The franchisor's winning communication strategy for his network of franchised restaurants

As a franchisor, you build a brand and encourage franchise development? Your objective: to promote the group nationally and locally. This is to be achieved through global communication initiatives, as well as those delegated to each franchised restaurant. So how do you structure your strategy to make it as effective as possible, and applicable at both global and local levels? What framework should be defined for each franchisee's communications?

Having devoted an article to best practices on the franchisee side, we now turn our attention to the franchisor. 

How do you successfully communicate your franchise network on a national scale? How much leeway should franchisees be given? Knowing that you want to retain power over your brand while letting effective local initiatives see the light of day. In this article, we'll be giving our advice on communication and marketing for your franchise network. We'll look at operational issues in a future article 😌

Axis 1: Build a strong brand as a franchisor, capable of national influence

As a franchisor, developing a strong brand image enables franchised restaurateurs to benefit from its attractiveness. The franchisor acts as a "business card" for franchised restaurants. By helping your franchisees to become more visible and attractive, you enter a virtuous circle! They attract more customers, and therefore more sales.

With strong brand awareness and image, you also help your network to grow. Indeed, the more visible and solid your brand becomes on a national scale, the easier it is to attract new franchisees.

To do this, you need to bring your brand to life.

1. Define the image your franchise network should convey

Before you can bring your brand to life, you have to build it. This involves all the visual elements and messages that reflect your restaurant group and its offering. Take the time to define on paper your logo, graphic and editorial guidelines, as well as your slogans, values, message and image templates : elements that every restaurant franchisee must respect. They form the basis for consistent communication throughout your franchise network, anchoring your brand universe everywhere, on site and online. 

2. Bring your brand to life on all the franchisor's channels

A website alone isn't enough to promote your restaurant group nationwide. To succeed in making yourself known in the eyes of a large clientele, you need to use all the most relevant channels. Each franchised restaurant must have a listing on all the major directories, such as Google, Tripadvisor... To move up in the search results, these listings must be kept up to date and regularly updated. 

3. Raise awareness of the Group through social media

If you use Instagram and Facebook well, you'll surround yourself with a real community, one that engages with your content. This means that your subscribers can take part in the life of the network, and convert into customers more easily. 

To do this, start by creating an Instagram and Facebook page for the group as a whole. (If your franchise network spans several countries, don't hesitate to create a page for each country). Your objective: share network news, openings, the latest offers, new à la carte items, specialties at franchised restaurants... Feed these pages in an attractive way, following the editorial and graphic thread defined for the whole group.

For an effective Instagram and Facebook page on a national and local scale: 

• Work on your biography 
• Regularly post attractive content and engaging stories
• Create trendy, high-quality content (reels, carousels)
• Use news in your communication (concerns everyone)
• Respond to all user interactions
• Deploying a hashtags strategy
• Create a hashtag specific to your brand

A strong, well-established reputation will enable us to reach a wide audience across the country. And attract customers to each of your franchised restaurants, regardless of their location. A solid reputation on a national scale also works in your favor: wherever your future franchisees set up shop, many people will already be familiar with the brand.

4. Highlight your franchised restaurants as a franchisor

Promote your online group as a whole, as well as franchised restaurants on a case-by-case basis. After all, your aim is to help each restaurant maximize its footfall. 

Vary between more global communication actions, which concern all establishments (à la carte dishes in all franchised restaurants, etc.) and more specific actions. 

• Share in post the openings within the network, the specialities of each franchised restaurant according to its location, the actions put in place by each (competitions, etc.).
• Indicate the different locations of your franchised restaurants in your description on all channels.
• Use Linktree in your Instagram bio to help users quickly find the restaurant nearest them
• Create anchored stories to broadcast news from each restaurant/region
• ETC

Priority 2: Deploy the national strategy at local level

Making your restaurant visible and attractive online is a great way to make yourself known to a wide range of customers. Communication is therefore key to your restaurant's business. As a franchisor, you want to see your franchised restaurateurs achieve good operational performance, and therefore more sales. To help them achieve this, you need to structure the best communication strategy and support them.

Franchised restaurateurs have to follow a nationwide communications strategy, conveying the same message and visual models to ensure brand consistency. But marketing must also be adapted locally, to reach local customers.

1. Supporting and equipping franchised restaurateurs with communication tools

To achieve results that benefit all parties, you, the franchisor, need to keep in mind that the restaurateur doesn't necessarily have marketing expertise. So be sure to provide each franchised restaurateur with all the elements and tools necessary for communication. And keep a close eye on their actions.

