Brand consistency is one of the most important elements, as well as one of the biggest challenges, for franchises. This article looks at why that is and what the solution is to maintaining consistency in your franchise marketing across all locations.
What is franchise brand consistency and why is it important?
“A franchise must provide a consistent brand experience across each of its locations.”
For a franchise to be successful, it needs to provide a consistent experience at every franchisee location, ensuring every part of operations is being done the same way, the brand messaging and logos are easily accessible, up-to-date, and on message, and that the service is of the same quality.
If they are not, you run the risk of serious problems.
Brand consistency is essential for your franchise as it:
- Defines your business clearly,
- Cements the reputation of your products or services,
- Differentiates you from competitors,
- Helps you attract new franchisees and customers,
Helps grow a loyal customer base.
Brand consistency challenges that franchises face
It is vital for any business to retain control over their promotional materials, logos, images, and theme, and to make sure that the brand values are being communicated clearly and correctly. For franchises, however, this is extremely difficult.
As franchise marketing is spread out over multiple sites and locations, they face a whole different set of unique challenges when it comes to brand consistency. These are:
- Resistance from your franchisees which may result in changes to the design and messaging of marketing materials.
- The loss of brand values as each franchise alters their marketing to appeal to their local markets.
- Different marketing materials and channels being used altogether because of the inconsistency of systems.
- The inability to grow successfully because of inconsistent marketing.
- Loss of potential loyal customers due to unclear or inconsistent messaging and brand values.
These challenges can seriously impact a franchise and its growth, so ensuring that the marketing is consistent should be a top priority.
One easy solution to keep your franchise brand consistent in your marketing
While some challenges will need to be fixed through streamlining your training and systems across franchisees, a lot of the issues can be overcome by simply regaining control over your marketing to keep the brand consistent.
How do you do this? By using an online print system.
Imagine one online portal where you upload the marketing materials for a particular campaign, specifying type, size, colours, fonts, images, and design. Every franchisee then has access to this portal and they can individually login, make limited changes that you allow and print however many that they need.
That’s brand, design, messaging, and materials consistent across ALL locations!
It really is as simple as that.
You can create a whole library of materials that your franchisees can use all year round as well as print marketing for specific campaigns; whatever you need, but it’s only you that decides.
Always know 100% that your franchise brand is consistent
As well as brand consistency, an online print portal can save you valuable time and money when it comes to buying and re-ordering your print. Let us show you just how valuable it can be by watching our walkthrough of the PrintingFor portal!
Want a free demo instead? Contact us here and we will set one up for you!
