Big brands have long understood the value of brand consistency across different components of advertising. That’s why we have brand books and style guides for almost everything we create. For franchises brands, implementing consistent, branded marketing is both a greater opportunity, and of course a greater challenge.
For multi-unit franchises it is an especially slippery slope. The brand must be uniform and consistent, but franchisees need the freedom to expand their own business. The brand messages must remain consistent while different franchisees will need to find unique ways to target their local target audiences. The trick is to remain persistent with franchisees and ensure the brand message is the same whether you’re dealing with two locations in the state or 500 units across the country. Your aim should be develop an effective marketing plan, with a consistent brand, that can be implemented across all units while still allowing for the unique and varied strategies needed to reach each market. This may involve providing franchises with a detailed plan that guides them through the best ways to leverage marketing materials for their location and the overall brand.
While it’s inherently difficult to get all the franchisors on the same page, contributing to consistent marketing efforts, the payoff is well worth the effort. If done right, each franchise becomes a powerful soldier in an army of brand supporters. Every piece of marketing material can work towards the support of a powerful brand – from the signage at each location, to the national and local media placements to the logos on employee t-shirts. If every franchise is committed the brand will inevitably grow and all the franchises will rise with the tide.
