Content Marketing for Franchises: The 3 Most Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Content marketing isn’t just the latest trend; it’s a must-have to be noticed in today’s search engine-driven world. Content marketing builds trust, creates brand awareness, drives SEO, generates leads, and converts customers.

It’s clear that content marketing works. You know you need it to be relevant, but executing is another story. We’ve been advising clients for years on ways to use franchisee satisfaction data as part of their marketing strategies, but no matter the size of the franchise system, franchisors encounter the same challenges when it comes to implementing an effective content marketing strategy.

We get it! So we’ve pulled together the top three challenges we hear most often and compiled a list of resources and tips to help you get over the content marketing hump.

Challenge #1: Generating content ideas.

It can be tough to constantly come up with new story ideas that will engage and educate readers – especially if you have to rely on other subject matter experts within your company who aren’t marketers.

One way to overcome this is to use your franchisee satisfaction data. If you’re not using your survey data to tell your brand story and build trust, you’re missing a huge opportunity. If your content doesn’t include data, it is less likely to be trusted, persuasive, or even read, according to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). In fact, CMI’s research shows that four out of five U.S. adults (82%) prefer to read an article based on data than one based on the writer’s opinion.

Franchise companies that work with Franchise Business Review have access to mountains of data that can be used to generate content – from blogs, to social media, to infographics, testimonials, and more.

Helpful Resources

• Why Your Content Marketing Needs to Be Data-Driven
• How to Use Satisfaction Data as Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy
• Why Data Is Important in Content Marketing

Challenge #2: Lack of resources.

While posting new content every day would ideal, it’s unrealistic for most franchise brands – especially if you don’t have an editorial team or even a dedicated writer (on staff or freelance). However, it is important to create quality content and distribute it on a consistent basis. Hubspot, one of the companies at the forefront of the inbound/content marketing movement, says that consistency is key if you truly want to connect and engage with your audience.

One way to become more consistent without adding additional in-house resources is purchase sponsored content. Franchise Business Review offers this option (with monthly or quarterly posts), and unlike other sponsored content channels that are strictly pay-to-play, visitors to our site know they can trust the content they engage with only features franchise companies that are pre-vetted based on high franchisee satisfaction.

Helpful Resources

• Why Is Content Marketing Important for Your Business?
• Creating a Content Marketing Strategy to Attract More Candidates

Challenge #3: Finding time to write.

This is a perennial challenge for any marketer. Unless you have a writer on your team dedicated specifically to executing your content marketing calendar, it’s can be set aside a block of time to write posts. There are other formats, however, such as videos and podcasts, that require less time, and engage your audience in different media.   

Entrepreneur recommends podcasts as an inexpensive, easy-to-produce, accessible content format that sets you apart from competitors. FBR also offers a podcast option that requires even less time on your part but provides compelling content for your brand.

Helpful Resources

• 14 Unique Types of Content Every Marketer Should Try
• Could a Podcast Boost Your Content Marketing Campaign?

Looking for more ideas on how to execute (or build) your content marketing strategy? We can create a custom plan to help you attract and convert more leads. Email us or call 866.397.6680.

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