If you’re operating a business, you understand the benefits of advertising. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends an ad spend of 7-8% of gross revenue for a business under $5 million in sales, and increases its recommendation to more than 10% of gross revenue for newer businesses in competitive spaces.
Franchisors typically require a local market ad spend of 3-5%, and may also charge a similar fee to fund national advertising campaigns.
All of this funding ads up, and it’s important to ensure that the spending is allocated to the right channels to drive ROI. That can be a tricky proposition for owners focused on daily operations, which is why the International Franchise Association has compiled a list of the best franchise advertising and branding suppliers of 2023.
This year’s International Franchise Convention will feature a marketing track to help franchise marketers solve challenges and identify best practices to keep their businesses growing. The franchise marketing track will cover:
-
Marketing lessons from 6 of franchising’s biggest brands
-
What’s next in digital marketing
-
Marketing planning at different stages of franchise growth
Where are franchises allocating their marketing budgets in 2023?
Global benchmarking consultant Gartner has found that marketing spend appears more concentrated than ever before on digital and social marketing, and these trends will likely continue for the foreseeable future due to the reach size of these platforms.
Franchising.com found that the typical franchise allocates ~55% of its marketing budget to these channels, and that figure has been growing year over year.
Image source: https://emtemp.gcom.cloud/ngw/globalassets/en/marketing/images/research-images/tile-email-marketing-2021.png
Top Franchise Advertising and Branding Suppliers at the 2023 Annual Convention
Branded materials management company Consolidus provides franchisors with custom promotional and private label products. The company focuses on providing high quality products at national scale, and offers online portal and purchasing integration, warehousing, and reporting for purchasers.
Audio/visual supplier Crutchfield also offers commercial A/V System design to help franchises brand their in-person environments. The company works with bars and restaurants, retail, fitness and other franchise categories to create energetic, welcoming experiences.
Connecticut-based Darter Specialties offers franchisees a full range of branding and printing services, with a focus on promotional products and uniform services that can be ordered through a customized online web store. Darter Specialties also provides production, prize campaigns, and merchandising support to franchises.
Your Digital Resource provides franchises with digital marketing solutions such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, email marketing, and social media management. Your Digital Resource also offers web design services and can assist with copywriting and multimedia creation.
Hotdish Ad offers franchises a variety of online advertising services including display ads, sponsored content, retargeting ads, video ads, influencer marketing campaigns, and more. Entrepreneur magazine has named Hotdish a top franchise supplier five years running, and the company is also a Google partner.
Image One Uniforms provides franchises with custom employee uniforms as well as marketing materials such as banners and signage to help promote the brand. This helps franchises stand out from the competition and create a professional brand image for their business.
Initial Impression specializes in promotional products, award and recognition programs, tradeshow giveaways, and branded apparel for franchises. The company works with well-known franchises such as UPS, Sportclips, Buffalo Wild Wings and more, and also offers custom web stores and engraving services.
Milestone Internet provides franchisees with web development and digital marketing solutions including website design and hosting, content management systems (CMS), ecommerce solutions, search engine optimization (SEO), online marketing campaigns, and more. Milestone focuses on hospitality, travel, financial services, health care, and automotive franchises.
For more than 40 years, Northeast Color has provided franchisees with out-of-home branding and signage solutions such as vehicle wraps, banners, window graphics, trade show displays, magnets signs, flags, yard signs and more. Customers include Planet Fitness, California Tortilla, and Bluebird storage.
Prodigitude offers franchisees a suite of digital marketing solutions such as website design and hosting services; SEO; PPC advertising; social media management; email marketing; content creation; lead generation; analytics and reporting; ecommerce solutions; mobile app development; and more. Prodigitude focuses on advanced performance analytics including call tracking, and also offers creative services.
Prospect Direct offers franchisors and franchise brokers a lead generation and management platform to help them identify potential franchisees in order to support growth. The company also offers data hygiene and outreach services.
Scorpion Franchise offers a comprehensive marketing platform for franchise systems that integrates online marketing activities such as website design; SEO; PPC; social media management; email marketing; content creation and syndication; online reputation management, and more. The system also integrates with franchisor reporting and territory tools to provide roll-up reporting and franchisee evaluation tools.
Silvercrest Agency provides franchisees with a wide range of marketing and branding services through its Local Marketing Automation Platform (LMap). LMap supports marketing automation, media buying and data analysis at all levels of the franchise, and handles campaign support for common activities such as email marketing, social media, reward programs, text communications and more.
Google Premier Partner VDigital Services provides franchisees with website design services focused on funneling and converting customers via user experience optimization; ecommerce integration; content marketing; SEO; PPC advertising; media buying; social media management; email marketing; and more..
Registration for the 2023 International Franchise Association’s Franchise Convention will be open until the day of the convention. We’re looking forward to seeing you this February 26 to March 1 in Las Vegas!