Business expansion is a crucial growth parameter that tells how well organizations and brands are growing. Franchising is a business model that involves licensing interested parties and allowing them to operate under the same name and branding.
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Usually, franchisees sell the original product or service the franchisor offers but operate independently. There are multiple franchise models; some franchisors charge an annual fee, whereas some take a percentage of every sale along with an annual fee.
Every franchisee must establish and follow a franchise marketing guide to navigate its online and offline marketing campaigns.
Let’s dive deep into everything you need to know about franchise marketing.
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What is a franchise?
A franchise is a business that sells an existing product or service offered by the franchisor. It works because a franchise business usually uses the brand’s name (of the franchisor) and sells the same products or provides after-sales services.
Fast food chains, car dealerships, appliances/electronics outlets, and cellular services are prime examples of franchise businesses. These businesses sell their franchise rights to interested parties and make much money from this.
What is franchise marketing?
Franchise marketing refers to the marketing plan for a franchise business. It’s no different than normal marketing for a company. The main difference is that franchise marketing may revolve around the main brand, meaning there could be certain rules to follow when promoting the business.
For instance, a franchisor may not allow the franchisee to alter branding, such as logo, name, or color schemes. However, the franchisees may be able to create and promote limited-time discount offers to their customers.
Therefore, franchise marketing is a promotional plan designed to promote a franchise business in a specific region or at a specific time.
Why is franchise marketing important?
Franchise businesses heavily rely on marketing to generate sales, spread awareness, and promote offers. To fully understand why franchise marketing is important, let’s take a look at the following reasons:
1. Builds brand identity
Franchise marketing helps maintain a brand image in the market, ensuring customers recognize and trust the brand no matter where they are. It allows brands to create awareness, reputation, and credibility. Plus, many franchisees use a franchisor’s brand identity to establish their successful businesses.
2. Drives local customer engagement
Some investors don’t want to create a brand name from scratch. They establish their business using an existing brand’s franchise. Franchise marketing enables the franchisees to target and connect with local audiences using a well-known brand name.
3. Boosts overall brand visibility
One of the reasons why franchise marketing is crucial to success is brand recognition. Coordinated marketing efforts across multiple locations to increase the overall reach and recognition of the franchise business, increasing its overall brand visibility.
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4. Encourages growth and expansion
An effective franchise marketing campaign helps attract potential franchisees by showcasing brand success and customer demand, fueling further franchise business growth and development.
5. Maximizes return on investment (ROI)
Once all the pieces fall into place, franchise marketing helps create cost-effective promotional campaigns that deliver better results. Since the franchisor/brand is a well-known company, the franchisee doesn’t need to pour loads of money into advertising.
These are some of the reasons why franchise marketing plays a vital role in business growth.
Key components of effective franchise marketing
Here are some noteworthy points of effective franchise marketing that shouldn’t be overlooked:
Brand consistency across franchises
Brand consistency means the branding remains the same regardless of the number of franchisees. Most franchisors set strict rules for maintaining brand consistency across all marketing and engagement of the franchise business.
The purpose of applying brand consistency is to ensure that the brand’s identity remains intact no matter what.
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Local vs. national marketing strategies
There is always a difference between local and nationwide marketing. When a business is looking out for new franchisees, it might target TVC or run ads in newspapers. Whereas, if an existing franchise wants to reach out to the local audience, it might distribute flyers or pamphlets in the area or run a social media ad in the specific region.
Role of digital marketing in franchise growth
Digital marketing is crucial to franchise growth because online marketing is inevitable in today’s day and age. If a business misses out on digital marketing opportunities, the competitors might eat this business alive.
The reason is that social media platforms, online apps, forums, blogs, and websites get a lot of attention these days, thanks to mobile devices and internet connectivity across the globe.
Offline marketing is still relevant
A huge misconception among some budding marketers is that physical or offline marketing has become entirely irrelevant, which isn’t the case.
Though online marketing has taken the world by storm, it’s not necessarily true that traditional marketing is no longer relevant now. It’s still very much relevant and will always be. Perhaps, it’s because people still listen to the radio, read newspapers, go through flyers, and watch news on TV.
Being a standout makes all the difference
Attention is a critical element in marketing. Standing out in the franchise business means you’re offering the same product or service as the other franchisee next door, but you’re appealing to more customers through creative marketing ideas.
These are some of the many essential components of effective franchise marketing.
