Franchise marketing refers to the procedures and strategies used by franchisors and franchisees to draw in and keep new customers. The process of seeking new franchisees helps the company attract local clients more frequently.

The special bond between the business owner of a franchise and the franchisee distinguishes a franchise from other business models. In order for the two of them to succeed together, they must have an open working relationship. Due to the fact that you must consider all of these rotating gears on a local, national, and global level, franchises marketing is typically more difficult. Your marketing strategy must be consistent and scalable across the entire organization. Your marketing strategy helps you understand your customer in a better way.

What is franchise marketing?  

Franchise marketing is, to put it simply, any type of action you carry out to actively expand your firm. Public relations and digital marketing are both examples of this. Franchising marketing aims to raise brand recognition and encourage sales among your franchisees. ​​

It can prove to be a difficult endeavor since you need to consider both the overall corporate level and specific locations. Additionally, your target market changes from prospective franchisees to customers coming to the franchise locations. 

Franchising marketing may be viewed as a task that will unquestionably boost the expansion of the company. It can be divided as follows: ​​

• Operational franchise marketing 

This is a marketing strategy that both a franchisee and the franchisor employ to draw in customers. This may include search engine optimization (SEO), the website, PPC advertising, franchise social media marketing, and franchise email marketing.

• Franchise development

The franchise owner uses this strategy to draw potential franchisees and expand the franchise business. This kind of advertising activity improves franchise lead generation.

How to create a Franchise Marketing Plan? 

When it comes to developing an efficient franchise marketing strategy, keep in mind that this approach is for the franchisor, franchisees, and the overall business. As a result, you should think about how your plan will help you achieve your overall goals.

Here are six stages to developing a successful marketing strategy for your company

• Creating clear brand guidelines 
• Knowing your target audience 
• Making use of local SEO
• Direct mail is not dead
• Personalizing and automating marketing efforts
• Getting your story out there

Essential elements of a Franchise Marketing Strategy

Your marketing approach is critical for elevating your brand. Here are a few elements that should be included in your marketing strategy plan

• Identifying your buyer 

Before you dive deep into a franchising marketing strategy, you must first understand your target audience.  You can have the best franchise in the world, but it will not help you unless you know who your target buyer is.

Knowing and refining your audience is the key to successful franchises marketing. After all, doing so will help you maximize the return on your marketing investments.  If you are new to the industry, you can gain some insight by determining who the target client of similar franchises is; you can do so by examining the profiles of the comments on their blogs. 

The idea is to gather as much information as possible on who your customers are and then refine that data so that you can develop content based on the persona profiles of the buyer.

• Understanding online marketing platforms 

Whether you are a franchisor or a franchisee, it is critical that you become acquainted with the many digital marketing platforms available to you.  From social media marketing to search engine marketing, you have it all. 

You must decide which channels are the best for your brand. It is a waste of time to join every platform because all of them might not be valuable to you. When deciding which channel to advertise on, consider what you are offering and your target audience. 

If you own a bakery franchise, for instance, social media could be a terrific platform for you. It may, however, be the best option for a cloud computing business. 

• Establishing a budget 

If you fail to set a budget, you can end up spending more money on marketing than you can afford.  Ideally, your aim will be significantly reliant on the available resources and the overall aim.  Unfortunately, you will not have enough money to handle everything at once. As a result, you must plan ahead of time.

You do not want to confine your marketing expenditure to promotional materials, commercials, and so on. Remember to additionally emphasize the inclusion of public relations, product development, and market research. 

• Being consistent 

In franchising marketing, consistency is crucial.  While you may use different tactics depending on the medium, such as tweets on Twitter and videos and posts on Facebook, all branding must be consistent.

Both franchisors and franchisees are affected by this. Maintain uniformity in your logos, colors, typefaces, and tones.  This could mean establishing a brand guidebook distributed to everyone engaged in the franchise to ensure that each individual is on the same page. 

Consistency will assist you in developing a strong brand image, which is required for greater brand and customer awareness as well as overall credibility.

Franchise focused marketing ideas in 2023

The best marketing ideas are more than just high-quality graphics and messaging; they also match the specific beliefs and objectives of the customers.  Here are some of the top franchising marketing ideas to invest in right now in order to attain success.

• Content marketing 

Recent research indicates that 90% of franchising firms already possess a franchise content marketing strategy in place. Furthermore, 78% of CMOs agree that personalized content is the digital marketing future. If your company does not create and distribute fresh material on a regular basis, it may be falling behind the competition. 

