Driving traffic to a fairly young franchise can be a difficult task, especially with heavy competition. Although it’s challenging in the beginning stages, all of the hard work will be more than worth it once the traffic starts trickling in.

Not sure how to begin your journey for more traffic? Here are six marketing tips to help you get started and make your young franchise a top competitor!

Driving Traffic to a Young Franchise

1.   Build an Online Presence

In today’s society, everything is transitioning online. For this reason, it’s important that you establish an online presence to help your franchise succeed.

Look for ways to make your presence known like adding your franchise to as many professional online listings as possible. Providing and maintaining accurate business information on sites like Facebook, Yelp and Google can help establish your online presence, as well as assist in your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

2.   Encourage Online Reviews

Requesting and acknowledging customer feedback is critical to increase traffic. According to a Search Engine Land study, 79 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

While you don’t have full control over the type of reviews left for your product, it is important to have them because they are valued by potential customers. The best way to get the positive reviews you want is to create a great experience for your customers every time they visit.

3.   Utilize Social Media

Social media can help create an online community surrounding your franchise. By building a community, your young franchise can create and develop connections with consumers.

It also provides prospective customers easy access to information and allows you to share news, special events and promotions with your community.

4.   Build Awareness in the Media

Try reaching out to local publishers, editors and producers with press releases about your franchise. Local newspapers and TV stations love knowing what is happening in their communities, so there’s a strong chance they will be more than willing to help you out. Although they’re very likely to help, always make sure you offer relevant information and have something to give in exchange. You scratch their back, they’ll scratch yours!

5.   Create Valuable Content

Competition has become fierce on the World Wide Web, and it makes no exception for franchises. By curating great content, you can stand out from both older and newer franchises.

Try to establish yourself as a leader in your market by posting valuable information regarding the products or services you sell. For example, if you sell dresses, post weekly about trending news and deals going on in the fashion industry. Make the posts engaging and interesting in order to provide value to customers and really build your following.

6.   Leverage your Connections

The largest single category of franchise sales takes place through referrals. You may be surprised by how often your vendors, friends, relatives and other people you know will be ambassadors for your young franchise! Take time to talk to people about your new franchise, and always provide topnotch service- it’ll be worth it when the referrals start pouring in.

Driving traffic to your young franchise does not have to be a scary experience. If you follow our advice and take steps to establish a presence in your local community, we have no doubt you will see success!

Looking for more advice on driving traffic to your franchise, or want to bounce around a few more ideas? Schedule a meeting with us today! We love a good brainstorming session.