After years of saving up and countless nights trying to figure out what franchise business you want to open up, you’ve got yourself a franchise – now what? The next logical step is to recoup your investments by making sure your franchise location succeeds. Every franchise location has its own geographic advantages that franchise owners should capitalize on with their franchise marketing. Here are five steps on how to do just that.
Make Yourself Known Locally
Unlike online businesses that require worldwide marketing coverage, franchise businesses thrive on local recognition. Establish yourself as the go-to place for whatever product/service you are offering. Exhaust all marketing channels you can find, such as local newspapers, SEO campaigns, flyers and posters, and even air banners. Get involved in town meetings and attend events organized by fellow local entrepreneurs. Create social media pages for your franchise business and start posting content to grab people’s attention.
Ace the Grand Opening
Grand openings set the tone for how well your franchise does in the coming months. If your grand opening is full of errors, it can affect the number of guests coming in/out of your franchise location and vice versa. Plan the grand opening months ahead. Be directly involved in all aspects of it, from ordering enough inventory and supplies to doing some face-to-face advertising outside the franchise location. Hand out coupons or special deal flyers that they can use when the franchise opens. Consider bringing in local celebrities, politicians, and radio personalities to up the scale of the event and increase attendance.
Hire Competent Employees
Franchises, like any other type of business, rely on people. Your day-to-day operations will involve the collaborative work of your employees. If they are poorly trained and unqualified, you stand to lose customers and may even result in property damages or personal injuries. All of these can result in your business’ financial ruin. When hiring, consider locals who live close by your franchise location. Providing jobs and boosting the local economy will help improve your relationship with the townsfolk and improve your business’ reputation. By employing people who live close by your franchise location, you also minimize the risk of employees being tardy or calling out sick for their scheduled shifts.
Keep the Premises Clean
Nothing turns off guests into coming into a franchise restaurant or store more than a filthy and sketchy-looking location. You want your business’ premises to be inviting and presentable. Make sure it’s clean and that there aren’t any sketchy figures lurking around. Posting signs, like “No Trespassing” or “No Loitering”, is usually the first preemptive measure that businesses use to combat loitering. Another measure you can enforce is to install video monitoring or CCTV systems around the premises. Place trash bins around your franchise location in spots that are visible and easily accessible.
Prepare For Location-Specific Risks
Franchise businesses in earthquake-prone areas should have reinforced facilities and emergency procedures laid out to safeguard both the employees and property when an earthquake hits. The same preemptive measures should be done for franchise locations that are prone to floods, tornados, etcetera. Aside from natural disasters, human-induced damages should also be taken into consideration, such as arson, theft, and vandalism. A comprehensive business insurance is a good investment to make to protect your franchise from these potentially financially disastrous outcomes.
To run a franchise business successfully, one must build a strong and trustworthy local reputation and protect it from all risk factors that are unique to their location. These five aforementioned steps are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things that your franchise needs to succeed. Most franchisors offer a robust support structure for their respective franchisees including inventory and supplies, workforce training materials, advertising, and so on. Check with your franchisor to see what sort of assistance you can secure from them.
