Franchise Marketing Helps Boost Customer Visits

What is Franchise Marketing?

Franchise marketing is more than simply promoting a business – it’s growing a brand’s awareness, reinforcing its reputation, and consequently building customer trust and visitation. Franchise marketing is also unique in that both franchisors and franchisees must work together, with a cohesive marketing plan, to expand their brand, attract new customers, and retain existing ones.

With a strong, consistent strategy in place, in which both franchisors and franchisees are working in collaboration and using a range of advertising channels, franchise marketing can help boost your bottom line, inform customers about your brand, and bring them back to your business again and again. Research shows that good advertising works, even when consumers don’t realize it, because effective marketing has the power to instill positive feelings that can later influence a consumer’s decision to buy a product or frequent a business.

There is a wide variety of marketing channels for franchise professionals to pursue, all of which have an important role in growing brand awareness and building a lasting clientele. More traditional methods include print ads, televised advertising and radio promotion, while newer tactics include social media marketing and methods such as search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising to drive traffic to a website.

See below for an overview of some common marketing methods that can help you grow your franchise.

Traditional Marketing

Though the marketing world has evolved to embrace more digital marketing tactics, there is still power in traditional marketing methods, such as print, radio, and other forms of non-digital advertising. With some consumer demographics, traditional marketing methods are still preferable and more effective when it comes to appealing to your customers and sharing important information – like new products or special promotions – about your franchise. While businesses are increasingly using digital tactics to boost their brand, traditional marketing channels still have a vital role in promoting brand awareness.

A vibrant ad in the local paper, a clever advertisement on your community radio station, a catchy TV commercial or a striking billboard sign that catches consumers on their daily commute – all are traditional marketing methods that can go a long way in influencing consumer habits, boosting awareness about your franchise, building brand trust, and drawing in customers. And it’s not just ads. Methods such as hosting events and attending trade shows are excellent ways to spread the word about your brand. Traditional marketing is still alive and well, and, when coupled with other advertising tactics, can help you reach a wider audience and ultimately grow your franchise.

Digital Marketing

There are endless ways to advance your business through the use of digital marketing tools, many of which are also cost-effective and can help your bottom line. Just a few of these tools and tactics include search engine optimization, which means improving your business’ digital footprint to be as searchable and visible online as possible, search engine marketing – increasing your visibility in search engines through paid advertising, email marketing campaigns, and content marketing, which means promoting your business through content such as videos and blogs.

Planet Smoothie and Kahala Brands™ can offer franchisees digital marketing resources and support to help boost their digital footprint and simplify processes, such as launching digital ad campaigns. Kahala Brands’ interactive team works to develop the digital strategy for its brands. Our team’s areas of focus include website design and development, search engine optimization, paid digital advertising, social media, and the development of new technologies for marketing and sales purposes.

Social Media Marketing

No effective franchise marketing plan is complete without factoring in social media. The average user spent more than two hours daily on social media in 2022, with half of the time spent on their phones reserved for social media. The pandemic also had an impact on social media habits, with many people increasing their time spent on social media platforms. Needless to say, social media is a prime marketing space.

For franchise professionals, strategic use of social media is a win-win. Not only is social media free, it’s a great way to boost your franchise’s digital footprint. When consumers look to social media channels to source a product or service, your business can be readily searchable – and your content informative – to potential customers with proper use of social media marketing strategies.

Social media platforms like Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook are also effective ways to engage with existing customers and attract new ones. Building relationships is key to building trust in a brand, and that can be done by consistently sharing quality content about your franchise on social media, talking with customers and soliciting feedback, sharing positive reviews and testimonials from real customers that illustrate the strength and appeal of your business – and then analyzing social media engagement to improve your marketing strategy.

Learn More about Planet Smoothie Franchise Resources

Backed by industry leader, Kahala Brands, the support you receive as a franchise owner with Planet Smoothie is designed to help grow your business. Ready to learn more about the Planet Smoothie franchise opportunity? Learn more from our research pages here. Looking to start a conversation with our franchise team about the next steps to investing in a Planet Smoothie franchise? Fill out our inquiry form here, and our team will be in touch with a complimentary copy of our Franchise Information Report