Salmat : 5 ways to be wise with your franchisor marketing budget

1. Embrace marketing automation

Automation can now be integrated at basically every touchpoint of the customer journey. Email marketing, content marketing, and social media management are just three areas that can be automated to improve efficiencies across a company's franchise model. Grow your output without your marketing team spending hours on multiple platforms.

2. Use data analytics for deep customer insights

Franchisors can invest in data analytics tools to gain customer insights across the entire franchise hierarchy, and quickly understand who their customers are, where, and when they are purchasing, as well as why. This data can then be used to create a more cohesive and engaging customer journey consistent across all franchises.

You may want the kind of 360-degree customer view offered by Canopy Labs, or the streamlined insights available through platforms like Kissmetrics. The right analytics will give you enough information to act on, without overloading you with unstructured data.

3. Use a CRM to boost efficiency

Depending on budget, there are a multitude of free and subscription-based customer relationship management (CRM) tools to efficiently manage a database of customers across a growing franchise.

A cloud-based CRM platform such as Salesforce can allow franchisees to collaborate on customer information with the franchisor in real-time, and from any device. It also allows the franchisor to search customer data quickly, and gain more efficient insights into sales cycles and pricing strategies.

4. The 360-degree view of the customer

Using the right CRM, automation platforms, and data analytics, franchisors can gain a 360-degree view of their customer, and more effectively find ways to improve their purchasing needs. A 360-degree view collects data from each point of contact a customer has had with your business, from mentions on social media and website visits to conversations with your contact centre or in-store sales. A truly holistic customer view brings together structured data you may already hold in databases with the unstructured data of online interactions, helping you predict customer actions and ease pain points.

This rounded strategy can significantly reduce time spent on marketing efforts, while enabling a better and more personalised customer experience.

5. Do your research and keep it simple

It can be easy to become overwhelmed by the plethora of digital marketing tools and systems available on the market. The trick is to keep it simple, shop around, and find holistic, scalable solutions that will deliver the insights you need.

Struggling to manage your multi-site, multichannel marketing? The FUSE platform centralises your marketing activity, safeguarding compliance for head office and autonomy for franchisees.