5 Hot Tips for Franchise Lead Generation

Are you ready to sell more franchise rights but not sure how to get started? Are your usual methods of lead generation not generating the traffic that you want? It may be time to improve your marketing efforts so that you can usher in the qualified leads you need.

Lead generation won't help you if you're throwing money at websites and social media platforms without understanding the underpinnings of what makes a great campaign. In fact, not doing it correctly can even hurt your brand. 

Read on for our top five franchise lead generation tips to gather more interest and boost your brand! 

1. Know Your Target Audience

It's important that before you even start crafting your lead generation and marketing campaigns that you're 100% familiar with your target audience. Your target audience is the specific demographic of people who are interested in your franchising opportunity.

For instance, it's not enough that you know you want to attract people who are interested in purchasing franchise rights. You'll also want to know details such as their: 

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Hobbies
• Current occupation
• Lifestyle

The more detailed you are, the better. This is because you'll be able to tailor your marketing voice to match their needs. For instance, if you want to attract people who don't have prior franchise experience, you'll want to use language that's easier for them to understand.

2. Create a Brand Voice

Once you're familiar with your target audience and their particular needs, you'll want to create a consistent voice across all the marketing channels you decide to use. This not only increases your success rate when it comes to lead generation, but you're also strengthening your brand authority as well.

People want to do business with people that they relate to, but if you don't have a distinctive voice and brand, they won't be able to get to know you and your franchise. Knowing your audience at this point helps a lot because you'll be able to make informed decisions.

If your target audience is millennials, then you'll want to use conversational language that makes your brand approachable and friendly. On the other hand, if you're targeting professionals who have been in the business for a long time, then you may want to use a more professional tone.

3. Diversify

When you're just getting started it can be tempting to stick with only one lead-generating source, especially if it seems to be working for you. However, you'll never know what will work the best for you if you never try it. Use a variety of lead generating sources so that you're able to gather as much data as possible. These can be:

• Google ads
• Facebook ads
• Tradeshows
• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• 
  

If you're just getting started, remember that you don't need to do everything all at once. For instance, focus on creating a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign with a portion of your marketing budget while updating your blog with quality content at least once a week. 

As you get more comfortable with a marketing and sales process, feel free to add on more lead generation sources so that you're not just depending on one or two for new business. 

4. Watch the Metrics

As you're coordinating your lead generation campaigns, make sure that you're paying attention to the data. The great thing about online ads hosted on Facebook and Google is that data tracking is online a click away. You'll be able to see how many people viewed your ads and what action they took once they saw them. 

By paying attention to these numbers, you'll be able to ascertain whether an ad is working or not. For instance, if you're seeing that your Google Ad is getting a lot of views but not a lot of clicks, this is a good indication that it's time to change the copy or the image so that it's more appealing to your target audience.

If you've done A/B testing but still aren't seeing the results you want, then don't be afraid to spend your marketing dollars elsewhere. It may not be the right platform for your audience. 

5. Create a Budget

Now that you know some tips and tricks to generate leads the smart way, it's important that you have a marketing budget in place. This is because you want to spend your money in a smart way and through lead sources that are creating new business for you and generating income. 

In the beginning, you'll only want to spend a small amount of money through paid ads as you test, tweak, and start all over again. Once you find a formula that's driving traffic and converting, you can increase your spending in that area. 

This is why keeping track of your data is so important. When you have an accurate view of your sales funnel, you'll be able to answer questions such as: 

• The percentage of leads that convert
• How many new leads you receive each month
• How many site visits each month

When you know the rough percentage of how many leads convert each month, you'll know whether you need to increase your budget. Although it may seem discouraging in the beginning when you don't have the relevant data, remember that your marketing budget is an investment in the growth of your franchise. 

Franchise Lead Generation the Smart Way

Although franchise lead generation may seem overwhelming at first, in-depth knowledge of your target audience and future franchisors will take you a long way. By speaking directly to their needs and pain points, you can create convincing marketing material that makes them want to click and learn more about your opportunity. 

Ready to begin drawing in new, qualified leads? Contact us today to see what our lead qualification specialists can do for you!