Local Digital Marketing: Test, Learn, Refine, and Scale
With upward of 365 locations nationwide, BrightStar Care looks to consistently leverage the power of the in-home care brand through centralized control and give owners the tools, best practices, and guidance to customize marketing efforts on the local level.
In her own words, Teresa Celmer, BrightStar’s SVP of consumer and employer brand marketing, shares the brand’s four-pronged recipe for franchisees to embrace to ensure localized marketing success.
1) Investment. Owners must commit to a marketing plan and invest in it. Even when client and employee numbers are in a good spot, owners must stick to their marketing plan to maintain growth. They must also identify if they have the means to conduct marketing in-house or would like to invest in an outside agency/marketing partner to lead their marketing plans. BrightStar has tremendous relationships with local marketing partners that we endorse for our franchisees.
2) Strength in the basics. We encourage owners not to overcomplicate their marketing plans. If they’re working with a hired agency, we encourage them to strengthen their basics: ensure website copy and design are up to date, hyperfocus on social, and ensure you’re pushing targeted ads with proven results. Working with an outside agency also provides our owners with more access to consumer data. This data helps each local agency determine what’s working and bringing in the largest ROI and to move away from what’s not working.
3) Measure what matters. We also encourage our franchisees to avoid the trap of reporting on everything. It’s best to build a simple, actionable dashboard that outlines where your marketing efforts excel and where improvement is needed. A clear dashboard also helps showcase where the budget is being allocated from a financial standpoint and helps determine when a pivot in your plan is necessary.
4) Openness to explore. Last, we champion the following four terms when evaluating marketing: test, learn, refine, and scale. We encourage our franchisees to take risks and try new things to build a strong local marketing program. Try out a plan for 90 days, see what happens, and monitor the results. After the 90-day trial, refine the plan and scale it to fit your consumer base’s needs.
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Franchise Update Magazine: Issue 3, 2022