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Whether you are an emerging or legacy brand, guiding your franchisees toward successful grand openings can make a huge difference for new owners and their businesses. And it all starts with grand opening marketing ideas.

Grand openings are a chance for your company to create awareness around your brand, generate local excitement, build strategic relationships and, ultimately, make a lasting impression. When brainstorming your grand opening ideas, make sure to include plans to set a budget and promote the event in a way that continues the momentum long after the grand opening.

How to Plan Your Grand Opening

Set a Schedule

First, set a schedule. Your new franchisees are ready to begin the preparation for their grand openings. Provide a timeline. Give them every detail of what they need to do as part of a countdown to opening.

Sometimes this means owners must meet certain milestones before they are able to open. That might mean selling a certain number of memberships or subscriptions before the opening happens. Or it could also include meeting social media metrics, which could include Facebook likes, Instagram followers or email signups.

Budget Your Grand Opening’s Promotion

Next, set a budget. From signage to traditional and online promotion, recommend a budget. There should be no surprises here. If you have approved/preferred vendors, be sure franchisees know who they are so they can get prepared within the budget.

Boost Brand Awareness

If your franchise is new to an area, it is critical that your franchisees use their grand opening as a way to educate consumers about your brand and what products/services you provide. Branding should be clear and consistent, so customers instantly recognize your business.

Create Community Relationships

Your franchisees’ most important relationships are with their customers, but grand openings are also a great time to build relationships with the community and other local businesses. Inviting members of the Chamber of Commerce or partnering with a local charity or business can elevate a grand opening and create extra buzz around the event.

Get The Word Out

Use Public Relations to Build Excitement

Starting about two weeks to 10 days out, take advantage of public relations to drum up excitement for your new location opening.

Social media posts announcing the time and date of where you will open, along with any promotional prizes, deals or swag bags to help with branding are a great way to get your fans in on the event. Their excitement will also be shared in their social media posts for those who couldn’t make it for the big day.

Press releases that use brand-approved language, along with some talking points, are key to letting news outlets and the public know about your presence.  Also, be sure to train owners that when a reporter shows up, everything is “on the record.” Remind them to speak in complete sentences when answering questions, as one-word answers do not make good quotes. Work with a PR agency, if possible.

Build Multiplatform Social Media Opportunities

Within your library of approved creative, include images, customizable posts, tweets and other sharable content that represent your brand well. Promote across all platforms.

Creating social media opportunities for customers to share about their experience – think branded photo backdrop and hashtags – can help engage customers to spread your message and branding.

Connect Though Traditional Media

Include traditional media channels like local newspapers and radio stations to help residents feel connected to what is going on in their community. According to Nielsen Media Research, radio reaches 88% of Americans over the age of 18 every week – that’s about 293 million people, more than use Facebook.

Plan For a Future After Your Grand Opening

Lastly, grand openings should always lead to staying in touch with consumers. Offer a plan for ways your franchisees can stay in touch with visitors from the event. Design an activity to get email addresses, cell numbers and social media followers. Offering an incentive like a coupon often makes visitors feel less pressured to share their details.

There are so many details to consider during the exciting grand opening phase, but with a grand opening marketing plan set with careful direction and execution, you can help your franchisees launch their businesses successfully.

Is your social media team still feeding two sets of social media profiles – one for customers and one for franchise development? Let us help to simplify your life: It’s time to consolidate social media pages and put all the best content on them.

Whether your franchise is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest or all of the above, it’s a lot of work to tailor content for each platform. And it’s twice as much work to sustain and manage separate pages for consumer and fran dev audiences on multiple platforms.

The good news is both audiences will benefit from – and even find interesting – your best content. So why would you make more work for yourself?

Messaging Is Not That Different

We understand: Your customers and franchise candidates are different audiences. However, they likely have more in common than you realize.

A Curious Jane scientific study conducted last year showed that nearly half of current franchisees were customers and fans of the brand before they purchased their location. According to the study, 45% of the franchise owners surveyed said they were customers of their franchise brand before they became franchise owners, and 37% said they first heard of the brand because they were customers.

So, when you are talking to customers, you also may be speaking to potential franchisees. Naturally, franchise prospects want to know about new products and services, how you market your brand and your commitment to customer service – all messaging you would plan for customers.

Additionally, much of the content normally shared to fran dev social pages is of interest to consumers, such as new markets in development and new locations opening.

Pages Are Competing Against One Another

Unfortunately, when you manage multiple social media accounts, those pages are competing against one another for your audiences’ attention. You also might be confusing users who are searching for your brand page – or a local franchise page – and end up on the fran dev page. It’s often hard to tell, because the names that come up on a platform search are so similar. And when a user visits a page, the content is similar enough that they may not notice.

