How do you make your business stand out? With snappy branding, stunning events, and community connections, you can distinguish your franchise locally. But what about its online presence?
The techniques for franchise advertising online are a bit more nuanced. Getting your online presence noticed and in front of the eyes of potential customers takes a bit of savvy. And, because of the franchise structure, there are more options for a franchisee than other businesses have access to.
Below are some techniques you should be applying in your franchise marketing plan.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Franchise Marketing
By optimizing your website for search engines, you make it easier for people to find you when they look for something on a search engine like Google.
Just think – how often do you visit the second page of search results when you Google something? If you’re like most people, you’ll almost certainly find what you’re looking for on the first page. That’s why it’s important to set up your site so that it can rank well, and be visible to those searching for terms similar to your franchise.
There are many techniques to good SEO, but fundamentally it comes down to making sure Google decides your website is valuable. This means making sure it’s filled with well-written, useful content that uses keywords and phrases you think your potential customers would search, related to your business.
For franchisees especially, it’s important to make sure you’re targeting local keywords so your business ranks in your community.
Another important aspect to consider is “backlinks.” When a different website links to your site, it’s considered a “backlink.” A huge way search engines decide which websites are important are how many quality backlinks they have. This so-called “quality” is determined by how relevant the site is to your users, and how authoritative the domain of the website linking is.
There are many other factors to consider for SEO, including active social media pages and having a mobile-responsive website. When undertaking an SEO overhaul, it’s important to take a holistic approach that covers all the bases.
Pay Per Click (PPC) and Facebook Franchise Advertising
The concept of PPC is simple — these are online advertisements for your business. You only pay for the ad when someone interacts (clicks) one of them. They can be anywhere online, but the most common places you’ll see them (and want to use them) are on social media and search engine results pages.
On social media like Facebook, you can create an ad that is highly targeted to a specific audience — essential for franchise marketing. You can pick the age, sex, interest and location of who you want to reach so you know your clicks will be relevant. Facebook is a great tool for franchisees, and its advertisements are relatively inexpensive compared to other options.
Search engine PPC is a less targeted form of franchise advertising, but can reach a larger audience. With Google AdWords, you can create ads that target specific keywords and appear when people search for topics related to those keywords.
It’s important to pick keywords that are within your budget and highly targeted, because Google uses a bidding system which can drive up the price of popular terms. That said, a well-written ad with targeted keywords can appear at the top of a list of search results, getting your online presence noticed in a dramatic way.
There are great online franchise marketing tools at your disposal. With your unique ability to target locally, you can leverage the presence of your corporate brand in your community, and reap the benefits of a great online strategy.
To find out how your website’s online marketing is doing, check out our “Instant Website Report Card” which lets you know how your site compares to the competition. With our help, you can take your online brand to the next level.
