Marketing a franchise business is not an easy task. Success requires hands-on management, planning, and knowledge. Franchise businesses can range in size from two locations to thousands. They can occupy markets as different as two sides of the same town or multiple countries. Regardless of the size of your franchise business, successful franchise marketing requires the same principles and skill sets.
We’ve been talking a lot about franchise marketing lately. And today, we’re going to take a look at some of those marketing challenges that all franchise marketers face – and we’ll tell you how to overcome them!
1 – Not creating unique, localized content
For franchise marketing, creating engaging content that has local relevance is an incredibly important ingredient for success. Unfortunately, many franchise businesses only create generic web content – or worse, they duplicate the same content on different websites. This may not seem like a challenge, but in order to maximize on SEO and other algorithms to reach the ideal clients, it’s important to not have too much duplicated context. Additionally, customers are less likely to regularly engage with your website if it only contains generic information.
Solution – Content marketing is highly effective and often overlooked by franchises. Create content that has local relevance. Get involved in the local community by building relationships with other business owners, getting involved in local job fairs and community events, and more.
2 – Lack of individual sites
Related to lack of involvement in the local community, many franchise businesses make the mistake of not having individual websites and / or individual social media accounts for each franchise location. They rely on one overarching website and social media account for the whole brand.
Solution – This may seem like a good strategy – and brand consistency is important. But in order to make the most of SEO and social media algorithms, the best bet to boost your franchise marketing is to make sure that each location has individualized websites or social media accounts. This allows your franchisees to connect better to their local communities which will bring in more customers.
3 – Improper tools and insufficient data
Too many franchise marketing mistakes happen because of insufficient data and marketing tools that aren’t up for the multiple challenges of franchise marketing. Insufficient data leads to costly marketing mistakes and means that franchisers are spending their marketing budget on tools that are ineffective.
Solution – The truth is, a marketing strategy is only as good as its data. You can’t accurately see which strategies work and which don’t if you’ve got insufficient data.
4 – Incoherent or conflicting strategies
Though giving your franchisees some freedom is important, it’s also important to make sure that there is consistency in your marketing strategies. Too often, many franchises err on the side of too much individual freedom and lose brand cohesion and find that their individual marketing poaches the marketing of other franchise locations.
Solution – Instead of erring on the side of total lack of direction for franchisee marketing or such tight control of marketing that the branding is too generic to connect to customers, consider giving your franchisees guidance. Provide marketing templates that allow your franchisees to tap into their local markets but also keep your brand’s integrity.
5 – Lackluster leads
One of the biggest hindrances to franchise growth is lackluster leads. Many franchise marketing plans overlook the importance of cultivating solid leads. This means that they lose out on both ideal customers and the opportunity to recruit new franchisees.
Solution – A great way to ensure that you’re getting the best leads is to get to know your customers. Create customer personas to get to know your ideal customers, which will help you create targeted marketing strategies. Invest in content marketing, utilize the most effective tools and research, and create customer personas, and you’ll see a bump in both quality customers and new franchisees.
Franchise marketing is fraught with many potential pitfalls and challenges. Don’t be one of the many franchisers that fall prey to these common challenges. By enacting the solutions we outlined above, you can make sure that your franchise marketing strategy will lead to successful growth of your brand.
