“What are some examples of how your marketing programs benefit your franchisees?”
Our corporate marketing team takes seriously our responsibility to create marketing programs that help our franchisees be successful. We never lose sight of the fact that franchisor marketing teams have a dual role: high-level brand building coupled with the provision of tools, assets, and support for franchisees to use in their local markets. In location-based businesses, brands come to life most poignantly through interactions between franchisees and members of their communities.
One of my team’s most important initiatives is the creation of monthly local marketing playbooks. These playbooks include member engagement and new-member acquisition programs that franchisees can implement. To make implementation easy, each program is accompanied by creative assets, social and email calendars, and execution guides. These aren’t required, but we see very high usage rates because of the success of past programs and turnkey execution.
Email marketing is a foundational tool for our franchisees because it allows them to share news, events, and tips with their members cost-effectively. Engaged members visit more often and enjoy their memberships more. My team dedicates significant effort to providing an effective email marketing program, including the creation and maintenance of numerous customer segments within each franchisee’s account. We also distribute email templates each month, from promotional messages to brand-building content such as a recent email featuring Halle Berry sporting Title gear in her hit Netflix movie, “Bruised.”
Public relations is another of our key initiatives as we’re firm believers in the power of publicity. We further build our brand through secured stories with national publications and local media. When we run a network-wide program, such as a coordinated event to raise funds for a cause, we secure stories in local markets so franchisees can introduce the event to their communities.
To maintain a flow of information, my team hosts a live monthly webinar for the network. Constructive feedback helps us constantly increase the effectiveness of our programs, so we open the floor to Q&A and comments about the marketing playbooks. In addition, we actively encourage participants to share best practices. Everyone loves learning from the success of peers in the network.
Last, to ensure smooth rollouts, we work to ensure our marketing programs are launched in synch with our operations and training teams. A franchisor must provide programs that not only generate good results, but also that make life easier for franchisees.