Designing and Implementing a Successful Franchise Marketing Plan

Marketing a franchised business is arguably more challenging than marketing a local business. Why? Because franchisors need to coordinate advertising of each franchised outlet and invest in digital marketing to market their brand in new geographical areas. You can consult a franchise law attorney for the best outcome.

 Marketing can also be complicated because the expanding business should maintain consistent brand identity and ensure relations among and with current and potential franchisees are thriving. Designing and marketing a franchise marketing plan can be difficult, so most franchisors prefer consulting a franchise law attorney.

Creating a Winning Franchise Marketing Plan

The following are the steps for designing and implementing a successful marketing plan for your franchise:

1. Develop a Brand Play to be Followed by all Franchisees

Maintaining brand consistency is vital if they intend to succeed in franchise marketing, which can be a delicate balance. It’s essential to control your franchisees to ensure their outlets do not convey far off-messages that do not have the brand’s outlook. Franchisors should help franchisees maintain consistency by providing a detailed brand book and explaining your brand identity, brand story, problems, and how to solve them.

Innovation and creativity should be encouraged but make sure they’re consistent with the overall voice of your brand and what you stand for. Your franchisees should first understand your goals and vision to contribute creatively to your marketing strategy to communicate effectively to your target audience.

2. Define the Target Audience

Existing franchisees know your customers, how their customers find them, and why those customers prefer your brand over your competitors. That said, you should work with existing franchisees to help you target the appropriate audiences that will likely respond to your marketing. Working with existing franchisees can also help you choose ideal campaign channels in addition to crafting sales content that’s impactful.

3. Prioritize Marketing Channels

Now that you know your target audience for each franchise outlet, it is time to figure out you’ll reach them. You can use blog articles, social media, video ads, SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, email campaigns, and more.

All your marketing methods should support each other to achieve a common goal. You should prioritize the channels that do not take too much of your time and the ones that generate the most leads at minimal costs.

4. Prepare Content Relevant to Your Audience

It’s not enough to churn out loads of content without a plan. Your content should be relevant and able to attract the target audience. Also, the content should be structured for ranking in search engines. Good content can take time to create, and that’s why you should make sure that you have unique content before launching your campaign.

The good part is that you can encourage your franchisees to write content, such as blog articles and social media posts, that suits their markets. For more technical content, such as videos and infographics, you can outsource the work or experienced freelance content creators.

The success of your franchise depends on your marketing plan. The points discussed in this article can help you to develop a good marketing plan for your franchise.