Looking for franchise marketing insights? This guide will examine how franchise marketing strategies can advance your business.
Let’s keep it real — franchise marketing has its challenges. Whether you’re a current franchisee or franchisor or looking to get into the game, there’s a lot to unpack.
This guide will unveil everything you need to know to run successful franchise marketing campaigns.
Craft, schedule, & auto-post content to all your social channels, then track analytics and manage interactions from a single, easy-to-use dashboard.
A franchise is a license that grants a franchisee access to a franchisor’s proprietary business knowledge, processes, and trademarks to sell a product or service under its brand name. In exchange for acquiring a franchise, the franchisee usually pays the franchisor an initial start-up fee plus annual licensing fees.
A franchisor sells the right to open stores and sell products or services using its brand, expertise, and intellectual property. Becoming a franchisor is incredibly viable for already successful companies. All franchisors assume the risk that a franchise could fail.
A franchisee is a small business owner who operates a franchise. The franchisee receives continuous guidance and support from the franchisor. The franchisee markets and sells the same brand and upholds the same standards as the original business.
Franchise marketing refers to any activity a franchise performs to grow its business, including social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, pay-per-click advertising, trade shows, and more.
There are two types of franchise marketing:
This guide will focus on operational franchise marketing rather than franchise development marketing.
Franchise marketing plans strategically drive expansion with a delicate balance of uniformity and uniqueness.
Business owners maintain consistent branding across individual franchise locations and enable respective franchise owners to engage local audiences. Franchisors and franchisees accomplish this in two ways.
A successful franchise marketing plan thrives on a solid franchisor-franchisee collaboration. Franchisors establish a strong brand identity by defining the vision, values, and guidelines. Franchisees tailor these to vibe with their local crowd.
Digital marketing efforts power online engagement, while local events and community involvement boost loyalty and a sense of belonging.
The synergy of online and in-person tactics creates an impression that resonates with prospective customers.
Franchisees embody the brand for their communities. As local brand ambassadors, they play a pivotal role in connecting the brand with its local audience:
This connection is vital for three primary reasons:
Currently, an estimated 805,000 franchises are operating in the US, showing the importance of differentiation.
For franchise marketing to work, the franchisor and franchisee must work in tandem.
On one hand, franchisors must create a consistent brand and business model that can be replicated across different locations and owned by independent entrepreneurs. On the other hand, franchisees must maintain their brand reputation and adapt to local conditions to succeed.
If both parties can fulfill these requirements and follow the franchise marketing blueprint, they have a high chance of succeeding.
Here are the necessary steps to design and implement a successful franchise marketing campaign:
A franchise marketing campaign has to satisfy both the franchisor and the franchisee. Most franchisees will pay for marketing in their license fee, so they expect to see some ROI for each campaign.
At this stage, it’s worth considering how you will track the campaign goals and differentiate results for each franchise location.
For example, you could consider adding UTM parameters to track the location in the campaign. This would allow franchisors to provide campaign data to franchisees, showing them where their marketing fees have been used and how it affected their bottom line.
Brand consistency is essential for franchise marketing to work. Consumers should have the same experience of the brand regardless of location.
For example, you should be able to walk into a Starbucks cafe in the US and the UK and experience the same brand colors and similar menu items, right down to how your beverage is prepared and served.
Franchisors need to own and coordinate this stage with a marketing brand handbook that sets out expectations for each branch. The manual should keep individual franchisees “on brand” and prevent them from “doing their own thing” in their location.
Next, you’ll need to decide which marketing channels to use at a global and local level for your campaign:
Let’s look at some channels from a franchisor and franchisee perspective.
Most SEO advice focuses on global or general techniques. But franchise marketing needs both international and local SEO if it’s to succeed.
Franchisors can use global SEO to increase the visibility and brand identity of the franchise in search results.
Franchisees can use local SEO to increase the visibility of individual franchises in search results, location pages, and online maps. It’s a vital part of local marketing:
Franchisors will have to decide how they’re going to structure their website. Will they have one website with local franchisee pages, or will they have one corporate HQ site and then allow franchisees to build individual sites?
For instance, School of Rock keeps all its content on one site.
At the global level, it provides resources that are relevant to any location, such as guides for guitar, vocals, keyboards, and drums:
At the local level, each location has its own subdirectory. For example, Scottsdale, Arizona, is located here: https://locations.schoolofrock.com/scottsdale.
However, if you search for “school of rock Arizona” in Google, you’ll see the local (map) pack for the three Arizona school locations:
For each franchise location, you get relevant information, including:
School of Rock takes this one step further with a Google My Business (GMB) listing for each school. For example, the Scottsdale listing:
Finally, they gather and display reviews and testimonials to boost each franchise:
Social media is a popular marketing channel for franchises across all industries and geographies.
The main difficulty is to ensure each franchisee follows brand and campaign guidelines. One way to overcome this is by franchisors developing a global template that franchisees adapt to their location.
A franchisor could create one central calendar with pre-approved, branded content and give access to all franchisees. From there, they could pull content into their local calendars to publish and promote in their location without any risk to brand consistency. Social media management tools like Loomly make this easy.
Consider using Facebook locations pages, ideal for franchises like shops, restaurants, dealerships, salons, and nonprofits in multiple locations. It’s a win-win for everyone:
Here’s how Holiday Inn uses “stores” for each hotel location:
Marketers know that email is still one of the most effective channels to reach leads and customers. But how do franchisors control their brand?
