In tough economies, franchisors need to go above and beyond to get the attention of quality franchise prospects. And must have all the key components in place to ensure franchise buyers clearly understand the benefits of joining their franchise system.
In today’s competitive franchising environment franchisors need to put their best foot forward when it comes to attracting top franchise prospects. In a struggling economy franchisors are still able to grow; layoffs and uncertainty lead individuals to seek out stability and an environment in which they have more control. However, with the lack of third party funding, good quality candidates are being spread among thousands of franchise brands and with top franchise candidates fighting off suitors like the head cheerleader before prom, franchisors better make sure they are wearing the best tuxedo available.
A Franchisor’s “tuxedo” consists of a variety of items, franchise information packets, franchisors websites, Facebook pages, social media messaging, pr marketing, franchise web portal advertisements, and current franchisees. So how does a franchisor ensure they have created top quality materials that represent their brand well? There are six key components to creating a quality image for your franchise brand.
- Internal Research – in order to unify your message and decide which key items you are going to push forward in your marketing message, consider polling your staff, everyone from administrators and trainers to your executive team and field support personal. Ask each team member questions such as: “what key characteristics make a top franchisee?” “What are the top features of our franchise offering?” When you compile the information make sure the key items are prevalent throughout all your messaging.
- External Honesty – research your competition. It is important to discover what message your competition is delivering regarding their brand and franchise offering – likely this information will be brought up during the franchise development process. Be honest with yourself and decide if you feel you stack up well apples to apples or if you feel your key features are more important to franchisee success. You may need to change your messaging to demonstrate your advantages or to minimize the features your competition uses as the cornerstone of their marketing message. And if your competition offers a service you feel is valuable you may consider adding it to your offering.
- Copy – if you don’t have an experienced franchise development person and professional copywriters on staff you should consider working with a third party to write your marketing copy. Your message creates first impressions for franchise prospects and needs to be clear, engaging, and accurate, set key expectations, head off competition, be timely and create a call to action. In addition, your messaging has to meld perfectly with your custom franchise development process. With so many important components it may be hard to tackle if you don’t have experience and expertise in creating copy so consider getting help if necessary.
- Design – we’ve all heard the term, we eat with our eyes first. The same if true for marketing materials and websites. Franchise prospects will look at your “tuxedo” first, long before you have the chance to begin communicating your message. Make sure your materials are clean, crisp and the imagery is an accurate representation of your culture and offering. Many franchisors create aesthetically pleasing marketing materials but the copy and the imagery don’t deliver the same message or create the “feelings” needed to move prospects to the next steps of the process. Make sure to pick quality imagery. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words.
- Commitment – As you complete your messaging and marketing materials it is important to receive buy-in from your staff. From your administrative team through your executive staff everyone should be delivering the same message with regards to culture, support, services, ideology and key components of your franchise offering. When franchisees join your system they will be much more comfortable as they see a commitment to the items that attracted them in your initial marketing message and franchise development process. And your current franchisees should be reminded of your message and goals so they are in step with the corporate message. Engaged franchises are not only a great asset to the development process but are more successful also!
- Review/Updating – don’t rest on success. If you begin to have a lot of success your competition is going to take note so you need to stay one step ahead and adjust as necessary. Additionally, as you grow your offering and message may need to change; so regularly review the message you are delivering through your Franchise Information Brochures, website, social media and franchise development process to keep it accurate and up to date.
It is also important to note, as you change your message and materials that will be seen by the general public you should have them reviewed by your franchise attorney to ensure legal compliance. Your attorney may have feedback regarding your message and new materials may require review by registration states also.
So if you want to attract quality franchise prospects spend time preparing and then invest in your materials; and as you start having success review and revamp as necessary. With great new materials your “tuxedo” should help you land that elusive prom date!
BY: MJ Alto
