When a seasoned franchise development colleague of mine asked me what the benefit of having a blog on their franchise validation website would be, it got me wondering how many other franchisors haven’t thought about this important aspect of their franchise development marketing strategy.
If you’re looking for new ways to grow your franchise system in the coming year, here are five reasons to consider establishing a franchise development blog on your franchise validation website:
1) Move Up In Search Engine Rankings
Adapting to search engine algorithms developed by Google and Bing are simply a reality for today’s online marketers, including those in franchise development. If you want your franchise website to be found by potential candidates online, you’re going to have to comply with the ever-changing rules set by Google. And what does Google like? Websites with relevant, regularly updated content.
If your company is on a quarterly or semi-annual update schedule to change a few numbers on your site when you add a new location or win an award, you could be missing out on major search engine traffic — and as a result, potential buyers.
Establishing a blog gives you a reason to consistently update your franchise development website with strategic, informative content that not only promotes your franchise opportunity, but it also boosts your search rankings. The key word there is consistently! For franchisors to see real SEO benefits from content marketing efforts we recommend four posts per month, but whatever your schedule and resources allow, make sure you are posting at regular intervals.
Strategic keyword targeting also comes with huge search engine optimization benefits that can be leveraged through your franchise development blog. While you may be targeting those high search volume keywords (ie: “franchise coaching”) on the main pages of your franchise development website, your blog gives you an opportunity to target those lower volume, higher value keywords that serious franchise buyers are searching, often in the form of a question (ie: “what is the best semi-absentee franchise?”). If a potential buyer asking Google that question is directed to a convincing blog article (like this one from The Entrepreneur’s Source) explaining how your brand’s semi-absentee franchise is going to help them live their dream life, you’ve just landed a solid lead in your funnel.
2) Create “Boostworthy” Social Media Content
Not every potential franchisee knows they want to own a franchise just yet, which is why investing your entire franchise development marketing budget in search engines or franchise portals is a risky move. Social media marketing, on the other hand, is a great way to target the interests and demographics of your ideal franchisee without them having to actually search for a term related to your franchise concept or industry.
In Facebook’s new era of “Bringing People Closer Together”, franchise brands need to be smarter about the types of content they choose to promote if they want it to be seen. The most successful company posts on any social platform will be authentic, provide value to their audience, and be interacted with by individuals (via Likes, Shares and Comments). That means the home page of your franchise development website stating all the reasons your brand is great is probably not the best choice for your next promoted Facebook or LinkedIn post. An article from your franchise development blog, however, highlighting how one of your franchisees is making a difference in their community with their new business? That’s an excellent choice. The content isn’t overtly promotional, but it still leads readers back to your franchise validation website where they can learn all about your concept and how to become a part of it.
In addition, carefully planned, relevant blog articles on your franchise validation website (FVW) can also be cross-promoted on your consumer social channels allowing you to tap into this amazing source of potential franchisees who are already fans of your brand!
3) Nurture Your Leads With a Reason to Keep in Touch
Franchise companies spend a ton of time and thousands of dollars generating franchise development leads who express an initial interest in your opportunity and most are never heard from again. That’s why a lead nurturing email campaign is an absolute necessity for any franchise brand serious about growing their system.
I know what you’re thinking: “First you want me to start a blog, now you want me to write email newsletters too? That sounds like a lot of work!” It doesn’t have to be. With a franchise development blog as the core of your content marketing strategy, you’ve already created great content to share in your email newsletters which can be scheduled on a monthly cadence
Through the magic of marketing automation, candidates who inquired previously can be notified automatically about new posts, allowing you to keep in touch with them, without creating any additional work for your sales team.
Blog articles also make great content for an automated drip email campaigns which can be strategically set up to reach out to candidates at regular intervals after their initial inquiry when they are at their peak level of interest. Instead of an email from your sales manager saying “Hey, it’s me again!”, these emails can offer relevant information about your opportunity inviting candidates to “Check out this blog article on our website if you’d like to continue learning about our franchise opportunity”.
The best part? All links lead back to your franchise validation website where candidates can continue their research and reengage in your awards process when they’re ready.
4) Address Common Objections Before They Arise
Candidates who are serious about buying a franchise will often spend upwards of 60 minutes researching your brand before they even make an inquiry. If your franchise validation website consists of only a few pages of content or worse, just a few paragraphs on your consumer site, that simply isn’t enough. A well-curated franchise development blog made up of quality, relevant articles and videos will give a prospective franchisee plenty to dig into before speaking to a member of your sales team.
Not sure what kind of content to post on your franchise development blog? The possibilities are endless, but one thing to consider is how you can answer common questions and address potential objections a prospect may have about your opportunity before they even inquire. For example, travel agency franchises often deal with the question “Who’s still using travel agents these days?” which Expedia CruiseShipCenters addresses nicely in this blog post by presenting supporting data on growing travel agent usage.
By getting any initial anxieties about your concept cleared up early on, your website conversion rate should improve and the initial conversations your sales team is having with candidates will likely be more productive.
5) Highlight Your Most Successful Franchise Owners
If you’re having trouble finding a way to incorporate more stories and testimonials from your franchisees on your franchise validation website, look no further than your franchise development blog. Your blog is the perfect place to highlight success stories and interviews with your franchisees.
This strategy is more relevant than ever as franchise validation becomes an increasingly important part of a prospective franchisee’s due diligence process. As every franchisor knows, validation has the potential to make or break a deal depending on what your franchisees are saying on a given day. While you can’t control exactly how those validation calls will go, you can ensure that prospective buyers have access to as many positive franchisee stories and interviews as possible. Videos of your franchisees speaking about their personal experiences running their successful businesses are especially powerful and can be proactively shared on your blog, social media channels, email newsletters, and throughout your sales process.
The more exposure franchisee candidates have to these kinds of positive testimonials throughout your franchise awards process, the less impact a possible negative validation call will have down the line.
Make 2019 Your Best Year Ever!
Are you ready to add consistent content marketing to your franchise development website in 2019? FranFocus’ team of marketing experts are here to help. Read more about FranFocus content marketing and social media management services here or contact us today to set up a complimentary review of your current franchise validation website.
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