McDonald’s, Subway, Orangetheory, Taco Bell – franchising has given rise to some of the most iconic global brands.
According to the International Franchise Association, franchising generated a remarkable $860 billion in total output and employed around 8.7 million people worldwide. This lucrative market presents immense opportunities for franchise brands or anyone hoping to enter the industry.
In an environment that can be cut-throat and fiercely competitive, you need a strong franchise marketing strategy to stand out and thrive.
Franchise marketing aims to achieve what traditional marketing does:
→ Boost brand recognition
→ Drive more sales
→ Stand out from the competition
However, unlike traditional marketing, franchise marketers must also maintain a cohesive brand presence across all units while allowing flexibility for local adaptation.
As intimidating as it may seem, franchise marketing is key to sustained success. Whether you’re aiming to boost your digital presence, optimize local marketing or ensure consistency across locations, this guide provides tips, best practices and essential strategies to help you succeed.
We’ll cover topics such as:
• A Primer on Franchise Businesses
• What Is Franchise Digital Marketing?
• 2 Types of Digital Marketing for Franchises
• 6 Challenges of Online Marketing for Franchises
• 7 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Franchise Marketing Strategy to the Pros
• 11 Tried-and-True Franchise Marketing Strategies
• Franchise Marketing FAQs
Before we delve deeper, let’s establish the basics – what sets apart a franchise business, franchisor and franchisee?
A Primer on Franchise Businesses
Understanding the key roles within the franchise system will help clarify how marketing strategies are developed and implemented. At the heart of every franchise are three essential components: the franchisor, the franchisee and the franchise business itself.
Franchisor
The franchisor is the parent company that owns the brand and its proprietary business model. It gives franchisees the right to operate under its established name and offers support services, including marketing resources, training programs and operational guidelines.
From a marketing perspective, the franchisor ensures the brand’s integrity and standards across all franchise locations.
Franchisee
The franchisee is an individual or entity that acquires the rights to operate a business under the franchisor’s brand. In return for an initial franchise fee and ongoing royalties, the franchisee benefits from the franchisor’s established brand reputation and business model.
Franchisees are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of their unit and implementing local franchise marketing strategies to grow the location’s reputation, visibility and reach.
Franchise
The franchise business refers to the individual unit operated by the franchisee. Each unit adheres to the franchisor’s brand standards while having the flexibility to adapt marketing and operational strategies to better suit the local market.
This multifaceted endeavor, known as franchise development, involves implementing the franchisor’s established business model and tailoring approaches to meet local consumer preferences and market conditions.
Adhering to the overarching brand guidelines and local customization drives unit-level success and contributes to the franchise network’s overall growth and reputation.
Now, let’s move on to what you’re really here for: the secrets behind online marketing for franchises.
What Is Franchise Digital Marketing?
Franchise digital marketing is promoting a franchise business at the corporate level (franchisors) and individual franchise locations (franchisees).
As we mentioned above, franchise marketers balance maintaining a consistent brand identity across all units while allowing for localized marketing that fulfills the unique needs and preferences of each region the business operates in.
To better understand franchise marketing, let’s break down the roles of the franchisor and the franchisee:
Marketing Responsibilities: Franchisors vs. Franchisees
Again, franchisors are tasked with brand development and creating a business model that can be replicated across multiple locations. They leverage marketing tools like national campaigns, social media and franchise advertising to establish and reinforce the brand’s identity on a large scale.
Meanwhile, franchisees adapt these strategies to fit their local market. This means tailoring marketing efforts to align with local demographics, cultural nuances and consumer behaviors.
For example, if the franchise’s overall marketing focus is on promoting sustainability, a franchisee in a coastal city might spotlight local initiatives like ocean conservation, beach clean-ups or marine wildlife protection.
This regional adaptation ensures the franchise marketing plan is relevant and appealing to each target audience while preserving the brand’s core identity.
However, you need to note that franchisors optimize two types of franchise marketing strategies. The type we’ve discussed here, where collaboration between franchisors and franchisees is key, is known as ‘operational/consumer franchise marketing.’
The other type, ‘franchise development marketing,’ focuses on recruiting new franchisees, which will be discussed in more detail in the next section.
2 Types of Digital Marketing for Franchises
Let’s delve into the two major types of digital marketing for franchises:
1. Operational Consumer Franchise Marketing
To reiterate, operational or consumer franchise marketing includes the collaborative efforts of both franchisors and franchisees to acquire and retain customers. This strategy focuses on local marketing initiatives that drive customer engagement and sales at each franchise location.