If you consolidated pages, you would not only have fewer pages to manage and produce content for, but you also could stop worrying about consumers or franchise candidates landing on the wrong pages.

The best news is that, if you combine pages, you will not have to continue to produce two sets of content for corporate pages. You will just have a lot more interesting and relevant content to share on your social media page.

A Few Words About Franchisee Pages

If you consolidate consumer and fran dev pages, a side benefit will be more time to work on content to benefit your franchisees. Not all franchisees are comfortable with social media, so this provides terrific support – and ensures consistent and timely messaging – throughout your entire system.

You can encourage franchisees to boost their own social pages by:

Streamlining your social media pages is a simple way to provide more relevant content to a broader audience and reduce confusion for users looking for more information on your brand on social networks. Consolidation also provides your social media team more time to help franchisees boost their own social presence.

When recruiting potential franchisees, don’t underestimate the power of video. Franchise recruitment videos can help your brand make a strong impression within seconds — and tell great stories to a wider audience, stretching the budget for your recruitment strategy further than you might realize.

Within seconds on Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube or other social media sites, a franchise recruitment video can present a variety of content to build brand awareness and showcase franchise opportunities. High quality franchise videos can attract top talent and also support your company’s growth strategy. Here’s how.

Use Videos To Speak To Different Audiences

Effective franchise recruitment videos first target a particular demographic. Social media platforms have different video lengths depending on the ad dollars spent. A skilled franchise marketer can pinpoint how to best use this budget to meet the franchise’s recruiting goals, appealing to certain geographic areas or demographics, for instance.

The marketer’s creative team then develops video content that reaches these potential candidates through several marketing videos. One video of about 15 seconds might hit hard with a logo for brand recognition and a question that appeals to someone changing careers or an entrepreneurial spirit, such as, “Have you ever dreamed of running your own business?”

Another video might promote your core values and the advantages of joining your franchise, such as brand recognition (not starting from scratch), or a lower franchising fee compared to other companies, especially for military veterans or retirees.

Create the Right Franchise Recruitment Videos

The best recruitment videos build off each other. One might show a quick overview of company culture while others feature success stories from franchisees. Franchisees who are passionate about their brands help create compelling and engaging stories within a short amount of time.

Other recruitment videos might offer a case study, a summarized guide to franchising, or a brief video that shows how corporate supports its customers and franchisees.

One video doesn’t try to do it all because of the time span on social media platforms—and because viewers can click or scroll past ads. A bundle of recruitment videos keeps your company and its benefits top of mind, so that even if someone doesn’t watch from start to finish the first time, they remember the brand. They might tune in another time or tell someone they know about the franchise opportunity.

A skilled franchise marketing company also can monitor each video’s performance, adjusting factors such as music, images and pacing to reduce the drop-off time. It also can advise you on an effective call to action, which might be a call to discuss more information.

Why not schedule a complementary consultation to brainstorm your own video marketing strategy and discuss your company’s growth? We’ll even bring the coffee.

A franchise development marketing campaign uses a technical and multi-faceted strategy created to attract potential franchise leads and convert them into new franchisees. But how do you know if your campaign is working? Measuring the right franchise KPIs is a start.

With reliable and measurable data, you can better monitor a campaign’s performance and adjust your strategy as needed.

Setting goals around a campaign can let you know how its performance is going in an understandable way.

While you obviously have a budget and goals, those goals usually equal total units sold by a certain time. But that end number isn’t the only important metric to focus on in the process.

So, what should you be measuring within a campaign? How does it translate to your brand’s success in recruiting more franchisees? We will take a look at some important KPIs and how to measure them below.

Funneling Leads

One place we can begin to look for key benchmarks within a campaign is in your own funnel.

Looking here can answer certain questions: What leads are going into the funnel? What does the sales funnel look like from the time a lead comes in to when a franchise disclosure document is shared with them? How many advance to a discovery day? How many of these go on to sign?

By understanding the funnel and the data within it, we can see where the biggest opportunities are using a data-driven approach.

The number of leads generated is a fundamental metric of a franchise development marketing plan and it reflects the reach and attractiveness of your marketing campaigns. A steady or increasing number of leads indicates that your marketing efforts are drawing interest from potential franchisees.

Quality Matters

While having leads is a great start, you need to gauge the quality of leads your campaign is attracting.

