Developing a Franchise Marketing Strategy for All Markets

Franchise marketing involves the research and advertising strategies your business uses to grow your franchise. This manifests in two forms:

• Marketing designed to acquire and retain customers. 
• Franchise development intended to sell more franchise locations. 

Your challenge: Create a robust, all-encompassing marketing strategy that maximizes the marketing potential for each location while maintaining brand consistency.  

Developing a franchise marketing strategy that works for all markets can be tricky, but not impossible. As a franchisor, you need to appeal to  both consumers and franchisees. You have to market at a broad corporate level and as individual locations at the same time. Start with a strong foundation, then work your way up. Here are some tips on how to achieve that. 

Establish and Strengthen Your Brand Identity 

A strong brand identity is necessary for any business, but this concept requires extra emphasis in the franchise and multi-location space. The appeal of becoming a franchisee is the allure of being your own boss and maintaining a certain level of autonomy while operating with the support of a much larger corporation. Therefore, each franchise location functions as a separate entity. This is true, but only to a certain extent. The reality is that while creativity and innovation should be encouraged, a franchisee still needs to remain true to the predominant brand identity. Therefore, you must create comprehensive brand guidelines that can be put in place and applied consistently across markets. You have the power to provide your franchisees with the tools they need to create effective marketing campaigns. 

Remain Competitive in the Digital Space  

Once you have the foundation laid for your brand, you can begin to implement it consistently across your corporate and brand locations. Achieve this by: 

• Designing an engaging, user-friendly website with a design layout and style that each franchise location must follow. 
• Publishing SEO-friendly content to rank higher in local searches and position your brand as an authority. 
• Targeting consumers throughout their research and conversion journey with PPC advertising. 

You can have a great website, but people might not find it without SEO or PPC. And you can’t implement those campaigns until your websites are up and running. These efforts work in tandem as part of your overall strategy.  

Gain Entry to the Local Market Through Social Media  

Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn are highly viable markets where you can meet your customers where they are. A robust social media advertising campaign that accurately targets your ideal audience enables your franchise locations to send the right message to the right people.  

Furthermore, you will benefit from encouraging your individual franchise locations to run their own social media accounts. Of course, you’ll want them to adhere to any previously established brand guidelines and you will need to update those on a regular basis. That said, when someone working in that area takes the time to create organic posts and to interact with the local market in a way that is personal and not sales oriented, this builds trust and confidence in your brand. Success in that area works to bolster any paid social advertising efforts which all feed into your overall franchise marketing strategy.  

Rely on Enspire for Enterprise to create a franchise marketing strategy that works for you. Contact us to get started today!