How to Create a Franchise Marketing Plan

The franchising market is growing. There are approximately 300 franchisees annually. This industry provides employment for more than eight million people.

From food and beverage establishments, retail outlets, and health and fitness centers to educational franchises and personal services, the franchising industry encompasses a diverse range of businesses. Franchise Clues is a platform dedicated to franchising, that connects aspiring entrepreneurs with the perfect franchise opportunities suited to their interests and goals.

This is why it can be difficult to grow a franchise because of the high level of competition in this industry.

However, If you want to stand out and maximize your return on investment, You need a strong digital marketing strategy. This strategy should include a strong franchise marketing plan.

What is Franchise Marketing?

Franchise marketing simply means any type of activity that helps grow your business. This could include everything from public relations to digital marketing. Franchise marketing is designed to raise brand awareness and generate revenue for your franchisees.

Franchise marketing can be divided into two sections.

Operational franchise marketing

This is what you and your franchisees do to attract new customers and reach them. Some examples include:

• Search engine optimization (SEO).
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• PPC advertising

Franchise development marketing

This is the marketing activity you, as a franchisor, perform to help potential franchisees sell more franchise locations and grow your overall business.

Franchise marketing can be broken down into different categories, the truth of the matter is there will be some overlap. The goal is to build your franchise business.

Also read: Top 10 Franchise CRM Software

Key Elements of a Franchise Marketing Strategy?

A franchise marketing strategy is a key part of taking your brand and business to the next level.

These are only a few of the elements your franchise marketing strategy should include.

Identify your Buyer

Before you dive into a franchise marketing strategy, you need to know your audience.

It doesn’t matter if you have the best franchise in the world. But it doesn’t make any difference if you don’t know who your target customer is.

Effective franchise marketing boils down to knowing and narrowing your target audience. This will allow you to maximize your ROI in your marketing efforts.

You can gain some insight if you are new to the game by identifying the target customers of similar franchises.

You can view the profiles of other commenters on their blogs. It is important to learn as much as possible about your customers and then refine that information so that you are able to create content based on your buyer persona profiles.

Understanding online marketing platforms

It doesn’t matter if you are a franchisee or franchisor, it is important that you become familiar with all the digital marketing channels that are available to you.

Everything is possible, from search engine marketing to marketing via social media.

It is important to determine which channels best suit your brand. It is a waste of time to simply get on all platforms, because they may not all benefit you.

Social media can be an excellent platform if you have a bakery franchise. It may not be the best platform for a cloud computing franchise.

When deciding which channel to market on, think about what you are selling and who you are targeting.

Set up a budget

You could end up spending more on marketing than you can afford if you don’t set a budget.

Your goal should be based heavily on your resources and your end goals.

You won’t likely have enough money to do everything all at once. You must plan.

You don’t want your marketing budget to be limited to advertisements and promotional materials. Market research, product development, and public relations are all important.

Be consistent

Consistency is truly key in franchise marketing.

You may use different approaches depending on which platform you are using. For example, the only text on Twitter or more videos on Facebook. However, you must remain consistent in your branding.

Both franchisors, as well as franchisees, can benefit from this.

Focus on your logos, colors, and fonts consistently.

This could mean that a brand guide is created to be distributed to all franchisees to ensure everyone is on the right track.

You can build a strong brand identity that is consistent. This will allow you to increase brand awareness, customer awareness, and overall credibility.

How to Create a Franchise Marketing Plan

When you are creating a franchise marketing strategy, remember that it is for your business, your franchisees, and your entire company.

You should therefore consider how your plan will help you achieve your overall goals.

These are six steps that will help you create a franchise marketing plan that works for your business.

1. Make clear brand guidelines

Your franchise marketing plan must be clear and understandable. These guidelines will become part of your brand/franchise guide. The guidelines should include sections that give franchisees an overview of the brand and a section on how to use it.

Your history, vision, and values should be included in this section.

You should also ensure that your brand guidelines include a mission statement, appearance guidelines, as well as operational instructions.

Your franchisees should have full access to all aspects of your brand in order to create consistency among your franchisees.

Also read: 8 Key Elements for Your Franchise Brand or Business Website

2. Know your target audience

There is a good chance you’ll have different types of customers as a franchisee, with different demographics and personas.

You don’t have to spend all your marketing dollars on people who might not be interested in your brand.

To create a franchise marketing plan that is successful, you need to know your target audience.

Remember that you’re not just marketing to customers. You are also marketing to entrepreneurs and business professionals who may be interested in starting their businesses.

Because of your varying target audience, you may need to modify your messaging when you are targeting a specific part of your audience

3. Make use of local SEO

Local marketing plays a crucial role in the success of your franchises.

This is a part of your marketing strategy. However, it is crucial that you give your franchisees the resources and materials they need to be successful locally.

Each franchise location should have a local-based landing page with local business listings. Additionally, web content and blogs should be tailored to the franchise’s specific locale.

Although the franchise brand might be well established, it is not enough. You must actually do the work of establishing each location at a local level.

4. Direct mail isn’t dead

While digital marketing is essential for your overall success, it will require a lot of time and effort. However, direct mail can be a great option.

It’s still an effective marketing tool that can be very beneficial to certain industries.

Direct mail for local franchises has many benefits. It can help you target customers.

Do not assume that everyone is on the internet. Some people still appreciate and prefer offline communication and marketing.

5. Personalize and automate your marketing efforts

Your success can be determined by the user experience.

Personalized marketing is a great way for prospective customers to pay attention. Personalization is a great way to show that you care about your customers.

Automate your marketing efforts to make them easier.

However, this does not mean your marketing will become robotic or impersonal. This allows you to target your audience and offer personalized content.

6. Tell your story!

Impeccable storytelling is one of the best marketing tools you can have.

This helps you to show your audience that is genuine and transparent. This will help you build brand trust and brand awareness among your customers.

Although low prices are great, they shouldn’t be the reason your customers choose to do business with you.

Instead, you want your customers to be able to say they chose to do business with your company because of your story. The why behind what you do.

You should tell your story in order to make customers feel connected and relate to it.

You should avoid being too salesly. Your story should also be part of every marketing material, including your website and social media platforms.

Summary Up

creating a successful franchise marketing plan for a franchise will begin with your ideal client. It is important to spend the time to research who your ideal client is, where they are located, and how to make contact with them.

You can then create a strong brand identity that will not only improve brand awareness but also help you generate profit by keeping in mind your marketing budget and channels.