As the online marketing landscape gets increasingly competitive, it's important for franchises and multiple-location businesses to level up their marketing efforts. Today, there is so much content available online that relying on organic marketing campaigns alone is not enough to cut through the noise and get your brand message across to your target audience.
“When solely focusing on organic approaches, there are often gaps in consistency in multiple-location businesses,” said Jacob Wulff, Thrive's senior PPC manager.
“Inconsistencies in search position, business information, areas served, services offered and other nuances can be tricky. This is why franchise advertising is important and should be a primary objective. Having uniform and accurate paid ads with area-specific ad budgets is crucial to ensuring a competitive edge in varying markets.”
Paid advertising is a proven way to boost brand awareness and generate quick results from a modest franchise ad spend (money spent on advertising campaigns). Instead of waiting for someone to find your website content in organic search or on social media, franchise advertising positions your content — in the form of ads — directly in front of your ideal prospects and prompts them to take specific actions.
Is paid franchise advertising a part of your marketing toolkit?
Paid advertising involves a lot of activities, including paid search marketing and social media advertising, which require different audience targeting approaches.
To get the most out of your franchise ad campaigns and hit your goals, it’s critical to gain a solid understanding of franchise advertising and what it entails.
When you hear paid advertising, what comes to mind? Read on to find out everything you need to know about franchise advertising and how you can leverage it to attract leads and grow your business. Get the lowdown on franchise advertising and find out which options fit your needs and budget so you can start to attract new business – paid channels.
Paid advertising or pay per click (PPC) advertising/marketing is a digital marketing component using different ad formats, such as paid search ads, local search and social ads, to target specific audience groups instead of waiting for them to find your franchise business organically.
Unlike organic lead generation efforts, franchise ad campaigns are more sales-forward and focused on driving specific actions – perhaps downloading a guide, enlisting a service or signing up for a newsletter.
Typically, PPC ads are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs), websites and social media channels. These ads are tied to certain factors, such as specific audience segments, locations and search terms. You need to pay for ad space on relevant sites to display your franchise ads in front of your ideal prospects.
Advertisers accrue costs when users click their franchise ads. Each franchise ad points to a specific landing page or a dedicated page where visitors land after clicking on a pay per click ad.
Why Pay Per Click Advertising Matters
in Franchise Lead Generation
Franchise advertising is not easy but it can be lucrative. According to Rachel Czeszewski, Thrive’s paid social media senior manager, laser-focused PPC advertising campaigns get your franchise in front of the local eyes faster than other digital marketing strategies.
It’s no surprise that some of the largest and most established brands in the world, including McDonald’s and Anytime Fitness, leverage franchise PPC marketing to reach potential franchisees and customers.
Consider:
Pay per click marketing ranks third among the best sources of high-volume leads next to websites and emails (Formstack).
Roughly 75 percent of users click on ads because they provide information that quickly addresses what they are looking for (Clutch).
The top three ads on SERPs receive approximately 40 percent of all clicks (SerpWatch).
More than 50 percent of prospects that view or click on pay per click marketing ads call the business right after (Lyfe Marketing).
More than 60 percent of users with the intent of purchasing a product click on PPC ads even when presented with organic search results (Zero Gravity Marketing).
Website traffic from PPC advertising results in a 50 percent higher conversion rate than organic link visitors (Unbounce).
A whopping 74 percent of brands consider PPC advertising a huge driver of business (Brainlabs Digital).
On average, PPC marketing campaigns generate a 200 percent ROI or $2 for every dollar invested (Google).
For many businesses, pay per click marketing brings the highest return on marketing spend. Paid franchise ads are not only significant in boosting your online presence, but their hyper-local targeting capabilities also give you a better chance of converting leads into paying customers.
Learning the ropes of pay per click advertising can help you improve your lead generation process and obtain quantifiable results.
Top Paid Advertising Challenges
With so many unforeseen events in the past years, such as the economic downturn and business decline, brands have had to quickly adjust and pivot their marketing efforts to stay afloat and keep up with the continuous changes.
