COMMUNICATIONS - Four Ways to Fix Your Marketing

Franchisors often struggle to reach new franchisees online. Here are four common mistakes, and the insight you need to truly expand your reach.

- GRAHAM CHAPMAN

Many franchisors are good at consumer marketing. But they typically struggle to reach a different, equally important audience-potential franchisees.

I've spent 15 years in franchise development marketing, and I see this problem repeatedly. Digital marketing strategies are often underbudgeted, or spearheaded by internal point people with limited experience. As a result, franchisors are slower to find the right franchisees for their brand.

How can you do better? Here are four major mistakes my team and I often see and how to fix them.

Mistake 1

Thinking SEO is only for consumers.

Franchisors often understand the importance of content marketing, but they tend to aim it exclusively at consumers. As a result, a brand's article or blog might come up when someone searches "coffee shop near me" but not when someone searches "coffee shop franchise."