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by iFranchise Group
CEO, Mark Siebert

The Ultimate How-To Guide on Franchising Your Business

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Learn About Franchise Marketing from the Franchise Consulting Experts

Franchise Marketing Plans and Strategies

It goes without saying that you must first have a franchise marketing plan and strategy to sell franchises in order to succeed as a franchisor. To sell franchises, you must start by identifying prospective franchisees and getting them interested in your concept. To do that, the franchisor needs to know where they can most effectively advertise and what marketing message will most likely resonate with their targeted franchisee. That is where iFranchise Group comes in. 

We know better than anyone where and how you need to promote your opportunity to attract franchise prospects. So how can we say we are the best in the industry? Simply stated, we have the best data and the most experience.

We have access to the statistical data on hundreds of thousands of dollars in franchise advertising expenditures.  Between that data and information we collect from our own clients and our affiliate digital marketing agency, TopFire Media, we know where these leads came from.  We know costs-per-lead by media.  We know close rates.  And we can put that knowledge to work for you.

Developing a Franchise Brand Story for Marketing Success

An important aspect of franchise marketing success is having a powerful brand story that is compelling on both an emotional and logical level. Inspiration and motivation drive action. So, how do you know if your brand’s story is unique? If you could substitute a competitor’s name for yours in your messaging, you have failed to differentiate yourself. If you cannot explain why you are better in a way that is unique to you, it is time to go back to the drawing board.

Understanding Your Target Franchisee

To grow as a franchisor, you will need a stream of qualified franchise prospects. Knowing who your prospects are and what really motivates them before drafting the marketing message you will use to attract them is extremely important. Franchisors targeting prospects with generic messaging will often find their message falling on deaf ears.

Also, it’s important to understand that your franchisee candidate will not be motivated by the same factors that motivate you. In fact, our experience has shown that for potential franchise owners, much more important than awareness of a specific brand, are motives such as:

  • Independence
  • Being one’s own boss
  • Flexibility
  • Control of their destiny

Prior to developing your franchise marketing and lead generation plan, the iFranchise Group can conduct primary research on your target franchisee.  And since we have been researching prospective franchisees using a prescribed format for years, we can combine our historical research with your concept specific research to develop a plan that is customized to your specific franchise candidate and growth needs.

Know Your Franchise Competitors

Understand what companies you need to position yourself against. Most likely, your business model is not a unique and never seen before concept. So where do you start? Some things you can do are:

  • Identify the franchise companies you are most likely to compete with.
  • Learn everything you can about these competitors.
  • Obtain your competitors FDDs and analyze them.

What’s in a Franchise Marketing Plan?

Our typical franchise marketing plan will outline the specific marketing activities and budget allocations we recommend you take to generate leads, as well as the steps you will need to take in order to implement these marketing activities.  These plans will cover the following areas:

  • Public relations
  • Digital marketing (including search engines, social media, third party websites)
  • Print publications
  • Direct marketing
  • Trade shows
  • Utilization of brokers and other referral sources

It will also include specific recommendations as to:

  • Media mix
  • Lead tracking
  • Targeted advertising effectiveness rates (costs-per-lead and costs-per-franchise sale by media type) 

In essence, it will provide you with a detailed, step-by-step approach to franchise lead generation.

Strategic Franchise Advertising Development and Implementation

In addition to franchise marketing plans, iFranchise Group has a complete in-house creative team and affiliate agency specializing in marketing franchise opportunities.

While one might be inclined to think that your local advertising agency might be able to handle the development of:

  • Ads
  • Franchise Brochures
  • Websites
  • Other collateral materials

However, the sale of a franchise is a very different animal.

On the one hand, the message you are sending to your prospective franchisee needs to communicate the excitement and the potential of the business and along with the message that the business is simple enough that they can succeed.  At the same time, the underlying message must also communicate that the business is complex enough that if they try to enter the business without you, they will be more likely to fail.  Clearly, this is a line that many consumer advertising agencies are not accustomed to walking.  Add to that the fact that franchise advertising is regulated in eight states (and must be shown to regulators in these states prior to registration), and it is often unlikely that a consumer ad agency will have the specialized knowledge to develop effective and compliant franchise marketing materials.

To learn more about our franchise marketing services, call one of our franchise consultants now at (708) 957-2300. Or, request a copy of our 90-minute seminar video on How to Franchise Your Business, or our free webinar on “How Many Franchises Can I Expect to Sell,” which goes into further detail on these franchise marketing issues.

We also invite you to contact our affiliate firm, TopFire Media, for information about ongoing franchise public relations and digital marketing services.

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