Local franchise marketing can seem difficult, but at its core, it is not much different then local marketing strategy for any other business. The first step in marketing a franchise location online is to make sure your website is friendly to both search engines and visitors. This checklist will help you find out if your website has all the necessary features to begin an effective online marketing campaign for your franchise location.
Create Google My Map For Local Franchise Marketing
Google’s “My Map” feature lets you create your own maps and easily integrate them onto your website, making it simple for visitors to find your franchise locations. Having a map associated with your website makes the website appear more professional as well.
Unique Content About Franchisor and Locations
To make your website a little friendlier to search engines, include some unique content about yourself and your location. Make sure not to create multiple web pages for each location. This will kill your page authority for SEO. Instead, focus on your unique products, services, and attractions of each franchise location on multiple social media channels.
Directions From Surrounding Cities and Landmarks
In case your map stops working or is slow to load on a visitor’s browser, listing directions to your location from landmarks and surrounding cities is a good way to make sure visitors can still reach you. Including directions related to landmarks will also help visitors who are using a Google map to find you. Always give your audience multiple options to find you.
Location Photos
Sharing photos of the location helps visitors find you and adds to your website’s professional appeal. Including both indoor and outdoor photos allows people to picture themselves at the franchise, encouraging them to visit.
Link To A Review Page For Specific Locations
Linking to a third-party review page, such as Yelp or FourSquare, shows that you have confidence in your business. Visitors will also appreciate not having to search to find reviews. It makes it seem like you have nothing to hide. If you do link to a third-party review page, make sure you address unfavorable reviews to show that you have a good sense of customer service.
List of Products and Services
Listing your location’s products and services will help potential visitors decide if they want to stop by. Most of the time, people will not want to take the trip to a new location if they are not sure of what you have to offer them. Showing them what they can expect by visiting is a good way to encourage them to make that trip.
Schema Markup Is Your Friend
Schema markup is a type of code you put on your website to provide meaning about your business for the search engines . Implementing the Local Business schema or one of the specific business schemas will help search engines to understand what type of business it is or what it does.
Consistent NAP
Using a consistent Name, Address, and Phone are the cornerstones for effective local SEO. Ensure that your franchise NAP information is correct on your website as well as across third-party local directories. Having a consistent NAP will allow the search engines to aggregate the business reviews and references to your business from across the web. This will help influence your local rankings within the web results.
Franchise marketing is uniquely tricky. But it can be a work of art when it’s done thoroughly. Click here or call (817) 642-9686 to take your franchise to the next level!
