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How To Market A Franchise
If you are running a franchise business, than rather than market your own brand from scratch you instead purchase the right to use an established company’s brand and business model for a certain period of time. There are obvious benefits to doing this, but it also means that you have to think a little differently when it comes to marketing. Your main priority should of course be to increase your own specific customer base – but you will also be obliged to think about how your marketing efforts will benefit the franchise as a whole. Many franchisees make the mistake of focusing on one to the detriment of the other.
Here’s how you can avoid falling into that trap:
Encourage Online Testimonials: You should try to gather as many positive testimonials online as possible. Try to be diverse and garner reviews on local business directories, your own individual franchisee website as well as large search engines such as Google. This will work on two levels: locally, it will show customers in the area that others have had positive experiences of dealing with you; whilst on a franchise-wide basis, the testimonials will enhance the franchise’s overall brand image.
SEO: All businesses with an online presence need to think about bringing visibility to their company on search engines through SEO practices. You have to take care to drive customers specifically to your individual franchisee page by choosing the right keywords to reflect both the wider brand and your own location. This should hopefully generate more leads and sales for yourself, whilst on a wider level the positive growth you are able to achieve should encourage others to invest in the franchise.
Think As A Community: As a franchisee you are part of a wider community, so anything that benefits the overall brand is also going to trickle down and benefit you on a local level. We’re not talking in terms of geography here, so much as the notion that you are part of a coherent whole. When you are marketing online, for example through social media, try to link up with your fellow franchise owners and combine your efforts to build up business mutually. For example, you can recommend each other or organise events in tandem to boost the reputation of the franchise as a whole. This is particularly important if there is a new product or service to promote: in this case, every franchise owners may have a different take on how to best go about this and it makes sense to pool ideas with other franchisees in your area.