Most franchisees are already aware that they need a strong marketing message. However, there’s often a significant disconnect between crafting the right message and having an audience to deliver it to. The reality of the franchise industry is very few sales happen by accident. Instead, the types of franchisors that are able to consistently sell new franchises do so by having a clear marketing plan that’s carefully crafted to attract a specific type of prospect.

In order to craft this kind of marketing plan, there are some essential elements that need to be in place. We’re going to cover all four of those elements right now, along with the role they play in a franchise marketing plan:

4 Essential Elements of a Franchise Marketing Plan

1. Budget

The reason this element is first on our list is that even the best marketing plan is only going to succeed if there’s a budget to support it. When it comes to choosing your budget, setting clear growth goals, and then working backward is the best strategy. This will give you a ballpark estimate that you can then compare against industry averages. Once your marketing budget is set, you’ll be able to use it to check the feasibility of other steps in your marketing process.

2. Focused Market

Making the market you want to target as tight as possible has two significant advantages. First, you’ll be able to craft a message that truly resonates with these individuals. And second, you’ll reduce the amount of money you waste trying to reach people who aren’t ultimately the right fit for purchasing a franchise. In addition to using your intuition, you’ll want to use resources like primary research to really drill down into your target market.

3. Funnel

Although marketing funnels aren’t a new concept, many franchisors still fail to utilize them. Creating a marketing funnel will make it much easier to track all the metrics related to your marketing. A well-defined funnel will also improve the effectiveness of your marketing activities. And by knowing each step in your funnel, you’ll be able to pinpoint areas that are underperforming and then invest in optimizing them.

4. Timing

If the franchise you’re selling has a seasonal element to it, this is something your marketing plan should take into account. But even if seasonality isn’t an issue, it’s important to know that franchise sales are at their peak between January and March, with November and December being the months when these types of sales crawl to a halt. By taking these and other timing factors into account, you’ll be able to choose the optimal times to ramp up marketing spend.

While the four elements we covered above will help guide your marketing efforts, fully crafting an optimal franchise marketing plan and then executing it on an ongoing basis still requires a lot of work. If you would like a knowledgeable expert who can help with these kinds of tasks, be sure to take a look at the franchise marketing services we offer.

Michelle has been a franchise advisor for 15+ years. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree – however, with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. Michelle can help you develop marketing, sales, and lead generation strategies that produce real results.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters she developed Nationwide delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location, and more. Just let her know how she can help!