Key elements of this approach include:
• Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Ensuring each franchise’s website and online presence are optimized to rank well in local search results. This helps local customers find the franchises easily online.
• Geo-Targeted Ads: Running advertisements that are specifically targeted to local consumers. These ads promote region-specific offers, seasonal items or partnerships with local businesses to enhance engagement and drive foot traffic.
• Local Content Creation: Developing content that resonates with the local community, such as blog posts, videos or social media updates featuring local landmarks, events and cultural aspects to connect with the community and improve local engagement.
• Localized Email Campaigns: Sending targeted email promotions and updates tailored to specific regions, ensuring customers receive relevant information and offers that appeal to their local interests.
• Encouraging Positive Reviews: Motivate local customers to leave positive reviews online. Showcasing satisfied customer experiences builds credibility and attracts new customers.
2. Franchise Development Marketing
In contrast to the first type, franchise development marketing is designed to attract potential franchisees by highlighting the advantages of owning a franchise.
This strategy focuses on expanding the franchise network and involves the following key approaches:
• Dedicated Franchise Websites: Create specific sections on the franchise’s website that detail the franchise opportunity, such as success stories, financial projections and the support provided to franchisees.
• Lead Generation Campaigns: Implementing campaigns to generate interest among potential franchisees. This can include offering free webinars, downloadable guides or other resources about franchise ownership.
• Franchise Expos and Informational Events: Promoting participation in franchise expos or hosting informational webinars to connect with prospective franchisees, answer their questions and provide them with detailed information about the franchise opportunity.
• Testimonials and Case Studies: Share success stories from existing franchisees and case studies to build credibility and demonstrate potential for success.
Each type of franchise digital marketing strategy plays a critical role in the overall success of a franchise brand, whether it’s enhancing customer engagement at the local level or expanding the franchise network by attracting new franchisees.
6 Unique Challenges of Online Marketing for Franchises
Unlike fully owned multi-location brands, marketing for franchises means operating under a unique setup where independent owners manage each location while adhering to a shared brand.
This structure presents unique challenges, some of which we will discuss below:
1. Maintaining Control Over Digital Assets
Maintaining control over digital assets is a major challenge for franchisors, especially when franchisees start creating their own franchise marketing plan without proper guidelines.
Without a unified approach, franchisees might stray from the brand’s identity, leading to inconsistent websites, mismanaged Google Business Profiles (GBPs) or partnerships with local marketing agencies that don’t align with the brand’s vision.
This lack of consistency can dilute the brand’s image and create a lot of extra work to restore uniformity. Additionally, it can lead to inconsistent customer experiences and make it harder to track performance across the entire franchise network.
2. Tailoring Strategies to Local Markets
Maintaining brand consistency is crucial, but adapting to local markets presents its own challenges as franchises expand into new regions.
Culture, language, demographics and regional preferences all play a big role in shaping how effective marketing strategies are.
Every franchise location operates as a local business under a larger national or global brand, But it also needs the flexibility to tailor central marketing initiatives to its specific audience. This balance requires careful customization, adherence to brand guidelines and strong communication to achieve harmony between franchisors and franchisees.
3. Limited Staff and Bandwidth
Adapting to local markets and maintaining autonomy over digital assets is just the tip of the iceberg when marketing for franchisees and franchisors. Smaller franchise locations often grapple with limited resources compared to larger corporate offices.
Franchisees might not have the time, budget or personnel to fully invest in digital marketing. Plus, smaller teams often lack the expertise required for a comprehensive franchise digital marketing strategy, leading to less effective online campaigns and missed opportunities.
4. Juggling Multiple Channels
Juggling a growing number of marketing channels can be a real pain for franchise brands. With so many social media platforms, websites, search engine optimization (SEO) needs, review sites and directories to manage, keeping everything in sync is no easy task.
Franchisors have to make sure that every franchisee is on top of these channels and staying true to the brand. And as the network grows, it just gets trickier.
5. Insufficient Data
When you’ve got a bunch of locations to oversee, keeping track of contact lists and figuring out how each franchisee’s campaigns are performing can be tough. If you don’t have enough data, you risk spending money on marketing campaigns that might not really hit the mark for your business.
Outsourcing franchise advertising or marketing to a pro agency can take a huge load off your shoulders. An experienced agency handles and fine-tunes online marketing for franchisees, keeping everything consistent and effective across all channels. This lets your team focus on other important parts of running the business.
