Storytelling, rather than just regurgitating the facts, is very evocative and plays on emotions rather than rational minds. Every franchise business has an interesting story to tell, but it’s a challenge of the business model to deliver the
marketing strategy across all parts of your franchise operation.
Provide franchisees with storytelling guidance
Most franchisees are not marketers, so they need plenty of guidance. Provide them with everything to talk about the overall brand, as well as their own local brand. This not only saves time but also makes the storytelling consistent.
Marketing can become a strain on company time and resources when every enthusiastic franchisee comes to you, the master franchisor, with individual marketing ideas for their location. Spending the time to filter through the many requests can detract your attention from overall marketing strategies and business goals.
Eventually, you may find your marketing team scrambling to support marketing activities for individual franchisees to the detriment of the overall brand marketing plan. However, there are some simple rules to follow and systems that can be put in place to make the most of the collective marketing efforts of your franchisees.
Great opportunities to promote the brand
There are plenty of opportunities for franchisees to market their individual businesses, and in turn your overall franchise brand.
This could include business milestones such as anniversaries, sales promotion activity such as an annual clearance sale, or seasonal events such as the start of Spring. By providing franchisees with all the elements for this type of activity, you allow them to be more strategic about running their business and less focused on the day-to-day elements of a marketing program.
Put the right system in place
Having a system in place like the one we offer at Orange Canvas provides localised multi-channel marketing that will help tell those great stories. It should include marketing collateral, promotional items, advertising templates and more, which will make everyone more efficient, save time, and provide transparency.
Ideally you want a system in place that gives franchisees 24-hour access to on-demand resources such as specials flyers, branded collateral, email newsletters, and promotional assets. All these assets can be personalised for their territory, as well as be printed or used online to attract customers.
Digital systems allow for much stronger reporting on marketing activities than what was available in the pre-internet era. As a franchisor you should look for a system that can provide regular reports on your entire network’s marketing initiatives and their effectiveness. That’s where we can help at Orange Canvas with tailored reports that can then be shared with individual franchisees.
Contact Orange Canvas today by phoning 1300 402 408 or to find out more about our marketing ecosystem and how it can serve both franchisors and franchisees.