How to Market your Franchise: Advertising

When you franchise your business, there are a wide variety of ways to advertise and promote your franchise brand.  The key is having a strong franchise marketing system to develop lead flow and get your franchise model in front of as many franchise investors as possible.

1. Franchise Lead Portals:

–An example of a franchise lead portal is (www.FranchiseConduit.com) , these are basically directories where people can find franchise options and locate ideal franchise investment ideas.

–High traffic sites include the following:

o    www.BizBuySell.com – $32 per lead

o    www.FranchiseDirect.com – $35 per lead

o    www.FranchiseSolutions.com – $25 per lead

o    www.FranchiseClique.com – $20 per lead

*These lead sites are high volume and produce consistent lead flow.  They take consistent follow up, but will produce sales.

1. Franchise Brokers:

–Brokers are out in the market and work in a way similar to real estate agents who provide leads and refer business.  They are paid a referral fee when a referred sale closes.

–Several broker groups exist which will get us out there quickly and effectively:

o    www.IFPG.org

o    www.FranServe.com

1. Pay Per Click Internet lead generation. This lead generation is a bit more expensive, but it is targeted, specific to a market and allows you to drive leads which are interested specifically in the brand.  Can be very effective, but requires a bit more of a budget ($75-$125 per lead).  Good PPC and SEO franchise lead generation companies exist who can support this strategy (http://poweredbyfms.com ).

1. Franchise Public Relations.  The franchise industry is fueled by news and exposure for a brand in relevant publications and media placements.  There are a variety of good franchise public relations groups who market and advertise your franchise effectively.  This budget is typically $1,000 to $4,000 per month depending on the firm we work with and the amount of work we contract them to do for us.  PR leads are expensive, but are extremely high quality leads when someone sees your brand in a publication and in a “non-sales” related presentation.  (www.FishmanPR.com )

1. Industry Specific Direct Marketing. This type of franchise advertising is more specific to a particular industry segment and an example might be marketing to doctors for a weight loss franchise through medical publications or advertising a construction franchise to licensed contractors mailing list.  There are a wide range of companies and service providers who can support this type of franchise sales strategy.

1. Franchise Tradeshows are always a viable way to market a franchise model and there are a wide variety of different markets where the shows take place literally around the world.  Some of the biggest shows put on by the MFV (http://www.mfvexpo.com ) are great ways to market globally at a single event and smaller shows put on my National Event Management (http://www.franchiseshowinfo.com ) make for great regional shows which provide great exposure for the investment.
   1. Average show is about $3,000 to $4,000 per exhibit
   2. Need booth, collateral and great marketing materials
   3. Travel, food lodging are expenses associated with tradeshow advertising.

The franchise industry offers a wide spectrum of ways to market the franchise and build the lead funnel for new franchise sales.  All of these are effective ways to market the franchise brand, you just need to find the most effective channel for your business and your brand.

Posted by Admin