Franchise brands spend big on marketing. National campaigns, brand funds, agencies, a growing tech stack. So why is marketing still one of the lowest-rated parts of the franchise experience?
We asked more than 500 people across franchising to find out. Franchisees, franchisor marketing teams, and suppliers all weighed in, and they pointed to the same problem. It’s not the campaigns. It’s how hard they are to use locally.
A few things we found:
- 1 in 3 franchisees rate their marketing and promotions support below average.
- 56% of franchisor marketing teams spend 6+ hours a week manually adapting assets.
- 69% of franchisors are confident franchisees stay on-brand, yet 42% say they find off-brand content frequently or constantly.
- Nearly a quarter of franchisees named approval speed as their top request. Only about 1 in 10 franchisors mentioned it at all.
- Single-unit owners rate marketing support 10 to 28 points lower than multi-unit operators on nearly every measure.
The full report, produced in partnership with Marvia, breaks down the five friction points holding local marketing back, why your most experienced franchisees are quietly working around HQ, where AI fits (and where it doesn’t), and six moves franchise leaders can make now.
The good news? Everyone agrees on what’s broken. That makes it fixable.
Fill out the form to download your free copy of Franchise Marketing Insights 2026.