Now is the Time for Franchisors to Invest in Franchise Development Marketing

When COVID-19 hit, many franchise brands pulled back on their marketing budgets to assess how their brands would fare during the pandemic. Because franchise candidates typically spend several months doing due diligence on a brand, those that kept their marketing budgets consistent during that time frame now have a leg up on those that made cuts. Because franchising typically sees a surge in interest during times of economic instability, there’s no time like the present to jumpstart franchise marketing, according to Linton Dowling, Marketing Director of franchise sales agency Raintree. 

Prospective franchisees are certainly interested in exploring franchise opportunities, according to Dowling. He noted that while interest tapered off at the beginning of COVID-19 in March, Raintree’s clients are currently seeing spikes in website traffic. Prospective franchisee interest is increasing, and candidates are spending more time online investigating different opportunities, he said. Additionally, prospective franchisees are continuing to enlist the help of franchise brokers to help them find the right opportunities.

“A lot of people now find themselves unemployed and are taking the time to investigate what other options exist,” Dowling said. “They're at home thinking ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ and they want to be educated by a professional franchise broker.” 

What’s more is that prospective franchisees, of late, have seen the possibilities of a different type of lifestyle. They’ve increasingly worked from home and have enjoyed spending more time with their families and avoiding lengthy commutes. 

“We just came off a bull market of 12 years, the longest period of economic prosperity,” Dowling said. “People are looking for their next investment opportunity. Plus, because everyone has been working from home, they're seeing the benefits of having freedom and flexibility. Franchising is going to be a very popular alternative to people wanting to escape a corporate nine-to-five grind.” 

For these reasons, franchise brands need to increase their franchise marketing spending. Dowling described his initial approach to lead generation budgets at the onset of the pandemic  spend was risk-averse, but now, he said, is the time for franchise brands to take risks and spend money to ensure they attract the right franchise candidates. In fact, Raintree is busier than ever because of this: The company recently signed on four new franchise clients and will take over their franchise development marketing efforts. 

“A lot of brands have pulled the budget away from public relations and digital marketing, so they are already behind,” Dowling said. “It takes a good two months to get your campaigns optimized off a limited spend unless you're a major brand that can throw a lot of money at it.”

Additionally, it typically takes three to six months for highly qualified candidates to progress from initial contact to deal signing, Dowling said. Based on this timeline, franchise brands that want to sign deals in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021 are already five months behind, he said, which is why they need to invest into marketing right now if they want to start seeing franchise deals. 

“When this recession takes hold, we know franchising is going to skyrocket,” he said. “Q1 of 2021 is going to be utterly insane. Everything has shifted so rapidly to digital and mobile. This has truly been the greatest shift in working and labor conditions since the advent of the internet. People are becoming more glued to their phones now, so we need to continue to focus on mobile and be creative in order to capture the attention of prospective franchisees.”

One franchisor and Raintree client that did not stop spending on franchise marketing is Footprints Floors. The flooring solutions brand, which was founded in 2008 and has since grown to more than 35 locations, signed four new franchisees over the course of three weeks who will add 12 franchises to the system. 

The way CEO and Founder Bryan Park sees it, this is the perfect time for franchise brands to increase their spending to attract franchise candidates, as so many people are going through major life transitions due to COVID-19.

“What we’ve seen at Footprints Floors over our years of franchising is that prospective franchisees come in when they’re going through some kind of transition in life,” Park said. “They’re getting let go or demoted. They’re forced to relocate or get passed over for a promotion.”

The five new Footprints Floors franchisees have all gone through major transitions this year, Park said. 

“They want to get out of the corporate grind, and they don’t have a skill set that translates to starting their own business from scratch,” Park said. “Footprints Floors is a more attractive brand than most because we were deemed essential throughout the pandemic.”

Park believes that franchise brands should absolutely take advantage of this time to target their ideal franchisees. He is certainly glad that Footprints Floors enlisted the help of Raintree. 

“My philosophy is ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’” Park said. “If you shut franchise development down completely, people will forget about you, and it’ll be twice as much effort to get back to where you were and stay top of mind for prospects. It helps if you create a narrative around the current situation that puts things in a positive light. You want to demonstrate your brand’s strength during bad times. It’s a testament to how strong the brand can be during normal times.” 

By increasing franchise marketing spending and sharing the right messaging to the right target audience, franchise brands can ensure they capitalize on this ripe time to reach candidates who are seeking a different lifestyle with more flexibility and the support of a corporate system. 

To learn more about Raintree, visit https://raintreesales.com/.