The Basics of Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a unique niche within the franchise world. If you’re a franchisor and have been managing your own digital presence, you probably already know that it requires a specialized skillset. IDS is the premiere digital marketing franchise agency because we have the skills to develop a customized, nuanced approach to finding qualified leads for each of our clients. Here, we’ll share a glimpse into some of our key philosophies and strategies.

Targeting Investors Rather Than Consumers

Other digital marketing agencies sometimes fall short because they try to apply strategies that work for consumer-facing campaigns to franchise campaigns. The fact is, finding a qualified investor is different than driving consumers to a brand.

For one thing, we’re dealing with a much smaller pool of leads. IDS knows how to get your message out to the select individuals who meet your criteria. Furthermore, inbound franchise digital marketing is all about showcasing the strengths of your investment along with the strengths of your brand. Consumers want to know all about your products and services: why should they choose your brand over the competition? While prospective franchisees are certainly interested in this information, they are just as curious about what you have to offer them. They’ll want to know:

• Is this a growing industry?
• How much money can I expect to make?
• What kinds of fees should I expect?
• How much support can I count on?
• What kind of training will I receive?

A great inbound franchise digital marketing campaign is all about highlighting the strengths of your franchise offering.

Inbound Marketing is an Important Tool

The term “inbound marketing” refers to the strategies associated with marketing directly to an audience that is interested in, and qualified for, your franchise offering. When done correctly, inbound marketing drives prospects to you, and because you’ll be dealing with a targeted audience, traditional marketing strategies like radio and billboard ads are less likely to be cost effective. Inbound marketing allows us to analyze Google trends and other data to deliver your message right to your target audience where they live online.

Two key inbound marketing strategies that IDS utilizes are listed below.

Personas

One of the first things we do for all of our new clients is to develop personas of their ideal franchisees. Are you open to working with industry newcomers? Are you most interested in targeting multi-unit investors? What income and education must your franchisees have? We take all of this information into account to write a few personas that represent your target audience. We use these personas to guide our content team in crafting blogs and website pages, and our experts use them to develop customized strategies to deliver your message right to this select group.

A Range of Search Strategies

A few of the strategies we utilize include search engine optimization (SEO) by utilizing the strongest keywords to improve your rankings, SEO organic content like blogs, and competitive analysis to leverage your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses into better performance for your content.

These are just a few of the basics of inbound franchise digital marketing. Contact us today and see how our expertise and dedication can help you grow your franchise brand.