Franchise Marketing
National brand. Local execution. One system that actually works.
Franchise marketing is a constant tug of war. Corporate wants brand consistency. Franchisees want local leads. The ad fund never feels big enough, and nobody agrees on whether it is being spent well. We have managed marketing for franchise systems from 15 locations to 400+. The answer is not "more spend" — it is a system where national brand marketing and local lead generation work together instead of competing with each other.
The Franchise Marketing Problem
Brand Consistency vs. Local Relevance
Corporate brand guidelines exist for a reason, but they often handcuff local marketing. A franchisee in Phoenix has different competitors, seasons, and customer behavior than one in Charlotte. When corporate runs one national campaign for everyone, half the system feels ignored. When franchisees go rogue with their own marketing, the brand falls apart.
Ad Fund Accountability
Franchisees contribute 1-3% of revenue to a shared marketing fund. Most of them have no idea what it produces. When they cannot see direct results — leads, calls, booked jobs — they push back on fund increases and start spending on their own unauthorized marketing. This fragments the brand further and wastes money.
Scaling Marketing Across Locations
What works at 20 locations breaks at 100. Manual processes, one-off campaigns, and location-specific ad accounts become unmanageable. You need systems — templated campaigns, centralized reporting, automated local listings management — but most franchise systems cobble these together piecemeal.
Franchisee Buy-In
The best marketing strategy in the world fails if franchisees do not execute their part. Getting 50 or 100 franchise owners to consistently update their Google Business Profile, collect reviews, follow up on leads, and participate in local campaigns requires training, tools, and constant communication.
How We Help Franchise Systems
We build marketing infrastructure that scales — national brand strategy on top, local lead generation on the bottom, reporting in the middle so everyone can see what is working.
Unified Marketing Architecture
We set up a marketing system where national campaigns, local campaigns, and co-op programs all run through one platform. Corporate controls the brand. Franchisees get localized campaigns. Everyone sees the same dashboard. We built this for a 120-unit service franchise and reduced their cost per lead by 35% in the first year just by eliminating duplicate spend and consolidating ad buying.
Local SEO & Listings Management
Every location needs accurate, consistent local listings — Google Business Profile, Yelp, industry directories. We manage this at scale, ensuring every location ranks for local searches, has up-to-date information, and is collecting reviews. For a 90-location franchise, we increased average Google Maps visibility by 62% in six months.
Ad Fund Strategy & Reporting
We help franchise systems spend their ad fund in a way that produces measurable results for both the brand and individual locations. Monthly reporting shows franchisees exactly what the fund is producing — not in impressions, but in leads, calls, and booked jobs. Transparency kills the "where does my money go" complaint.
Franchisee Marketing Playbooks
We build simple, repeatable marketing playbooks that franchisees can execute — grand opening campaigns, seasonal promotions, review generation programs, local event sponsorships. Everything is templated with brand-compliant assets, so a franchisee can launch a campaign in 15 minutes instead of hiring their cousin to make a flyer.
The Numbers
Reduction in cost per lead across 120 units
Increase in Google Maps visibility
For franchisees to launch templated campaigns
Dashboard for the entire franchise system
Scale Your Franchise Marketing
Whether you are building the marketing infrastructure for a growing franchise or fixing a broken system at 200 locations, we can help. Let us look at your current setup and tell you what is working and what needs to change.