From healthcare to restaurants, franchisees from all industries must partake in marketing. Marketing fuels business growth, brand image and can even increase the number of job applicants you get. Investing in marketing and community outreach is especially important for new location openings. The messaging for each industry may be different, but the franchise marketing tools to deliver messaging are the same. Check out the franchise marketing tools our team recommends!
Email Marketing
Did you host a giveaway when your location opened? Have you hosted any giveaways? Using this list of emails to remind them of new products, limited-time deals, and job openings is an effective way to stay top of mind. If you aren’t already collecting email addresses from customers, you can do so by asking for them on customer feedback surveys and offering an incentive for taking them, like a free food item or discount on a cleaning service). Many mass email platforms are free for up to a certain number of contacts or emails per month, such as TinyLetter, Benchmark Email, Constant Contact, and more. One of our free favorites is Mailchimp.
Social Media
All social media websites are free. While your corporate office may operate their own accounts, it’s also important to have pages for each location you operate (if this is allowed). This is because you can use it to post job openings, announce events and support of non-profits, show off your company culture, or hold giveaways. In addition, more and more people take to social media for complaints. You want to be able to acknowledge these complaints head on and make them right. The essential social media platforms to be on are Facebook and Twitter, since they allow the most interaction. If you have pleasing pictures of food to post, consider adding Instagram to the mix.
Does time seem to get away from you when you’re on-location? Check out these free social media scheduling tools to plan messaging in advance: Hootsuite, Buffer and Tweetdeck.
Community Outreach
Engaging with your community is an effective way to gain new customers and engage current customers. A few popular tactics are sponsoring local sports teams, reading programs with local schools and donating food or money to non-profits you support in the area.
Another idea is participating in local walks for a cause, which not only gets your brand out into the community, but also serves as a team-building event for employees.
Google Maps / Waze
One of the most important things to do is register your business location and phone number with Google. After completing this first step, people can easily put on directions to find your business. If you haven’t already completed this step, here are directions for doing so.
Waze, a newer alternative to Google Maps, offers an advertising feature for B2C companies that allows you to advertise your business as they are driving near the area the business is in. For example, if someone has their directions on through Waze and is half a mile from your restaurant, an ad can pop up and redirect them to the restaurant if they choose!
Before implementing any new marketing tactics of your own, it’s important to ensure your messaging and design adheres to brand guidelines set forth by your franchisor.
Plus, check out our guide for hosting a great grand opening event.