6. Ineffective Lead Management
Effective lead nurturing is key to turning potential customers into loyal buyers and attracting new franchisees. Without a solid strategy, building trust and guiding prospects through the sales funnel is tough, which can impact your ability to recruit new franchisees and close deals.
If franchise brands overlook lead management, they risk missing out on growth opportunities and seeing a lower return on investment (ROI). As a result, they weaken customer relationships, which hurts brand loyalty and the ability to attract new prospects overall.
7 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Franchise Marketing Strategy to the Pros
Franchisors who provide a smooth and consistent experience for their franchisees often see higher renewal rates, increased satisfaction and more multi-unit ownership. Franchisees depend on their franchisors to offer solid branding guidelines, effective franchise advertising materials and successful promotional strategies.
However, managing all these diverse skills and roles can be overwhelming for a single internal marketer.
Outsourcing to a professional franchise marketing agency gives you access to a full team of specialists – including franchise experts, marketing strategists and digital marketing professionals – at a lower cost than hiring a full-time expert.
Beyond that, your business also benefits from:
1. Comprehensive Expertise Across Disciplines
Outsourcing gives you access to a wide range of specialized skills. A franchise marketing agency brings expertise in crucial areas like SEO, PPC, social media and content creation.
With this diverse skill set, an expert manages every part of your franchise marketing strategy, offering a comprehensive approach to building your brand. Each specialist brings extensive knowledge and cutting-edge techniques that might be hard to gather internally.
2. Cost Efficiency
Building an in-house team of experts can be expensive. Outsourcing lets you tap into a full team of professionals at a fraction of the cost. You save on salaries, benefits and training for various roles.
Plus, agencies usually provide flexible pricing models that can adjust to your needs, helping you manage your marketing budget more efficiently.
3. Increased Focus on Core Business Activities
With the marketing burden lifted, your internal team can concentrate on what they do best – running and growing the franchise. They can focus on operational excellence, franchisee support and business development while leaving the complexities of marketing strategy and execution to the specialists.
This shift allows for more efficient use of internal resources and enhances overall business productivity.
4. Access to Advanced Tools and Technologies
Most professional marketing agencies lean on state-of-the-art tools and technologies that may be too expensive or complex for a single franchise to manage. These tools include advanced analytics platforms, marketing automation systems and premium SEO software.
Leveraging these technologies allows for more precise targeting, better performance tracking and optimized marketing campaigns.
5. Consistent Branding Across All Locations
As we’ve established, maintaining a cohesive brand image across multiple locations can be challenging. A franchise marketing agency ensures that marketing material, from digital ads to social media posts, aligns with your brand’s identity and guidelines.
This consistency helps reinforce your brand’s message and builds trust with your audience, leading to stronger brand recognition and loyalty.
6. Scalability and Flexibility
As your franchise network expands, so do your marketing needs. Outsourcing offers the flexibility to scale your marketing efforts quickly and efficiently.
Whether you’re ramping up campaigns for new franchise openings or adjusting strategies based on performance data, an agency can adapt to these changes seamlessly without the need for hiring or restructuring your internal teams.
7. Data-Driven Insights and Reporting
Agencies specialize in analyzing marketing performance and deriving actionable insights. They deliver detailed reports and analytics that reveal what’s working and what needs adjustment.
This data-driven approach ensures your franchise marketing plan is constantly refined and optimized based on real performance metrics.
Pro Tip: How To Choose the Right Franchise Marketing Agency
When selecting a marketing agency, make sure they specialize in working with franchises. Look for agencies with a proven track record and a portfolio that showcases expertise and experience helping franchise businesses with their campaigns.
Franchise marketing is a niche field, and partnering with an agency experienced in franchise development can be a game-changer.
Their expertise ensures they understand the unique dynamics of franchise marketing and can effectively support your growth and consistency across all locations.
With these considerations in mind, let’s explore proven franchise marketing strategies that can drive your business forward.
11 Tried-and-True Franchise Digital Marketing Strategies
Whether you’re managing marketing for franchisees in a local coffee joint or overseeing advertising for a global fast-food chain, a solid franchise marketing strategy will help scale your business and drive new customers to all of your locations.
Here are some effective strategies to ensure success across your entire franchise network:
1. National SEO
To start, let’s define SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) enhances your website’s visibility on search engines like Google to attract more organic traffic.
