Is Your Local Franchise Marketing Bringing in Customers?

Redline Fractional Marketing Helps Franchisees Turn Local Visibility into Real Demand

You’ve found your niche, run the numbers and invested in a buzzy brand with strong national marketing. Success should swiftly follow.

But when you open the doors, one thing that might be missing? Customers. 

That’s because strong brands don’t always translate into strong local marketing, says Michael Ganda, founder and owner of Redline Fractional Marketing.

And that’s where a local franchise marketing strategy comes into play.

“Local owners need customers and too often they are left trying to bridge the gap between a sophisticated national marketing strategy and what actually needs to happen in their individual territories,” says Ganda.

To bridge the gap, Ganda founded Redline Fractional Marketing. 

It offers custom local franchise marketing strategies for single and multi-location businesses and for franchisors looking for an effective marketing system for their network. 

Redline FM’s expertise is in home services and related industries, including restoration, mold remediation and environmental services, but has expanded its reach. 

“We learned that the local marketing problem extends well beyond home services,” says Ganda, who previously spent a dozen-plus years at Service Master, most recently as VP of marketing.

“So, we work with businesses where local market visibility, reputation and lead generation directly affect revenue.” 

What is Fractional Marketing?

For owners, having an experienced local franchise marketing team is crucial to grow and scale, but businesses also need to stay lean. 

Fractional marketing provides the ideal balance: an external outsource agency that acts like an in-house marketing team. It’s flexible and cost-efficient.

Redline FM operates as a seamless extension of a client’s team, providing executive level expertise, paid search and local advertising experts, as well as website and conversion expertise — basically the capabilities of a full in-house team — at a fraction of the cost.  

No Cookie-Cutter Solutions

The approach is holistic so there are no pre-set packages or strategies. Instead, the customer leads the direction.

“If a client has a system already, we will work within their system,” Ganda says. “However, we are often asked for a better solution.”

What helps inform their strategy comes from experience. Redline FM’s Chief Account Officer David Burbidge, a former home services franchisee, brings an owner’s viewpoint to the equation.

When it comes to local marketing, the questions owners want answered include: 

• Will this generate opportunities in my territory?
• Can I understand where my marketing dollars are going?
• Will my team be able to execute it? 
• Will it help me grow my business?

Building a Better Platform

Redline FM has developed a fully comprehensive franchise marketing platform complete with a live dashboard, active CRM, full integration with Google Profiles, paid ads and paid social, inbound call routing and response, even outbound email and text campaigns.

The platform works for five locations or 500 locations without losing the local relevance that ultimately drives customers.

The company also embraces emerging technologies –  including AI – to help capture and convert more leads. 

All tie into a single dashboard for reporting.

“Putting this all under one roof for the clients that do not have a sufficient solution allows us to maximize their results and provide real-time insights based on data rather than speculation,” says Chief Operating Officer of Agency Operations at Redline Fractional Marketing, Joe Rizzo.

The metrics help franchisees understand if their local marketing strategy is producing the desired results and the data can help franchisors see which markets are performing and where individual locations may need additional support.

Once a strategy and plan are in play, Redline Fractional Marketing continues to offer support with hands-on implementation.

“Without a platform like ours, we find businesses are often left guessing,” Rizzo says. “Franchisees should understand their numbers and participate in the strategy, but their primary responsibility should be operating and growing their business.”

‘Success Happens One Local Market at a Time’ 

A recent survey of U.S. consumers from PYMNTS Intelligence found that across generations one in three shoppers looks to see whether a business is local when choosing a merchant or service.

To capture them, a successful franchise marketing strategy should: 

• Build trust and credibility with the community
• Foster a personal connection with consumers
• Add a competitive advantage

But as Ganda points out, sometimes even the best national campaigns fail to reach those customers for one simple reason: 

“A national brand needs consistency, but a franchisee also needs to feel local,” he says. “The message that resonates with a homeowner in Cleveland may not be the same message that works in Nashville or Jacksonville.” 

If franchisees don’t have the strategy, technology, tools and support necessary to create demand in their individual territories, there is a gap between the value of the brand and the performance of the network.

Ultimately, when a franchise strategy works for an individual market, Ganda says, it can have a cascade effect on an entire franchise network.  

“When a franchisor can give those owners a repeatable system for building local visibility, generating demand, responding to leads and converting those opportunities into customers, local marketing becomes more than franchisee support — it becomes a competitive advantage for the entire franchise system.”

For more information about local franchise marketing, visit Redline Fractional Marketing.