Are these the leads you’re looking for in your campaign? Are they likely to move on to the next step in the process? Lead quality is an important metric to determine your campaign’s effectiveness.

A campaign can gather 500 leads, but if none of those leads is able to afford the investment, what does it really matter? The lead qualification rate measures the percentage of leads that meets your criteria for a potential franchisee. High-quality leads are more likely to convert, so this metric helps in assessing the effectiveness of your targeting strategies.

This is where CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce, along with the first-party data stored within them, come in handy. CRMs are the best tool in determining whether a lead is qualified.

The goal is to fill the funnel with qualified leads and make sure we’re meeting a conversion rate that can get you to the total sales you need.

Conversion Metrics

The definition of a lead conversion can vary between brands.

Is it as simple as filling out a form on your website, which provides important information about your prospect? Is it the rate of those who go from lead to making it to discovery day? Or is it something else?

Determining this and communicating that to your team and your agency are crucial in determining conversion metrics that make sense to your brand.

These metrics help determine whether your marketing efforts have been successful and show a campaign’s nurturing strategy effectiveness.

Another metric to monitor in the process is the discovery day to signed agreement percentage, which is a metric that indicates the effectiveness of your discovery day program.

CPL and CPS – True Value

The total amount of money you invest into franchise development – brokers, advertising, PR, anything spent to get your leads to sign a contract – is calculated into your cost per sale. Your digital and social costs are what make up your cost per lead.

If your goal is to award 20 franchises over the course of the year, everything that goes into that will be divided by those 20 new franchisees, and that’s your cost per sale. The less you’re spending for a qualified lead, the more effective your campaign.

Curious Jane follows industry benchmarks set by the International Franchise Association. Each year, we’re able to see what the averages across franchising are, and our goal is to be lower than that. For 2023, the average CPL was $253 and the average CPS was $11,639.

The success of a franchise development marketing campaign requires an approach that includes a number of measurable data points to gauge effectiveness. By focusing on these key metrics and KPIs, your fran dev team can gain valuable insights into a campaign’s effectiveness and where they can improve.

Hiring, Economy Top the List of Franchise Risks

There’s no such thing as a sure bet. Franchising, like any other business, comes with some risk. So, what are the concerns about franchising among franchise owners? 

Curious Jane conducted a proprietary attitudinal segmentation study to learn more about the motivations of franchise owners. We surveyed more than 500 franchisees to better clarify the beliefs, perspectives, preferences, pain points and aspirations of franchise owners. The survey results have a 95% confidence level, a high level of confidence.

In the study, franchisees were asked to identify the riskiest aspects of owning a franchise business. Finding qualified employees and economic fluctuations tied for the top answer, with 53% of respondents citing those concerns. Franchisors need to be specific in talking with candidates about how they are helping franchisees meet these concerns head-on – whether through changing menu items or investing in new recruiting software or assets.

Also ranking among the riskiest aspects of owning a franchise were:

But clearly, all of these were risks the franchise owners were willing to take.

Calculating the Risks

Business risks aren’t limited to those buying a franchise. Any business venture comes with elements of risk.

The top risks mentioned by franchise owners in the study seem as if they would be top of mind for any new business owner. The economy appears to have stabilized in recent months, but early in the year, worries about a possible recession looming were mentioned on every TV newscast. Likewise, the shortage of workers that has plagued restaurants, retail stores and more since the pandemic continues to receive a lot of press and remains painfully obvious to customers. Franchisors should address these concerns head-on and be specific about what they are doing to help franchisees meet challenges and reduce their risks.

New business owners aren’t the only ones calculating the risks and considering these challenges. 

The same risk factors cropped up in other questions in the study. When franchisees were asked what might make them hesitate to open another franchise location:

What can franchisors do to allay candidates’ concerns about the risks of franchising?

Lowering the Risks

Although franchisors may not be able to shore up the economy or fix hiring issues by themselves, they can and must address franchise candidates’ concerns.

Discuss the economy and how it’s affecting your franchises’ bottom line with candidates. Be candid about costs that you can and cannot control. The rising cost of food certainly impacts the bottom line of a restaurant franchise, so what have you done to help? Have you found a less-expensive source for chicken or beef? Have you allowed franchises to limit their menus or to substitute items they can obtain locally for less? Have you found a less-expensive source for non-food products, such as cups, napkins and flatware?

And what are you doing to assist franchisees with hiring and retaining good employees? Do you use recruiting software? Do you provide digital assets so that franchisees can easily run local help-wanted ads? Do you have a culture that employees love? Do you have a training program that can help them advance their careers?

