If you are a franchisee of a major national corporation, then you are probably used to most of your marketing being taken care of by your superiors. The posters and banners are sent to your location and all you have to do is put them in the appropriate places and wait for the customers to come flocking for the new exciting promotion. But what if you are just one of several locations within your community? How do you stand out from the rest so that people want to patronize your store rather than the one just a few blocks down? The truth is that some franchises won’t allow you to market locally, but some actually will. If your franchisor does allow you to market locally, you will want to take advantage of that privilege as much as possible. You can use websites like FranchiseExpo.com to learn all about successful franchise marketing tactics. If you have absolutely no idea where to start, here are five ways to market your franchise locally.
- Create a strong marketing plan – you want to have the blueprints all written out before you embark on your strategies, or else you may get lost along the way. Your marketing plan should create an enticing incentive for people to patronize your franchise business, a budget for all costs incurred, a protocol for following through on your offer, and a way of tracking your success and analyzing the results. The more thorough your plan, the better results you will get. Remember that a strong campaign starts with a strong plan, and vice versa.
- Do your research – it is important to find your audience and your demographic. If they seem elusive, it will certainly be difficult to execute a successful marketing plan, let alone a local one. You want to know what gets your audience excited, what piques their interest, and most importantly, what inspires them to pull out their wallets.
- Try purchasing ad space in your local newspaper – just having a big ad on a certain page will get a lot of visibility. If you have a special promotion, this is a great direction to go in. One great way to make your ad stand out from the rest is to take a look at a lot of the ads that run on a regular basis. Take note of the colors, fonts, and imagery used. For example, if no one is advertising in hot pink, what better way to grab your readers’ attention?
- Touch base with your franchisor – you may have certain regulations or guidelines that you need to work within according to your franchisee agreement. In some ways this may hinder your plans, but in others, it may give you the structure you need to move your campaign in a clear direction.
- Try advertising directly on your franchise – this is a great way to advertise locally to your community. When you advertise, you don’t want to waste your money reaching an audience that isn’t interested in your product. So there’s no better way to cut those people out than by advertising your promotion directly in your store.
