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Local Marketing

Posted in Franchise Opportunities by admin on July 18th, 2008
Tip! ) Franchises often have recognized brand names, which consumers feel safer with.

Too many franchise business owners focus on one aspect to the exclusion of all others, and that is in buying local ads as the only way to generate new business. It’s not that you shouldn’t buy local ads if you want to reach a local market, but before you buy any advertising, you should be clear on what you’re trying to accomplish. And that should be clearly spelled out in your overall marketing plan.

Let’s consider for a moment your Business Plan. What have you planed to accomplish this year? What does your Marketing Plan, which has been carefully thought out and costed, call for? Does it have a 20% growth in revenue with a similar growth in profits? If it does then you’ll need more sales and so you’ll need to attract new customers or get additional sales from existing customers. As a side note: It costs at least 5 times more to obtain a new customer that to retain a current one. Therefore, it doesn’t take a mental giant to understand the need to look after and nourish your current customer base.

Tip! Develop a franchise brand positioning platform. Recognize that your franchise is a separate (though interrelated) brand from your consumer brand, and develop a franchise brand development platform.

Can you handle the increase in sales with your current work force? Will you need to buy extra equipment? These and other operational questions need to be addressed. Either way, marketing is what will help you reach your goals. The Franchisor in conjunction with the franchisees will have implemented a National Marketing Program, however to be really successful you’ll need to compliment this with your own local marketing program

Tip! ) Purposefully and willfully avoiding mandatory registration and disclosure laws in a franchise registration state.

Marketing is all about figuring out who you want to do business with, where are they located and what medium you need to adopt to attract them. It is no good putting an Ad in the local paper if you are trying to attract the teenage market, as most wouldn’t read the paper anyway. You would probably be better served spending your dollars on ads through the local radio station (music orientated), help sponsor a local basketball, football, hockey club or maybe their local nightspot. A Pull-through on local TV can be most effective.

Sending the Right Message, tailored to appeal to the target market is so important; it cannot be emphasized too much. Finding a message, which appeals to a wider community is an art and should be pursued with vigor. Local marketing helps you create awareness of your product, service or brand, among your target market, so they believe you can help them accomplish their goals, satisfy their wants (as they relate to your product or service).

But remember that advertising is one way to deliver your message, but it’s not the only way. Depending on your specific franchise business, you could have hundreds of ways to reach your target market.

The best local marketing puts your message in front of your audience in a variety of ways. The more ways and times someone hears about your business, the more they will remember you and the more credible your message becomes. Try to find at least half a dozen different ways to deliver your message to your target audience and most importantly track the results of each. Repeat and build on the most successful.

Tip! Be sure your marketing communicates the franchise brand position. From your lead generation materials (print ads, postcards, in-store messages, mini-brochures, digital brochures, website) to your follow-up materials (franchise brochures, videotapes, email messages, eBrochures), personal interactions and even the portrayal of franchisees in consumer advertising should be consistent with the Franchise Brand positioning.

Your local marketing exists to deliver exposure to your franchise. It exposes your target market to your message. But remember your goal, and that is to create sales and new customers. When your customer receives a positive experience from dealing with your business then you can expect repeat business and that is what your goal is, to obtain as much exposure as possible within your budget, bring in the customer and get repeat sales.

With a big budget you have many options. But with a small budget your options are limited. Regardless of the size of your budget look at different options to deliver your message and always look for the biggest bang for your buck.

Tip! ) Franchise Organizations and Companies charge royalties to all outlets; The Catholic Church in Vatican takes in money from all locations.

So, plan your marketing expenditures well, they are a necessary cost to doing business and should be treated as such. Look on them with the same diligence as other costs, but always with the premise that they are a vital necessity to your business’s survival, and think of them in terms of buying stock of an item called “exposure”.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 6:01 pm and is filed under Franchise Opportunities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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