Share with franchised restaurateurs all the elements that structure your group's brand, as defined at the beginning of this article. They will then adapt their communications around these elements. Clarify in the contract the "rules to follow" for nationwide communication, to ensure consistency across the franchise network.

Marketing and e-reputation tools, templates for messages and responses to customer reviews, advertising budgets, training, photo shoots... Don't hesitate to provide everyone with everything they need to make marketing easier. In this way, you maximize your franchisee's chances of success.

2. Define the limits of local communication actions

Each franchised restaurant: a restaurant in its own right, in a specific geographical area, with a specific market. To reach a local clientele, certain communication actions need to be adapted to the scale of the franchise, to better respond to the customer's selection path. In other words, global communication needs to be balanced with a local dimension.

To avoid each franchised restaurateur deploying his or her own strategy that diverges from the network's brand image, it's essential to set limits and monitor. Personalize your communications, yes. But in a justified way, without losing sight of the messages and images to be embodied.

This means that franchised restaurateurs have to adapt to local conditions: 

• Their keyword strategy, to include terms specific to local searches
• Responses to customer reviews, because only he knows the context
• Posts social media according to menu, news...

But make sure that each of these actions remains consistent with the group.

3. Monitoring the marketing management of franchised restaurateurs

Once a franchised restaurant has launched its marketing campaign, monitoring its performance over time enables the strategy to be adapted/modified. Regular meetings and spontaneous exchanges between the franchisor and franchisees serve this purpose. For effective monitoring, certain KPI's are important to keep an eye on: social media statistics, cost per click of sponsorship, restaurant footfall, Google rating of customer reviews ...

These regular exchanges also enable you to share upcoming novelties, news on which to communicate, and plan future actions. As a franchisor, you also need to listen to feedback from franchised restaurateurs. They're the ones on the ground, so they have the best visibility of what's working and what's not. Both operationally and marketing-wise. 

Axis 3: Manage national communication as a franchisor and that of each franchised restaurant, from a single interface

That's a lot to manage! You have to define a solid brand image, anchor it nationally, implement and delegate an effective local strategy, support each franchised restaurant owner, and monitor the success of marketing actions. Then bounce back according to feedback. And we're only talking about group marketing here...!

By putting the right tool in the hands of franchised restaurateurs the right tool to manage their local referencing, and their attractiveness on social media, you win!

But how does MalouApp enable you to delegate communication, achieve high-performance results in each franchised restaurant, while retaining a degree of control over marketing actions?

1. A unique digital solution to boost the visibility of each franchised restaurant

With our all-in-one solution, the MalouApp, every restaurant owner gains online visibility on Google, directories and social media, and therefore more customers!

A solution designed by and for restaurateurs, to support them in their digital marketing strategy. After all, building an online storefront takes time, expertise and budget. A job in its own right. This is where MalouApp comes in: to enable professionals to keep control of their communications, without having to be an expert or hire one. A single, easy and intuitive interface that guides them through each essential step in order to :

• Rise to the top of Google search results and other platforms
• Improve the restaurant's online reputation on Instagram and Facebook
• Save time
• Convert customers
• Building customer loyalty

MalouApp brochure

As a franchisor, this solution ensures effective communication at each of your points of sale, and thus more customers. And more customers means more sales, and therefore more cash flow for your business! 

2. Human support to improve performance and the franchisor-franchisee relationship

Malou is not only a digital solution with proven results, but also, and above all,a team of dedicated marketing experts. We accompany each of our customers on a daily basis, supporting them on all communication issues, and helping them to manage their business more effectively. Personalized support for every customer. 

In this way, the franchised restaurateur benefits from a real human accompaniment with Malou, which improves your franchisor-franchisee relationship. Finally, we schedule a meeting with each restaurateur in the group to review performance and monitor progress.

3. The ability to effectively monitor the marketing actions and performance of each franchised restaurant.

From the MalouApp, franchised restaurateurs have access to all the statistics gathered on the referencing and social media of their establishment. They can monitor their performance in real time.

As a franchisor, you have access to the statistics of each franchisee individually, or in an aggregated view, so you can compare results between establishments. This enables you to instantly identify any problems that need correcting, or elements that are working particularly well across the network. 

4. The solution for optimizing head office costs at franchisor level

The MalouApp saves you money! By centralizing all information from all sales outlets, and automating many communication actions, you no longer need to multiply the number of marketing employees at head office. You can continue to develop your network without increasing your payroll costs!

5. A better image with potential franchisees 

Effective communication not only makes for a more profitable business within each franchised restaurant, but also attracts more restaurateurs to join your network!