National franchise SEO expands on this by focusing on a larger scale. Instead of targeting just one local area, national SEO improves your franchise’s online presence nationwide. Optimizing your website for broader search terms helps you attract users from diverse regions and rank higher in national search results.
National SEO for a franchise business involves many moving parts, including:
• Comprehensive Keyword Research: Identifying high-value keywords with national reach that resonate with your franchise’s offerings. This involves understanding broad search terms and user intent across various regions.
• On-Page Optimization: Enhancing website elements such as meta titles, descriptions, headers and content to align with national keywords and improve relevance and visibility on a larger scale.
• Technical SEO Enhancements: Improving technical aspects like page speed, mobile responsiveness and secure connections to ensure optimal site performance and search engine crawling.
• Content Strategy Development: Creating and publishing authoritative content that appeals to a national audience. This includes producing valuable blog posts, articles and multimedia highlighting your franchise’s expertise.
• Backlink Acquisition: Building a strong backlink profile by securing high-quality links from reputable sources. This helps boost your domain authority and enhances your national search rankings.
• Local Listings and Citations: Maintaining accurate and consistent information across national directories and business listings to support visibility and credibility.
• Performance Monitoring and Analyticn: Using tools to track SEO performance, such as organic traffic, keyword rankings and conversion rates, allowing for data-driven adjustments and optimization.
Some experts view national SEO as just local SEO on a larger scale, mainly because many strategies overlap. However, it’s much more complex than that, and we’ll cover the details in the next section.
2. Local SEO
Local SEO aims to enhance your franchise’s visibility within specific geographic areas. Unlike national SEO, which targets broader, country-wide search terms, local SEO focuses on attracting customers in particular locations, such as local shops or neighborhood service providers.
This strategy often involves optimizing each franchisee’s Google Business Profile with location-specific keywords, creating localized landing pages for each branch, building citations and backlinks from local sources and encouraging customer reviews.
All of these efforts are made to secure a spot in the highly coveted Google Map Pack.
What Is the Google Map Pack?
The Google Map Pack, also known as the Google Local Map Pack, is a prominent feature in local search results that displays a curated list of top-ranking businesses relevant to a user’s query.
Source: Search Engine Journal
When users search for local services or businesses, this section highlights the top three to four results on a map. The map also shows the businesses’ locations and individual listings, which users can click for more information, call the business directly or navigate via Google Maps.
The Google Map Pack appears above traditional organic search results, ensuring maximum visibility for the featured businesses.
How the Google Map Pack Impacts Local SEO
Appearing in the Google Map Pack drives targeted traffic to your franchise locations by placing your business front and center in relevant local searches. Securing a spot in the Map Pack can significantly increase visibility, enhance local engagement, and boost foot traffic to your franchise locations.
Here are key strategies to increase your chances of appearing in the local pack:
✔ Optimize Google Business Profiles
Ensure each franchisee’s Google Business Profile is fully completed with accurate business information, including address, phone number, hours of operation and website. Use relevant local keywords in the business description and services to improve relevance in local searches.
✔ Maintain Consistent NAP Information
NAP stands for Name, Address and Phone Number. Consistency in this information across all online listings and directories is vital for local SEO. Ensure your NAP details are identical across your website, Google Business Profile and other local citations.
✔ Encourage and Manage Customer Reviews
Actively encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and respond to them quickly. Positive reviews can boost your profile’s appeal and credibility in the Map Pack. Address negative reviews professionally to keep your online reputation strong.
✔ Build Local Citations
Submit your franchise details to reputable local directories and citation sites, keeping your NAP information consistent across all platforms. To strengthen your local relevance, focus on getting citations from industry-specific and local directories.
✔ Create and Optimize Localized Landing Pages
Landing pages are specialized web pages created to capture and convert visitors based on specific topics or locations. For franchise businesses, crafting individual landing pages for each location allows you to customize content for local customer needs and search intents.
By using local keywords and location-specific details, these pages improve your visibility in local search results and help search engines better understand and rank your business.
✔ Implement Structured Data Markup
Structured data markup, also known as schema markup, involves adding specific code to your website. This helps search engines understand and present detailed information about your franchise locations, such as business hours, addresses and contact details, in a more informative way.
✔ Engage With Local Community and Media
Participate in local events, sponsorships or partnerships to generate valuable local backlinks and citations. Engaging with local media can further boost your visibility and relevance within the community.
