For a franchise business, successful branding is a lot like sailing with the wind behind your sails. Successful branding helps your business gain momentum through little effort on your part; once the public trusts and recognises your brand you remove a huge hurdle from the sales process.
The excellent news for franchise businesses is – you have a considerable advantage over your non-franchise competitors because you have a pre-existing, powerful, and recognisable brand standing behind you.
Branding is a broad concept that involves everything a franchise business does - the way you reply to Facebook posts, the way you partner with new franchisees, the way you run your national campaigns, and so on. Branding is the most potent element of a franchise organisation, and often one that lacks ongoing commitment
The first modern franchise empire – Coca-Cola – put a lot of importance on the way the American public perceived it. In 1886, Coke’s directors decided that instead of positioning Coke as medicine or wine (as many other competitors did at that time), they would market it as a “delicious, refreshing, exhilarating, and invigorating” beverage.
Developing and Positioning Your Brand’s Image
Take a look to the left, and then a look to the right. Chances are quite high that there is a logo staring at you from somewhere.
Now, how aware were you of these brand logos before you looked left and right? If you’re like most people, most of them may as well have been invisible.
There are some brands, a select few, that are truly memorable. Merely seeing the logo of Apple or Nike or McDonald's evokes powerful images in your mind and strong emotions in your body.
Here are some ways that franchise businesses can harness the power of brand position:
Study Your Competitors
Many franchise businesses avoid having anything to do with their competitors. Visit them, learn from them, study them and find your competitive advantage.
How Are You Currently Perceived?
To change your brand’s image, you first must know what people think of your business right now. You do this by LISTENING to your customers (online and offline). Find out precisely what they do and don’t like about your business and your competitors.
Useful Software to Build Your Brand
Certain software platforms, such as Outfit, allow you to automate many aspects of your brand building efforts. This automation is especially important when it comes to streamlining your marketing materials, so they send a consistent message, in turn allowing you to simplify the entire brand building process.
