You Do, Franchising Is In Our Blood

Started by the founders of Fishman Public Relations, Franchise Elevator PR was born out of a major need: for emerging brands to be able to experience the power of PR.

Just like our sister agency, Franchise Elevator PR’s mission goes beyond simply generating media coverage and influencer buzz for our franchise brand clients. Rather, we firmly believe our results achieve a higher purpose:

Franchise Elevator’s mission is to increase the number of small business owners and the success of entrepreneurs throughout North America.

Every time we secure a story or positive influencer pickup, it can and does lead to positive outcomes for the brands we work with. Earned coverage is often the catalyst for a prospect taking a leap in their franchise ownership journey or for a customer experiencing your brand for the first time.

Elevating Emerging Brands

Over the years of working with emerging franchisors, Franchise Elevator PR has perfected a model that uses a mix of business and consumer-facing PR strategies to elevate your brand to the next stage of franchise growth.

Just like at Fishman Public Relations, our team digs deep to learn the backstories, key messages and differentiators of the brands we work with. At Franchise Elevator PR, we’re used to working directly with the founders or with a small team! When our clients roll up their sleeves and jump right into execution mode, we do too. With this never-say-die attitude, we help our emerging franchisor clients reach their franchise sales and consumer brand awareness objectives in spite of their larger competitors.

Leadership

Brad Fishman, CEO

Brad Fishman, CEO

As one of the most well-connected individuals in the franchise industry, Brad has spent more than 20 years helping franchise systems develop franchisee lead generation and consumer awareness campaigns that help them achieve their desired growth.

Sherri Fishman

Sherri Fishman, President

Sherri is a seasoned PR executive and agency owner who has devoted her life's work to providing custom franchise PR services. Since co-founding Fishman PR in 1991, Sherri has led a talented staff to grow Fishman PR into the nation's top franchise lead generation PR agency. Today, she spends the majority of her time in the trenches at Franchise Elevator PR, growing it into the best emerging brands’ PR firm in franchising.

Debra Vilchis, Partner

Debra Vilchis, Partner

With over 20 years’ experience in franchise PR/content marketing and a journalism background, Debra oversees direction of the agency’s integrated campaigns, leads our leaders and builds operational systems and best practices to keep Franchise Elevator PR on top of its game in franchising. She’s also our agency’s lead crisis communications specialist.

Zack Fishman, Chief Growth Officer

Since joining Franchise Elevator PR in 2019, Zack has been the face of Franchise Elevator PR’s business development efforts by leading the sales process, speaking at industry conferences and co-hosting his podcast, Modrn Business. Additionally, Zack is key contact for vendor relationships in both the franchise and public relations industries.

Cody

Cody O’Hara, Vice President

As the Vice President at Franchise Elevator PR, I take great pride in leading a team of talented publicists who work hard everyday to grow America’s emerging franchise brands. As your franchise business and consumer focused PR experts, we have all the resources and passion to help take your brand to the next level. With years under my belt in Franchise PR and in the TV news industry, I am excited to bring my insight to you and put your PR needs into action. My career has taken me out west, to the south, and even to Capitol Hill. I have covered and led strategy on every topic from politics, weather, business, and breaking news. On the personal side, I grew up in Kentucky, love my diverse neighborhood in Rogers Park on the north side of Chicago, and enjoy working alongside my Pomeranian and Standard Poodle.