For franchises and multiple-location businesses, effective franchise marketing campaign orchestration across corporate and franchisee accounts was one of the biggest hurdles they had to overcome. A Forrester research study found that:
61%
77%
36%Multi-location businesses that lack the necessary resources, workforce and expertise also deal with the following franchise PPC challenges on a daily basis:
- Franchise PPC marketing misalignment
- Creating powerful landing pages
- A lack of understanding of local audience segments
- Targeting the right keywords and audience segments
- Failure to create a geofence or boundary for franchise ads
- Passive bid management
- Balancing customization at the local level with consistency at the corporate brand level
- Wrong search intent
- Determining optimum franchise ad budget for each location
- Tracking the right data
Wulff added that ensuring all campaigns across locations and geographic regions do several things right can be a challenge. “Most importantly, you need to make sure that location-specific promotions and business-specific details are accurately communicated in ads and updated as things change,” he said.
These are real pay per click management service challenges, but with proper analysis and data-driven PPC advertising management tactics, you can deliver unique rewards for both your corporate and franchisee account.
Franchise PPC Marketing
Creating a profitable franchise PPC ad strategy requires gaining insights into which advertising channels and methods will provide the highest possible ROI for each location. Given the digital advertising innovations that emerge every year, however, it can be very easy to feel overwhelmed with options.
Let’s discuss how you can leverage each paid advertising strategy to drive repeat business and create stronger customer connections across demographics:
Pay Per Click Advertising:
A Closer Look at Paid Search Marketing
Paid search marketing (sometimes referred to as pay per click advertising) is a tactic that allows businesses to advertise on sponsored listings of search engines or partner sites. Although often referred to as PPC marketing, paid search marketing is just one component of a comprehensive PPC marketing strategy.
When employing paid search marketing tactics, advertisers bid on specific keywords and ad placements on search engines to appear at the top of relevant search results.
For example, a multi-location franchise company could bid for “construction management+location” or other related high-volume keywords. In doing so, the company’s name appears as an ad within the search results when users search for that phrase.
The Most Common Types of Paid Search Ads
Depending on your goals, there are different types of franchise PPC ads you can launch. The most common paid search marketing ads across platforms are:
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Text AdsThese are plain text advertisements that appear on SERPs and across the Google Network. Text-based ads are an effective way to address users’ queries and offer immediate solutions to their information needs.
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Display AdsAlso referred to as banner ads, display ads are visually-driven ads that combine text with visuals to draw users’ attention and communicate the brand message more effectively. Display ads are typically used to show a preview of a product or service.
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Google Shopping AdsThese ads contain rich product information (product image, price, shipping information and merchant name) to assist users’ product research and purchasing decisions. A PPC advertising agency recommends Google Shopping ads for eCommerce businesses that aim to promote their products to high-converting customers.
Why Is Paid Search Marketing Important?
While organic lead generation campaigns can be effective in generating website traffic and franchise leads, they take time to mature and deliver results. PPC advertising management, on the other hand, offers a quick and effective way to enhance your brand’s overall presence and recognition and increase conversion rate within a specific period.
A pay per click management service allows you to:
Improve Audience Targeting
PPC advertising services present a lucrative opportunity to promote your enterprise business to a targeted and engaged market. With help from a trusted PPC advertising agency, you can narrow in on specific audience segments by interests, online behaviors, locations, job titles and activities, among other factors.
Maximize Your Marketing Budget
Through strategic PPC advertising management, you can set a maximum budget for each location and ad platform. This strategy allows you to limit your overall franchise ad spend and ensure budgets are properly aligned. You can set your franchise ad budget per day or per week or depending on the campaign duration.
Adjust for New Demands
Pay per click advertising offers a lot of flexibility. You can test and optimize your franchise ad messaging, budget and targeting approach to increase the visibility of under-performing franchisees and generate more profitable results. Additionally, franchise PPC enables you to retain high visibility, even during peak season.
Generate Quick Results
With the right pay per click management service, you can generate fantastic results in a short period and boost your revenue. Compared to search engine optimization (SEO), PPC generates twice the number of visitors (QuickSprout) and yields 50 percent more conversions (WordLead).
How To Improve Your Paid Search Marketing Results
Perform Specific Competitor Research for Each Location
Competitive research helps you understand your market and improve your value proposition for your target audience. In franchise PPC marketing, however, you need to take into account the different locations you serve. Different locations host different competitions. To effectively identify market gaps, be sure to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your local competitors and leverage the data to create a strategic PPC advertising plan for each location.
