When focusing on franchise growth, companies should follow these steps.
The franchising industry is growing every day. As businesses adapt to the changing needs of customers, there are three key pillars that are essential for brands to maintain growth in a competitive landscape to attract the right franchise owners.
To compete today, you have to ensure your brand’s vision. Focus on highlighting differentiators, prioritizing communication with candidates and being aggressive with marketing and advertising. Placing attention and effort on these areas, and being able to modify plans or your model when necessary, are imperative to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Showcase what makes your brand unique. Credit: Getty
What is it about your company that makes it different from other businesses in the same industry with similar offerings?
How does your brand fill a gap in the market?
In what ways is the service or product you offer unique?
Find the novelty points about your business, because these are the selling points for both potential franchisees and potential customers. Identifying your differentiators is important to crafting great messaging and marketing. This will help you target the demographic of consumers who will appreciate what is unique about your brand.
Always be looking for ways to create other distinctive attributes of the business, or to refresh the ideas once they seem outdated. Constantly reinventing the strengths that make your brand stand out means you can stay at the forefront of the market for the long haul, rather than seeing seasonal or temporary interest.
Respond quickly: e-mail, call, text and stay in touch with candidate. Credit: Getty
Franchisors who are quick to respond to inquiries from potential franchisees, and provide complete information about their brand have the most success. These franchisors make sure they are accessible and open as possible when sharing information about what it is like to be an owner in their system. Think about it from their side of the transaction: If you were shopping around for franchises to invest in, and one company took a week to respond, but one got back to you within an hour, which business are you going to take more seriously? Which one is worth your time to learn more about the opportunity? Which one would you want to join?
On the franchisor side, constant communication is essential, and with tools like texting and direct messaging, it’s even easier to shoot a quick message back so the potential franchisee knows they are on your radar. Time is money, and the more time you take to reply to a franchisee candidate, the more likely they are going to consider other options.
Always focus on every aspect of marketing and advertising to recruit owners and assist in finding
Without brand awareness, there are no customers, and without customers, there are no sales. Making sure that people know what your brand is and what it has to offer is one of the most fundamental parts of running a successful company.
Some franchisors make the mistake of not spending enough money on marketing or not targeting their marketing campaigns to the right demographics. Marketing and advertising are incredibly important on the franchisee and the franchisor level and should not be overlooked. The more advertising you create for your brand, the more people will see your name and the more interest you will receive from prospective investors, franchise owners and ultimately customers. If your current marketing models are not driving in the revenue you are looking for try something new. Don’t be afraid to put money into hiring a marketing agency, a consultant or into rebranding, as you may end up with a campaign that will elevate your presence in the market.
These fundamental efforts will help your franchise company stand out above the rest. Highlighting the brand’s uniqueness, being a communicative franchisor and having strong marketing initiatives will set your franchise system up for a prosperous future.
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FORBES (Steven Beagelman)
