Franchise Lead Generation Guide

2016 Franchise Lead Generation GuideUNLEASH THE POWER OF INBOUND MARKETING TO GENERATE MORE INTEREST AND CLOSE DEALS FASTER.

If you’ve been in franchise sales for more than a few years, you know how much the journey from prospect to franchisee has changed. In the past, the franchise development professional’s role was to find, influence, educate and inspire prospects to invest in a franchise opportunity.

What does that mean for the modern franchise sales executive? It means he is as much a chief marketing officer as a salesperson. It means ensuring the right messages are seen by the right people at the right time to influence the decision-making process. It means the old outbound marketing approach alone isn’t enough.

Turn Your Content into a Lead Generation Engine

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Today, franchise prospects neither need nor want that level of intervention. In fact, they are more self-directed than ever before.

Table of ContentsChapter 1Map the Franchise Buyer’s Journey

Chapter 2Take Inventory of Your Existing Content Assets

Chapter 3Develop Your Inbound Marketing Strategy toAttract the Right Buyers

ConclusionWhy Should You Start Now

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“Inbound leads cost 61% less on average than outbound leads.”

—HubSpot

“80% of business decision makers favor getting brand information via an article series

more than ads.” —Content Marketing Institute

“Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional

outbound marketing.” —HubSpot

“The average cost per lead drops 80% after 5 months of consistent Inbound Marketing.”

—Eloqua

“Brands relying on inbound marketing save more than $14 for every new customer acquired.”

—HubSpot

Inbound Marketing


Clearly, inbound marketing has powerful advantages over traditional marketing. But how does it work?

Inbound marketing (or content marketing) for franchise sales generates and nurtures leads by moving prospects through the buyer’s journey with content (stories, graphics, videos, information) that attracts, educates and inspires them to consider investing in a particular brand.

Content is often discovered and consumed by the prospect on his own time and at his own pace. Success in franchise sales increasingly depends upon the ability of a franchise brand to make the content accessible and appealing to potential franchise partners. It’s true that inbound marketing has yet to be fully embraced by the franchise sales establishment, which means the advantage goes to the marketer who begins today!

The newness of this approach may sound overwhelming. But let me assure you that inbound marketing is NOT rocket science. In fact, if you represent a mature franchise brand, you likely already have the content needed to deploy this strategy. So, take a deep breath and keep reading.

The following is a step-by-step guide to turn the content you have into killer inbound marketing initiatives to generate and nurture franchise leads.


Map the Franchise Buyer’s Journey

Develop Your InboundMarketing Strategy to Generate and Close

Franchise Leads

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Take Inventory of Your Existing Content Assets

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Every franchise brand has a unique buyer’s journey, but there are stages that every franchise buyer goes through. The common stages include Discovery, Research and Due Diligence, Consideration and Engagement.

To map the journey of your franchise buyer

Create an outline of the stages they go through in making the decision to invest

. Note the channels that come into play at each stage

Develop questions that prospects might have at each stage

Chapter 1Map the Franchise Buyer’s Journey

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The Discovery stage starts when a potential franchise prospect becomes aware of your franchise opportunity. This happens in a variety of ways and through a number of channels. Some Discovery paths are more influential than others. When a prospective franchisee discovers a franchise opportunity through a bylined article in a respected business publication, for example, he not only discovers the franchise opportunity but the source acts as a third-party validator for the concept. How and where a prospect discovers a franchise opportunity can be a factor in determining the length and complexity of the entire buyer’s journey.

During the Discovery stage, content should be leveraged to make a connection between the prospect and the brand. Understand that the prospective franchisee is asking big-picture questions. Company mission, values and lifestyle are important to communicate at this early stage. Prospects will only move forward if they can visualize themselves as an owner.

Stage 1: Discovery

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Discovery Stage ChannelsHow do prospects fi rst learn about your franchise opportunity?

• Franchise Portals • Franchise Brokers • Media Coverage (PR) • Infl uencers • Word-of-Mouth • Advertising — On and Offl ine • Tradeshows and Networking Events • Search — Organic and Paid • Social Media • Email • Customer Experiences

Commonly Asked Questions What is the opportunity?

Is franchising the right business model for me?

Is this opportunity a possibility for me?

Will this opportunity help me achieve my goals, dreams and aspirations?

