SeoSamba Designs Franchise Development Websites for Deals, Not Leads

As a full-service franchise marketing company, SeoSamba offers a breadth of technology services that helped the company rank among Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top Franchise Suppliers” in 2018. One such top-ranked service is franchise development website creation, a specialization that 1851 dug into with SeoSamba to discover best practices, antiquated methods and today’s trends.

“SeoSamba offers well-researched, comprehensive franchise development websites integrated natively with our own CRM, sales and marketing automation,” CEO Michel Leconte wrote in an email, noting that the company also incorporates performance-based SEO and PPC marketing, which enables its clients to perform better right out of the gate.

This comprehensive, integrated approach saves clients time and money when compared to a common supplier model of “assembling a hodgepodge of software solutions with services provided on top,” Leconte noted.

SeoSamba sees further differentiation between itself and other suppliers due to a catalog of digital services that leverage dead leads from other brands through its leads exchange marketplace, Franchise Fast Track. “The industry generates 1.5 million leads a year, yet only 1% convert into sales,” Leconte wrote. “We believe that as a whole, the franchise industry has enough leads, and first and foremost needs to focus on closing more deals.”

In order to create a franchise development site that drives deals, brands must be deliberate in their supplier selection. When vetting franchise development supplier options, Leconte highlighted a handful of key questions franchisors should ask potential partners:

• Can you show me a benchmark of how your clients’ franchise development sites performed before and after working with you?
• ?How many pages do your franchise development websites have, on average?
• What are some lead generation activities you use?
• What are the software components of your solution? Where are they coming from? What software integration do you propose?
• What do you offer that others can’t?

Once a franchise brand decides on the supplier that best meets its needs, it must remain an active partner in the site creation process to avoid tired tactics that don’t move the needle. SeoSamba, for instance, works to combat outdated and overused site-building practices that commonly arise in the franchise industry on the B2B level. As far as the most tired practice currently inflicting the masses is concerned, Leconte pointed to the idea that franchise development website marketing and brand marketing are disconnected from one another.

“Of course, those silos exist in organizations, but marketing and franchise development teams have a lot to gain from better coordinating their strategies and leveraging their existing territories’ digital footprint to their advantage,” Leconte wrote.

In regard to franchise development websites specifically, Leconte continued, too few brands are competent in presenting a strong business case for opportunities at the state and local level. “This is more important [than laying out overall marketing opportunities], especially when you are strategically planning your growth,” he advised.   

When a brand’s new franchise development site is live, there are steps that must be taken to leverage it effectively. SeoSamba advises brands to start this process by reinforcing its franchise system’s digital marketing package, then securing a properly distributed brand marketing platform.

“This will obviously help your franchisees with local sales leads, but it will do a number of other things to help you sell your next franchise, too,” Leconte wrote. “It will directly enhance your investment value proposition; it will help further distinguish your brand from the ever-growing number of franchise opportunities; it will get existing franchisees excited to interact with prospects, and it will greatly increase your overall perceived digital footprint.”

So, how are these brand marketing platforms best utilized in 2019? Well-shot video, Leconte said. “We are seeing more video with a higher production value on franchise development websites nowadays,” he wrote. “I think that is a must in 2019, not the least because it can also be further used through media buy.”

Engaging content of all kinds, video included, continue to be a focal point of web developers in the franchising space today, revealing that more and more brands are turning to strong storytelling as a means of lead generation, and as a result, deals.