The answer is segmentation — building and maintaining separate contact lists for individual locations and the global brand, which allows franchisees to target their leads and customers with relevant messaging.
Franchisors will also want to consider an email marketing service where they can share creative assets, such as logos, images, templates, and campaigns, with each franchisee to maintain brand consistency and allow local messaging.
Post-purchase email campaigns are also highly valuable. Sending a customized email shortly after a customer makes a purchase leads to an extremely high open rate (63.9%) and click-through rate (14.34%).
Pay-per-click advertising is an excellent way to promote your brand, but you need to manage it carefully.
Franchisors can use display and search ads to promote the brand name and offerings. Maintaining and strengthening the brand helps you and your franchisees attract leads and sales.
Franchisees can customize ads to make the messaging relevant to their location and local audience. For example, you could use the location name (region/city/town) in the keywords to differentiate it from a national or international head office.
Content marketing is potent in fueling franchise marketing efforts. It can establish credibility, nurture trust, and resonate with your target audience in ways that truly matter.
It also allows you to continue reaching your target audience for years with evergreen content, such as recipes, how-tos, or guides.
Franchisees can curate and spotlight UGC gems using a dedicated hashtag for their marketing campaigns.
You might remember Apple’s #ShotOnIphone campaign, where they shared fabulous user photos with this hashtag. It was wildly successful because Apple gave its users a platform while gaining free, organic advertisement.
You should review and assess the results at the end of your campaign. If you’ve implemented the proper tracking and analytics in your marketing, you should be able to identify:
When franchisees collaborate, share insights, and learn from one another, they build a supportive community that sparks shared success.
This dynamic exchange creates a ripple effect across the entire franchise system. It produces enhanced marketing strategies, refined operational practices, and a heightened sense of brand cohesiveness.
As your franchise journey unfolds, it’s essential to anticipate and overcome marketing challenges that might arise.
Maintaining a consistent brand identity while allowing localized marketing approaches can be difficult. The trick lies in finding the sweet spot where both elements shine without overshadowing each other.
90% of customers make purchase decisions after reading customer reviews. Brace yourself to navigate this landscape, ensuring your franchise garners positive feedback that resonates with potential customers.
Be prepared to tweak your marketing strategies to suit diverse cultural nuances. What flies in one region or country might not in another.
Creating synergy between franchisors and franchisees can be challenging. Miscommunication can muddle marketing efforts.
Overcome this by fostering open lines of communication. Work to understand each other’s perspectives and craft a cohesive marketing strategy that aligns with your shared marketing goals.
In the age of digital dominance, choosing the right marketing strategies can be perplexing. But with the proper guidance and a clear roadmap, you can navigate this digital landscape effectively.
Some of the most successful franchises in the US include restaurant and food chains like Subway, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Other successful franchise businesses include hotels, resorts, auto rentals, shipping companies, gyms, and cleaning companies.
Here are four examples of successful franchise marketing campaigns:
Wendy’s leverages shares to garner tons of free social media advertising. They’ve built up an enormous social media presence with 3.8 million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter) and 1.1 million followers on Instagram.
Wendy’s engages in the current digital culture and embraces memes and humor. In their own words, “We like our tweets the way we like our fries: hot, crispy, and better than anyone expects from a fast food restaurant.”
When you step into any Jimmy John’s store, the heavenly smell of fresh-baked bread greets you. It’s a small thing that makes ordering a sandwich feel like a mini adventure.
Jimmy John’s social media game is as fresh as its ingredients, with posts that make you want to grab a sandwich ASAP.
The waitstaff at Hilton‘s restaurants are also certified mobile photographers. Trained to capture high-quality images of guests and their meals, “waitographers” bridge the gap between impeccable service and visual storytelling.
Patrons can then share glossy photos of their culinary adventures at Hilton online with hashtags like #HiltonMemories, #Waitographer, and #TasteOfHilton. Hashtags and geotags amplify these posts, generating buzz and exposure for the Hilton brand.
Insurance brand Allstate launched their #ResolutionsAreMayhem campaign during a College Football National Championship game. Allstate encouraged viewers to prepare for disaster through viral videos featuring their Mayhem character. They also used the hashtag #ResolutionsAreMayhem on social media with content focused on making resolutions, struggling but keeping resolutions, and breaking resolutions.
Elevate your online presence through strategic website optimization. This ensures a seamless user experience that bolsters your target customers’ trust.
76% of potential customers read online reviews regularly while browsing local businesses. Encourage satisfied customers to leave glowing reviews, cultivating a positive brand reputation. Address negative reviews promptly, showcasing your commitment to customer satisfaction.
Four in ten working-age internet users use social media channels to research businesses and products they plan to purchase.
Forge lasting connections by actively engaging with customers on social media platforms. Responding to inquiries improves customer loyalty, increases brand awareness, and nurtures a sense of community.
Utilize retargeting to recapture leads with prior interest, enhancing the likelihood of conversion.
Successful franchise marketing plans demand a unique approach, uniting franchisors and franchisees to safeguard brand reputation. This joint effort forms the bedrock for shared achievements and sustained expansion.
Harness marketing tools like Loomly, an industry leader in social media management, for an enhanced franchised marketing journey. Your franchise can thrive through its insights, just like these impactful Loomly success stories.
Unleash your potential with Loomly and chart your course toward franchise prosperity. Start your 15-day free trial with Loomly today!