How to Split Funds Across Consumer Marketing and Franchise Development Budgets

Each year, marketing and franchise development teams are tasked with allocating funds toward their strategic initiatives for the upcoming year. With only so much to go around, those in charge of budgets will need to find ways in which to maximize those dollars as best as possible to ensure positive outcomes for the business—both on the consumer marketing side and the franchise sales side. 

“When looking at what you should spend overall on your budgets, there are variables for each company,” said Kathy Turley, Marketing Director for in-home cleaning services franchise, Home Clean Heroes*. “Because our parent company, Buzz Franchise Brands, is well-capitalized, we are able to spend a bit more than a typical franchise in support of testing new programs such as digital targeting for franchise development or rolling out promotions on the consumer side. We like to be able to test and modify locally before rolling out any new options to our franchise system.”

Ultimately, budgeting decisions need to account for end goals for both franchise development and consumer marketing. This means understanding the tools, like targeting, direct mail, strategic partnerships and more that can help drive the needle for each side of the business. 

“In the home cleaning industry, customers on a recurring cleaning basis—weekly, bi-weekly or monthly—are our bread and butter on the consumer front, so we look at not only initial feedback and sales, but also how long those customers stay with us and their overall spend with us to determine if a consumer marketing tactic is effective.”

A method of assessing individual transactions versus customer longevity may be a program that brings in lots of “one-and-done” clients initially who end up falling off. This won’t be as impactful to a brand as a program that brings in a smaller quantity of customers who are more loyal and spend more throughout the course of a year. This tactic can also be mirrored when looking at plans for your franchise development budget. 

“It’s a similar philosophy when evaluating franchise development performance,” said Holadia. “A low cost-per-lead approach does not always equal high-quality leads. If we see we have channels—whether it is a specific digital program, publication or event—where leads progress further in our funnel and more deals are closed, we will ultimately shift more dollars to those channels for the next year.”   

As brands arrive at the point where they’re testing various marketing methods of the consumer and franchise development side, data can be incredibly useful in determining where to allocate funds. Knowing who your consumers and buyers are and where they get their information allows a company to efficiently target messages and information to those individuals. 

“When dividing budgets internally, we look to data including where our targets are spending their time online, how they are consuming information, results from previous campaigns and more to help us drive all decisions,” said Angela Paules, Chief Marketing Officer for Buzz Franchise Brands. “A mantra in our office is ‘What story is the data telling us?’ We look to our past experiences, including those at our sister brands, then track as much as we can and evaluate or adjust continuously throughout the year as opposed to the method of ‘set it and forget it.’”

Holadia also noted the importance of utilizing various platforms to meet audiences where they are already engaging, including paid advertising, social media for retargeting, pay-per-click campaigns to drive more website traffic through Google searching, blogs and more to target both consumers looking for services as well as those looking to own a business. 

“It’s really important to keep a healthy mix,” said Holadia. “Don’t put all of your funds in just one place, look to see what works with some testing, know where your audience is and use data to drive your spending decisions. Once you determine what is working, it allows you the best chance at having a great return on the funds you are investing.” 

As with anything, there are some best practices to consider when laying out a budget. One tactic is creating a reserve budget to account for things you might not predict ahead of a new year.

“Invariably, there are always going to be opportunities that present themselves that you aren’t necessarily aware of when creating any sort of initial budget, whether for marketing or franchise development,” said Turley. “It’s best to keep some money in reserves, generally about 5% of the budget, so you are able to take advantage of those types of opportunities if they make sense for the brand.”

Taking a look at funds throughout the year to shift things around where necessary is another thing all brands should consider, as expenditures come through on a regular basis. 

“We also go through a monthly budget reconciliation process wherein we track what was spent versus what was budgeted,” said Holadia. “In some instances, budget dollars become available for those unexpected opportunities due to underspending in planned areas. At the end of the day, we strive to have a healthy mix between what we know typically works, while also testing new opportunities.” 

Understanding which tactics, partnerships, programs and platforms move the needle most for both franchise development and consumer marketing is imperative to creating any sound budget and maximizing funds across the board.