Use a Specific Geo List
Geotargeting and geofencing are key components of successful PPC advertising services. Having a clearly defined geo list (listing of all areas included in each service location) ensures your franchise ads are only served within an appropriate service area and do not overlap with other franchisees’ territory.
Be Specific About Brand Offerings
Not all locations provide the same brand offerings or have the same advertising needs. As such, it’s critical that you localize your franchise ads and focus on the specific products or services of each location to avoid confusing the users.
Apply General Findings Among Locations
Analyze data and analytics from across demographics and determine key findings that stand out. For example, if 24/7 service callout provides above-average leads, you can use that for other locations as well. Regular franchise PPC audits can help you gather useful metrics and data for your franchise ad campaign improvement.
Develop Separate Cost Per Click (CPC) and Budget Recommendations
Have a sufficient budget for each location. No two cities are the same, and if one location is hindered by an inadequate daily budget, performance will often suffer. For instance, a $5 keyword bid in one city may cost $10 or more in another. So it's important that budgets are properly aligned based on location and not applied in a general sense across all franchisees.
Use the Right Ad Types and Formats
Wulff strongly advises focusing on having correct and high-performing ad copy for each location. Like budgets, what works in one city may not work in others. Calling out cities or regional neighborhoods can be incredibly powerful for potential customers and should vary by location. Further, factors such as weather, climate, local slang and events generally fluctuate from place to place, which can make or break a franchise location's paid ads performance. A/B testing of ad copy should be integrated from day one and improved often.
Launch Location-Specific Advertising Campaigns
In creating localized franchise ad campaigns, you need to set an objective for each campaign, divide your ad groups based on location and offering, match ad groups to search intent and test your ad structure. Furthermore, set targeting and locations, and remember to set up negative locations as well. You need to ensure you’re focused on the areas you serve only and eliminate the areas you don't.
Leverage the Right Tools
The right PPC tools help you run a successful campaign across locations. Whatagraph, for one, covers all the import metrics and conversion data for simple one-off location reports. For a more integrated solution that works with internal reporting data, you can use Google Data Studio. Data Studio is powerful yet flexible and can even include multiple locations for a closeup performance comparison.
Build Out Unique Landing Pages
Create intent-matching landing pages that provide users with the information promised on your franchise ad. This means ensuring the landing page content matches what your franchise ad describes. Additionally, you can maximize conversion opportunities by creating short and concise lead capture forms, including local customer reviews or testimonials, using compelling content and strong calls-to-action (CTAs) and creating an engaging page design.
Track Campaign Performance
Ensure conversions are being tracked and credited properly. This isn’t a tall ask because accurately tracking leads from PPC ads is very easy if done correctly. It includes making sure you have call recordings active so you can better optimize campaigns based on the quality of the leads acquired. CallRail is a PPC tool that allows you to sort contact numbers per source and listen to calls to assess the lead quality.
CASE STUDY
A multiple-location property restoration company serving more than 180 locations across the United States needed help in increasing its monthly leads, phone calls and conversions for both corporate and franchisee accounts. The firm reached out to Thrive to develop digital marketing strategies that would scale the enterprise business’s success as it expands its commercial services and target demographics.
To achieve online growth, one of our primary areas of focus was PPC advertising management. We performed extensive research and analysis to determine advertising opportunities and develop franchise ad strategies that would improve each location’s visibility on Google SERPs.
By targeting local search terms and creating custom landing pages that highlight the firm’s 24/7 restoration service, our franchise marketing agency delivered significant online growth for its target locations:
+1,345
Total Calls
+2,064
Total Conversions
+24.9M
Impressions
+13.5%
Average Conversion Rate
Paid Social Media Advertising:
Amplifying Your Brand Reach Using
the Best Social Media Advertising Methods
Social media advertising or paid social media is another pay per click marketing category that serves paid ads on various social media digital marketing platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok) to reach targeted market segments.
Social media management agencies promote marketing with social media to provide prospects with a hyper-direct way to reach your brand and connect your enterprise business with highly engaged audience groups.
