Working with multi-locations for marketing allows us an inside look into operations from many different industries. For your educational benefit, we compiled a list of all the challenges we have seen when starting a marketing partnership with a franchise.
- Not having a uniformed brand, complete with guidelines –
At a high-level, franchisees are paying for brand power. You can only keep brand power growing, by making sure 1 location isn’t ruining the brand for all. - Not having all your search listings set up for each location –
There are over 150 search listings. Being at the right time and the right place is half the battle in marketing. - Misaligned sales and marketing team –
We are huge fans of “smarketing.” It’s extremely important to have an aligned strategy between sales and marketing. - No local SEO strategy –
Going after national keywords can be the death of any company. Local traffic is what matters in franchising. - Allowing non-uniformed email addresses & phone systems –
A professional image should be a requirement when it comes to how you present the business by email or phone. This has the added bonus of working of being able to track and report conversions. A good business owner knows their percentage closed. - Over investing in consultants and not enough in media buying –
Franchises are considered wealthy businesses. This is sometimes a misnomer. Many fall prey to consultants who burn the marketing budget and provide no tangible services. - No marketing and technology guide for the local offices –
Take the guesswork out of how to gain traction in the local market. Give locations the fundamentals of marketing and how to be successful. - Allowing unqualified team members to lead marketing –
This is probably the biggest issue we see. They are using their administrative assistant for marketing. Not only is this a waste of money it hurts the brand power. - Not having a disaster PR plan –
When you decide to become popular, someone will always try to come for your crown. This is when a consultant will come in handy to build a disaster PR plan. What to do when you make the news for negative PR? How do you handle negative reviews? How to recover from a disaster? - Not copyrighting the logo –
Before you begin licensing your business, protect your band by copywriting your logo, key messaging, website, and design style. Don’t make it easy for a licensee for you to leave and keep your business concept. - Not using people and stories in their messaging –
This causes the brand to become cold and bland. The bigger the company, the colder a brand becomes. Don’t become invisible and lose relationships in franchising. - No consistent marketing strategy or plan to obtain goals –
Most franchises have a very small marketing department. Make sure you invest in a plan and KPIs for your marketing. Otherwise, you will lose sight from the day to day requests of licensees and move marketing at a snails pace.
Contact us for a marketing audit and get your multi-location business on track for marketing.
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