Back to school time is the unofficial New Year for many franchisors – a time to reignite interest in a franchise opportunity that may have stagnated over the summer months. If franchise enquiries have dropped off for you, then why not use August to plan a relaunch of your business in the coming autumn months?
Here, Cheryl White, founder of the Mercury Franchise School Ltd, shares four practical ways to prepare your franchise for the great September reset:
Review and refresh your marketing collateral
It may feel like ‘only yesterday’ that you last reviewed and refreshed your website, brochures and onboarding documents. It is far more likely to have been months – if not years.
Commonly overlooked areas are the ‘News’ section of your website (when was the last article posted?) and the ‘Meet the Team’ section (have you had a change of personnel?), as well as pop-up banners that promote expired offers or events.
Broken links from your website to your social media pages, or vice versa, could be costing you valuable enquiries. Ancient case studies or client testimonials may not reflect the opportunity your franchise is offering right now.
A logo design that was fit for purpose when you first launched could look old-fashioned next to your competitors – especially if it is not optimised for social media profiles.
Ahead of your relaunch, sit down with a marketing expert to review your collateral, then make the necessary tweaks to bring everything up to date.
Unifying your marketing messages
Are all your ‘shop windows’ singing in harmony? Or is there a disconnect between the messaging you put out on your website and the opportunity you advertise on social media and franchising portals? This happens when you take a ‘silo approach’ to managing each platform – and treat some of them like an unloved distant cousin!
Rather than trying to be everywhere all at once, reap greater rewards by being active on a handful of platforms that best serve the interests of your business. (There is no point forcing yourself to make TikToks if LinkedIn is where all your customers are!)
A cost versus benefit analysis can help you decide where to allocate your marketing budget. If your Facebook Ads never deliver a return on investment, for example, that money might be better spent on franchise portal subscriptions.
Show people who you are
People buy from people. Don’t be afraid to bring your personal brand into your business. Show potential franchisees who you are and tell the story of how your franchise came into being. (It is easier to get a “yes” from someone who feels personally invested in your vision, mission and purpose!)
Ahead of your relaunch, think about how you can leave your corporate brand at the door and bring the person you are into your marketing. If you have always hidden behind stock images, for example, a personal branding photoshoot could put you front and centre of your business imagery. If you struggle talking to large groups of people about your franchise offer, public speaking coaching would be a wise investment.
Complacency is the enemy of growth
If you truly want to reignite your franchise, you will need to level up your mindset. A steady flow of recurring fees from our franchisees keeps us safe, but they can also cause us to plateau. That can be fine in the short term – delivering much-needed wellbeing benefits from reduced stress levels – but what happens when someone unexpectedly quits, or a competitor begins to encroach upon your market share? Not having a pipeline of warm prospects could spark an emergency.
If you don’t have a healthy curiosity about the heights your franchise could take you, it won’t ever reach its full potential. Start vision boarding now to reconnect with your inner entrepreneur and set new goals to breathe life into a tired business.
If you are feeling powerless in the face of the summer slowdown, planning an autumn reset of your franchise can be wonderfully energising. Envisioning what the next phase of growth looks like for you is the perfect, gentle start. For action-takers, a full-blown marketing audit offers the productive focus needed to get ahead!
