Franchising a business can be a very effective way of rapidly growing it. When franchising is done right, it enables brands to expand their reach dramatically without the need to make significant investments opening and staffing new outlets. Under the franchise model, individual franchisees take on the bulk of the responsibility for operating new business branches. It will be up to your franchisees to find staff and oversee the day-to-day management of their outlet. But to make a success of franchising, you need to attract the right people to take on a franchisee’s role. To do that, you need a solid marketing plan in place.
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Advertising
Advertising is a very broad term; it no longer refers solely to print media and other conventional channels. Modern advertising encompasses numerous digital and analog media channels that you can use to distribute your marketing and spread your message. Print media is just one advertising option available to businesses today.
To successfully franchise your business, you need to attract talented and dedicated people to run your franchises. That’s going to be difficult to achieve without a solid advertising campaign on your side. Franchise businesses have been around for decades now. While these businesses’ basic nature remains the same, the way that franchisors market their businesses has changed dramatically. Franchisors used to advertise with the goal of putting their advert in front of one special person capable of recognizing the opportunity on offer. Today, franchisors are trying to put their business in front of as many people as possible with the intention of whittling down their shortlist of potential candidates later.
Before you can design an effective marketing campaign for your franchise business, you need to know exactly who you are targeting. It helps to define your ideal candidates beforehand; you can then tailor your marketing to target these people and identify the best channels for reaching out to them.
Direct mail
Direct mail is one of those marketing methods that seem antiquated to many people. However, it still has the potential to be very effective when it’s used in the right way. Email might have overtaken snail mail as the preferred distribution method for newsletters, brochures, and other physical marketing forms. However, all of these still have their place in a marketer’s toolkit. In fact, depending on the target demographic of your business, it might be more fruitful to reach out via direct mail instead of online.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t also use email to market your franchise opportunity. Sending out several dozen emails will always be cheaper and quicker than sending a bunch of letters. This tactic’s effectiveness will come down to your recipient list, the people who ultimately receive your marketing. If you target the right people, there’s no reason that direct mailing can’t be an effective tool for generating leads and attracting quality franchisees to your business.
Sales
Traditional sales methods and techniques have fallen by the wayside for many businesses in recent decades. But any franchisor who wants to succeed in their venture should have their own system in place to sell their franchising idea to potential franchisees. You don’t want to find yourself talking with the ideal franchisee and not knowing how to sell your business to them.
Whether you are selling to them in person, over the phone, or via digital communications, you should always know how to explain your business concept to other people and how to make them understand the opportunity you are offering.
It’s important to remember that selling your franchise is a two-way street; you need to note how the person you are selling to reacts to your proposal, what questions they ask, and whether they seem interested and engaged with the core concept.
Promotions
Promotions are used to improve your business’s visibility and bring attention to it from a wider audience. There are numerous ways you can approach this aspect of your marketing; anything that puts your business and brand in front of more people can help promote it. However, when franchise advertising, you should be aiming to mostly target those people you would most like to see become franchisees of your business. The most successful franchisors are those that manage to combine the various promotional techniques, channels, and methods available to them most effectively. Thanks to the internet, it is now easier than ever to reach large audiences with even the simplest promotions.
With the right marketing strategy, you should be able to raise awareness of your franchised business among both consumers and prospective franchisees. To succeed in any franchise, you need both groups of people on your side. You can’t expect to generate enough revenue to survive and grow if you don’t have a loyal customer base and franchisees capable of running their franchises to an appropriate standard. So, if you’re looking to franchise your business, you must market effectively to uphold interest.
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