✔ Optimize for Mobile Devices
Ensure your website and GBP are mobile-responsive so they look and function well on all devices, including smartphones, tablets and desktops. This guarantees a smooth and accessible experience for users, regardless of their device.
Given that over 60% of searches (Go-Globe) happen on mobile devices, a responsive design is vital for enhancing visibility and engaging potential customers effectively.
✔ Do an SEO Audit
Regularly perform an SEO audit to assess the effectiveness of your local SEO efforts. This includes reviewing your Google Business Profile, website performance, citation accuracy and keyword rankings to identify areas for improvement.
3. Google Business Profile Optimization
Each franchise location should have its own Google Business Profile, a free tool that boosts visibility on Google Search and Maps. Optimizing this profile is crucial for local search success, as it confirms your franchise’s presence and improves its ranking in search results.
Proper optimization also increases your chances of appearing in Google’s Local Pack – the top three local results displayed above the organic search listings. To maximize the benefits of your Google Business Profile, follow these optimization strategies:
✔ Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile Listings
Begin by claiming and verifying each franchise location’s profile. Verification confirms the legitimacy of your listings and gives you control over the information displayed.
✔ Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Ensure that each profile has accurate and up-to-date information, including the business name, address, phone number, hours of operation and website. Use relevant local keywords to improve the profile’s visibility in local searches.
Additional Google Business Profile features to optimize include:
○ Google Q&A
○ Business Description Attributes
○ Photos Products and services
○ Posts CTAs (such as scheduling an appointment or booking a service)
○ Integrate applicable third-party applications
○ Unique features (Google has special tags for women-owned and minority-owned businesses)
✔ Manage Your Online Reputation
Consumers can contribute photos, reviews, questions and answers for your business. Regularly monitoring the location’s profile ensures that customer questions are addressed accurately, reviews (both positive and negative) are promptly responded to and feedback is tracked to enhance the overall customer experience.
✔ Keep Track of Your Profile Performance
Monitor your profile’s performance regularly using Google’s insights and analytics tools. Track key metrics such as search impressions, clicks and customer interactions to gauge the effectiveness of your optimization strategies and make data-driven improvements.
✔ Leverage GBP Features
Make full use of features such as posting updates, adding special offers and responding to customer questions. These actions can engage users and provide additional valuable information.
4. Website Design and Development
Your website is the centerpiece of your marketing strategy. It’s where you drive paid traffic, draw in organic visitors and facilitate customer actions like placing orders, booking appointments or contacting franchisees.
Generally, a franchise website is made up of:
• Corporate Website: The main site for brand-wide information and overarching marketing
• Franchisee Local Pages or Microsites: Individual pages or small sites for each franchise location
• Store Locator or Location Finder: Tool to help users find the nearest franchise location
• Landing Pages: Specific pages designed to capture leads or promote particular services
• Franchise Development Website: Site dedicated to recruiting new franchisees
Do You Need Local Pages or Full Franchisee Sites?
Choosing between building local pages and custom franchisee sites depends on your franchise’s industry and how your customers search for your services.
Local pages are usually enough for quick-service businesses like fast-food chains since customers only need basic information such as the address, hours, menu and promotions.
On the other hand, service-based franchises, like landscaping or plumbing, require more detailed franchisee sites. These sites should include team bios, service descriptions and lead forms, as clients often seek specific information to make informed decisions. Providing these details helps enhance local search rankings and offers the comprehensive information potential customers need.
What Is the Ideal URL Structure for a Franchise Website?
Creating an optimal URL structure for your franchise website is crucial for user experience and SEO. A well-organized URL structure helps consumers navigate your site easily, supports SEO efforts and allows for streamlined management.
Here’s a recommended URL structure to achieve these objectives:
Franchise Homepage
www.franchisename.com
Centralized Corporate Pages
www.franchisename.com/about-us
www.franchisename.com/careers
www.franchisename.com/contact-us
www.franchisename.com/faqs
Local Franchisee Sites and Pages
www.franchisename.com/region/city/
www.franchisename.com/region/city/about-us
www.franchisename.com/region/city/services
www.franchisename.com/region/city/careers
www.franchisename.com/region/city/contact-us
This structure ensures users a clear and consistent path to navigate your site and helps search engines index and rank your pages effectively.
5. Technical Local SEO
While Local SEO focuses on optimizing your franchise’s online presence to improve visibility in local search results, Technical SEO goes deeper into the website’s infrastructure.
