Franchisors have traditionally faced challenges coordinating brand-to-local marketing support with local franchise owners. Chief among them have been encouraging fuller participation and increased local spending of franchise marketing funds, helping franchise owners become more marketing mature to build on brand awareness and drive revenue, and providing content management tools that allow for the seamless sharing of content and up-to-the-minute reporting from multiple locations through one easy to use content management platform.

A top priority for franchisors should be developing a decentralized or distributed marketing strategy that gives local franchises a full range of brand-adherent marketing materials and support while still allowing the franchise to address its own special needs. It’s up to the franchisor to make it easier for the local business to make better, more informed decisions and to remove any barriers they encounter when attempting to participate more fully in brand-to-local marketing programs. Everyone benefits when brand-to-local marketing delivers higher revenue growth.

Optimizing Brand-to-Local Marketing

Among the steps franchisors can take to improve brand-to-local marketing, three stand out.

1. Encourage Local Investment From Franchises– Despite the fact that local franchise marketing spend can play a critical role in the success of the business, it has been reported that up to 50% of local franchise funds available go unused each year, and only 75% of franchises utilize the total amount of funds available to them. Among the reasons local franchisees cite for not taking advantage of the money is a belief that the national brands don’t always take into account the unique characteristics of local franchise customers and that the local owners don’t fully understand how a national campaign is going to increase their business.
   
   Franchisors can remedy this by engaging early and often with local owners to build trust. They can empower them to invest in and manage their own local budgets, support local advertising campaigns driven by relevant customer profiles that complement a national one, and give them the tools to determine strategies that include a presence on multiple social channels, maps, and tactics like retargeting that are essential to attract local business.

2. Help Local Franchise Owners Become More Marketing Mature – Most franchise owners do not get into business with a degree in marketing, and there can be an initial heavy reliance on the brand for marketing guidance and expertise. However, as the owners gain a greater understanding of their market and customers, franchisors should focus on giving them the training and support to help them take a more active role in improving marketing performance.
   
   Franchisors should work with their franchises to help them determine meaningful metrics that can be measured through customer data. It has been reported that only 18% of brands share ROI data with their franchises or explain how to apply it into their business decisions. This is unfortunate, because setting benchmarks based on collected data metrics can provide powerful incentives for franchises and help them identify new opportunities that might be missed without accurate data reporting from a thorough channel marketing platform.

3. Simplify Local Brand Compliance Customization – Franchise owners grow frustrated with lengthy approval processes and what seems to be a quagmire of parameters and standards to wade through in order to adhere to brand guidelines. They also often feel as if they are left on their own when navigating a franchisor’s content management system. It’s been reported that 27% of franchise owners do not understand what is being offered through the franchisor’s marketing program or how to access it.
   
   Franchisor channel marketing platforms should keep the decision-making and creative process as seamless as possible, with the understanding that busy franchise owners don’t want to recreate the wheel, The only want room for relevant, local customization. The platforms should offer a wide variety of templates that align with brand and that are easy to access and localize with consistent and streamlined approval processes.

How to Manage and Measure Brand-to-Local Marketing Best

There are many moving parts involved in a smooth-running brand-to-local program. Successful franchisors are realizing the efficiencies and cost-savings of relying on an multi-channel marketing platform to manage every facet of these marketing programs with their franchises.

The most innovative channel marketing platforms help franchisors prepare and share assets, monitor approval processes, and provide real-time reporting through powerful, user-friendly portals. Successful brand-to-local franchisor success is established through consistent effort, open lines of communication, and continual training and support. It begins by developing a trust that marketing strategies take into account local franchise preferences, nurturing franchise owner marketing growth, and providing easy-to-use channel marketing platforms that invite participation.

Contact a Marketing.com franchise marketing expert today to learn more about Dot™, our comprehensive, technology-centered, people-powered platform that seamlessly connects the dots across all your franchise marketing channels.