One of the most significant advantages of buying a franchise is brand recognition. However, for a franchise to thrive, you’ll need more than a logo and a reputation. 

A well-oiled marketing machine can keep the brand distinctive in the marketplace and help drive business to your store. 

So when you are researching a potential franchise, you will need to know how the franchisor manages marketing.

1. Unified brand consistency

When it comes to marketing, consistency is key. It starts with the national marketing campaigns and follows through to local area marketing, which is the responsibility of each franchisee.

You want a brand that has strong guidelines for its logo and assets. If every franchisee is allowed to tweak the branding, it becomes diluted and loses its value.

A system that ensures everyone uses the same patterns and voice builds massive trust and awareness, allowing you to leverage the collective strength of the entire network.

The social media conundrum

For some brands, social media is handled centrally. In other networks there are clear guidelines and templates for the messages and posts. 

Some are more free-spirited about social media. The franchisor might guide franchisees on how to create impactful videos and posts, and then empower them to drive their own messaging.

While there’s no one solution, it will be clear from a little research whether a brand’s approach to social media works or appears disjointed.

2. Good marketing resources

The national marketing team will have a brand strategy and as a franchisee you too will need a marketing plan that can scale as your business grows.

It’s common for the franchisor’s marketing experts to provide guidance on a local area marketing strategy – although how directive the team is will vary between brands.

A winning marketing strategy consistently lowers the cost of finding new customers while increasing the value of the business you already have.

While the national brand brings customers to the door, your local story keeps them coming back.

Franchisees need marketing collateral to support the story-telling. And this will include a suite of assets, from flyers and newsletters, to promotional assets and social media posts that you can personalise for your area.

Access to a library of assets means you don’t need to spend hours in content creation, the hard work has already been done for you.

3. Data-driven results

Marketing is an investment, not an expense. There is no benefit to marketing activity if you cannot measure its effectiveness in terms of revenue and customer acquisition costs.

Sophisticated marketing platforms can automate, integrate and analyse campaigns, streamlining the process for franchisees, and delivering pertinent insights that enable faster, smarter decision-making.

You will want to find a franchisor who invests in advanced marketing platforms that meet the needs of both the brand, and individual franchisees.

As a franchisee, you are responsible for maintaining the brand’s reputation in your territory, but the franchisor can provide the tools to make that possible.