With more than half of 2023 in the rearview mirror it’s time to start thinking about your 2024 franchise marketing programs and evaluate how new technologies will impact your franchisees in their local markets. In this article we breakdown some of the trends we’re watching and predict what it means for your brand.
The simplest way to explain a true multi-channel campaign is that it’s an expanded way to improve the visibility of a franchise - through its website, email, social media, mobile app, and even outdoor and indoor signage - across multiple devices that potential customers rely on for information during their journey to make a purchase. Consistency and accessibility form the backbone of any multi-channel marketing campaign with the goal of spreading brand awareness, generating wider and stronger audience engagements, and building greater long-term loyalty according to the preferences of their customers at the moment.
Multi-channel marketing provides engagements at multiple touchpoints and meets shoppers on the channels they use while making purchasing decisions. Franchises are turning to content marketing and workflow management platforms to handle the complexities of running multi-channel campaigns and optimize their investment in every channel. Accordingly, channel marketing platforms use and multi-channel content marketing will continue to grow in importance. In 2024, it will become the dominant way franchises and their customers connect. According to Retail Dive, marketers using three or more channels in a campaign enjoy a purchase and engagement rate that is 250% higher than those using single-channel campaigns.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is impacting the way companies across every business spectrum apply valuable customer data to streamline operations and make informed decisions. It will add efficiencies to data collection, analytics, and optimization throughout franchises in 2024 as well. According to a MarTech survey, 64% of B2B marketers consider AI to be valuable in their marketing strategy.
AI will play a growing role in the way franchises market their business, identify and qualify customers, and allocate resources more efficiently. Many have already integrated AI-powered chat boxes and other natural language programs (NLPs) which enable computers to read text, hear, and interpret information offered by customers and provide real-time solutions without human intervention.
For franchises, however, NLPs are only the beginning in terms of the possibilities that AI brings to the way transactional, marketing, and competitor pricing data can be analyzed, and content created. Based on recommendations powered by machine learning algorithms, franchises can identify trends earlier, tailor localized campaigns based upon specific, unique characteristics, and efficiently manage multiple locations with strategies specific to each, all based on actionable data. The time to incorporate AI is now or risk falling behind. According to a Forbes Advisor survey, 64% of businesses believe that AI will help increase their overall productivity.
For franchises in 2024, automation and personalization will grow in importance as a means to stay consistently connected with customers. Using comprehensive content management systems that seamlessly integrate customer data into decision making, every communication can become more personalized and profitable. Franchises can time the messaging they share with customers based on the relationship they have developed and coordinate each with key promotions, anniversaries and birthdays, location, and past purchases. According to Oracle, 63% of businesses that implement marketing automation software expect to see benefits within 6 months.
Together the automation of messaging and flexibility to refine the message to coincide with customer interests and environment gives franchises the ability to remain connected and relevant. They can incorporate personal information in email subject lines, make webpages more significant to visitors with automated localized content, and segment customers for streamlined customer service and reduced wait times. Customers see every communication as providing a service or solution and therefore engage with, rather than ignore, franchise messaging. A Forrester report reveals that 89% of businesses are starting to invest in personalization.
In 2024, franchisors and franchisees will more fully employ and embrace a systems approach to structure marketing content through websites, print, email, and social media, and as a way to eliminate inefficiencies between channels and branding strategies. The best marketing content platforms offer a user-friendly interface that provide for customization to adapt to different workflows and management styles, and are scalable to make it cost-effective for any sized business.
A systems approach helps franchises seamlessly collaborate, assign tasks, and keep team members on the same page, even remotely, and gives employees the tools to plan, carry out, manage, and benefit from real-time updates. It ensures greater brand consistency, with tighter control over brand values, image, and messaging across all channels, which is very important if franchises want to continue to grow their business.
It’s never too early for franchises to take steps now to get ahead of the competition. Understanding the franchise marketing landscape and planning to capitalize on the benefits to be found by integrating new technologies will help you build better and longer lasting relationships with your customers.
Contact a Marketing.com franchise marketing expert today to learn more about Dot™, our comprehensive, technology-centered, people-powered platform that seamlessly manages multi-channel marketing campaigns across your franchise system.
Posted in Franchise | Posted on 10/17/2023