When you’re franchising a popular brand, it may seem as if you no longer need to exert effort in promoting your store or products because consumers already know who you are. Also, you have support from your franchisor in terms of marketing strategies and tools. Therefore, almost everything seems to be taken care of for you.
But the truth is that’s rarely the case. Many franchisees actually fail to win customers despite the big following of the brand. They realize that it’s not enough to convince local customers to try out their products or services. How do you remedy this? Take the steps that successful franchisees have adopted for their own businesses.
1. Change some things, not all
Even if you’re only buying a franchise and not starting your own business from scratch, you still have to make some changes once you’ve established your store in your chosen location. There are some things in your franchisor’s company that might not work in your location, so you need to customize your shop to fit your customers’ needs.
For example, you want to franchise a burger chain but you find out that a lot of people in your chosen location don’t eat meat. You need to make changes, say, add other food items or alternatives, if you want your store to thrive.
However, it’s also important that you maintain what your brand is known for because it’s still what most of your customers will look for. Using the same example, you can change the menu a bit but keep the overall design of your store so that consumers will instantly recognize it.
2. Be unique in your own way
Despite buying into a franchise, you should still try to make your business unique. You need to stand out among your rivals in your location because despite the popularity of the brand, you still have fierce competition. It’s especially difficult when you’re putting up shop in a small town.
Small towns tend to favor local businesses instead of giant corporations. Come up with a unique marketing plan to promote your business to the locals. You can hire franchise marketing services if you need help in crafting a customized marketing strategy for your shop.
3. Practice consistency
Franchises succeed because consistency is one of the most important ingredients found in every store. It’s important that you and the rest of your employees are consistent with all of the details in your store: operations, design, product ads, among others. And in order to ensure consistency, you need to make it easy for your employees to follow the rules.
For one, train your store employees constantly to follow the manuals provided by the franchisor. Make sure that they’re evaluated monthly to see if they’re following the guidelines to the letter. This way, you can control the quality of their performances and see if there are any lapses you need to fix.
A franchise becomes successful only when you take the ideas from the franchisor that have worked and then, add your own ingredients into the mix. Mixing the tried and tested with your customized marketing strategies is the most effective formula for a successful franchise business.