Since your franchisees are on the front lines, ask them what the riskiest aspects of your industry and business model are – and then solicit their input as you search for ways to reduce or eliminate the risk altogether.

Takeaway:

Knowledge is power. Better than anyone else, you should know where the risks are greatest in your industry or business model. If you identify any risky aspects of your particular industry or business model, you can not only work to reduce the risk but also address the risks openly with franchise candidates to allay their concerns.

The pathway to franchise ownership apparently runs through the checkout line. A Curious Jane attitudinal study about brand sentiment and other factors influencing franchise candidates shows that nearly half of current franchisees were already customers and fans of their brand before they purchased their location.

Curious Jane conducted a proprietary attitudinal segmentation study to learn more about the motivations of franchise owners. We surveyed more than 500 franchisees to better clarify the beliefs, perspectives, preferences, pain points and aspirations of franchise owners. The survey results have a 95% confidence level, a high level of confidence.

According to the study, 45% of the franchise owners surveyed said they were customers of their franchise brand before they became franchise owners, and 37% said they first heard of the brand because they were customers.

Franchise development marketers need to target their brand’s superfans.

Wanted: Passion for the Brand

Have you thought about the qualities that make your franchisees successful? In the study, more than 80% of franchise owners named people management skills, a strong work ethic and communication skills as the qualities necessary for success.

But not far behind was passion: 61% said having a passion for the franchise brand was necessary to be successful. In other words, your casual customers won’t be your best franchisees. Superfans make super franchise owners.

And since they already know the brand and your product or service so well, the messaging for superfans should be a little different: For instance, you may need to introduce them to the franchise opportunity. You may be surprised at how many of your customers are unaware that your brand is a franchise.

How do you do that? In addition to making sure your consumer website has an obvious link to the franchise site, you may want to occasionally post on your consumer social media channels, or carve out space in an email newsletter, about where followers can learn more about franchising. Capitalize on the first-party data you gather through apps and more to target your superfans.

Prioritize Customer Experience

Customer experience matters to your customers, and it also matters to your owners. In the study, 22% said prior experience with the brand as a customer was an important factor when considering a franchise purchase. That’s even higher than they rated having prior experience in the same industry, which 15% cited.

Additionally, 42% of respondents said a poor customer experience would discourage them from buying a franchise.

If you want to sell more franchises, you’ll need to provide exceptional customer service. Great customer service is what elevates a fan to a superfan, and it’s what keeps the superfans coming back for more.

According to the respondents in this study, it could also be, in part, what attracts superfans to your franchise opportunity.

Takeaway:

Think about your superfans when you are creating fran dev marketing materials. A positive tone and brand consistency will matter to the prospects who already love your brand. In addition to discussing your exceptional training program and support systems, you may also want to incorporate information about customer satisfaction and how important it is to your brand that you deliver a great customer experience every time. You might also want to include testimonials from former customers who now are franchisees.

This customer experience messaging will resonate with the superfans among your candidates.

Identifying and understanding your target audience is a critical step in your franchise development marketing strategy. Knowing who your audience is helps you tailor your messaging and strategies to effectively reach and engage potential franchisees.

When it comes to marketing your franchise, do you really know your target audience? Is it a single person? What about a team or a family? Will they be a silent partner, or do they plan to play an active role in the day-to-day operations to grow the business?

Setting up your marketing campaign correctly can help you target your intended demographic, assuming you’re confident in your process.

Curious Jane partnered with a research firm to conduct a scientific study on the attitudes, goals and challenges that shape franchise candidates’ decisions to invest in a franchise business (and which one). We surveyed more than 500 franchisees to better clarify the beliefs, perspectives, preferences, pain points and aspirations of franchise owners. The survey results have a 95% confidence level, a high level of confidence.

Our survey’s respondents were candid about what influenced them through the franchise purchase process. When it comes to buyers of franchising brands, our study showed you’re often not marketing to one person alone.

By the Numbers

The research shows that franchise business owners had help through the purchasing process and often sought the input of others, including their parents, spouses, mentors, former employers, friends and tax/legal professionals.

Some key findings:

Measured Targeting

So, who is in the ear of your potential franchisee and what are you doing to educate them?

Depending on your targeted demographic, you could be talking to various audiences among multiple age groups. As you gather information about the potential franchisees in your industry, this will be key to understanding the various demographics, preferences, behaviors and needs to close the sale.

Creating detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal franchisee candidates is part of the process you can use to target these various audiences. These personas are based on fictional characters that embody the traits and characteristics of your target franchisee.

They help you understand your audience’s motivations, pain points, goals and challenges.

