Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Over the past several years, franchising has continued to grow with the total number of franchise opportunities increasing by 13.7% in the last five years. This growth is due to several reasons, such as entrepreneurial freedom across multi-faceted industries, streamlined operations and lower risk for franchisees, especially when partnering with esteemed brands with established brand recognition. Franchisors offer a variety of franchise options to choose from within food & beverage, fitness & health, retail, home improvement, tech services and more.
As the franchising landscape continues to evolve, franchisors must adapt their franchise development efforts, identifying new ways to target and engage with potential franchisees. A cohesive, integrated marketing strategy that fosters the brand’s unique story helps drive franchise development efforts by ensuring all marketing channels and messages seamlessly work together to reach potential franchise owners. From raising awareness through industry PR and social media to driving lead generation through PPC and SEO, every aspect of an integrated marketing campaign works seamlessly to support and strengthen franchise development.
Integrated marketing is coordinating a multitude of marketing tactics to create a unified brand message and strategy for delivering it to the target audience. Similar to a sports team that’s preparing for a big season or game - each player or tactic has a specific role to play and the team or campaign’s overall success depends entirely on how well the tactics work together to achieve a common goal.
Much like each player performing a specific function on the team, each department and marketing channel plays a unique role within an integrated marketing strategy aimed at driving franchise development efforts. Those channels might include digital marketing, public relations, content marketing, over-the-top (OTT) advertising and traditional advertising across television and radio.
In playing its role on the team, the goal of franchise development is to attract potential franchisees to grow the franchise business, and in any brand strategy, it’s crucial to maintain a consistent message across all channels and platforms to reinforce brand credibility and build trust.
A complementary, integrated marketing approach helps increase overall brand awareness - making it easier for potential franchise owners to find, learn more and engage with the franchise opportunity. The decision to open a franchise location is considered by many potential franchisees as a massive opportunity. Therefore, streamlined and transparent messaging surrounding the brand and its proven business model can be a contributing, if not a deciding factor, in moving forward. Franchisees are more likely to invest if they understand the support and resources that will be available to them in marketing, training and more.
In addition to implementing a consistent brand image and message that resonates with potential franchise owners, franchisors should strategically market that message across various earned, owned and paid channels.
For example, to increase credibility and expand reach among target audiences, franchise development teams should activate ongoing public relations campaigns, such as thought leadership articles, guest speaker or podcast opportunities, earned media coverage and influencer partnerships. As awareness builds, digital marketing efforts, across both owned and paid channels should be aligned as well.
Owned social media channels should reflect similar messaging with a customized strategy to drive action across the content. Similarly, paid campaigns should capitalize on awareness driven by PR and social media to boost conversions, directing the target audience to take necessary action. Traditional marketing efforts, such as direct mail, print media and events, can also complement integrated marketing strategies.
While franchise development success includes many moving parts, an impactful team would be nothing without clear goals and objectives, like increasing a certain number of franchise locations or increasing the number of multi-unit owners within a year. It is considered best practice to keep track of performance metrics and make necessary adjustments to ensure all marketing initiatives are designed to effectively engage future franchise owners and achieve goals and objectives.
In this massive effort to reach potential franchisees through integrated marketing campaigns, it is important to compile the results of each to identify key learnings and further refine the strategy, making data-driven decisions every step of the way.
Whether your organization needs an entirely new integrated marketing strategy to drive franchise development efforts, or if you are simply seeking a partner to concentrate those efforts, check out a few of these successful franchise partner brands. The Bolt PR team has the award-winning expertise and experience to support growing your business and amplifying your message to reach more potential franchise owners through PR, digital marketing, content creation and more. Let’s team up and make it happen today.
Not sure where to start?
Contact our team to start the conversation around a customized marketing campaign dedicated to your personalized business goals. From PR to content creation and digital marketing, you tell us how far you want to take your brand, and we’ll do the rest.
We can’t wait to hear from you!
.png)
