Are Your Franchisees Actually Using Your Marketing Collateral?
Why great campaigns fall flat without the right systems behind them
Franchisors can invest heavily in marketing content and campaign creation, but the return on that investment is often capped the moment franchisees don't engage and market locally. Great creative work only pays off once it's actually being used across the network — and in my experience, that's where things frequently break down.
Here are three things I've seen make a real difference.
1. Collaborate
Create a franchisee marketing panel. There's local knowledge already sitting within your network — tap into it, and involve franchisees early, before campaigns are set in stone. Bringing franchisees in at that stage drives engagement and helps deliver early adopter proof points that make the rollout easier for everyone else.
2. Connect
Build an annual marketing plan that clearly connects national campaigns to local action. Tell franchisees what's coming and what they can do locally — but more than that, show them how to use the materials effectively, and find ways to measure and share the results. Visibility of what's working builds momentum on its own.
3. Make It Easy
Remove the friction. Marketing collateral should be ridiculously easy to access, localise and put into action. That means one place for approved collateral, editable templates, social media downloads, brand guidelines, ordering and suppliers — all in one easy-to-use portal.
Franchisees shouldn't be left waiting to execute local marketing, and head office teams shouldn't be bogged down with admin and bespoke "edit" requests.
Great campaigns aren't enough on their own
Great franchise marketing isn't just about creating great campaigns. It's about making them easy for the whole network to activate. When you get that right, you amplify your marketing messages and deliver a better return on investment.
That's why solutions like Eversource interest me — they remove the friction while still allowing head office to protect the brand. If you'd like to see the Eversource marketing portal in action, designed with franchising in mind, get in touch with me to set up a 30-minute call. I'm always happy to share more.