Involving Franchisees and Suppliers in Consumer Marketing

Franchise Consumer Marketing Survey Results, Part 3

Listening is one of the fundamental principles of social media and Web 2.0. In most discussions, the focus is on listening to customers, as it should be. However, for franchisors, that principle also extends to franchisees and suppliers.

Involving franchisees from the start in developing new consumer marketing and social media campaigns increases the probability of success at the customer level - and can save costs in both development and execution And involving suppliers of the products, systems, and technology involved in implementing those campaigns also can increase the likelihood those efforts will be effective in achieving consumer marketing goals for the brand.

Earlier this year, Franchise Update Media Group polled top franchise marketing executives from more than 50 franchise organizations about marketing strategy and execution at their franchise organizations. Respondents represented food, retail food, retail non-food, and service sectors with 70 percent of the total group achieving annual system-wide revenues exceeding $20 million.

The following two questions from that survey asked these executives about franchisee and supplier involvement. While most (more than 80 percent) involve their franchisees, almost half are not taking advantage of the gains possible through supplier involvement in such areas as training franchisees and optimizing the capabilities of the technology. (Note: Totals are less than the 54 respondents as some did not reply to all questions.)

Do you involve franchisees in the planning process of your consumer marketing programs?

Do you require that your consumer marketing suppliers provide training and education to your franchisees at your national, regional meetings?

For more results from the Franchise Consumer Marketing Survey, see the March and May issues of the Franchise Consumer Marketing Report.