For example, AAMCO creates a lot of original material, but the brand goes above and beyond by providing exclusive coupons and discounts at every one of its franchised locations.

• Franchise Social media marketing 

Building, launching, and managing a successful social media program in a distributed setting has its own set of challenges. According to recent research, just 51% of franchising organizations actively shape local businesses’ social media marketing approach.

For example: To differentiate itself, Holiday Inn encourages its franchisees to include a little local flavor in their social media promotion.

• Franchise Email marketing 

Email marketing is considered to be a tried-and-true strategy for many distributed marketers when it comes to boosting brand exposure. Apart from welcome and sales series emails, email marketing campaigns on a regular basis will help maintain your company at the top of the minds of customers.

For example, Exclusive promotions are sent out by email to Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees. These straightforward promotions enable customers to reap the advantages of local offers.

• Holiday Marketing 

Every holiday season, enthusiastic consumers seek out the best deals. Many of the most popular franchised businesses reap the benefits of the holiday season by giving high discounts on products and services.

For example: For the holiday season, Red Robin added a few new items and limited-time specials. It is considered an excellent way to get potential and present consumers excited about the holidays.

• Franchise Video marketing 

According to current data, among the most promising fields in which franchisees can invest this year is video marketing. In fact, videos generate more views and engagement when compared to any other type of digital content. Furthermore, by 2022, online videos will account for more or about 72% of consumer internet traffic.

For example, Color World Housepainting makes use of video marketing to introduce prospects and clients to its skilled house painting services.

• Franchise Referral marketing

Consumers are 83% more likely to acquire a product after learning about it through a friend or family member, making referral marketing the most trusted type of advertising. Referrals work because they turn your greatest consumers into brand advocates who are eager to share your items with their families and friends. Franchises that have effectively engaged loyal customers are increasingly approaching the referral business in new and creative ways.

For example, When it comes to Capital One, you can invite a friend to apply for a Capital One credit card and earn rewards such as points or cash.

• Franchise digital marketing

Because everything is now available online and individuals can access any information with a single click, digital media, and franchise SEO is one of the most sought-after franchise company ideas. Top cities across the United States have top digital marketing course franchise opportunities with their companies.

For example, Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, etc. 

• Franchise marketing using portals

Franchising Marketing Portals are online shops that allow franchise owners and their teams to view and order branded assets and materials such as direct mail mailings, promotional merchandise, and digital assets.

Franchisees can even simply alter some design components within Marketing Portals, such as contact information on business cards, graphics on brochures, website URLs on postcards, or addresses on signage, without compromising brand compliance.

For example, Marketing portals like M-Hub for McDonald’s franchisees can be considered a good example of modern, decentralized marketing using portals. 

Role of Franchise marketing software 

When it comes to running a franchising business, you might boost your productivity by employing management software with sales and marketing automation. This combination will assist your sales team in managing leads from the onset of the sales cycle till the sale is closed.  This includes real-time lead activity tracking, which is essential if you want to expedite your franchise sales process.

Furthermore, franchise management software2q may assist you in creating, tracking, and measuring marketing efforts.  This data is critical for determining which techniques are effective and which should be modified. This also helps in fine-tuning your strategy to attain the best results possible.

The benefits of effective marketing systems are

• Automation of marketing efforts
• Automation of direct mail 
• Management of franchise sales pipeline
• Real-time reporting for tracking of ROI on sales and marketing efforts 

Some tips to make the most out of your marketing software are

• Integration with other tools
• Creation of workflows 
• Using reports 
• Personalizing interactions 

Conclusion 

Overall, putting together a successful franchise marketing strategy will begin and conclude with your target consumer. The finest marketing strategies, in general, strike the ideal mix between franchisor and franchisee authority.

While it is critical to maintaining brand consistency, especially in franchising, franchise websites require local marketing resources. As difficult as it may feel to be hands-off in business, developing a market entry or expansion strategy that provides your franchise community with the tools they need to succeed is important.

To find out who your ideal consumer is, where to find them, and how to connect with them, you must put in the time and research necessary.

Then, by keeping an effective franchise referral marketing campaign, budget, and franchise channels in mind, you have the opportunity to develop a strong brand identity that can help you increase brand awareness and produce higher profits in a long run.

Also, read on Franchise Marketing Plan