For the owners and operators of franchise businesses, success rests on the ability to establish and maintain a relationship with customers that will result in sales. Franchise marketing efforts are foundational to reaching an audience and growing the business.
However, franchise marketing campaigns can be undermined by common marketing mistakes, resulting in fragmented brand identities, lost opportunities, and the misuse of resources, working against the achievement of franchise goals.
5 Common Franchise Marketing Mistakes
1. Inconsistent Branding
Franchise brand consistency is required to build a strong brand identity that customers can easily identify and connect with on an emotional level. Inconsistent branding is a marketing mistake that weakens messaging, which can lead to confusion, loss of trust, and a perception of lower quality to the audience.
Brand identity defines the business, creating differentiation and competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace. 90% of consumers expect a consistent experience across all channels of interaction with a company. An inconsistent message disappoints consumer expectations, diluting brand identity and ultimately, creating a disconnect with the target audience.
2. Ignoring Local Trends
A costly franchise marketing mistake is not paying enough attention to local trends and losing the opportunity for timely campaigns that are relevant to local consumers.
The value of local marketing is being recognized by national brands, who are investing more money in local efforts. A recent study shows that investments in local advertising are expected to increase from $61 billion in 2016 to $74 billion by 2021.
Appealing to a local audience using local trends is an excellent way to form a connection with customers, personalizing brand messaging to strengthen the bond between product and consumer.
3. Not Producing Enough Content
When a brand isn’t producing enough content, they don’t stay fresh in the mind of the consumer. This common marketing mistake creates a lack of access to marketing assets such as flyers, menus, coupons and promotional offers severely limits how franchises can reach customers, limiting the potential to grow sales and revenues.
Relevant, updated content can improve business results in many ways. Research found that 81% of marketers found content marketing to increase brand awareness, and 68% found it successful in building credibility and trust and generating leads and sales.
Learn more: 4 Content Strategies to Improve Local Marketing Efforts
4. Lack of Marketing Alignment
If the franchise goals and objectives are not aligned with those of the corporate office, it can result in a breakdown in support and communication between headquarters and locations.
A clear statement of corporate goals and objectives, with a natural understanding of how franchise activities contribute to achieving those goals, is the first step in keeping corporate and franchise activities aligned and focused on the same ends.
5. Inefficient Marketing Workflows
A lack of formalized marketing workflows for distributing on-brand marketing materials between locations results in significant inefficiencies, resulting in wasted time and resources. This marketing mistake causes franchisees to create new marketing assets unnecessarily, expending time, money, and effort that they could better use elsewhere.
Addressing Franchise Marketing Mistakes
Marketers can address many of the marketing mistakes that are common among franchises by implementing a comprehensive distributed marketing resource platform that provides structured workflows between headquarters and franchises.
A distributed marketing platform, like CampaignDrive, can help a company create a source of accessible marketing materials with limited customization, that can be used by franchises to create on-brand, timely, and relevant marketing materials.
CampaignDrive allows corporate teams to easily share branded assets with franchise locations to eliminate one-off requests and empower local marketing teams to quickly react to regional forces. CampaignDrive empowers companies to streamline marketing workflows and improve efficiency and leverage a reporting tool which allows for improvements in ROI and the channeling of available resources.
Request a consultation with our team to ensure your franchise locations have the skills and tools needed to maximize marketing efforts at every level.
Sources:
- https://graduatedegrees.online.njit.edu/resources/mba/mba-infographics/branding-across-the-new-digital-environments/
- https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/01/prweb15143050.htm
- https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2019_B2B_Research_Final-10_10_18.pdf -- page 36
