How to Build a Local SEO Strategy for a Franchise | Vicinus.ai
On a larger, national level, franchises know how to market their products via an established system. However, it is often the smaller local SEO tools which they lack. This lack of detail can impact sales on a local level. It can diminish profits for the branch.
Google has suggested that the localisation of search results is a brilliant way of engaging with customers on a personalised level.
Below are some of the basics of getting to know local customers and building up a localised marketing plan which can be customised even in a national franchise.
How to Create a Local Marketing Strategy
Find your Target Audience
This is fundamental for most businesses, not just franchises. However, as part of a franchise, utilising the existing target audience data is a necessary step. Using online surveys or even spot interviews are a great way to get more of this data too.
What do I need to know about my target audience?
- Demographics: These are general facts such as ages, genders, income etc.
- Psychographics: How do your customer’s attitudes and behaviours relate to your franchise?
- Problem Points: What are the issues that your customers have which your business could potentially solve for them?
- Consumer habits: Where are your customers buying products: is it online or in-store? Are they connecting via smartphones? What sorts of content and/or social media platforms are they engaging with?
2. Understand your Customer’s Journey
In basic terms, a customer journey is what happens with customers. This is before they discover the brand after they discover it when they buy, and beyond.
From this, divide each experience into steps which is usually termed a ‘sales funnel’.
How do I Map a Sales Funnel?
- Be Aware: This is the beginning of the customer journey where they discover you exist and form an opinion about your business based on this. This section is often handled by franchise managers.
- Discovered: The customer has now absorbed information surrounding the business and actively searches for it. This usually entails a lot of online researching and some local word-of-mouth referrals too.
- Evaluate: This is the point of purchase, the customer has decided they want to purchase something similar to what you offer. They enquire about your business and are influenced by franchisor and franchisee at the same time.
- Intention: The customer wants to buy from you! This is where misinformation surrounding opening hours etc. can potentially lose a customer. This is where Vicinus comes in. With real-time management of all your locations from one easy-to-use platform. You can help your customers find only up-to-date and consistent information about your brand.
- Purchase: The transaction takes place.
- Loyalty: A customer will return to buy again, or won’t return.
These sales funnel can take a couple of minutes to several weeks depending on the business and the way they have discovered you.
3. Take a Look at the Competition
Scoping out the competition on a local level is essential to making sure that you know not only about local franchises. But also competition from local SMBs.
What you need to know about your competition:
- Are they stronger or weaker?
- Who are their customers?
- How do they market their business?
4. Building Authority
Now is the time to put the above research into action!
This means creating a dynamic and engaging brand website filled with content aimed to educate, inform, and entertain- not just sell! As a result, the engaging and fun content is more likely to build authority. This is by allowing your customers to read, engage, link to, and share your content.
It is suggested that: “60% of your posts you create should be engaging, timely content, 30% should be shared content, and only 10% should be promoting your products & services.”
