Franchises have a lot of work ahead of them in order to catch on with local fanbases. One of the most effective methods of franchise marketing is to adopt digital marketing strategies that make sense for your business.
1. What is Franchise Marketing?
This is a term that describes branded online marketing campaigns that are applicable to each franchisee location under the umbrella of a franchising company. While there is one overall marketing strategy designed for the company, each franchise location’s campaign is tailored for the local market.
These strategies are adopted regionally due to the localized challenges inherent to that particular franchise location. But the more traditional methods are not the only game in town anymore. Sure, you can still put an advertisement on the radio or the newspaper, you just won’t reach the wide swath of potential customers as you will embracing the new avenues of marketing as well.
That’s why you need to learn these five effective digital marketing tips for getting the word out about your franchise. There are many to choose from, SEO, social media, pay-per-click, local search engine marketing, you name it. The quicker you learn how these can all be put to use, the better off your business will be in the long run.
2. Multichannel Marketing
Sometimes a combination of the old ways and the new techniques is just what you need to market your franchise. That’s where multichannel marketing comes into play. As a franchise moves into a new region, it’s vital that the company adopts the kind of marketing that can reach all customers through a multitude of avenues.
That includes using email marketing as well as direct marketing. Point of sale along with SMS marketing. A smart strategy that uses digital marketing in smart and inventive ways should utilize the traditional along with the modern in order to get to every potential customer.
3. Synchronized Data
Franchise owners understand that it is absolutely critical to remain in compliance with all marketing efforts of the franchising company. But there can be some major obstacles in the way, especially with coordinating all of the various franchise marketing campaigns that are being undertaken at the same time.
That’s why it’s important to initiate some form of synchronization for the design and execution of all these various campaigns at one time. In combining all of the information necessary into one synchronized tool, digital and traditional marketing avenues can be tracked at a glance.
Even more important, this synchronization allows for all franchisees to control the way their localized campaigns are rolled out while still remaining in compliance with the marketing directive set in place by the franchising company.
4. Smart Coordination Tools
Digital marketing doesn’t always refer solely to digital avenues for reaching your customers, it can also be about the platforms or programs which you use to manage those avenues.
Case in point, the tools available for monitoring and managing your digital and traditional marketing methods from direct mail to SMS.
The tool you use for coordinating these campaigns can allow for them to be integrated together instead of operating separately from one another. With everything seamlessly integrated, this coordination effort also boosts the franchisee’s ability to remain compliant with the marketing effort of the brand.
5. Tracking Customer Trends
The most effective marketing strategies can only be implemented on a foundation of useful customer data. Gathering the data on your customers’ habits across a range of factors allows you a better opportunity for reaching them.
So another smart digital marketing strategy involves obtaining all of the information possible as it pertains to your customer base. These facets don’t just track your customers and their habits, it also lets you monitor the efficacy of your marketing avenues and franchise programs.
This data can also provide you with the right information about the success or failure of a campaign and gather and compare that information against the effectiveness of a campaign for all the franchises under the brand.
For digital marketing to work, you need the people to run the programs for assessing and executing the campaigns. Digital marketing is always improving as technology improves and in order for franchises to keep pace in this ever-changing modern marketplace, they need to be able to embrace these adjustments.
That means always training your personnel and ensuring they are fully apprised of the latest additions to the digital marketing arsenal. Consistency is key and that can only come from remaining up to date with your campaigns, your digital avenues, and your franchise’s knowledge of both.
