How to Market a Franchise:
The perpetual concern on every franchisor’s mind today is how do I keep producing good quality leads for franchise sales in this economy? When the going gets hard, the franchisor needs to get imaginative. The excellent feature of franchise marketing is that it is extremely targeted and particular. When was the last time you saw a Super Bowl Ad marketing for brand-new franchisees? It’s just not that most likely. The reason is basic, the customer marketing we see every day is expensive because of the reach and protection. It is worthwhile for a company to market for car insurance coverage when nearly anybody who sees the TV commercial could be a prospective customer. That is not the case when advertising for a franchisee, the franchisee is a plainly specified candidate. The demographics have hopefully been defined ahead of time, the locations of interest are predetermined, the capital requirements and all other attributes are clearly defined. Hence, the advertising is far more concentrated and typically speaking cheaper.
The various avenues that franchisors use for franchise marketing run the gambit. The Internet of course is the most widely used medium, about 74% of all franchise leads today originate from the web. Print Media can be efficient based on the readership and uniqueness of a publication. Direct Mailings can operate in some instances as well as Email Marketing Campaigns. Tradeshows are the most flashy and grand of the marketing mediums for franchise list building and can likewise be a wonderful method to market a franchise. When it comes down to it there are a lot of avenues … but how does a franchisor understand where to spend their ad budget plan? How do they figure out where they will get the most “bang for their buck”? There are a number of keys that my company has lived by when it comes to franchise marketing, if these crucial problems are clearly and completely specified and resolved, the franchise marketing procedure can be a lot of enjoyable and create terrific leads. If these key points are neglected or only briefly dealt with, the franchise marketing process can drive a franchisor mad!
- Define your Buyer. Have you ever heard the expression, “Ready, Fire, Objective!” It sounds funny, that’s since it does not make good sense! The very first objective of the franchise marketing effort should be to clearly specify the purchaser. I do not mean “sales representative with a desire to be successful”… I imply, “Female, ages 28-37, Midwest and Southeastern United States, Household income in between $75k-100k, work experience with kitchen area products, married, ideally with children.” We want specifics, down to every last detail. Once we totally determine who this franchisee is, then we can better plan our marketing.
- Establish franchise sales goals. Plainly identify the marketing approach. Start initially with the number of franchises you plan on offering into the system within the next 6 months and year. Do not plan much even more than that, since beyond that point you will more than likely have to redo this strategy based on then present situations. When we have the objectives set, we then can revoke that formula. Normally we are taking a look at around 1000 qualified leads for each 50-100 conferences with prospective franchisees. From those conferences the closing portion is normally around 5%. So if we figure out that we would like 5 franchises to open during the first 12 months of presenting the franchise, we need to plan on generating 1000 leads throughout those first 12 months. The charm of franchise marketing is that it is extremely measurable and a lot easier to track then consumer marketing … we can in fact tell how efficient it is!
- Determine the advertising mediums. Different purchasers can be reached via different marketing avenues. In some franchises all the marketing can be done over the Internet, in others the marketing has to be done through direct mailers to defined candidates … like doctors in the case of a fast care center. Lay out the benefits and drawbacks of each medium and develop the most reliable based upon the cost. This is where the significance of the defined franchise buyer comes through.
- Establish the Budget plan. The average cost per lead on the Web is around $30, the average expense from a tradeshow can be as much as $200 when factoring in travel, time, booth established and other expenses. So take into consideration some kind of a typical cost based on the advertising locations you have actually figured out will be most effective at reaching the target audience. For those thousand leads you might need $10,000 in marketing dollars for that very first year to strike the 5 franchises sold.
- Create the Security materials. A Franchise is a huge investment for a lot of franchisees, in fact for much of the buyers it is actually whatever they have. The franchise offering ought to look extremely expert and really has to be buttoned up. This indicates that the brochure ought to be top quality, there must be a sales video to present to the purchaser what the business involves and helps create enjoyment in the franchise. Handouts and handouts need to be assembled. All this developed around creating value in business offering, not the service or product that the business deals. The general theme should be “Mr. or Mrs. Franchisee, you can make an excellent living doing this, and have a good time while you’re at it.” Franchise buyers fall for franchise ideas since they visualize themselves running a company doing what the franchisor does. The collateral products ought to be the automobile that triggers that interest in the franchisee’s mind.
- Assembled a thorough application form. There should be 2 kinds in the end … one that the franchisee fills out initially to offer the franchisor preliminary information from which the franchisor can decide if they want to subsequent with the prospect any further. This need to be standard details that the franchisor ought to understand up front as soon as possible in the sales process, like how much capital do you need to invest! The second type will enter into a lot more detail and would be sent with the brochure and information packet. This form needs to go into work history and personal background, so that the franchisor can really get to know who this prospect is and what they are everything about.
- Execution. Franchise marketing is like all advertising and marketing, it isn’t really a science, although it is much closer to one than consumer marketing, it still varies a good deal in its effectiveness and results. Some times, just when things are getting to the point where a franchisor is believing they need to surrender and call it quits is when they truly should do some MORE advertising! It takes consistency. The franchise purchasers can be fickle, lots of time it has nothing to do with the franchise offering or the marketing, however rather with the franchisees life and situations. They do come back and look again, we wish to exist when that prospect makes the purchasing decision.
- Exceptional Subsequent. Great franchisors have fantastic salesmanship in the sales process. Leads should be followed up with immediately upon contact. Phone calls are very important and there ought to be high frequency between calls till a contact is made. The franchise sales process isn’t rocket science, it just takes effort and great planning.