Will owning this franchise give me the lifestyle I desire?

How will this investment impact my family?

Do the values of the company align with my own?

Where can I get more information?

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If the Discovery stage has piqued a prospective franchise partner’s interest, he will enter the next phase, Research and Due Diligence. The prospect will use a variety of sources to learn more about the brand, company leader-ship, competitors and the viability of the opportunity. The fi rst place he will turn to is the company’s website.

How do prospects research your franchise opportunity? • Franchising Website • Self-Directed Search Queries • Franchise Blog • Social Networks • Press Coverage • Ebooks and Industry Reports

Commonly Asked Questions Does this company have a good reputation?

What is the total cost of buying the franchise?

Is this a good segment/industry to invest in?

Do I have the experience and skills to be successful?

Is the company growing?

Is there a strong demand for the brand’s products and services?

Who founded the business?

Who are the leaders? How experienced are they?

Who are the competitors?

Stage 2: Research and Due Diligence

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Once the prospective franchise partner has done his homework and is satisfied that the franchise concept meets his needs, he enters the next stage, Consideration. Content plays a role in every stage of the franchise buyer’s journey but if a franchise system is light on content and information at this stage, the likelihood of a candidate consenting to engage with a sales representative disappears. Don’t hide valuable information in a gated virtual brochure or expect that prospects will call for information they can’t find themselves. They won’t.

Consideration Stage ChannelsHow to validate your franchise opportunity? • Franchising Website • Video • Franchisee Success Stories • Franchise Sales Process Map • Blog Posts • Email • Phone Calls

Commonly Asked Questions What’s exceptional about this company?

Why should I choose this franchise opportunity over others?

What territory is available?

What level of support and training can I expect from this brand?

What do current franchisees say about the brand?

What sales, turnover and profit can I expect in the next 12 months?

What’s the process for becoming a franchise owner? What can I expect from this process?

Stage 3: Consideration

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You probably won’t hear from a prospect until he is ready to engage. This is sometimes referred to as POI, the “point of intent.” This is the moment when the prospective franchisee consents to being sold. Until the POI, the franchisor has little control over what content the prospect consumes, how long he engages with the content and how quickly he moves through the buyer’s journey.

If you use a system that allows you to track what is being consumed and you do an excellent job of supplying information that inspires, educates, and answers common questions and objections, you will attract more and better educated candidates that are proven to sign on the dotted line quicker. The engagement stage is the beginning of your sales process. Content plays a vital role, and the outcome ultimately impacts your selling process and ability to close the deals.

Stage 4: Engagement

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Creating content is the number one challenge that you’ll face in deploying an inbound marketing strategy to generate and close franchise leads. There are creative ways to overcome this obstacle, starting with repurposing content you already have. The content audit is a complete list of all of the content you have to work with.

If you take the time to conduct an audit of available content, you will save time and money when you create your inbound marketing plan. If you plan to outsource your inbound marketing efforts, the audit will help your marketing partner get up to speed on your franchise opportunity, and it will significantly reduce the investment you would otherwise needto make in content creation.

Chapter 2Take Inventory of Your Existing Content Assets

How to Set Up Your Content Audit(It’s Easier Than You Might Think.)

Create a spreadsheet

List all available content

Log the following information about each content piece

Content Title This is the name of the content asset.

Content TypeWhat format is the content in? What is/was it used for? Example: direct mail piece, brochure, byline article, trade show marketing collateral, video clip, etc.

Location Note where the content can be found. It is preferable to include a link to the content asset.

StageWhat stage of the franchise buyer’s journey is the content suited for? Refer to the franchise buyer’s journey you created.

KeywordsWhat keywords are used in the asset?

TopicWhat is the content piece about? What questions does the piece answer?

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Sample Content Audit

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CONTENT TITLE CONTENT TYPE LOCATION STAGE KEYWORDS TOPIC

Franchise Mailing 1

PDF, Direct Mail

www.drive.google.com/franchise-mailer1

Discovery Pizza franchise, Big Papa’s Pizza, buy a pizza business

Introduction to concept, key value propositions;What is the opportunity?

Mike Spelling Video: Quality of Life

Video, Franchisee Testimonial

www.youtube.com/mike

Discovery, Consideration

Big Papa’s Pizza, Big Papa’s Pizza Franchisee, Big Pappa’s Pizza Franchise Reviews

Will owning a Big Papa’s Pizza help me achieve my goals, dreams, aspirations?

