15 Innovative Franchise Marketing Tactics You're Probably Not Using YetBUT SHOULD BE

What’s the biggest issue for franchisors the world over?

Yep, it’s getting franchisees on board

But how is it that some franchises just keep powering forward, year after year, while others just tread water?

We look at what can be learned from the Michael Phelps of the franchising world.

Create a dedicated recruitment website– but not just any dedicated recruitment website Having your own dedicated

recruitment website is de rigueur in franchising these days

But there are still loads of franchisors who are yet to cotton on, and those who have cottoned on aren’t necessarily making the most of recruitment website best practices

Here are some of these best practices

1. Tell your story

“You can’t bore people into buying from you,” advertising legend David Ogilvy once said. In his early days, Ogilvy sold expensive cookers door-to-door. He would give demonstrations, tell jokes – anything to engage people.

Advertising and most email campaigns don’t work as well as they once did because today’s potential franchise buyers demand more information than ever before

And they want more than just information – they want your story. They want to know who is in charge of your franchise, what it’s like to be a franchisee, and how it will affect their lives.

“Once upon a time it was a small gathering of people around a fire listening to the storyteller with his tales of magic and fantasy. And now it’s the whole world.”Steven Spielberg

2. Make it personal

Franchising is about relationships, yet most franchise recruitment websites fail to make a personal connection with prospects

Prospects want to feel like they’re getting involved with people, not a cold franchise organisation

That’s why more and more franchise brands are conveying a more personal image in both their strategies and content. This warmer, friendly persona helps consumers feel more in touch with the brand and promotes a real relationship.

3. Don’t be afraid of emotion

Taking control of your destiny… living the dream…

Buying a franchise is a decision made as much on emotion as it is on logic, yet if you search for photos showing any kind of emotion on franchise recruitment websites, as I did, you’ll really struggle

Don’t be afraid to demonstrate how your franchise touches people’s lives – remember that like all of us, prospects are looking for a greater purpose in their lives

Never forgot that security and risk-reversal are powerful emotions and human drives

4. Gomobile

Mobile users and devices are everywhere now, and franchise brands need to ensure that their content is more than mobile-optimised

Now, it must be mobile-focused to offer mobile prospects the most relevant content for the context

6. Add a Profit Calculator

Here’s one of the smartest ideas we’ve seen in a franchise recruitment website recently. It’s a Profit Calculator from the GoSushi franchise website

The Calculator lets you figure out how much you could make from your own GoSushi franchised business

See it for yourself at: http://gosushi.com.au/franchising/

7. Add a ‘qualified candidate’ section

Great Clips’ award-winning franchise recruitment website has a "qualified candidates only" section on the site

The first part of this section (Welcome) is open to the public, but the following sections are password protected, designed to walk qualified candidates through the rest of the recruitment process with Great Clips’ franchise development managers

8. Send a survey

Great Clips created a survey that goes out to candidates whether or not they join their system

They use the feedback to review their franchise recruitment process effectiveness and continually work on enhancing the site to create a better user experience.

9. Analyse and tweak

Another best practice used by Great Clips is to use Google Analytics to understand what content is most important and interesting to prospects who visit their website

They use that understanding to narrow down the places or information on the site that create distraction

Ongoing monitoring and adjustments are part of Great Clips’ "cycle of innovation"

They continually tweak, measure, study, and then tweak again

10. Benchmarkyour site

A great way to keep up with the latest developments in franchise sales websites is to compare your site against the best in the business

Every year, these sites are named by Franchise Update

Recent award winners include:

http://bachtorockfranchise.com/

http://chemdryfranchise.com/

http://christianbrothersfranchise.com/

http://dreammakerfranchise.com/

http://childrenslighthousefranchise.com/

Get up to date with the latest marketing super-tools It’s all very well to have

the best franchise recruitment website –but how do you get the word out to all those who may be interested in buying a franchise?

Well, believe it or not, that’s easier in this highly connected modern world than ever before. Thanks to the internet.

11.Marketing hyper-automation

You may already be automating some of your marketing, but get ready to crank it up to the next level

The problem with last-generation marketing automation was that it was insular – that is, it just automated your email or marketing campaigns or sales pipeline but not all of the above – and expensive for smaller businesses.

Next-generation marketing automation promises to redress all that, integrating the digital experience across a range of functions and channels, and bringing it within the reach of smaller franchises

12. More powerful email marketing

Email is already one of most common and effective digital marketing techniques used by franchises, but in the face of cluttered inboxes, email marketers are overcoming their anxiety about pop-ups and lightboxes and getting far more assertive

What MailChimp and Infusionsoft were to the industry ten years ago, Autopilot with its slick drag-and-drop functionality and picture-dominated features is today

13.VideoMarketing

Video marketing has been hailed as the new darling of the marketing world by none other than the esteemed Huffington Post.

Don’t believe the hype? You clearly don’t have children. It is predicted that by next year, 74% of all Internet traffic in 2017 will be video. Not only that, studies show that using the word “video” in the subject line of an email can increase open rates by 19 percent, click-through rates by 65 percent and reduce un-subscribers by 26 percent.

And now live video streaming is finally going mainstream, there’s no denying that video should have a place in your marketing plan.

14.Retargeting Have you noticed that sometimes when

you’ve searched for products online that you suddenly see lots of ads for those products online or on Facebook?

That’s called retargeting, and it’s the practice of displaying ads on popular websites to people who have already visited your website but haven’t filled out a form

It is highly effective and inexpensive because the only people you spend money to advertise to are people who already know who you are

Retargeting is different from most internet advertising because instead of being designed to help you increase your advertising’s reach, it allows you to increase your message’s frequency to people you have already reached and may not have responded yet to your message

15. Don’t overlook social media

A few years back, social media was hailed as the be-all-and-end-all of franchise marketing, but many franchisors tried it and then loudly declared that it didn’t work for their franchise

But not all social media – and social media campaigns – are created equal

According to the 2014 Franchise Development Report which surveyed 101 franchisors and about 35,000 franchisees in the United States:

The Internet was the leading source of franchise sales in 2013, at 42 percent.

Franchise sales generated through social media increased year-over-year by 267 percent.

Want to sell more franchises?Hi, I’m Robin La Pere of No Ordinary Franchise Consultants.

I have more than 20 years’ experience in franchising – as a franchise manager, the owner of my own franchise and, now, a franchise consultant.

Before I came into franchising I was a successful senior marketing manager with MBA-level qualifications in marketing.

As a franchise consultant, one of the most common questions I have been asked, even by experienced franchisors, is “How do we get more suitable franchisees on board?”

To answer that question, I have put this ebook together as a starting point. But of course there’s far more to it, and that’s why I would like to offer you a free initial consultant to discuss your needs and next steps.

I’m based in Auckland, New Zealand, but I work with franchise clients all over the world, so don’t hesitate to email me at robin@noordinary.co.nz or call on +64 93606063.