Advertising franchises comes with its own set of challenges, which is even larger for franchises that are spread out in several locations. Some companies have franchises all over a particular state or geographic area, and there are some with locations throughout the country or even around the world. That makes advertising more difficult because every area is different.
There are similarities, of course, but taking the differences into account is the biggest way to see franchise advertising success. If you’re part of a franchise and you want to make sure your message is getting to the masses, here are a few of the biggest challenges you’re likely to encounter, and what you should be considering.Branding Should Stay Consistent
When you own and manage a franchise you have to follow a lot of guidelines. You can’t deviate too far from the way the brand should operate, or you could be in violation of your franchise agreement. Because of that, you need to keep a consistent brand no matter how many locations you own or where they’re located.
Large companies and corporations that manage many franchise locations keep the same colors, styles, and other details, even if they choose to make some other changes to how they do things. If you go to one of their locations in any city or state you can expect the same basic experience, which puts customers at ease and provides them with a feeling of familiarity.Local Competition is a Factor
Even though the branding needs consistency, there are local competitors for every franchise location. Those competitors are sometimes other franchises, but they’re also often smaller establishments that are specific to the city or town they’re in. That’s where the real care in advertising comes in, because these local places are a factor.
Considering local competition and finding ways to draw people away from these local establishments and into a chain franchise isn’t always easy. It’s also going to look different in a big city in the South than it will in a small town in the Northeast. These local markets have to be properly understood and taken into account, or the franchise’s advertising won’t see as much success.Success Looks Different at Some Locations
Speaking of success, it’s not going to look the same at a big-city franchise as it will in a small town one. Not only do you need to advertise according to the location, but you also need to make sure you’re comparing the results of those advertising efforts fairly. If you just look at the raw data, it could appear that you weren’t getting a good return from some stores, but they might be stores that just don’t do as much business as other areas.Choose an Agency to Help
Rather than try to tackle the complicated nature of advertising multiple franchise locations, you may want to find professionals to help you. Then you can go back to operating your franchises and focusing on their growth, instead of worrying if the same ad that’s playing in Chicago should be playing in rural New Mexico (the answer to that is probably no).
Agencies such as InSync Media are designed to aid franchise-based companies in their advertising for multiple locations at once, and can help you create a campaign that offers the right strategy and kinds of advertising in the right place. That can help improve your market share and increase the strength of your franchise, while ensuring that you’re sending the right messages to each audience.Understand the Audience You’re Reaching
The audience is one of the most important parts of your advertising strategy, and you don’t have any control over how it feels about your ads or what it ultimately does with the information you’re providing. However, what you can do is ensure you know what that audience looks for, so you can give it the right message at the right time.
It’s essential that you understand your target market and how to reach it correctly, or any messages you’re sending out are falling flat. You can’t air the same commercial in every market, and post the same geo-targeted ads on every social media site, and hope for the best. Your audience won’t react well to that, and you’ll miss a lot of opportunities.The Bottom Line on Multi-Location Franchise Advertising
The most important thing to remember is that your franchise’s marketing has to be specific to the markets the stores are located in while still keeping a consistent brand profile. When you do that through the help of an agency, you can get more value for your advertising investment and worry less about whether the right message is making its way out into the world.
