3 Focus Areas To Optimize Your Franchise Development Budget

In the franchising world, it’s no secret that franchise development has been forced to adapt to new candidate expectations and behaviors over the last several years. Whereas, before, a cold call with a warm offer might have locked in the interest of the majority of qualified candidates, today’s prospective franchisee prefers independent research and a comparatively higher level of anonymity. What’s a franchise development executive to do?

Tom DuFore, CEO of franchise consultancy Big Sky Franchise, and Sean Fitzgerald, Chief Development Officer for FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, know the alchemy of franchise development all too well.

“It used to be that marketing just meant running an ad. A candidate would see the ad and then reach out,” Fitzgerald said. “But now, it’s about education and awareness before the conversation.”

Read on to learn where to invest time and funds in order to optimize your brand’s franchise development budget.

Defend Your Role as a Thought Leader

“Certainly franchise development has continued to change over the last several years and will continue to do so as technology and new marketing avenues continue to develop,” said DuFore. “Content marketing is an interesting marketing strategy—it has been really great for businesses looking to develop themselves as a thought leader in whatever industry or specialty that they might be in.”

DuFore said that paid digital advertising like PPC ads are still a valuable tool in the franchise development professional’s arsenal, but content marketing (like third-party sponsored content, strategic blogging, or certain social posting) provides valuable insight that wouldn’t otherwise have been available.

“Whether its a blog article or some other kind of a post or landing page, if the content was developed with a specific title or heading that is the same, or close to, what a user actually searches for rather than paid ads with more generic search terms, you boost the chance of connecting,” said DuFore. “People are leery of getting sucked into some kind of marketing funnel,” DuFore continued, underscoring the need for savvy FD professionals to privilege the art of the soft sell. 

“Just building up longtail keyword searches as well as content marketing helps drive some of these really niche keywords that a lot of times you’re not going to find with paid advertising,” DuFore explained. “It’s that one lead that you find when searching for something really specific and it improves the quality of the lead that is coming through. Yes, that might mean not as many leads, but it will be leads of a higher quality.”

Connect the Silos Across Organic, Paid and Networked Leads

DuFore said that Big Sky Franchise advises clients on franchise development and lead generation across three silos: No- or low-cost marketing efforts; paid advertising and/or content marketing; and partnerships with broker networks.

“For no- or low-cost marketing efforts, this could be tapping into referrals, friends and family, vendors and suppliers or just word of mouth,” said DuFore. “More than anything, tap into the network of your own franchisees. It incentivizes the franchisor that when they sign a new franchisee into their system that they are providing adequate training and support and the franchisee is inclined to refer friends, family and customers of their own into the system. You create your own network of fans buying into the franchise. At the end of the day, your franchisee is your customer.” 

DuFore defines the second category as “any form of paid advertising such as hiring a publicist or a marketing company and having that partner develop various content or adword campaigns.” According to DuFore, this category also relates to exhibiting at trade shows, PPC ads and SEO-optimized content marketing, along with franchise portals. 

The third category relates to franchise broker networks, or advisor groups comprised of franchise consultants who provide industry insight and help align franchise candidates with appropriate franchise opportunities. 

Fitzgerald endorsed the multichannel approach to franchise development, saying, “[Brands] need to provide as much info as they can in as many forms as they can to speak to that target candidate.” To this end, DuFore recommends diversifying the franchise development budget by investing in all three categories, staying attuned to the data, and then funding the silos in accordance with their efficacy. “If something isn’t producing results, change and refine it until you establish the right balance and the right mix,” said DuFore.

Draw Insight From Prior FD Efforts

“Maximizing franchise development returns is all about trying multiple avenues and not being afraid to switch,” reiterated DuFore. He also emphasized that many franchisors have tested the waters of at least one facet of the aforementioned three silos—say, they might have some degree of connection to franchise brokers, or else have tapped into paid advertising or else used a franchise portal before. 

For DuFore and Big Sky Franchise, making recommendations based on knowledge of prior results, especially if the data were consistent, maximizes the likelihood of a strong FD strategy. 

Also, DuFore advised franchise development professionals, “Make sure you’re reviewing your marketing and success on a monthly basis. Ask: ‘Ultimately, are the leads moving through the sales process?’ ‘Are applications coming back?’”

That said, don’t get antsy: “Most of our experience has been working with emerging brands that have no franchises or only have one or two. The biggest lesson I have learned is to just keep marketing,” said DuFore. “Keep the marketing budget going, however large or small it is. Any franchisor will have months and quarters and years where cashflow is better or lower than they expected.”

Leads take time to mature—especially because the consumer appeal of a brand is often just as strong a sales force as the franchise development professional. 

But take heart: “Even if the budget has been reduced, just keep the leads coming through,” DuFore advises.