Technical SEO involves optimizing the technical aspects of a website to enhance its overall performance in search engine results pages (SERPs). Here are key strategies to leverage technical SEO for your franchise website:
✔ Implement Structured Data Markup
Use structured data markup (schema) to provide search engines with detailed information about your business, such as location, hours of operation and services. This helps search engines better understand and present relevant information in search results.
✔ Optimize Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are essential metrics used by Google to evaluate your website’s user experience. They focus on three main areas: loading performance, interactivity and visual stability. These metrics assess how quickly your site loads, how responsive it is to user actions and how stable the layout remains during loading.
✔ Secure Your Website with HTTPS
Ensure your website uses HTTPS encryption to provide a secure browsing experience. A reliable web hosting service plays a key role by managing server security, handling SSL/TLS certificates for HTTPS and ensuring consistent uptime. This combination helps protect data transmissions, maintain your website’s security and provide a seamless browsing experience for your visitors.
✔ Optimize Title and Meta Tags
Craft keyword-focused and descriptive titles and meta tags for each page. These elements help search engines understand your pages’ content and improve click-through rates from search results.
✔ Maintain a Clean Link Structure
Monitor and resolve crawl errors, broken links and other issues that regularly affect your site’s performance. Use tools like Google Search Console to keep your site in top shape and ensure all pages are accessible to search engines.
✔ Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. A mobile-optimized site enhances user experience and can improve search rankings, especially with the increasing number of mobile users.
✔ Use Breadcrumb Links
Incorporate breadcrumb links within your pages to help search engines understand the hierarchy and structure of your site. This is particularly useful for distinguishing between corporate pages and individual franchise locations.
6. Online Review and Reputation Management
Due to the high volume of locations, managing online reviews can be a major challenge for franchise brands. Reviews are scattered across platforms such as Google, Yelp and Facebook, making monitoring and responding to feedback manually difficult.
To handle this efficiently, consider using scalable review management software or partnering with an online reputation management agency. These tools and services streamline the process, ensuring timely responses and effective reputation management across all franchise locations.
A comprehensive approach to reputation management involves:
✔ Encouraging Reviews
Actively ask satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp and industry-specific sites. Simplify the process by providing direct links and clear instructions.
✔ Responding to Reviews Promptly
Address both positive and negative reviews quickly. Thank customers for positive feedback, and handle negative reviews professionally to show that you value their input and are committed to improvement.
✔ Monitor Your Reputation
Regularly check review platforms and social media for mentions of your franchise. Use monitoring tools and alerts to stay updated on new reviews and respond to feedback promptly.
✔ Leverage Feedback for Improvement
Analyze review insights to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Use this feedback to refine customer service, products or services for better customer satisfaction.
✔ Promote Positive Reviews
Reviews are great for building trust with customers at both national and local levels. Displaying these user-generated assets (content that’s provided customers) on your website and social media boosts credibility and attracts new customers.
Implementing this using local review schema can also boost your local SEO, making your reviews appear as star ratings in Google’s search results.
Local review schema helps search engines understand and display your reviews as star ratings in search results, increasing your visibility. This approach ensures that positive feedback has a greater impact on user trust and search engine rankings.
7. Paid Franchise Advertising
Like organic efforts, paid franchise advertising should maintain national campaigns while incorporating localized strategies. This means using targeted keywords such as “near me” or “in [city]” to reach consumers in specific service areas.
Paid marketing channels that franchises focus on include:
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: Bid on relevant keywords to appear in search results and drive traffic to your franchise locations.
• Video Advertising: Engage audiences with promotional videos on platforms like YouTube.
• Display Advertising: Use banner ads across various websites to increase brand awareness.
• Social Media Advertising: Target users on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to drive local engagement.
• Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH): Place ads on digital billboards and screens in high-traffic areas.
Combining these paid franchise marketing strategies ensures comprehensive coverage and maximizes your reach nationally and locally.
8. Content Marketing
Content marketing is an invaluable strategy for franchises and franchisees for several reasons.
First, it enables you to build meaningful connections with potential customers without the hard sell right off the bat. Instead, you can provide useful information so that their first interaction with your brand is helpful and informative.
Beyond initial engagement, content marketing helps establish your brand and boost awareness. While many customers may already recognize your brand through broader corporate advertising, localized content builds a reputation for being helpful and trustworthy on a more personal level.