If you want to target a younger franchisee demographic, you’ll be talking to their parents, too. Each of these personas has different habits when consuming information and researching companies like yours. In this case, not only are they involved in making the decision to buy, but 46% of those under 40 years old relied on their parents financing the purchase.

Those in older demographics, 40 to 59 years old, often relied on their spouse or partner for financing. Those 60 and older were more likely to have financial assistance from either their spouse or a business partner.

Keeping this in mind the next time you’re vetting a franchise candidate can give you an upper hand in the deal. Knowing the habits of your intended franchisee and the type of partner influencing them can give you better leverage in educating your audience with relevant information needed to close the deal.

A successful franchise development strategy is one that will help attract new franchisees to your company, not scare them away. But a key component in getting them to invest is knowing why people hesitate to buy a franchise in the first place.

So, how do you walk that fine line in attracting the right franchise owners?

Last year, Curious Jane conducted a proprietary attitudinal segmentation study to learn more about the motivations of franchise owners. We surveyed more than 500 franchisees to better clarify the beliefs, perspectives, preferences, pain points and aspirations of franchise owners. The survey results have a 95% confidence level, a high level of confidence.

Our survey’s respondents were candid about what was going on in their minds, researching franchise companies they were interested in, and in this case, what turned them off.

Bang for the Buck

If you want franchisees to invest in you, you must be willing to invest in them.

In our survey, 73% of those responding said a franchisor’s high costs and fees caused them to hesitate to buy into a brand. So, what can a franchise company do to be a more attractive investment?

Sure, a franchisor must make money, and it’s understood there are going to be royalty fees and other costs associated with buying into a franchise. It’s part of the business. But what’s the value your potential franchisees are purchasing?

High franchise fees may be justified. Just make sure that if you are going to charge a high fee, you’re worth it and are delivering on what you promise.

Franchise companies need to make it clear to their prospective buyers what exactly they are getting and show its value. Reasonable franchise fees are to be expected, but a quick check of your competition’s fees can help you make sure you’re in line with your specialty. This isn’t the time to get greedy.

Also, consider how your franchise fee and royalty fees are used to provide benefits to your potential buyers. Do you offer training? How about ongoing support, website access or marketing assistance? These are all benefits that can convey your company’s worth to potential buyers.

Getting into the franchise business requires a significant personal investment. Often, this means franchisees aren’t able to enter the business until a later stage in their life. What can a company do to attract younger entrepreneurs to ensure the future of their franchise brands?

One way to make your franchise more attractive to entrepreneurs who need more cash is to provide greater financing options through lending partners.

Disgruntled Franchisee Representation

While you can’t make everyone happy, if you’re looking for a franchisee representative to talk to candidates about buying into your brand, we suggest finding one who is happy and embodies what you seek in the ideal franchisee.

Franchisees who have had a bad experience ranked second in our survey, at 64%, for reasons why someone would hesitate in buying into a franchise. In the validation process, you can bet that your franchisees will be candid about their experiences with your brand. This is an easy way to make sure it’s a positive process.

Additionally, setting clear expectations up front can help you down the road. As potential franchisees work their way through the process, make sure you pair them with one in your system who is relevant. Don’t pair a franchisee in a major metro area with one who seeks to open a rural location. Also, if you hold franchisees who have been in your system for a long time to different standards, make sure that is communicated up front or pair them with someone else.

Knowing what is expected of them as a franchisee should be communicated before moving into the more advanced stages of the investment process.

Turn a Frown Upside Down

The business world is rarely all sunshine and roses. Disagreements happen. Messages are miscommunicated. Mistakes are made. Life happens.

How a company positions itself in negative situations can have measurable impacts when it comes to franchise sales. Having a negative public reputation can have a significant impact on your franchise sales, according to 63% of those who responded to Curious Jane’s research.

So, what can you do about it? Managing your brand’s public image should be a priority. If it isn’t, get on it.

A good public relations strategy is essential. Social media, blogs and an effective SEO strategy allow you to tell your brand story. Earned media coverage stemming from press releases and pitches about accomplishments, features and events also helps portray your company in a positive light.

Incorporate third-party validation when possible. Be sure to leverage national rankings and lists, like Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 or Franchise Business Review’s Best Franchises for Women. Placing the badges on your website and using them in ads, social posts and anywhere else that is relevant carries great weight with potential candidates seeking to invest. This third-party validation shows outside companies agree you are as wonderful as you say you are.

A Curious Jane attitudinal study shows work-life balance is one of the top considerations why people choose franchising.  