Unlike organic social media digital marketing, paid social media network marketing enables brands to break through algorithms and reach audience segments beyond their followers. Additionally, paid digital marketing social media campaigns position your franchise in front of prospects that are unlikely to discover them otherwise.
Combined organic and paid social media network marketing strategies work best in engaging and nurturing your followers while extending your brand reach.
Social Media Advertising Methods
All major social media platforms offer paid advertising options. However, this doesn’t mean you need to advertise on all channels. The top social media companies recommend choosing the best social media platforms for marketing your enterprise business to maximize your ad budget and drive measurable results.
Depending on your goals and audience activities, there are various digital marketing social media channels and methods you can use. Our social media consulting firm has identified the best social media advertising approaches for your franchise:
Facebook Advertising
Facebook advertising is one of the most popular forms of digital marketing social media ad campaigns due to the enormous reach promised by the platform. With Facebook advertising, you can leverage various ad formats (images, videos, carousels) and target users based on their demographics, location or profile information. Top social media companies recommend Facebook advertising for franchises with long sales cycles or those with low-friction conversions.
YouTube Advertising
Brands and social media marketing firms leverage YouTube advertising because it’s the world’s second-most popular platform, drawing 2 billion logged-in monthly visitors. YouTube advertising lets social media management agencies and businesses customize different ad formats (skippable and non-skippable in-stream ads, video discovery ads, non-video ads) with different overlay texts and CTAs.
Instagram Advertising
Marketing with social media is not complete without Instagram advertising. Instagram is one of the best social media platforms for marketing your corporate brand, showcasing local products or services and building brand relationships. Providers of social media marketing agency services recommend Instagram advertising to franchises aiming to communicate their stories through creative visuals.
LinkedIn Advertising
Any seasoned social media optimization company would agree that LinkedIn advertising is not for every business. But if you’re a franchise owner aiming to expand your demographics and connect with investors or industry professionals, top social media companies highly advise that you advertise on the platform. LinkedIn advertising is an effective way to increase your brand recognition and establish thought-leadership in your niche market.
TikTok Advertising
Unleash your enterprise business’s creative side through TikTok advertising! TikTok is one of the fastest-emerging and best social media platforms for marketing your franchise to a large, engaged audience group. With TikTok advertising, you can choose from different ad options (in-feed video ads, branded hashtag challenge, Top View ads, branded effects, brand takeover) and partner with influencers to market your brand.
Twitter Advertising
Besides its large pool of users, Twitter is a fast-paced platform popular for driving brand awareness and powering franchise lead generation efforts. Twitter advertising allows you to create ads that target users based on particular keyword usage and trends. With help from a top social media marketing company, you can launch successful Twitter advertising campaigns that go viral for good reasons.
Snapchat Advertising
With more than 306 million daily Snapchat users, Snapchat advertising quickly gains its spot among the best social media advertising forms for enterprise businesses targeting the youth market. Snapchat advertising enables brands and social media marketing firms to showcase their unique brand offering through a 10-second full-screen vertical video that shows up in between watching friends' stories.
Reddit Advertising
Reddit advertising is a low-cost paid social media advertising method that offers great opportunities to connect with a highly engaged audience group. Social media marketing specialists use Reddit advertising campaigns to promote relevant, high-performing website content and showcase a brand’s industry expertise.
Pinterest Advertising
With Pinterest advertising, businesses and social media marketing agency services providers can take advantage of various ad formats (promoted pins, carousels and video pins) that instantly win users’ attention right at the start of their buyer’s journey. Unlike other social media ads approaches, Pinterest advertising allows you to promote your products without being perceived as intrusive.
Why Does Social Media Network Marketing
Matter In Franchise Success?
Paid social media advertising is a smart and efficient method of developing a robust and widely-known brand and generating high-converting leads across franchisees. Well-coordinated social media advertising campaigns offer a better understanding of your local market and drive higher lead acquisition and conversion rates.
“More and more consumers are looking to social media for guidance on choosing local businesses,” said Czeszewski. “From brand awareness and increased web traffic to leads and purchases, social media digital marketing can boost the performance of your corporate and franchisee accounts.”
Marketing with social media empowers your enterprise business to:
Reach Particular Audience Groups
A whopping 88 percent of marketers and social media management agencies advertise on social media to reach more customers. Social media marketing agency services allow you to leverage granular targeting or advertising based on highly specific categories (audience interests, demographics, locations, devices). You can deliver your franchise ads to the most precise audience segments possible.
