What makes a franchise truly successful?
You can put a number of ingredients into the mix; a good strategy, sound investment, hiring the best talent to assist you, staying within budget and much more.
So, does this describe your franchise?
Whether you are looking to purchase your first franchise or thinking about switching from one to another, marketing can and should play a major role in your plans.
Get Off on the Right Foot
To start with, make sure you have the right franchise that hopefully will be a solid revenue stream producer for you for many years to come.
Locating the best franchise can be accomplished through a provider such as Franchise Expo or one of the others that offers detailed information on the best opportunities nationwide.
With that in hand, what marketing plans do you have set up? If the answer is you are not sure, take these tips to heart:
- Message matters – Consumers in this day and age have a plethora of ads thrown at them on a regular basis. The key for you and your franchise is to make your message stand out. Be creative; think a little outside the box from time to time. While it is certainly okay to look and see what the competition is doing, don’t model your message after what they say. In order to get more views from consumers, your message must be different;
- Timing matters – When you deliver your marketing message to consumers can make all the difference in the world. One of the advantages franchises and others in the business world has discovered is that mobile marketing can be just what you need. With millions of consumers sporting mobile devices, there is a good chance you will catch them when they’re out shopping already. Offer them a special or two and they are more likely to make a purchase or two. You should also have your holiday marketing campaigns well thought out before the special days arrive, thereby allowing you to get the jump on competition;
- Service matters – Last but not least, your level of customer service must be top-notch. When marketing to consumers, are you making it easy for them to respond to you with instant contact info (phone number, website, social media pages)? If the consumer has to dig for such info, you’ve already probably lost them. Whether the consumer is on a desktop, mobile device or reading traditional marketing messages via flyers or newspaper ads make your contact details front and center.
Owning a franchise is part of the American Dream for many individuals.
When you get your franchise and then let marketing do its job, the sky is the limit on how fast and effectively you can grow.
About the Author: Dave Thomas writes for a variety of websites on topics such as marketing and small business.
