Learn how to measure the success of a franchise marketing campaign and the importance of tracking key performance indicators (KPIs).
1. Track results, measure and respond to data trends
Knowledge of how to use online channels like social media, email marketing, advertising, content marketing, SEO and PR can turn your marketing efforts from ho-hum to on fire.
To the point: every brand should begin with basic steps to help you reach its ideal prospects, get them engaged with your brand and generate sales leads.
2. Measure what works in franchise marketing and what doesn’t
Numbers matter when it comes to knowing if your digital marketing strategy is effective or not. That’s why it’s important to make an ongoing commitment to analyze data and pay attention to shifts in lead generation.
Marketing isn’t a once-and-done project. It takes relentless attention to details to make sure you build long-term relationships with potential candidates as they move through the sales process.
An experienced franchise marketing agency knows what it takes to track results, adjust strategies, tweak tactics and get the results you need to grow your business.
3. Budget your franchise marketing strategy
A franchise marketing plan, or any proposed means of generating leads for franchise expansion, needs to have a budget before it gets off the ground. In its simplest form, a budget is created based on goals to be achieved, and the resources available to reach them.
There are two ways to begin to outline a budget for franchise marketing efforts. Either let the speed in which the brand expands drive the budget or let the budget drive the speed of expansion.
A Winning Formula
Before business owners can even think about a budget, they need to know what their goals are for growth. In other words, there needs to be a growth strategy put in place. One way to develop a growth strategy is to create a hypothetical formula for a long-term goal, and then backtrack to create a short-term goal.
For example, let’s say the goal is to sell the business in ten years for a 20% return. How much in franchise fees and royalties collected from how many units, would be needed to make that happen? From there, divide by ten years and come up with the number of franchises that need to be sold each year.
There needs to be a detailed strategic planning and financial analysis, as well. As part of that analysis, a franchise marketing budget can come from anecdotal industry averages for cost per franchise sale.
Multiply the number of units to be sold each year by cost-per-sale industry benchmarks, and you have the makings of a yearly budget.
For example, the goal to sell 12 units in a given year, at an annual industry average for cost-per-sale at $10,000 per unit, results in a franchise marketing budget of $120,000 for the year.
What happens if the growth strategy is unobtainable, either because of a lack of manpower to fuel such an aggressive rollout, or lack of capital needed to market for each unit based on industry guidelines? Perhaps our hypothetical business owner doesn’t have $120,000 in the first year of expansion, even with franchise fees rolled in from each sale. He could then flip his hypothetical formula on its head and either reduce the short-term goals or increase the length of time to reach the original goals.
Adjust as Needed
It’s important to remember a franchise marketing budget is fluid; it’s a guideline that can be altered as results and information reveal themselves throughout the process. But knowing how much money is available for marketing efforts will dictate where ad dollars are spent. A more conservative budget may rely on tried and true methods versus more expensive, less predictable media.
Developing a Marketing Budget Doesn’t Have to Be Intimidating
It doesn’t take an economics genius to create a franchise marketing budget, but some franchise industry know-how makes it a lot easier. Set goals. Create a growth strategy based on goals. Craft a budget based on industry benchmarks. Monitor results, including cost-per-lead and cost-per-sale, and adapt accordingly. These steps, when executed correctly, can set the foundation for a successful marketing program for recruiting franchisees.