Top 7 proven franchise marketing strategies for 2025
Let’s take a look at some of the surefire franchise marketing strategies for 2025 and beyond:
1. Signboards/billboards
Photo by Saketh
One of the most popular traditional marketing methods is signboards and billboards. Almost every type of business needs a signboard to get noticed or help customers identify the office/shop location. Moreover, some businesses use additional outdoor advertising, such as billboards, to get attention. So, signboards/billboards are one of the essential franchise marketing strategies for 2025.
2. Pamphlets/flyers
Photo by Robert Koorenny
Pamphlets or flyers are another important B2B marketing strategy that businesses use constantly. Small and medium-sized businesses with low budgets prefer low-cost marketing tactics to get eyeballs. Any franchise business that targets a local audience can use pamphlets or flyers to spread brand awareness.
3. SMS marketing
SMS marketing is a widely used marketing strategy that can be utilized for franchise marketing, especially if the target audience is available nationwide. Usually, brands reach out to cellular services or third-party vendors/brokers that offer SMS marketing across the country.
4. Social media ads
Photo by Georgia de Lotz
Social media ads are one of the most popular online marketing methods. Every brand, from large organizations to small businesses, wants to make the most of this marketing channel. All major social media platforms offer advertising options, such as Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, X (Twitter), Quora, and Reddit. Social media ads can be an important part of the franchise marketing strategy.
5. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a rapidly growing marketing trend that brands, agencies, and organizations utilize to reach their niche audience without breaking the bank. This tactic can be used for franchise marketing, given that the influencer’s content resonates with the brand’s ideal customer base.
6. PPC advertising
Photo by Austin Distel
PPC advertising is more of a traditional online marketing strategy that brands and organizations use throughout the year or during the holiday season. PPC ads can be utilized in franchise marketing if the marketer knows how to target the right audience through PPC ads.
7. Email marketing
Photo by charlesdeluvio
Email marketing is a growing online marketing and engagement trend. Influencers, experts, and creators use AI email marketing to engage followers, retarget customers, and drive traffic to their blogs/websites. It may seem an underrated marketing tactic, but if done right, it can be an essential part of the franchise marketing strategy.
So, these are some of the proven franchise marketing strategies that shouldn’t be ignored in 2025.
Building an effective franchise marketing plan
Let’s break down the concept of building an effective franchise marketing plan:
Step 1: Build a clear brand identity for your franchise
It’s important to have cohesion across the board. Start by creating a strong brand identity that all franchise locations can follow. This includes designing a professional logo, choosing suitable brand colors and fonts, and setting a tone of voice across all the marketing channels. Your messaging should be simple, consistent, and easy for both customers and franchisees to understand.
Step 2: Create separate marketing strategies for growth and local promotion
It all starts with dividing your overall marketing plan into two parts: one for attracting new franchisees (franchise development) and one for helping each location grow (local store marketing). This keeps your efforts focused and allows you to measure success more clearly.
Step 3: Attract new franchisees with online marketing
Use social media and PPC ads on relevant platforms to grow your franchise network. For social media advertising, opt for LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. For PPC ad campaigns, try Google and Bing. Moreover, create helpful content (like articles, videos, or podcasts) and collaborate with similar brands or influencers to attract eyeballs.
Step 4: Help local franchisees attract customers
Give franchise owners easy-to-use marketing tools to promote their business. Provide them with social media templates, ready-to-run ad campaigns, and step-by-step instructions for promoting local events or special offers. Encourage them to get involved in local communities through sponsorships, pop-up booths, or partnerships with nearby businesses.
Step 5: Use tools to manage and track all marketing activities
Create a shared marketing dashboard that lets you and your franchisees see what’s working. ContentStudio has a team collaboration feature that lets users add team members to manage social media publishing, scheduling, and organizing. Furthermore, you can use email marketing tools, customer management software (CRM), and social media scheduling platforms to automate and streamline your campaigns across all locations.
Step 6: Educate franchisees on how to do marketing effectively
It won’t hurt to host annual or biannual marketing training for franchisees. Offering regular training will help your franchisees grow their business faster. Moreover, you can also provide easy video tutorials, downloadable guides, and live Q&A sessions. It’ll play a vital role in establishing a powerful franchise marketing strategy.
Step 7: Analyze your marketing strategy for improvement
It’s important to review your marketing plan every few months. See which ads and promotions brought the best results, and drop what didn’t work. Test new social media platforms like TikTok, try influencer marketing, or experiment with SMS marketing campaigns to reach more customers. Use real data to make informed decisions.
So, these are some of the key steps involved in building an effective franchise marketing plan.