From here, it’s vital to incorporate the E-E-A-T concepts: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. While not a direct ranking factor, E-E-A-T is part of Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (SQEG), a set of rules and guidelines that helps the search engine giant determine whether search results are returning high-quality, relevant information.
You can incorporate these four concepts into your content creation process by:
• Creating quality content like blogs, how-to guides, case studies and whitepapers
• Including expert insights and addressing common pain points within your industry
• Disclosing sponsorships, if any
• Providing clear, transparent information about your products or services
9. Social Media Marketing
As your franchise network grows, so does your potential on social media. With a well-planned social media strategy, each franchise location can become a key player in achieving your overall marketing objectives.
However, while the franchisor must oversee social media to ensure brand consistency and appropriate content, they can’t manage every detail independently. Allowing franchisees to build their social media presence can be beneficial but comes with risks.
For instance, mishandled social interactions or unresolved customer complaints at the local level can quickly escalate and damage the brand’s reputation.
To safeguard your brand, provide franchisees with approved marketing materials and clear social media guidelines. Here’s how:
• Develop Centralized Guidelines: Create comprehensive social media policies outlining what franchisees should post and how to handle various interactions. This includes tone of voice, branding elements and engagement protocols.
• Provide Approved Content: Supply franchisees with pre-approved content and templates that align with your brand’s voice and style. This ensures consistency across all locations and reduces the risk of inappropriate or off-brand posts.
• Set Response Protocols: Establish clear guidelines for responding to customer inquiries and complaints. Include response times and escalation procedures to ensure timely and effective handling of issues.
• Monitor and Support: Implement tools or systems to monitor social media activity across locations. Offer ongoing support and training to franchisees to help them manage their social media presence effectively.
• Encourage Local Engagement: While maintaining brand consistency, allow franchisees to share local content and promotions that resonate with their specific audience. This helps build a stronger connection with the local community while staying aligned with overall brand messaging.
10. Email and SMS Marketing
Both email and SMS marketing are powerful tools for engaging with your audience. Email marketing boasts an average open rate of around 20%, and recipients typically open emails in about 90 minutes.
In contrast, SMS marketing achieves an impressive 98% open rate, with messages being read within 90 seconds of delivery. Furthermore, SMS has an average conversion rate of 29%, while email is 15.2%.
For franchise businesses, these channels are crucial for driving local engagement and maintaining consistent communication with customers. SMS can deliver immediate updates, promotions and reminders, making it ideal for time-sensitive information.
Email marketing, on the other hand, supports more detailed content and nurtures customer relationships through regular newsletters and targeted campaigns.
To maximize the effectiveness of your email and SMS marketing campaigns, consider the following best practices:
• Tailor your messages and adjust content based on customers’ interests or previous interactions with your brand.
• Grow your subscriber list by providing easy signup opportunities everywhere, including your website, events, social media channels and brick-and-mortar locations.
• Engage new subscribers by sharing your brand’s story, following up on promised content and offers and collecting essential information.
• Focus on local deals, events and relevant details that appeal to the community.
• Regularly send newsletters featuring updates about the franchise, new menu offerings, special promotions and more.
• Encourage customers to join loyalty programs to boost retention and engagement.
• Ensure you have permission before sending marketing emails or texts.
• Send SMS reminders a day ahead of appointments to help prevent no-shows.
• Use SMS to send urgent offers and prompt immediate responses from customers. Include a call-to-action in your texts to guide them on the next steps.
11. Conversion Rate Optimization
You’ve now generated leads through your website and social media. The next step is to ensure that these leads are effectively converted into customers.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) improves the effectiveness of your website by increasing the percentage of visitors who take the desired actions.
You can boost your conversion value by:
🡆 Conducting Regular CRO Audits
Regular CRO audits involve a comprehensive review of your website’s conversion process and design elements to identify and resolve issues that could affect conversions. Analytics tools like Google Analytics, heat maps and session recordings gather data on visitor behavior and interactions, helping pinpoint areas for improvement.
🡆 Enhancing Website Structure
After conducting an audit, refine your website’s design to improve user experience and encourage conversions. Organize your site’s navigation to make it intuitive and relevant, grouping pages such as blogs, services and contact information into logical categories. A well-structured website aids both user experience and search engine optimization.
🡆 Focusing on Page Experience
To boost conversion rates, prioritize functionality and clarity over visual assets. Ensure landing pages are user-friendly by removing unnecessary form fields and communicating your value proposition. Regularly perform A/B testing to find and implement the most effective design elements and content.