Gain Greater Content Visibility
Paid social media network marketing is a cost-effective method used by social media marketing firms to cross-promote website content and drive traffic to landing pages. Through targeted social media digital marketing campaigns, you can expand your organic content reach and provide a more engaging brand experience to your prospects and followers.
Increase Foot Traffic
The benefits of social media optimization services go beyond driving digital traffic and awareness. Social advertising, when done right, boosts retail foot traffic. A Curalate study found that 21 percent of consumers visit a store after seeing a social media advertisement.
Improve Conversion Rates
Approximately 64 percent of people use social media to gather brand information and connect with local businesses (Smart Insights). With the increased brand visibility that comes with social media optimization services, your social ads can attract more leads and improve your profit margin.
Level Up Your Social Media Advertising Strategies
Define Your Franchise Advertising Goals and Budget
According to Czeszewski, a key challenge in maintaining social media advertising for franchises is often the lack of a clear social media marketing business plan and goal. To drive successful paid social ads and social media optimization services, you need to identify your advertising objectives and set a realistic budget for each location based on analytics results, market needs and your financial capabilities.
Localize Advertising Message
Social media marketing specialists advise franchisees to connect with local consumers. This means understanding your local audience’s languages, interests, cultures and traditions and creating a social media marketing business plan that connects your business with prospects on a personal level. If you’re having difficulties formulating ad copies that resonate with your local audience, working with a top social media marketing company can prove beneficial.
Perform A/B Tests
To improve your lead acquisition and conversion rates, you need to know which ad elements work best for each location. A/B split testing involves comparing different versions of your advertising assets by changing one element, such as the CTA text or image, to determine which variation positively impacts your traffic and conversions. Partner with a top social media marketing company to get expert assistance on A/B testing.
Optimize Ad Format and Location Targeting
Consider your brand’s voice and the language used by your local community when optimizing your ad format. Additionally, seek expert help from a social media consulting firm to analyze A/B test results and make the necessary adjustments to your ad campaigns. A trusted social media optimization company uses data and analytics to optimize ad format and targeting approaches for each location.
Measure Campaign Success for Each Location
Metrics all tie into the goal at hand. For example, if you're looking to grow your brand reach and recognition in your local area, metrics such as reach, impressions and brand recall lift would be of value. Key performance metrics are determined from the franchisee's advertising goal and how that ties back to an advertising objective across paid social platforms. Tools like Whatagraph, Google Analytics and the Facebook pixel are useful in tracking your campaign success.
CASE STUDY
Our social media optimization company was tapped by a multi-location restoration and reconstruction firm to strengthen its lead generation campaigns for more than 22 locations in the country.
One of our primary focuses was to build a paid social media marketing business plan that targets business owners in need of emergency preparedness and recovery plan. We also leveraged LinkedIn advertising to connect with insurance agencies and create business-to-consumer (B2C) awareness.
Within only six months of the launch of the paid social campaign, our social media marketing specialists generated outstanding results for the client:
+46.9%
Referral Traffic
+16,355,638
Impressions
+15,847
Clicks
+32,059
Impressions
From Your Franchise Ads
In today’s market, brands that don’t advertise online risk falling behind. From demographics information to users’ online behavior, digital advertising platforms have the ability to collect high-value data that enables you to optimize your franchise marketing approach and catapult your businesses to new heights.
Every year, brands spend billions of dollars on PPC marketing to secure their digital real estate. In 2019, the worldwide PPC ad spend stood at $104.8 billion. This amount is projected to exceed $137 billion by 2022 (Statista).
More businesses are investing in pay per click marketing to grow their brand and increase their market share.
With times changing and competition on the rise, PPC advertising services are your best option to quickly establish your brand in the market and create an ideal experience for franchisees and customers alike.
At Thrive Internet Marketing Agency, we strive to get all best practices right — the first time. We are firm believers in building strong relationships with our clients and delivering strong results. More importantly, we do everything we can to get those two things right.
Schedule a consultation with our franchise marketing agency and let’s discuss the best pay per click advertising option for your corporate brand and franchisees.