Franchise marketing is the process and methods franchisors and franchisees use to grow their business. This type of marketing serves two purposes – to find new franchisees and to attract new customers on a local level.
What’s unique about a franchise is the relationship between the franchise owner and the franchisee. The two must work together to help each other succeed, and the marketing plan must be consistent and easy to replicate.
Digital marketing has become an essential element in the success of franchise marketing. Franchisors and franchisees depend on digital marketing because it’s affordable, efficient, and instantly reaches its target audience to increase sales and conversions.
Let’s look at 10 franchise marketing tips you can implement for growth and success.
Ten Tips and Ideas for Your Franchise Marketing Plan
Since you’re creating a strategy for you, your business, and your franchisees, your marketing plan serves multiple purposes. The best franchise marketing practices should focus on your goals of attracting customers and growing your franchise.
1. Establish clear brand guidelines.
Clear and concise brand guidelines are the foundation of a cohesive marketing strategy. Start with your brand overview – your mission, history, values, and vision. Franchisees need a clear idea of the brand identity.
Since the brand must be consistent across all platforms and locations, brand guidelines usually include your mission statement and operations instructions.
2. Know your target audience.
One of the most important aspects of creating an effective marketing plan is understanding who your target audience is. As a franchise, your marketing is dual purpose – customers and potential franchisees.
Not only are you targeting customers with various personalities and demographics, but you’re also targeting entrepreneurs and business professionals who may want to join your franchise. Who you invite into your company can affect your brand’s success.
3. Communicate your brand’s story.
Great storytelling is an essential marketing tool. Why? Because it makes you more authentic and trustworthy. You want customers to choose your business because of your story, not your prices.
Communicate your story and explain why you do what you do. Doing so builds connection and loyalty between you and your customers. Include your franchise brand story in all your marketing materials. Also, make sure your website and social media channels convey your story and showcase your values.
4. Optimize for local SEO.
A critical part of any marketing plan, including a franchise, is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO determines where your franchise ranks when people search for it.
One of the benefits of joining a franchise is that it's an already-established business and brand. Local marketing is the key to your franchisee's success. And since their success is your success, giving them the resources they need is crucial. Optimize your content and web pages for local search, utilize local-based landing pages, and create separate local business listings for each franchise location.
Read More: What are Local Search Ads?
5. Grow your social media presence.
Social media is a powerful and essential marketing channel. A strong online presence is crucial for building brand awareness and attracting quality franchisees. It also allows you to engage with customers and manage your reputation by responding to questions or complaints. Establishing a positive social media experience is vital for attracting new customers.
6. Use paid digital marketing.
Advertising allows your franchise to attract potential customers. From paid social media marketing to paid advertising, many online options exist to reach your target audience. Depending on your goals and target audience, individual franchise locations can implement paid marketing strategies nationally and locally. Paid digital marketing has highly targeted features so you can effectively pinpoint potential customers.
Read More: Why Hire a Digital Marketing Agency
7. Create a content marketing plan.
Content marketing is an essential part of any marketing plan. But it’s not solely about blogging. Today, content marketing includes infographics, videos, testimonials, case studies, podcasts, user-generated content, social media marketing, eBooks, and email marketing. Content positions your brand as an authority while providing value to customers and improving the consumer experience.
For content marketing, it’s important to define goals, create a content plan, and track everything. As with other parts of the business, the franchisor typically provides the strategy, tools, resources, and plan for content – and the franchisee executes the plan.
Read More: 6 Reasons to Hire a Professional Content Writer
8. Start an email marketing campaign.
About four billion people use email, making it another excellent way to target your customer base. The key is to generate a valuable list of contacts. One way to effectively generate contacts is through digital marketing measures like paid ads and social media advertising effectively generate contacts. The offers you make to your email list should be relevant and compelling.
9. Incorporate AI.
Since artificial intelligence is already on the rise, incorporate it into your franchise marketing plan now – before it becomes a must-have marketing feature. One of the easiest and most popular ways to implement AI is to use a chatbot on your website.
After business hours, a chatbot is available to answer customer concerns and questions. According to ThriveMyWay, a digital marketing resource, businesses report that using chatbots has increased sales by at least 65%!
10. Adopt marketing automation.
Marketing automation uses software to automate repetitive tasks like social media posting and email marketing. Not only is automation more efficient, but it also allows you to target your audience with highly personalized content and messaging.
Bottom Line
When combined with digital marketing, franchise marketing will boost brand awareness, increase sales, strengthen customer relationships, and provide value to them.
If you’re ready to take your franchise marketing plan to the next level, contact the experts at Impact Group Marketing. Our digital marketing professionals are ready to help you make an impact with web design, digital branding, SEO, digital advertising, social media marketing, content production, and email marketing. Contact us to learn more about our services, and let’s get started!