🡆 Ensuring Mobile-Friendliness
Since many users access websites via mobile devices, having a responsive and mobile-friendly design is crucial. Avoid intrusive ads and pop-ups, simplify your layout and regularly test mobile performance to ensure a seamless user experience.
🡆 Optimizing CTA Buttons
CTAs are critical for guiding users through the sales funnel. Ensure your CTA buttons are strategically placed and use compelling, audience-focused language. Experiment with different colors and positions to discover what drives user actions and improves conversion rates.
🡆 Monitoring Campaign Metrics
Track key metrics like bounce rates, exit percentages and user behavior flows to evaluate the effectiveness of your website optimization efforts. Sharing these insights across your franchise network helps improve CRO strategies and aligns efforts to enhance overall performance.
So far, the strategies we’ve mentioned are universally applicable across industries. However, you can’t implement all of them and might not even need all of them, which is why hiring a franchise marketing agency is always a wise investment.
If you require a cohesive strategy tailored to your unique needs and goals, a marketing agency can help customize and implement the most effective approaches for your business – from building eCommerce marketing plans for your franchise to managing multi-channel campaigns.
Other Articles You’ll Love:
• Marketing: 5 Quick Wins to Elevate Your Franchise Business
• Franchise Marketing 101: The Challenges of Scaling SEO
Scale Your Franchise Business With a Professional Agency
Grow your franchise network and develop a sustainable franchise digital marketing strategy across locations with Thrive. We have a strong portfolio of working with multiple-location businesses, from medical practices to HVAC companies.
Our team understands the balance of maintaining consistent branding while allowing local customization. We will evaluate your current digital marketing status using the Thrive Score, our exclusive tool for pinpointing strategies that align with your growth objectives.
Talk to our digital marketing experts today for a free franchise marketing proposal.
Franchise Digital Marketing FAQs
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HIRING A DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY FOR MY FRANCHISE?
A specialized digital marketing agency brings expertise in managing multi-location campaigns, balancing corporate and local needs and leveraging best-of-breed tools. They can help optimize strategies, increase efficiency and drive better results across your franchise network.
I DON’T AGREE WITH THE FRANCHISOR’S DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY. WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Have a chat with the franchisor to voice your concerns. Share any data you have and work together to find a middle ground that respects both the national strategy and local needs.
HOW CAN I ENSURE LOCAL MARKETING EFFORTS MATCH NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS?
Use a central marketing platform that lets you keep messaging consistent but still make local adjustments. Regular check-ins and training can help keep everything aligned, and tracking performance will guide your tweaks as needed.
WHAT’S THE ROLE OF DATA ANALYTICS IN FRANCHISE DIGITAL MARKETING?
Data analytics helps you see what’s working and what’s not by tracking customer behavior and campaign results. It’s key for making smart decisions, spotting trends and fine-tuning your marketing across locations.
HOW CAN I HELP FRANCHISEES CREATE LOCAL CONTENT WHILE KEEPING BRAND CONSISTENCY?
Provide franchisees with guidelines and templates that align with the brand. Offer training on creating effective local content and give regular feedback to ensure it fits the overall brand image while addressing local needs.
WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MISTAKES IN FRANCHISE DIGITAL MARKETING, AND HOW CAN I AVOID THEM?
Watch out for inconsistent messaging, lack of local engagement and poor tracking of results. To avoid these, set clear guidelines, keep communication open with franchisees and use solid analytics to monitor and improve your strategies.
WHAT KPIs SHOULD I TRACK FOR MY FRANCHISE DIGITAL MARKETING EFFORTS?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) to track include website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, return on investment (ROI) and engagement metrics like social media likes, shares and comments. Tracking these KPIs helps you measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies and make data-driven decisions.
HOW DO I MANAGE AND OPTIMIZE PAID ADVERTISING FOR MULTIPLE FRANCHISE LOCATIONS?
Tailor ad campaigns to each location’s needs using geo-targeting and separate ad accounts. Regularly check metrics like click-through rates and conversions to optimize your ads and budget for each area.
SHOULD I OUTSOURCE OR MANAGE DIGITAL MARKETING IN-HOUSE FOR MY FRANCHISE?
Outsourcing gives you access to experts, advanced tools and scalability while letting your team focus on running the business. However, managing it in-house offers more control and direct alignment with your brand’s vision. We advise you to evaluate your team’s capabilities, budget and the complexity of your marketing needs to decide what’s best.
