Most people believe that franchises have it easy compared to the rest of the businesses, especially since there’s a big and popular brand supporting them in any way. However, the truth is that even franchise businesses struggle when it comes to competing in an overcrowded market.
Just because a franchise business is a part of a large brand, it doesn’t mean they’ll favor instant recognition and popularity as soon as they open up shop. The fact of the matter is that franchises must heavily focus on their marketing efforts, in order to stand out and win over customers. That means making the most out of the marketing budget and spending it wisely on marketing campaigns.
That also includes planning and a lot of strategizing on franchises’ part. In other words, every franchise business must develop a unique approach for their local market while staying within the boundaries of their brand image and identity. With that in mind, here are a few ways to get the most out of your franchise marketing budget.
Set clear goals
The purpose of having a marketing budget is to know how many resources to allocate and where to spend them, in order to drive viable results for your franchise business. You simply cannot accomplish that without setting clear goals, beforehand. Your goals should reflect your business needs. In addition, your business goals must be in accordance with your marketing budget. As an example, is your franchise new on the market and does it has to stand out?
Also, are you looking to improve awareness about new products or services and encourage customers to buy? What’s more, do you simply want to boost customer engagement and encourage their retention? Each goal requires a specific marketing approach and without goals and proper planning, you’re risking overspending the budget or implementing the wrong marketing strategy, to begin with.
Conduct thorough research
Market research is vital for any marketing strategy. Information is essential when planning out your marketing campaigns, especially if you’re new on the market. Even though franchise businesses are essentially a part of their franchisor’s brand or trademark and they already have a certain reputation behind them, it’s still important to make a name for yourself regardless of your franchisor’s influence. That’s where market research plays a vital role.
You must determine who your target audience is, what they like and how they behave on the market. In addition, you must determine who your main competitors are and how they’ve established their presence on the market. That way you can spend your budget on marketing strategies that will actually be effective on the market. Without information to back your decisions with, you’re more likely to make a mistake that may cost you more than you’ve bargained for.
Invest in the right strategies
Research can provide you with the right kind of information required to drive your franchise business goals. However, it’s important to invest in the right strategies that will allow you to achieve those goals, in the first place. The nature of your franchise business will help you with decision making.
The fact of the matter is that there are various types of small business franchises and each of them has their unique way of getting through to their customers. The key is in finding your own unique approach. In other words, if you want to spend your marketing budget the right way, you must focus on strategies that will allow you to communicate your brand message in a meaningful way.
That includes developing customer personas, including personalization and customization into your offers, as well as choosing the right marketing channels for your promotions, among other things. Your local customer may know your brand, but you must make an effort to get to know them if you want to capture their interest.
Measure your efforts
It’s no secret that the more you invest in marketing, the more effective your strategies will be. However, that doesn’t mean you have to go over the budget, in order to succeed with your marketing campaign. Investing smart isn’t the same as investing more.
Simply put, you don’t have to invest more if you invest wisely. That’s why it’s important to measure your efforts by tracking KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and by tracking valuable marketing metrics. Even though you backed your strategies with research, planning and solid information, you cannot be sure the campaign will go the way you intended it to go.
By tracking its progress, you can mend any mistake and adapt to any change before things get out of hand. In other words, you avoid overspending your budget. Budget-related metrics, such as customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, conversion rates and so on can help you determine if your efforts are money well spent of if you’re spending more than you should on some vital marketing aspects.
Franchise business must compete on their local markets the same way any other business has to. Being part of a franchisor brand isn’t a huge advantage, to begin with. That’s why it’s important to make the most out of your marketing budget so that your franchise can make a name for itself on the market and win over customers.
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