As a marketing agency that handles franchise development for many clients, we had ideas about what potential franchisees considered when deciding to open a small business, but we didn’t want to assume we were right. So, we partnered with a research firm to conduct a scientific study on the attitudes, goals and challenges that shape franchise candidates’ decisions to invest in a franchise business (and which one).  

More than 500 franchisees from a half-dozen franchises participated, giving the study a 95% confidence level.  

Over the next few months, we’ll share some of our findings in this blog, on our social media platforms and elsewhere. We’ll touch on topics ranging from how long it took potential franchisees to decide to buy a franchise, how their experiences as customers played into candidates’ decisions to buy and what millennials expect from franchisors.  

Today, we’ll explore why work-life balance is a huge factor in choosing to buy a franchise.  

Work-Life Balance Is Key 

The research shows that franchise business owners are largely happy with their work and their franchisors. Their biggest concerns center around work-life balance, time constraints and hiring.  

Some key findings:  

Franchising is attractive because it offers work-life balance and control over a person’s work life and financial future. The franchisees who participated in the study opened a franchise business partly because they wanted to make more money. Although they understand that additional locations could yield a higher income, they would rather spend more time with their family than put time into launching another business. 

Impact on Franchise Development 

How can franchise development teams use this insight to allay candidates’ concerns?  

Just as you would communicate what your corporate team is doing to support recruitment efforts to candidates worried about staffing, you need to explain how your franchise’s business model offers a flexible schedule to candidates worried about work-life balance. 

Additionally, when you encourage candidates to talk to other franchisees as part of the validation process, make sure they speak with franchisees who run a successful business and feel like they are achieving balance, preferably in a similar family circumstance. For example, encourage parents of young children to talk with other parents of young children, and encourage single parents to talk with other single parents.  

Semantics matter, too. Instead of repeating your franchise brand offers a “proven business model,” you might add that it offers a “business model that supports work-life balance.” 

Finally, if you have a rock star franchise business owner who would make a great multi-unit owner if they could just get past the fear that more locations will upset their work-life balance, address that head-on by explaining how your business model is built to scale. Although it’s reasonable to expect the launching of additional locations to take more of an owner’s time and focus in the short term, a second location should not double a franchisee’s time commitment if the business is truly scalable.  

If franchisors can demonstrate how franchisees can add locations – and grow their businesses and incomes – without giving up too much family or personal time, franchisees may be more eager to expand.  

Inflation cooled, prices stabilized, supply chains rebounded and jobs reports remained strong in 2023. But that doesn’t mean the year didn’t have its share of economic curve balls to get to where we are now – looking out on 2024 with renewed energy for what is to come in franchise development trends.

The year that was 2023 bucked the down economic predictions that were expected in the franchising world. Hand wringing over a looming recession soon faded last year as a hot world economy drove prices higher with surging inflation. The Federal Reserve Bank took notice and made the decision to increase interest rates. But as the year ended, a clearer economic picture was taking shape – one that gets us excited for the year to come.

“This last year has been a challenging but exciting year for franchising,” says Curious Jane CEO Lora Kellogg. “While many of us in the industry know that down economies can be beneficial in franchising, it takes a strong franchise development marketing plan to pull that off. And 2024 won’t be any different for any of our clients.”

While any predictions to be made about 2024 are about as reliable as shaking a Magic 8 Ball, there are a few trends to look for in the franchising world entering the new year. Watching and positioning yourself effectively to take advantage of these continuing trends will be key for a brand’s franchise development program growth, Kellogg adds.

Less Dependence on Brokers

During the pandemic, when interest rates were low, it was an easy decision to use brokers. They didn’t have to do much selling and leads were abundant. But in the current economy, where inflation has driven prices higher and limited profit margins, the tables have turned. In the current economy, selling is tough.

Franchise Update Media surveyed 120 brands for its 2024 Annual Franchise Development Report. In the report, 44% of survey respondents said they rely on brokers for franchise recruitment or lead generation. In the same survey, companies reported brokers accounted for about 29% of the franchise recruitment budget (digital advertising was first at 45%). However, when it came to generating leads, brokers accounted for only about 13%. The vast majority came from digital advertising.

Some franchisors are realizing the high fees charged by brokers aren’t worth what they are paying, Kellogg says.

With one client, whose franchise fee is $60,000, they pay a 50% fee to the brokers they use. But when they weren’t selling enough, the franchisor increased the fee they paid by another $10,000 as an enhancement. So now $40,000 out of the $60,000 fee is going to brokers, and the company was only spending $200,000 on their own for marketing.