Digital marketing channels for franchises
Ignoring digital marketing platforms and channels for any business would be disastrous. Here are the most relevant digital marketing channels for franchise marketing:
SMS marketing
SMS marketing is a way of communicating with the prospective audience or existing customers through text messages. It can be done via mobile networks, third-party subscriptions, or WhatsApp messaging. The idea is to implement SMS marketing as an essential digital marketing channel.
Email marketing
Email marketing revolves around building email lists and communicating with subscribers through email newsletters. It is considered one of the best digital marketing strategies for all types of online businesses, so it may skyrocket any franchise marketing campaign.
Content marketing
Content marketing is a method in which a brand or influencer uses any form of content to attract, engage, and convert the audience. The content can be articles, videos, audio podcasts, pictures/infographics. The concept is to put out valuable and helpful content to build an audience and sell them your products down the road.
Social media ads
One of the most important digital marketing channels is social media ads. Many people turn a blind eye to social media ads because they think it’s too expensive. Well, we can only say it won’t cost you much if you know how to optimize your social media ad campaign. It can be a pretty good option for your franchise business marketing.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is an underrated digital marketing strategy. Most franchise businesses may consider social media ads or content marketing but won’t consider influencer marketing. Perhaps they think influencer marketing is too expensive, which isn’t entirely true. All you need is a fine effort to find an influencer to collaborate with your franchise business on a budget.
Read Up: Micro influencer marketing: A guide to grow your business with it
These are some incredible yet helpful digital marketing channels a franchise business can utilize daily.
Franchise marketing budgeting and ROI
Budgeting for franchise marketing requires a strategic balance between corporate brand growth and individual location-based efforts.
At the corporate level, organizations have to streamline the following processes:
- Allocate funds for national campaigns
- Make brand awareness efforts
- Franchise recruitment
- Centralized tools like CRMs
- Design content marketing strategies
For local store marketing, set clear guidelines or co-op marketing structures, so franchisees know how much to spend monthly on advertising, community events, or digital promotions.
It’s crucial to track every dollar spent on franchise marketing. To measure performance, use key performance indicators (KPIs), such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), cost per lead (CPL), lifetime value (LTV), and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Furthermore, a strong ROI framework ensures franchisees understand the value of their investment and implement tried-and-tested strategies. Franchisees are more willing to spend money on marketing efforts when they see a great ROI.
Undoubtedly, budgeting and ROI correlate, helping sustain the franchise marketing campaign no matter the size of the franchise network.
Benefits of franchise marketing
Let’s take a quick look at the benefits of franchise marketing:
1. Builds a consistent brand image
Franchise marketing ensures that the franchisees follow the same branding, which builds customer trust and recognition. Minor changes in the branding can create doubts in the customers’ minds. Therefore, a well-executed franchise marketing campaign sticks with the original branding.
2. Drives faster local growth
With proven marketing strategies, franchisees can quickly attract customers in their local markets. Most franchise owners get into this business model because the brand (they choose) has already established prospective customers through different means.
3. Supports franchisee success
One benefit of a strong marketing system is that it helps franchisees focus on operations while still growing their customer base. Once a marketing system is in place or starts running on autopilot, the focus can be shifted toward customer service or upselling.
For instance,ContentStudio allows brands and influencers to automate social media publishing for several weeks or months in advance using its bulk scheduling capability.
4. Improves customer loyalty
Consistent messaging and promotions across multiple franchise locations help build long-term customer relationships. It massively assists companies in creating brand positioning when they see the same messaging everywhere.
5. Increases brand visibility
Marketing at both the national and local levels expands reach and awareness in new and existing markets, eventually leading to more brand visibility. It also improves customer service and drives more sales.
6. Attracts more franchise buyers
Effective franchise marketing not only brings in customers but also attracts new franchisee leads by showcasing brand success. Investors keep an eye on new investment opportunities, and when they see new investment opportunities emerge, they hop on them to study the business concept further.
7. Provides valuable data insights
Franchise marketing is incomplete without essential marketing tools. These marketing and analytics tools give insights into customer behavior, product quality, and conversion rate, helping improve future campaigns. ContentStudio has a robust social media analytics section to monitor social media activities, such as clicks, impressions, likes, comments, etc.
Examples of franchise marketing
Several franchise establishments use outdoor signboards, banners, billboards, and other marketing materials. Let’s discuss some of them:
FedEx
FedEx is an American multinational conglomerate holding company known for its services in transportation, e-commerce, and cargo/shipment areas.
FedEx has franchises worldwide and uses similar franchise marketing techniques, especially branded, wrapped mini trucks.
Care Pharmacy
Care Pharmacy is a small pharmacy chain in Pakistan. It has expanded across the country by giving franchise rights to franchisees nationwide.
