Russell Mcbride 
When planning marketing for local or national franchisees, organic and paid tactics are important to franchisees. Organic campaigns establish brand awareness and paid campaigns cater to a specific audience.
Offer local franchisees social media and email tools including brand-friendly content templates and customer response templates for social media and email.
Make an Investment in A Mobile Friendly Website.
Website is an essential part of any franchise’s local advertising campaign. Local searches happen on smartphones more frequently, and franchise websites must be responsive, load faster, and give customers the most up-to-date information to reach out to the franchise fast and efficiently.
Search engine result pages (SERPs) can be optimized with local keywords in website content. Furthermore, consistency among directories for Name, Address and Phone Number to optimize for local search.
Engagement, useful, relevant content will help drive traffic to a website and will help establish a franchise as a thought leader. Other methods for gaining credibility include enabling customers to leave reviews – email follow-ups or dedicated review portals can make it easier. Additionally, joining local events or sponsoring are another successful method to gain brand exposure.
Leverage SMS Campaigns
It is a powerful channel to reach customers with promotional offers, lifestyle articles delivered on time via SMS which can help franchisees reach their customers quickly while encouraging brand-to-customer interaction.
Mobile sms will help franchisees to interact with customer and provide an indelible customer experience which will result in higher sales conversions and brand exposure. When franchisors connect with their audience, this creates a positive connection between the brand and selling through SMS.
Franchises within a city or neighbourhood can easily tweak their messaging as it’s relevant to the season or whatever and update their marketing accordingly. Further, SMS tools help franchisors manage opt-ins and compliance at a national level effortlessly.
Franchisees can extend their messaging even further with MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) – which features photos, videos and audio to appeal and motivate readers to redeem offers or book appointments.
Create a Content Marketing Plan.
Franchise marketing is best when its approach strikes the right balance between brand identity and local market peculiarities. Franchisees should have the right amount of support and resources to build their own digital personalities while retaining the vision and message of their brands.
Offer content and social media campaigns templates that can be customized without losing brand identity and training sessions that address the market data and trends that franchisees are experiencing in their territory.
When local keywords are integrated in website content and meta descriptions it increases search engine ranking and visibility. Joining local social media channels or leaving remarks on local news items further strengthens brand identity and trust amongst locals and ultimately ensures that franchises will gain brand exposure and loyalty.
Empower Your Franchisees
Franchisees must also be given permission to build stronger relationships with local customers via localised social media platforms, sponsorships and events or collaborations with locally produced and built relationships brands.
Also use email campaigns to instill loyalty and repeat business from local customers, with drip campaigns automated or promotions sent at the end of purchases making customers feel a part of the experience, touched, taken care of.
If franchisors stay in constant contact with their franchisees, and offer them a seamless digital asset management system that empowers them to design, plan, tailor, modify and share marketing materials, national and local campaigns will succeed – and both will flourish — leading to more success at the levels and more established brand.