“The problem with using brokers is it’s really expensive over time,” Kellogg says. “Relying on brokers versus building your own program is dangerous long term. When brokers do the heavy lifting, you don’t really build a great internal marketing program.”

To change, Kellogg adds, brands need to invest in themselves – in PR, digital marketing, a great CRM – rather than placing such an emphasis on broker sales.

Increasing Digital Budgets

A strong digital marketing strategy will be key moving forward in 2024.

“You need strong digital marketing presence,” Kellogg says. “You need strong creative. You need strong analytics to tell you what’s working and what’s not.”

In the Franchise Update Media survey, respondents reported that digital advertising accounted for 60% of their leads, but only 45% of their franchise development budget. Digital advertising is also the No. 1 source for closed deals.

“In general, digital budgets remain consistent with a continued focus on lead generation through digital channels,” the report says. “Employing diverse media channels for franchisee recruitment remains a successful strategy. Brands that adapt by directing funds to the most effective channels have higher chances of achieving their goals.”

Rising Costs and the Importance of First-Party Data

As many businesses have already learned, the cost of doing business has gone up in the last year, thanks to inflation. And any immediate relief to that remains to be seen.

Costs of goods are up. Shipping is up. Real estate is more expensive and harder to find. Labor is expensive and difficult to find in a robust job market. Advertising costs have increased. Franchise fees are also on the rise.

So, what does that mean for franchise development? The pinch of the digital wallet is going to be felt even more by both you and your customers. This uptick in costs affects everything.

It also means a pivot in your targeted audience for sales growth if you want to meet your goals. In the coming year, expect to see a shift toward franchisors courting investor personas for their brands.

Without data and a good CRM, sourcing for leads is more difficult. The more robust your CRM is, the more data you will be able to collect. Now that cookies are a thing of the past, the more first-party data you have on your audience, the more cost-efficient your campaign. And to make yourself heard above the digital noise, you’ll need to have an optimized omnichannel approach. You can’t limit your brand’s presence to one or two platforms.

With all the competition within those channels, the need to be disruptive is important.

Increased Use of AI

Robert Mitchell, chief AI officer at WSI, which describes itself as the largest digital marketing network of its kind with clients in about 50 countries worldwide, sees the use of AI becoming more prevalent in the use of franchise development in the coming year – especially when it comes to developing more content at a faster rate.

And if franchises don’t get on board and get comfortable with the use of AI, they will be left behind.

“This technology is moving so fast that you can’t sleep on it,” he says. “So, you just gotta be ahead of the curve with your capacity to understand that technology and implement it for that client.”

Part of that trend is for franchisors to learn how to leverage the use of content creation in a smarter and more reliable way that will be scalable. As AI becomes more reliable and the technology improves, the amount of content you will be able to produce will grow exponentially.

But, Mitchell cautions, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should replace people with new technology to save money. In fact, he insists the human element needs to remain and that roles need to adapt to it. It’s (unintentionally) part of the company’s tagline – “Embrace digital, stay human.”

“That stay human piece is another way of saying it is the human in the loop, which is a very common phrase that is thrown around in the marketing spheres of people who are using AI,” he says. “What should be obvious in that is that you never go straight to market with an AI product, right?”

If it’s wrong, it will cascade into a false content production. Once it is released to the web and indexed by Google, it all gets attributed to you.

“That need to be at the forefront of that (AI) conversation,” he says. “You need to make sure the human is in the loop, otherwise you’re going to look stupid, and you can’t go backward.”

Are your lead numbers down? Franchise sales are taking longer in 2023, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach your goals. It just means you may have to approach them differently. So, how long does it take to sell a franchise right now?  

Where 2022 delivered a historic franchise growth average rate of 2% – beating pre-pandemic numbers – 2023 is predicted to grow at a slightly lower rate of 1.9%, according to the International Franchise Association’s 2023 Economic Outlook for Franchising.  

A growth rate of 1.9% is a healthy number. And industries like personal services and quick service restaurants (QSRs) are anticipating an amazing 2.5% growth rate.  

The bottom line is you can not only grow your franchise brand this year, but you can meet your sales goals. The secret is to focus on bringing in top-quality leads. These are the people who are most likely to sign on the bottom line, rather than “tire kickers.”  

When the economy is good, franchises have plenty of targets to choose from. Leads are easy to come by and franchise sales teams rest a little easier knowing that with so many leads, they are bound to close enough franchise sales to hit their numbers.  

Currently, however, the economic situation is a bit tricky. Interest rates and inflation are up, and leads are down, so the franchise sales cycle is longer.  

