How to Market your Children’s Activities Business Franchise Opportunity

You’ve got everything in place to franchise your children’s activities business (including your all-important franchise prospectus).

But how do you go about finding the perfect franchisees – those passionate individuals who’ll proudly carry your torch of learning and laughter to every corner of their local communities?

Like all marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Different businesses, different demographics, and different budgets all influence what works for you, and what doesn’t.

But here are some top tips to help you put together a marketing strategy that gives you the very best chance of success.

Define your ideal franchisee

If you’re just starting out on your franchising journey, you need to spend time defining your ideal franchisee.

What’s their background? Why do they want to become a franchisee? What’s their personality, and what skills should they have?

If you already have some franchisees on board, look at where they came from.

Were they customers first? Maybe they were class leaders at one of your venues? Or did they find you via a particular website or piece of marketing you did?

Then think about your best franchisees – those you wish you could just clone because they’re so perfect! What’s their background and motivations, and how did they find you?

Nail your messaging

Identifying – and being consistent with – key messaging that speaks to people’s different motivations is crucial to crafting social media posts, putting together ads, and developing the franchise section of your website and other collateral.

Picture this

Get some good footage – photos or videos – that demonstrates franchisees in action eg. running a class, in a training session, at your conference or other get-together, or winning an award. You want people to look at a photo or watch a video and think: “That could be me!”

Well-written website

If you’re not making it clear on your website that you offer franchise opportunities, then you’re missing a trick.

You need a well-written section that showcases your franchise opportunity, with a clear call-to-action that allows you to capture people’s email addresses so that you can market to them.

And whenever you’re writing about your franchise opportunity, make sure you link to your franchise page, rather than your home page.

Organic social media

Regularly update your social media pages with news about your franchise opportunity – you never know who’s watching!

People buy from people – so don’t hide behind your logo, put yourself out there. Whether it’s photos, videos, or lives, people want to get to know the person behind the brand.

And whether you’re targeting mums, dads, carers, teachers, or people in other professions who might be looking to make a change or earn some extra money, don’t forget about LinkedIn.

Social media advertising

Relying on organic social media will seriously limit your reach, so think about investing in a paid-for Meta advertising campaign to help you reach new audiences.

You can direct people to your website for more information, ask them to message you to start a conversation, or capture their details directly in return for a copy of your franchise prospectus. Monitor what works best for your business.

And if you’re just starting out, advertising closer to home might be a better option initially, rather than spreading your net to cover the whole of the UK.

Franchise directories

There are a number of online publications and directories offering different advertising packages.

But when you’re working with a tight budget, you need to be picky, so choose those that best-align with where your ideal franchisee is most likely to find you.

Franchise exhibitions

Do your research. What other brands will be there, and what type of visitor does the exhibition attract? If you’re not familiar with it, think about going along as a visitor yourself first so you can get a better feel for whether it’s right for your business.

And don’t exclude other types of exhibitions and shows as potentially better alternatives – think about the types of events your ideal franchisee is likely to visit, might there be an opportunity there for you?

PPC

PPC can be effective, but again, think about where your best franchisees came from.

Bear in mind that lots of franchisees in the children’s activities sector weren’t entirely sure of what franchising is all about, let alone have it on their radar, when they were thinking about making a life change.

Email marketing to your customer database

In the same way you (hopefully) regularly email your customers about your classes, try sending emails that only talk about your franchise opportunity (don’t confuse things by also reminding them to book in for next term or buy the next-size branded t-shirt!). They might not know running their own classes is an option, and you might just be planting the seed of an idea.

Drip-feed email marketing programme

So what do you do once you’ve captured people’s data through all your marketing activity?

You nurture them with a series of emails scheduled to go out over a relatively short period of time.

These emails should build the ‘know, like, trust’ factor and nudge people gently along.

But don’t stop there!

There are lots of reasons why someone might not respond to this first set of emails, so keeping in touch with regular newsletters is a good way of staying front of mind for when the time is right for them.

Finally, don’t forget to monitor everything you do by tracking key metrics, such as website traffic, lead generation, and enquiries, and adapt your strategy accordingly.

By Helen Sargent, Memory Marketing

Helen Sargent is a marketing and comms specialist for children’s activity providers. She’s a no-nonsense, down-to-earth marketer, with a passion for effective communication; and her background spans more than 20 years with some of the biggest UK names in this busy sector. Find out more here https://memorymarketing.co.uk/