If you're looking to increase your franchise's presence online, digital marketing is a great option. You can harness the power of social media and harness the power of content to reach a wider audience. This is especially important if you're aiming to attract new customers and franchisees. To get started, you'll need to create an appealing and engaging content.
SEO
Regardless of whether you choose to hire an SEO agency or manage your SEO efforts internally, you must understand the fundamentals of SEO for franchises. Franchises should use a content-based approach to promote their brands and products. Franchises need to include a link to their website on social media channels. The link should include the franchise name and location. Franchisees also need to make sure they have the right contact information.
SEO for franchises is not as easy as some may think. In order to get targeted traffic, franchisees must write compelling content that includes relevant keywords. This will help keep users on their website and review the content.
Social media marketing
Franchisees must understand how social media can be used to build brand recognition and promote their locations. This will help them create social media strategies and communicate them effectively to their customers. A successful social media campaign for franchises should include specific goals and content guidelines. A franchisee should develop an account that follows brand guidelines and uses branded hashtags to create a distinct online identity for each franchise location.
Small franchises have limited resources and often lack the time to manage social media channels. Fortunately, there are tools available to automate social media posting. A franchisee can manage their local social media handles or work with a national marketing team. When working with franchisees, it's important to ensure they have training on digital marketing and have access to creative assets.
Franchisees should also have the authority to respond to comments and questions.
PPC
Franchise digital marketing campaigns need to be managed carefully to get the most out of the advertising dollars. The first step is to establish a clear strategy. This can be achieved by implementing a geo-targeting strategy and effective customer data collection. The next step is to collaborate with national and local teams to execute the strategy. The key is to set clear strategic guidelines for the campaign so that everyone works within the same logic and towards the same goal.
Pay per click (PPC) advertising gets your franchise in front of local consumers quickly and efficiently. This method of digital marketing allows you to target your audience by location or by specific search terms. PPC ads are highly targeted and are displayed on websites and social media channels relevant to your franchise. When users click on your franchise ad, they are directed to a specific landing page on your site.
Brand consistency
Brand consistency is critical to attracting and keeping customers. For example, McDonald's is known as a family-friendly fast-food restaurant with cheap food and the famous golden arches. But if they changed the colors on their menu and their logo, the brand would lose its appeal. Moreover, people would think twice about recommending them to friends who are looking for a quick bite. A brand needs to be consistent in all its touch points to keep customers coming back.
One way to ensure brand consistency is to create a digital asset library. A digital asset library can house approved digital assets like videos, logo packs, social media images, and content style guides. This way, franchisees can share brand-consistent materials across different platforms and channels.
Tools to track performance
Marketing managers can use tools to track franchise digital marketing performance. While metrics such as cost per lead are important, they don't tell the whole story. It's more important to focus on the sales that the marketing has generated and work backwards from there. The total cost of acquiring a new franchisee can also be used to calculate the cost of marketing.
Social media analytics tools are another great way to track your franchise's performance. Tools like Hootsuite and Brand24 can give you the data you need to respond to negative feedback, identify successful campaigns, and scale your business. Brand24 can also help franchises monitor competitor social media activity. With this tool, franchise owners can easily see their competitors' content and identify any potential threats.