Make your mark

How will you market your franchise? Russ Cama reveals what you need to consider before buying a business

 

Before investing in a franchise, it is important to consider what it will take to promote a franchise successfully. Effective promotion, at both a national and local level, will be the difference between generating a successful business and struggling to justify an investment which is not living up to expectations.
Effective promotion can also mean hard work, and the amount of personal effort needed to promote a business effectively should not be underestimated, particularly in the start-up phase when a new franchisee has to be especially hands-on.

In principal there are two streams of brand promotion to be considered. Firstly, how much effort and support does the franchisor provide? Secondly, what will the prospective franchisee be expected to undertake locally?
Support provided by franchisors varies dramatically. Larger, more established franchisors with extensive networks of franchisees should have a high degree of knowledge as to what marketing activities deliver the best results for their business. However, even large franchisors should also be continually developing new strategies.

Smaller franchisors or businesses, which are just starting to franchise their business, will have built the foundations of their franchise on successful, local, brand promotion strategies. These strategies will have been the basis for the success of the business pre-franchised and will have some merit in being developed further, but only if they are scalable with the planned growth of the business once franchised.

Some strategies will not suit franchising, especially noting that most prospective franchisees wish to see a rapid return on their investment. Strategies developed by franchisors which are complicated, narrow in scope or based on having generated local goodwill over long periods of time, will not typically return the sales necessary to meet the expectations of a new franchisee in the short term.

Franchisors, whether large or small, should be providing their franchisees with the tools to do their job making it as simple, convenient and safe to procure these tools as is possible. A forward-thinking franchisor will have an online solution, which enables their franchisees to buy head office approved promotional materials and marketing collateral, 24/7, online and for them be fully tailored to the local business in line with corporate guidance.

Gaining a clear understanding of the marketing and promotional support being provided centrally by a franchisor is essential. Additionally, the prospective franchisee will need to consider the effort required to deliver a promotion or marketing strategy and will have to satisfy themselves that they can commit, and cope with, their obligations in terms of delivery.

Promoting a franchise can take many different forms. Some methods, such as local advertising are relatively passive once implemented, ie, there is no further work to be done until a customer gets in touch.

Others are more demanding, such as leaflet dropping, especially if the franchisee takes on the work themselves rather than paying a third party to do it for them. Consideration needs to be given to the amount of work involved versus the potential reward. From experience with franchises in one particular sector, on average for every 2,000 leaflets delivered, three customers will be signed up. The cost of both the leaflets and their distribution is easily outweighed by the profit generated. To the layman, delivering 2,000 leaflets may seem a large task, but to successful franchisees it is a means to an end, in fact a very profitable end.