To combat this situation, here are two simple tactics: Focus on creative, and aim at the middle of the funnel.  

Focus on Creative  

One way to attract higher-quality leads is to up your game with creative. Because some franchisee prospects may be hesitant to buy a franchise right now, your advertising creative should highlight attributes that build trust and credibility. 

To demonstrate that your brand is solid and stable, emphasize the longevity of the company and how many units you have. To show that your franchise is a sound investment, you might call out affordability and financial incentives that you offer new franchisees.  

You also should showcase any rankings or prestigious lists that your franchise is on, such as Entrepreneur’s prestigious Franchise 500, Top Low-Cost Franchises or Best Franchises for Veterans. Accolades from an outside organization, like a media outlet, provide third-party validation that your franchise is as awesome as you say it is.  

At Curious Jane, we include badges from those lists on creative as often as possible. In many cases, ads featuring badges are extremely high performers. Rankings and other accolades carry a lot of weight with franchise prospects.  

Aim for Mid-Funnel 

With targeting, focus fran dev campaigns more on the middle of the funnel, or consideration efforts. This strategy nurtures users who are already in your sales funnel but may not be ready to buy. Consideration efforts teach users more about brands and franchise opportunities to help move them to the bottom of the funnel, where they will be ready to buy.  

In the consideration phase, users are likely to engage with educational content, or information about a brand’s values, support programs for franchisees and more. At mid-funnel, the goal is to drive users to the company’s website so they can research the brand and the franchise opportunity. A good choice for a mid-funnel campaign might be a social media traffic campaign.  

Curious Jane clients are finding success with mid-funnel ads on Meta (primarily Facebook and Instagram), which are served to users passively, as well as Google search ads, which are served after a user searches for the brand. 

Because the economy is unsettled, this is not the year to fixate on lead volume. If you broaden targeting enough to meet (or beat) last year’s year-over-year lead numbers, you may inadvertently fill up your lead funnel with tire kickers.  

However, if you stay focused on getting higher-quality leads with the knowledge that you’ll have to nurture them a bit more, you can attract more serious prospects and achieve your sales goals. 

Chances are, your next potential franchise owner is sitting inside one of your locations right now. They may be, for the first time, researching your fran dev website on their phone.

Maybe they are waiting on their food, in the middle of a pumpkin spice latte, or doing their hair. In any instance, they are not looking at a computer. They’re on their phone.

Now think: What does your website look like on your phone? Did you have your site designed with a mobile-first mentality? You need to be prepare your franchise site for mobile users. If you aren’t, your sales funnel will suffer.

Data Supporting Mobile-First Web Design

This conversation isn’t new in the marketing world. Our clients’ Google Analytics show us more than 60% of fran dev web traffic comes from mobile devices on average. Just to be clear, this number doesn’t include tablets – only phones. In addition, users use mobile devices for about 70% of all actions on the site, like surveys or filling out forms.

When Google rolled out its page experience update in 2021, a main point on the list was mobile friendliness. Ignoring this moving forward can impact where potential clients view you in search results.

“Our clients’ Google Analytics show us more than 60% of fran dev web traffic comes from mobile devices on average.”

– Anonymous

“Page experience is a set of signals that measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its pure information value, both on mobile and desktop devices,” according to the Google report.

How Mobile-First Web Design Changed Search Algorithms

As users search, Google now optimizes that search to the type of device they use. They provide results tailored to the device. If a majority of your potential business is coming through mobile devices, and your website lacks a mobile-friendly design, your site will rank lower than your competition’s.

So, if your website is outdated or isn’t mobile friendly, now is the time to begin planning a redesign. This process will take time. A custom-built website takes about a year to write, design and develop.

At the end of the day, you want your user to quickly find what they need on your site and provide you with their contact information in exchange for something valuable to them. They shouldn’t have to click through multiple pages or scroll through tons of content to get to the call-to-action.

In the case of consumer sites, the call-to-action is usually straightforward in the form of an online purchase or scheduling an appointment for a service quote. In the realm of fran dev, you want the user to feel comfortable giving their contact information. They should be able to do complete it without feeling like it obligates them to buy a franchise immediately.

Exchanging Value

To help with this, consider downloadable lead magnets that provide users with more information about the franchise. This works as a best practice approach. Users don’t expect to fill out a form and then get a phone call right away. At this point, a call from a sales rep asking them to buy an expensive franchise would not be ideal. Instead, you want to capture their contact information and put them into a less-intrusive lead-nurturing strategy. This strategy may include emails, webinar invites and surveys that provide more insight into your potential franchisee.