Like any other franchise, Care Pharmacy focuses on branding. All of its franchisees follow the typical Care Pharmacy branding, which includes the orange color and brand logo.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940 that operates worldwide.
Its branding features a yellow “M” and red background, which plays an essential role in its franchise marketing. Customers will find the same combination worldwide.
KFC
KFC is an American fast-food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken and competes with McDonald’s worldwide.
KFC’s branding features a Colonel Sanders picture, which is followed by its franchisees worldwide. This picture is also the cornerstone of KFC’s marketing strategy, which is reflected in KFC franchise marketing worldwide.
Bata
Bata is a Swiss multinational footwear brand that operates worldwide. It is known for its native approach to every country’s market.
Bata uses the same red logo with a normally white background in their global franchise marketing.
Franchise marketing challenges and solutions
Before you get into a franchise business, it’s better to comprehend the marketing challenges and their solutions beforehand. Here are some of the marketing challenges for franchises and their possible solutions:
Challenge #1: Limited digital presence in local markets
Sometimes, franchise businesses have limited financial resources to hire a digital marketing team, which results in a low digital presence in the local market. It becomes challenging if the competitors are going all-in on digital marketing.
Solution: If hiring a digital marketing team isn’t viable yet, then a franchise business can equip its current team through an easy-to-use digital marketing training kit that includes fundamental courses on Google Business Profiles, social media ads, and optimizing location-based SEO. Provide them with basic training to build a strong online presence in their area, helping them connect with local audiences more effectively.
Challenge #2: Difficulty adapting to regional customer preferences
Franchise businesses often fail to adjust quickly to regional norms, customer preferences, and customs. It may look bad when competitors are accustomed to those regional standards or norms.
Solution: The best way is to conduct regional market research and share insights with franchisees to help them understand local customer behavior. Fine-tune messaging, promotions, or product offerings to reflect local tastes and trends. Encourage franchisees to participate in community events and gather feedback directly from their customers to connect with their local community.
Challenge #3: Lack of marketing expertise at the franchisee level
One of the marketing challenges for franchise businesses is the lack of awareness about marketing. Since marketing has become quite competitive, it’s essential to hone in on the marketing area you’re focusing on.
Solution: The easiest way to get started is to offer marketing training programs tailored for franchisees, including webinars, video tutorials, and workshops. Provide access to user-friendly marketing tools and dashboards with step-by-step instructions.
Challenge #4: Inconsistent customer experience
Franchise business owners could face inconsistent customer experience issues regardless of their industry. For instance, if a cellular service has 100 franchise offices nationwide, it could become challenging for the network to provide the same level of customer service through the franchise network.
Solution: To cope with this challenge, one can develop a franchise-wide customer service protocol and integrate it into all marketing and operational training. It can also encourage the use of standardized CRM systems and feedback collection tools to ensure a unified customer journey and quick response to service issues.
Challenge #5: Measuring ROI across multiple channels and locations
One of the issues franchise owners face is measuring the ROI across different channels. The lack of a powerful monitoring system that records financial activities can create a dent in profitability. So, this needs to be addressed.
Solution: The solution to this problem is to implement a data analytics and reporting system that allows franchisees to track campaign performance by location and channel. Use custom dashboards that break down KPIs like lead generation, conversions, and local engagement. This not only helps measure effectiveness but also guides future strategy adjustments.
Also Read: From likes to leads: Enhancing ROI of social media
Conclusion
The core purpose of this piece was to articulate the concept of franchise marketing, allowing prospective and existing franchisees (across different industries) to comprehend every aspect of franchise marketing.
Marketing is undoubtedly a crucial element in business development. Therefore, we decided to create content that discusses the essential steps, benefits, and challenges of franchise marketing.
It’s high time for franchisees and franchisors to embrace the new trends, technologies, social media marketing, and AI to take the new challenges head-on.
FAQs about franchise marketing
Let’s take a look at some of the commonly asked questions about franchise marketing:
Is franchising a marketing strategy?
Franchising is a business growth and expansion strategy. However, it can be considered a marketing tactic as it expands the audience and improves brand positioning across different regions.
Is McDonald’s a franchise?
McDonald’s does have a franchise system as this fast-food chain license franchise holders to use their name, branding, and menus across the globe.
Is franchising a market entry strategy?
Franchising can be an effective market entry strategy, especially when investors want to test the waters before going all-in on a specific market.
What is franchising with an example?
Franchising is a business model in which a large organization licenses the franchisees to operate as a franchise to the organization/brand. It allows them to use the organization’s branding in the specific area or territory.