Local SEO has become a major challenge for improving online visibility, with the goal of generating more traffic to your franchisees. Our partner Mobilosoft, a specialist in local digital marketing, has gathered 7 tips to help franchise networks perform better.
1. Website: Ensure a consistent brand image for an outstanding customer experience.
One of the main goals of a franchise network is to offer a consistent customer experience across all franchise locations, both in-store and online.
Ensure a strong and consistent brand image by using the same branding across the national website and franchisee pages.
Ideally, as a brand, you should include a “store locator” page on your national website and provide local pages linked to each franchisee.
This helps ensure consistency in brand image (theme, font, logo, etc.) and standardizes elements such as names and opening hours according to the same model.
2. Website: Integrate each franchisee’s specific features into their local pages.
Each franchisee has its own specific features — not only the address, of course, but also opening hours and the products or services offered. Here are 5 recommendations:
- Optimize the pages for local searches: add the name of the neighborhood, town, or region based on the franchisee’s catchment area. This will help the page appear in search results for these terms, provided they are properly structured within the page’s schema markup.
- Insert an interactive map (Google Maps or another service) on each local page. This allows users to easily locate the point of sale.
- Describe accessibility options (public transport, roads, etc.)
- Add images of the point of sale, products, and teams.
- Include customer reviews specific to each franchisee
Certain media such as Trustpilot or Google can be automatically integrated into website pages using a plug-in.
3. Make use of local pages on Google, Facebook, GPS services, and industry directories.
Create or claim pages for your franchisees on the platforms that generate the most traffic: Google (Business Profile), Facebook (Places), Bing, GPS navigation apps, and relevant industry directories.
Be careful — each platform has its own specificities when it comes to organizing and linking national and local pages. Plan ahead how to structure the accounts and manage access between the head office and franchisees.
👉 Having pages on these different platforms allows franchisees to reach a wider audience and gain greater visibility.
4. Standardize data across all platforms.
Once the pages have been created or claimed, make sure that the information displayed is consistent across all platforms. Imagine if the opening hours were not up to date between your website, Google, and Facebook — especially on a public holiday.
The consumer doesn’t know which information to trust and becomes discouraged or slowed down in their purchasing process.
5. Highlight the products and services specific to each franchisee.
Franchisees, while generally offering similar products, have their own local specificities depending on the region, season, and other factors.
Take advantage of local pages on your website, as well as Google, Facebook, and others, to promote them.
💡 It’s a good idea to update featured products based on seasons, occasions, events, and promotions.
6. Encourage local content strategies.
Local pages have two main objectives: to increase visibility through natural referencing (SEO) and to create positive engagement (customer reviews, comments, photos, etc.) in order to convert other users.
Depending on the size and reputation of the network, as well as its authority within the industry, different communication strategies can be applied to local pages.
🔍 Be careful — each platform (Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) has its own specific features, of course.
For example:
On social networks like Facebook or Instagram, content related to local store news (promotions, events, teams, etc.) generates on average 9x more interactions (likes, comments, shares, etc.) than national “branded” content.
💡 Local content for a local audience.
7. Boost franchisee visibility with local Google and Facebook ads.
The little extra? Boost your posts on Facebook and invest in local Google Ads campaigns.
These campaigns are specifically designed for local businesses that want to promote their establishment easily and with a budget that suits them.
This can help franchisees easily gain visibility within a specific radius around their establishment.
The conclusion of local digital marketing for a franchise
- Local digital marketing is a powerful activation lever for a franchise network that knows how to organize itself to make the most of it.
- Centralize or decentralize — in daily management between the head office and franchisees, depending on your needs.
- Collaborate using dedicated tools to manage an effective online presence with complete peace of mind.
- Ensure harmonized communication, placing the local aspect at the center, to generate more traffic and revenue for franchisees 🎯
Author: Mobilosoft, Article title: Local Digital Marketing: 7 Tips to Succeed as a Franchise, Available on the Mobilosoft blog
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