Franchisors: 12 communication tips to make your franchisees shine

As a franchisor, you build a brand and encourage franchise development.

Your objective: to promote the Group nationally and locally. And to do so through global communication initiatives, as well as those delegated to each franchisee restaurant. So how do you keep a firm grip on your brand, while at the same time promoting local initiatives to develop the local reputation of each franchisee?

What framework should be defined for each franchisee's communications? How much leeway should they be given?

Answers in this article 😌

Focus 1: Building a strong brand as a franchisor for national reach

As a franchisor, developing a strong brand image benefits franchised restaurateurs.

The franchisor acts as a "business card" for franchised restaurants. By helping your franchisees gain in visibility and appeal, you enter a virtuous circle: they attract more customers, and therefore accumulate more sales.

With strong brand awareness and image, you're also helping your network's business development . 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

Here, you need to build your brand: put "on paper" the clear concept of your restaurants and all the branding elements that go with it.

In other words: your logo, graphic charter, editorial charter, slogans, values, message and image templates.

All these elements must be respected by franchisees. They form the basis for consistent communication within your franchise network, to anchor your brand universe everywhere, on site and online. 

For example: the text font, the right color of green to use, the tone...

2. 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, create a page for each country. Your objective: to share network news, openings, 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.

So that your social media are effective at national and local levels : 

• Work on your bio;
• Regularly post attractive and engaging content on Instagram to attract and retain customers;
• Create trendy, quality content (Realcarousels);
• Use news in your communication (concerns everyone);
• Respond to all user interactions
• Deploying a hashtags strategy ;
• Create a hashtag specific to your brand.

Strong brand awareness will enable us to reach a wide audience and attract customers to each of our franchised restaurants.

‍Asolid national reputation also works in your favor: where your future franchisees set up shop, many people will already know the brand.

3. Highlight your franchised restaurants as a franchisor

Make your group shine online by highlighting franchised restaurants on a case-by-case basis. ‍

The aim is to help each establishment maximize its visitor numbers. 

Vary your communication activities between global campaigns, those that concern all your establishments (à la carte dishes in all franchised restaurants, etc.) and more specific actions by franchisees.

For example:

• Share posts on new openings within the network, the specialties of each franchisee restaurant depending on its location, and the actionstaken by each franchisee (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 their nearest restaurant;
• Create anchored stories to broadcast news from each restaurant/region.

Priority 2: Deploy the national strategy at local level

As a franchisor , you want to see your franchised restaurant owners achieve strong operational performance and increased sales. To help them achieve this, you need to structure the best communication strategy and support them.

The digital marketing is the key to helping them reach local customers!

1. Supporting and equipping franchised restaurateurs

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 make sure you provide it with all the elements and tools that structure the group brand, and clarify in the contract the "rules to follow" for nationwide communication to ensure consistency across the network.

Our advice: create a list of "best practices" to comply with national com (e.g. colors and logo) and a list of tips to adapt the strategy to the local context (e.g. local SEO, local marketing): local referencing, how to respond to reviews, etc.).

‍

Share your marketing and e-reputation tools, sample messages, responses to customer reviews, advertising budgets, training courses, 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.

Follow their actions closely or ask them to provide you with a quantified monthly report on their actions (semantic analysis of reviews, marketing KPI, etc.)

2. Encourage franchisees to work on their local referencing

To be visible in a neighborhood, each franchised restaurant must have a Google My Business listing be listed on all major platformsto be listed in search results. 

This is what we call local referencing (take advantage of our complete guide below to set it up!).

3. List the essentials for local communication actions

As the saying goes, it's all about location!

In this case, each franchised restaurant is a restaurant in its own right, in a specific geographical area, with a specific market.

In addition to local referencing, certain communication actions need to be adapted to the scale of the franchise, in order to better respond to the customer selection process.

In particular : 

• 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...

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.

4. Manage marketing and reporting for 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 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 us to share upcoming news and events, and plan future actions.

‍Asa 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. 

3: Manage national communications from a single interface

To put it plainly: for a CMO/franchise marketing manager, that's a lot to handle!

In other words: define a solid brand image, anchor it nationally, implement and delegate an effective strategy locally, support each franchised restaurant owner, monitor the success of marketing actions, and bounce back from 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 unique, 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

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 support each and every one of our customers on a day-to-day basis, helping them to manage all aspects of their business.

The franchised restaurateur benefits from a real human accompaniment with Malou, which improves your franchisor-franchisee relationship. We schedule a meeting with each restaurateur in the group to review performance and 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 their establishment's referencing, reviews and social media. The franchisor 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 ensures more profitable business for each franchised restaurant, but also encourages more restaurateurs to join your network!