Big Papa’s Big Mission

Website, Mission Statement

www.big-papaspizza.com/mission

Discovery Community, Big Papa’s Pizza

Company mission to feed everyone including the less fortunate in our communities; Do the values of this company align with my own?

Industry Report: Investing in Pizza

PDF www.drive.google.com/report

Research & Due Dilligence

Big Papa’s Pizza, Pizza Industry, Pizza Segment

Overview of the QSR pizza segment, demonstrates consumer demand and growth potential

Any Way You Slice It

Website, Pizza Concept Comparison Chart

www.big-papaspizza.com/com-pare

Consideration Big Papa’s Pizza, Pizza Franchise, Buy a Pizza Franchise

Compares Big Papa’s Pizza franchise opportunity to top competitors; Why should I invest with this brand over others?

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It’s time to make it happen, bringing it all together in a strategic plan of action.

You’ve mapped the stages your franchise buyers go through in making the decision to invest in your opportunity. You’ve created a detailed inventory of all available content. In this step we will take the content assets you’ve listed in your inventory and determine how they can be reimagined, reformatted and deployed to help you generate leads and close deals faster.

Chapter 3Develop Your Inbound Marketing Strategy to Generate and Close Franchise Leads

Create a spreadsheet with the following headers: • Original Content — Enter the name of the original content asset

that will be used as the source.• New Asset — Determine what format the new asset will take.• Stage — Always keep the buyer’s journey in mind so that you are

creating the right content and delivering it to the right prospect at the right time.

• Channel — Where will the new content live? How will you use it in your franchise lead generation or sales process? A content asset can be deployed through multiple channels. For example, a blog post may also be posted to LinkedIn, used in a newsletter or as part of an email nurture campaign.

• Date — Set a date to launch the content asset.

Edit, format and create fresh content for your franchise sales efforts.

Inbound marketing is a continuous process. Make sure that marketing, sales and c-level executives know to send you any new content that is created so that you can turn it into fuel for your inbound marketing machine.

How to Set-Up Your Inbound Marketing Strategy

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CONTENT NEW ASSET STAGE CHANNEL DATE

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ORIGINAL CONTENT NEW ASSET STAGE CHANNEL DATE


eBook Research and Due Diligence

Website, free down-load on homepage

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Blog Post Series 1 of 4, “Consumer Demand for Pizza”

Research and Due Diligence

Franchise Blog, company LinkedIn page, Franchising Twitter

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Series 2 of 4, “Healthy Eating Trends: Low Calorie, Fresh Ingredients”



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Series 3 of 4, “What’s Hot in the Quick Serve Restaurant Segment?”



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Series 4 of 4, “How to Buy a Pizza Franchise”



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Franchise Mailing 1 Email Drip Campaign: Email 1 “The Big Papa Opportunity”

Consideration Automated email drip campaign to website leads

As leads come in

Mike Spelling Video: Quality of Life

Email Drip Campaign: Email 2 “Family First for Our Owners”


As leads come in

Franchise Mailing 1 Email Drip Campaign: Email 3 “Community Marketing that Drives Sales”


As leads come in

Any Way You Slice It Email Drip Campaign: Email 4 “How Does the Big Papa Opportunity Stack Up?”


As leads come in

Big Papa’s Big Mission

Byline Article: “Big Papa’s Pizza Puts Community First”

Discovery LinkedIn article, Paid Ad Campaign

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Inbound Marketing Strategy

Too many franchise sales executives rely on pay-to-play tactics to generate leads. And while many popular lead sources make it easy to sign up and require little effort on the part of the franchisor, the quality of the leads isn’t great, sales executives waste time sifting through unqualified leads and worst of all, when you stop paying the lead source, you have nothing to show for your investment.

Inbound marketing is a proven, effective way to generate leads and close deals faster. Forward-thinking franchisors and sales executives are getting serious about inbound marketing for franchise sales and lead generation for a simple reason: Value and ROI. The time and resources invested in your inbound marketing produces more qualified leads for less money and continues to drive results in the long term.

Interested in talking about a strategy specific to your brand?

Contact Jack Burris at [email protected] or 704-557-0304.

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ConclusionThe Risk of Not Acting is Greater Than the Risk of Acting