Marketing is one of the essential ways to make your franchise a success. Many franchisors provide marketing at least on a national level for their franchises, but this isn't enough. As a franchise owner, you will need to do a little marketing on your own to ensure you're reaching as many people as possible. This means you should set aside a budget that is earmarked specifically for advertising and digital marketing for your franchise. Here are some franchise marketing techniques to increase franchise sales.
How Much Should a Franchise Owner Set Aside for Marketing Expenses?
We mentioned earlier that the franchisor handles national advertising campaigns. These campaigns benefit you as a franchisee, but they don't come free. Most franchisor charge a monthly fee (found in your franchise agreement) called a franchise marketing fee. This is money the franchisor takes from you each month that will go toward paying your fair share of the marketing the company does on a national level. The franchise marketing fee can vary, but it is typically based on the monthly revenue of your particular franchise. According to the
Small Business Administration (SBA) article,
Franchise Fees: Why Do You Pay Them and How Much Are They, the fee is typically 2% of your monthly revenue. It's important to note that these fees are only one of the many associated costs with purchasing a franchise, and it's because the franchisor does the marketing for its brand on your behalf. In most cases where there are franchise marketing fees, the fees are non-negotiable and will have to be paid regularly.
In addition, you will need a budget for any local marketing or digital marketing you do for your franchise. The SBA recommends that a business with less than $5 million in sales should allocate at least 7-8% of their gross revenue toward marketing efforts if their net profit after expenses is in the 10 percent to 12 percent range. This is just a guideline, but the bottom line is, you're going to need to do some advertising on your own, outside of what the franchisor is doing.
Digital Marketing Strategies for Franchises
TV, radio, and print advertising can be very expensive. There are some ways you can leverage these avenues for marketing your franchise locally. One neat way is to purchase advertising in local coupon books. These books are often sold to people by students to raise money for various school activities. Not only is the advertising affordable, but it's also a great way to help the community while targeting local customers. Local magazines and newspapers are also typically affordable.
- Digital marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your community. Local SEO, Google Maps, PPC, social media, and email marketing directed at local customers is an essential part of building a successful business of any kind in today's online world. A large majority of the population uses their phones these days to find businesses, quite often on the spur of the moment, making it essential that you're using SEO marketing to get your business recognized first in local searches. Imagine being right at the top few results for "burgers" when hungry customers turn to their phones looking for a good cheeseburger. You want to be among the first burger joints they find. They're hungry and likely to head straight to your place because the groundwork you laid using local SEO techniques put your business in front of them instead of your competitor. Using good CRM software to track customers, integrated technologies that sync your campaigns across all platforms, and accurate reports that show your success and failures are also important when it comes to managing your marketing efforts.
- Getting involved in the community is a technique you can use to make your franchise stand out. People like when businesses "give back" to the community. Getting involved in local festivals, supporting local charities, and staying visible in the community can be an effective way to bring in customers who may have otherwise gone elsewhere.
- Promotions are always welcomed by consumers. Online promotions that are linked with your social medias and email campaigns are a great way to bring customers to your website or a business location.
Phone sales and person to person sales are still a viable option for marketing your franchise as well. When it comes down to it, the best advice is to explore and utilize various platforms and marketing methods, track results, and then narrow down those options to the ones that are working best.
All USA Franchises is a Great Starting Point
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