In today's world, becoming an entrepreneur doesn't only mean being able to start a business from scratch. There are a lot of options for entrepreneurs to hone their management skills even without starting their own brand. A bigger company with a solid established brand can offer franchising options. Because it is faster and more convenient to acquire a franchise, a lot of people are getting into franchising.

Marketing a franchise is a hard task, and this stems into the two sides of franchise marketing. If you're a franchise owner, you need to take the time to develop a franchise marketing plan for both of your direct competitors as well as your franchise competitors. Executing the plan perfectly is the next step. And last but not least is to attract more consumers and create loyalty.

What is Franchise Marketing?

Franchise marketing is a marketing strategy used to promote a franchise and is either online, offline, or both. There are two definitions of franchise marketing, the first one is the franchisor marketing. In this marketing plan, the franchisor, or the original owner of the business, needs to think of a clever marketing plan in order to attract franchisees. Franchisors have a lot of reasons to look for franchisees. This is because making business available for a franchise enables growth and expansion in minimal risk. It also gets rid of the work for people, location, and capital because the franchisee shoulders those things.

Usually, the franchisor's campaign includes advertisements that can be seen nationwide, such as commercials, radio, and another kind of advertisement. Online advertisements can be on social media. Internet advertising and other online advertisements fall into this category. The purpose of these campaigns is to further establish the brand into the customers and attract prospective franchisees in order to expand their brand.

The second definition of franchise marketing is franchisee marketing, where the third party franchisee will think of a good marketing idea in order to defeat its competitors in that place. One of the most common types of franchisee marketing is to launch a grand opening or a market introduction. These marketing techniques can last up to one to several weeks after the opening and can be an addition to permanent products if the reception is very good.

In both franchisee and franchisor marketing, it is important to take the time to develop a franchise marketing plan and execute the plan properly. Time can only tell if a campaign is successful or not, and there's no way to know the result if the campaigns are not attempted. The next thing to do is to conduct competitor research.

Competitor Research

Knowing a competitor is a vital step when it comes to managing franchises. Chances are, your competitors in the franchisee level will also be your direct competitors in the franchisor level. One example is KFC and McDonald's. They are both big companies who let third-party franchisees do the expansion for them. Because they both offer the same kind of stuff, they are what you can call direct competitors. But because their franchises can also be found in places and are relatively near each other, they are also competitors in the Franchisee level.

Before anyone can dive into the water and create plans for both franchisee and franchisor marketing level, a franchise owner should do the competitor research. The first step for this is to know who are the direct competitors. This can be quickly done by a Google search by keying searches relevant to your product.

The next step is to know the direct competitors' area of location and confirm if they have a branch located near your prospective location for a new franchise. After that, take note of the marketing efforts that your competitors use in order to promote their brand as a whole. This step is called marketing research. After that, you can devise a franchise marketing plan and successfully execute it.

Franchise marketing utilizes the power of the digital environment in order to promote ads and services. Utilizing the power of information sharing on the Internet is also a good way to do competitor research. Because of the influence of social media posts, blogs, and more, and the tendency of unsatisfied customers, franchise marketing can be a double-edged sword that can kill the business if not used right. However, by utilizing franchise marketing in the right way, it can give a very rewarding result.