A successful franchise brands are built on a strategic foundation that considers marketing across the corporate level and local markets. Whether you’re a franchisor overseeing multiple locations or a franchisee managing a single outlet, implementing effective marketing practices is crucial for brand growth and customer engagement. Let’s explore three best practices that can help franchise brands optimize their marketing strategies and implementation.
- The importance of brand consistency
Brand consistency is a cornerstone of successful franchise marketing. It ensures that customers receive a unified experience across all touchpoints, whether they encounter the brand in a national television campaign or on a bus bench ad. Consistency builds trust and reinforces brand identity, making it easier for customers to recognize and connect with the brand.
For franchisors, establishing clear brand guidelines and providing comprehensive training to franchisees is essential. Guidelines should cover visual elements such as logos, colours, and typography, as well as the brand’s soft attributes, including key messages, tone, and values. Clear boundaries should be set for all stakeholders, outlining what expectations and limitations all parties should adhere to when it comes to marketing.
In the end, the onus is on franchisors to set franchisees up for success. As brand assets evolve, they should be clearly shared with all parties, and access to out-of-date assets rescinded. It’s often helpful to develop templates that can be customized for each local market. That way, franchisees are empowered with the tools to easily maintain the look and feel of the brand, in a consistent—yet locally tailored—manner.
For franchisees, communication is essential. Regular communication between you and the franchisor is the key to unlocking local marketing success. You know your market and your community. You know where they spend their time, and what they need to know from you. Asking the franchisor for support with local adaptations will ensure that consumers always experience the brand in a consistent, unified, and meaningful way. - The use of integrated marketing
Successful franchises leverage integrated marketing strategies that combine different communications channels to reach and engage their target audiences. This approach ensures that marketing messages are reinforced across platforms and deliver maximum impact.
Consider what a typical day looks like for your consumer. In a 24-hour period, they likely use a mode of transportation (for example, their car or public transit), engage with multiple technology devices (like their smartphone, television, and computer), speak with friends and family, seek out the daily news, and visit public places, be it for social or practical reasons. Consumers are not static. Your marketing plan should be just as diverse and dynamic as the customers you’re trying to reach.
Working with an agency is often an effective way to develop and execute a strategic, integrated plan. Creative communications agencies like LABOUR work with franchise brands to develop national marketing campaigns that are rolled out across local markets through a range of channels, including traditional advertising (like TV, radio, billboards, and direct mail), digital media (such as digital ads, social media, and SEO-driven search results), public relations (like media relations, influencer partnerships, and experiential activations), and more.
Engaging with customers across multiple touchpoints, with a cohesive message, will help ensure your brand remains relevant and top of mind when they’re ready to take action. - Data analytics and optimization
Just as not all consumers are the same, neither are all markets. Some tactics and messages will resonate better with some audiences than others. It’s important to understand how your marketing is performing, so that adjustments can be made to drive the best results.
Ensuring that systems are in place to measure the performance of marketing campaigns is key. For digital programs, links can easily be tracked to identify which ads, offers, and messages are driving the most engagement. Have a plan ready at the outset for how you’ll evaluate the success of your campaigns, and how you can intervene to optimize performance. For offline programs, unique promo codes, QR codes, landing pages, or variations in messaging can be useful tools to measure which assets are performing best.
Where possible, run multiple variations, so that you can learn about how your consumers respond, and make informed choices and changes as your campaign progresses.
Gone are the days of the “set it and forget it” marketing mindset. Brands that plan from the outset to test, learn, and evolve are poised to maximize their results. Having a strong marketing plan is essential to any business. By prioritizing brand consistency, embracing integrated marketing approaches, and leveraging data-driven insights franchisors and franchisees can collaborate effectively to achieve sustainable success in competitive markets.
Amanda Occhicone
Vice President
LABOUR
amanda.occhiocone@labourcreative.ca