1. Ensure your brand is rock solid with strong brand guidelines in place before you share externally and with franchisees.
Part of the strength of a brand is that it's recognizable wherever it is. You don't want to leave anything to chance in regard to what your brand looks like, sounds like, and feels like. The more concrete and thorough your Brand Guidelines are, the less it's left to interpretation and the more it makes it easier for franchisees to know and understand your brand.
2. Use video in your marketing strategy.
To sell your franchise, you need to tell your story. The best and most engaging way to tell the story is through video marketing. This way viewers can detect emotion and see the human beings behind the brand. A prospect watching the video should feel inspired by the franchise's story and left with a strong desire to join the organization. A video that lives on the website should include the founders, testimonials from successful franchisees, and any other team members who can share your point of difference from other franchise systems. Not only do you want to connect with them, but they should also connect with you.
3. Make sure you have a really strong analytics professional for your pay-per-click strategy
Pay-per-click advertising is a powerful way to attract potential franchisees to your business. However, if you don't have the right team in place to implement your pay-per-click strategy, you could quite literally be throwing your money away. Having someone on your team that really understands the data and the story it tells is crucial for implementing and executing a pay-per-click strategy that attracts qualified leads to purchase your franchise.
4. Use testimonials on your website and in your marketing plan.
Testimonials are a powerful marketing tool, but they're even more important when someone is about to make a considered and expensive investment. Before not only making a life and career change, but also handing over thousands and thousands of dollars, most people need to know they're making a sound decision. Another perk of testimonials is that people interested in franchising will be able to see themselves in the same happy, successful shoes as current franchisees.
5. Incorporate a robust CRM.
Driving leads to your website is only half the battle. Once a prospective franchisee fills out the form, who does it go to? What's the next step in reaching out to them? The sale process is long with lots of steps involved and you don't want to lose any momentum. A strong CRM can assist in swiftly moving the prospect through the franchise sales process with automation in place to trigger reminders to sign the FDD, update a prospect that it's time to register their LLC, or any other task to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
A good CRM can also keep track of every detail and correspondence with the lead. At Elysium, we use HubSpot so we can keep all emails, phone call correspondence, and tasks associated with a contact together in one place. This allows our team to work in tandem while talking to a prospect without stepping on each other's toes and over (or double) communicating.
6. Know your numbers.
You as the franchisor are a wonderful marketing asset. Make sure you know the ins and outs of all your business numbers - from your FDD to your Average Unit Volume, to name a few. You can only sell a franchise to someone who trusts you and is confident you know your stuff. Use those positive numbers to be transparent in your marketing and to help sell other franchisees.
7. Use a marketing partner who understands franchise marketing.
For any marketing project, you want to work with an agency that understands and excels at marketing, has a team that's easy to work with, and drives your revenue. With franchise marketing there needs to be an additional "must have." The agency must also have experience dealing with franchisors. Once they do, they know the levers to pull, the content that works, partners who can help you, and how to work with the franchise team.
Are you a franchisor who is looking to increase the units of your operation and expand your footprint? Work with Elysium Marketing Group, a full-service food & franchise marketing agency based out of Philadelphia, PA. They have the knowledge and expertise to work by your side while you grow your franchise business.
