Digital Marketing Mastermind with Aubree Coderre of C Squared Social, Josh Allen of Location3 and Jamshaid Hashmi of ClickTecs and FranchiseSoft

In times of financial crisis, one of the first budget cuts goes to marketing and public relations. There seems to be confusion on pushing pause on all campaigns, pulling back on budgets or staying the course. Franchisors want to know the data behind the decision so they can make an educated choice, but marketers are learning in-the-moment as well. 

To that end, 1851 Franchise gathered a few franchise marketing leaders to share insights on what experts are seeing and hearing in the analysis of data and from industry peers. 1851 Vice President Liane Caruso spoke with Aubree Coderre, National Sales Manager at C Squared Social; Josh Allen, Senior Director of Marketing at Location3; Jamshaid (Jam) Hashmi, CEO of ClickTecs; and CEO and co-founder of FranchiseSoft, about how digital marketing tactics have been impacted by this unprecedented crisis.

Here are some of the key insights from their discussion broken out by consumer and franchise development:

Consumer Marketing

• Some brands have paused budgets, many have pulled back and several have stayed the course. The group is in agreement that those who are able to stay the course will maintain the necessary momentum, but changing the messaging and content is critical to update immediately.
• For consumer marketing, those businesses that are able to now offer e-commerce or delivery still have an opportunity to generate a customer base. You have to be tactical on a very hyper-local level because business by business and location by location, everyone is experiencing a different wave of this pandemic depending on where they are and what they do. 
• Be sensitive about hitting people with a sales message. Make sure your message resonates with people today and how your product or service reduces risk and anxiety and promotes a sense of belonging. 
• Check your local listings and Google My Business accounts. Google has shut off reviews and Q&As. Additionally, in a mass update, your listing may be noted as “closed”. Be sure to fix if you are in fact still open.
• Do not run ads that use the words crisis, pandemic, COVID, coronavirus, etc. Facebook and Google will not allow your ads to run. 
• There is a rise in streaming services which is shaping media buying now and on the other side of this. Keep an eye on Connected TV and YouTube and how it will impact media buying and behavior altogether. There is a hyper-local component to this type of advertising as well, which can be a big benefit to franchise brands. Video and streaming are up 43 percent. 

Franchise Development

• Some brands have paused budgets, many have pulled back and few have stayed the course. The group is in agreement that those who are able to stay the course will maintain the necessary momentum, continuing to fill and nurture the funnel, and most importantly, avoid having to start from scratch when they’re ready to turn campaigns back on.
• There is a 21-percent increase in internet usage, a 26-percent decrease in cost per lead and it’s reported that there are higher contact rates. This makes for valuable campaigns. These leads will be different and it will be a longer sales cycle, so the journey to get them across the finish line will be longer. 
• Those brands that have stayed the course with their budget and tactics are seeing better results in March than in February. 
• PPC and Adwords campaigns are doing really well right now with a high rate of conversion. Facebook is getting good engagement and strong conversions. What marketers don’t see is the quality of the lead that’s converting. 
• While the contact rates are higher, it’s being reported that the potential candidate is reluctant to provide financials at this time.
• Validation is the hallmark of franchise development and validation is not happening right now. A franchisee who may have been a good validator in January may not be a good validator today. 
• Be sensitive about hitting people with a sales message. Update your content to ensure you remove the “sales” factor and instead promote feel-good stories and highlight a supportive system. Make sure your message resonates with people today and how your opportunity reduces risk and anxiety and promotes a sense of belonging. 
• Do not run ads that use the words crisis, pandemic, COVID, coronavirus, etc. Facebook and Google will not allow your ads to run.
• Video and streaming are up 43 percent, so if you haven’t given into video yet, now is the time to explore it.