Franchise Marketing: If You Aren’t Following These 4 Tips, You Aren’t Doing It Right

September 24th, 2015 by Search Influence Alumni

Franchise opportunities and the franchise sector grew by a whopping 28,800 jobs in June 2015, according to the latest report from the ADP Research Institute. It’s true: franchises in the U.S. are growing at a powerful rate. With this growth comes a need for specific digital marketing solutions to deliver optimal franchise marketing results for companies with multiple locations.

A strong local Web presence that is consistent with the franchise or corporate brand is proven as one of the most effective lead sources. In fact, local franchisee websites were voted among the most effective customer lead sources behind only customer referrals, according to the 2015 Franchise Local Marketing Trends survey conducted by franchise software company FranConnect.

Strategize to Succeed in Online Marketing

Local website marketing strategies are a necessity for success, yet many franchisors are not providing any support to ensure their franchisees succeed online. Consider this: nearly half (48.2 percent) of franchisees manage local marketing, including franchise SEO, by themselves without corporate support. Another 44.6 percent manage their local marketing through corporate support, according to data from the survey.

Set your franchisees and multi-locations up for successful Internet marketing and franchise SEO with this local marketing checklist.

1. Create location landing pages for every location within your multi-location business.

Each business location or franchise should have its own location landing page on the brand website. This strategy allows major search engines like Google, as well as your customers, to better decipher the different locations in specific geographic areas.

2. Each location landing page should include the following for successful SEO for franchises:

• Name, address, and phone number
• My Map to Google+ page
• Unique content for the specific franchise or business location
• Directions to the business location from various landmarks, highways, or surrounding cities
• Photos of the location
• List of products and/or services (These can also link to the main brand products and services pages.)
• Link to the individual franchise or business location’s social media pages
• Strong call to action, such as “Call us today,” “Schedule an appointment,” or “Get a free case evaluation” for a law firm, for example.

3. Leverage online directory listings for new franchisees.

More than half of franchise CEOs and marketing execs have said that online directory listings for new franchisees are often created by corporate (some with agency and franchisee support). At the same time, 16.7 percent stated that new listings are simply not established, according to the Local Marketing Trends survey mentioned above.

4. Confirm that all business locations or franchises are listed on major online directories, such as the following:

• Google
• Bing
• Yelp
• Facebook
• ExpressUpdate
• Localeze
• Acxiom
• Factual
• Best of the Web
• Superpages

Be sure to list all of your business locations’ names exactly the same way on all online directories instead of “Company Name – Specific Location.” The different addresses and phone numbers will distinguish each location.

The secret to setting up every franchise or business location for local marketing success is that it takes work. The fact is that 60 percent of corporate franchise offices have marketing teams of only one to three people, according to the Local Marketing Trends survey. Search Influence provides online marketing solutions for franchise and multi-location businesses, whether they consist of two business locations or several hundred. Contact us to find out how we can maximize your franchise marketing online, including franchise SEO and more.