There is no one size fits all marketing strategy for franchises because franchise agreements provide different marketing support, and clearly there are an endless number of industries being franchised. But franchise marketing plans share some common attributes.
Franchise Marketing Begins By Identifying Franchisor / Franchisee Responsibilities
- Each franchise relationship is different. Franchisors take on varying levels of responsibility for marketing, depending on the agreement. Some may also provide a franchisee with more or less latitude in terms of access to their web page and social media. If you’re a franchisee, make sure you understand what your franchisor offers and any restrictions before assessing your marketing plan.
- If you’re a franchisor, it is clearly in your best interest to cost effectively make your franchisees as successful as possible. Offering an attractive marketing package as part of your franchise agreement can help sell more franchises.
- How many calls are you getting today from your website? What about your social media? If you are unable to track them we can help.
- As a franchisor, what type of franchisee would you like to attract? What are the most profitable types of customers you would like them to attract? How much is a new franchise worth to you? How much is a new customer worth to you? These are important to assess your marketing budget.
- What makes your franchise most attractive to the end customer? What makes you different than your competitors?
Franchise Marketing Fundamentals
- Adwords: Most franchise businesses are highly competitive. If you Google how you would like to be found and see your competitor’s ads then you’ll need to be there too. This applies both to finding franchisees and marketing to the end customer.
- A Website That Converts: Your website needs to load in 2 seconds or less, look great on mobile and make it very obvious what you do and why you’re different from other law firms. Each franchise location must have a location specific page.
- Local SEO: Each franchise location needs to be on the map. This is accomplished by creating keyword rich listings in hundreds of online directories. It is one of the most cost effective and fastest ways to be found and should definitely be part of your strategy.
- Social Media Visibility: Do you have LinkedIn and industry specific profiles for connecting with potential franchisees? A franchise must also have unique location pages and be active daily on Facebook, Google+, Instagram & Twitter. Many franchisors create overall brand content for social media that is populated to the franchisee pages, and then allow the franchisees to post location specific events, staff and client photos.
- Social Media Engagement: Visibility is the first step but you want to network online the same way you network at events. Join franchise and community online groups, comment on posts, share and make connections. Out in the community? Share pictures! Can you profile franchisees and clients? Share testimonials?
Next Level Franchise Marketing
- Are you networking? Do you take full advantage of the handfuls of business cards you collect or do they sit on your desk? A CRM system is a perfect tool to automate nurturing those leads. Send customized emails that look like you fired them off from your account personally. Ask for referrals and testimonials, automate aspects of your new client onboarding. Did an initial meeting with a franchisee not close? Send an automated check in.
- On Page SEO: This involves optimizing the load speed of your franchise’s website (like an untuned car it will slow down over time), making changes to the code to be more search engine friendly and optimizing your content for target legal keywords. A proper franchise SEO strategy will help your Adwords campaign to perform better and cost you less per click.
- Online Reviews: People really do care what others think. The more 5-star reviews you have on industry specific websites, Facebook and Google, the more confident a potential franchisee will be to invest, and the more end customers who will connect with your brand. Even if they find out about you elsewhere you can be certain they are checking you out online.
- A Newsletter & Blog: Find a way to regularly connect with your franchisees, potential franchisee, and end customers, by sharing a monthly newsletter with your blog excerpt, upcoming events, pictures of members of your team in the community or with clients and tips. Remaining top of mind will help with referrals, brand awareness and communicating specials as appropriate.
- Videos and Photos: On your website show professional photos of franchise events and locations, franchisees and end customers. Shoot 1-2 minute videos for your website and social media of you providing industry specific tips, sharing a stories of successful franchisees, or of a client saying nice things about you. Visitors to your website or social media should get a feel for what it would be like to work with you.
Once you are ready to take your business to the next level Zen Change should be your first call! They have all the latest and greatest when it comes to online marketing and customer retention/networking. The posts are very professionally done. They truly know their market well and will become a key component in your marketing strategies!
Meghan Goicouria,
Granny Nannies