How do new franchisees get traffic through the door? While there are a number of things business owners can do to boost awareness, generally all will fall under the category of local area marketing.

As in most franchise systems, the franchisor will charge a marketing levy for national representation.

While this is a huge boost for business, it doesn’t negate the need for franchisees to get their hands dirty. This means committing to grassroots campaigns through local area marketing.

If this is your first time running a business, it can be an overwhelming task to start.

Marketing is consistently identified as one of most misunderstood functions of franchising, but fear not, from a franchisee’s perspective, the role is less scary than you may think.

Kelly Nikolakopoulos is director of marketing at children’s coaching franchise, Sport Star Academy. Here she shares her six most important tips in getting local area marketing right.

1. Develop a plan for attracting customers

Having a proactive plan in place for attracting customers is a good habit to get into.

Thinking about it from a local area perspective, the plan should include marketing tactics to engage and influence customers to support the franchise business.

The franchisor should provide a list of marketing tactics suited to the business.

The plan for attracting customers should always be referred to, refined and evolved as market conditions change.

2. Develop a plan for retaining customers

In today’s marketing landscape, data is king. Ongoing communication to a database that is unique to the local area is the ultimate way to build relationships.

Think about ways to build value into the relationship that will keep customers coming back.

3. Follow the process

Don’t reinvent the wheel. The system is in place because it works.

4. Invest

Invest time and resources into local area marketing. Having a presence within the local community, getting out and about, building those face-to-face relationships will pay dividends.

Effort always equals reward.

5. Don’t suffer in silence

Franchise partners wear multiple caps when starting their business. These include accounting, operations, HR, sales, plus more … it can be very overwhelming!

When in doubt, utilise the team in place who support the franchise partners and ask for assistance when required.

6, Consistency is key

Having a consistent, multi-channel approach is key when undertaking local area marketing activities. Never focus on one channel to build awareness and engagement.

The customer buying journey has various stages including Awareness, Consideration and Purchase. Therefore, responding with the right communication at the right place and at the right time in their journey will always ensure a consistent communication approach.

Local area marketing

As Nikolakopoulos suggests, local area marketing is a pivotal function of any franchisee’s business.

It takes time to build connections and it isn’t something you can do on the fly. It pays to have a plan.

Remember, your business is your responsibility. Put the effort in and you’ll see the rewards of your labour.