Franchise Marketing; Connect With Your Customers And Franchisees Via Mobile Devices

{This is a guest post from Linda Daichendt, President/CEO/Managing Consultant of Strategic Growth Concepts.}

Given the precarious state of today’s economy, franchise organizations are on ‘high alert’ for new ways of increasing their franchise development capabilities and helping their franchisees to increase revenues.  While recent technology advances provide a variety of methodologies that can be useful in achieving these goals, there is one that has only recently come to the forefront of marketer’s awareness – Mobile Marketing.  While you may not yet have heard a lot about it, be assured that in the very near future, you will need to know as much about it as you previously needed to know about direct mail, telemarketing, radio or TV.

Consider the cell phone and its capabilities if you will: recent studies indicate that there are currently more than 272 million mobile phone users in the U.S. (89% of the total population); of those phones, 99% are text capable and 57% of those mobile subscribers use texting on a regular basis; 15% of active mobile phones have the ability to utilize mobile web applications and 44 million people regularly access the mobile web from their cell phones; and over 84% of cell phone owners won’t leave home without the device.  

These statistics lend legitimacy to the school of thought that indicates that Mobile Marketing is likely to become a substantial portion of corporate marketing budget expenditures within the next few years.  Given that, marketers will likely be intrigued by the following facts about Mobile Marketing derived from recent studies:  over 80% of consumers respond to SMS messages within 1 hour; 23% of SMS campaign messages are forwarded and become viral; and the messages sent via mobile are actionable and trackable thru specific consumer replies.

I recently gave a presentation to a group of franchisors and franchisees on the topic of Mobile Marketing for franchises, and how its use can aid franchise growth and profitability.  I was very pleased by the group's positive response and interest in the topic, and the many excellent questions that were posed by the event attendees.  Given the high level of interest by that group, I thought blog readers from the franchising industry might have an interest in the topic as well.  Therefore, I wanted to share some basic Mobile Marketing information, as well as provide several ideas for how it can be utilized in a franchising environment.

Types of Mobile Marketing

First, let's review what it is.  Mobile Marketing is a simple to use, targeted and measurable method of reaching consumers anywhere, anytime via their mobile phones.  There are a variety of methods of Mobile Marketing, among them are:

• SMS (short message service- Also known as 'texting'}

• MMS (multi-media message service} Messages that contain multi-media objects such as images, video and audio

• Browser-based web services such as the World Wide Web using a mobile device

• Bluetooth (short-range wireless technology; up to approx. 33 ft)

There is also something called proximity marketing

Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. In other words, if you have a cell phone in the proximity of a marketing broadcast, you would be able to receive a message or advertisement.

   

Location-Based Marketing

•     Delivers multi-media directly to the user of a mobile device dependent upon their location via GPS technology

•    QR Codes (quick-response barcodes)

•    Two-dimensional barcode

•    Voice

Mobile Banner Ads

Here are a couple of ways in which franchise organizations can utilize Mobile Marketing;

•  A franchisor can communicate with all franchisees in their organization at one time via text message to remind them about an upcoming deadline or special event, insuring a timely and consistent message delivery

• A fitness club franchise can post class schedules or let potential customers sign up for an initial free visit on their mobile device

• A plumbing franchise can list rates and emergency numbers for consumer referral

There are many more examples, and I'll be more than happy to share them with you. can easily share

Mobile Marketing is one of the most measurable advertising mediums available.

I encourage you to explore the benefits of Mobile Marketing for your organization.

{You can learn more about this cutting-edge Marketing medium by visiting our website, or contacting us via email at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com to schedule a Free initial consultation.}

Comments

[Thomas Scott]

I've been hearing a lot and reading alot about the increase of Foursquare. Is it possible to connect SMS marketing to foursquare usage?

[John]

No matter what the marketing channel is (Mobile, Email, Twitter, Facebook or Print), you need customer's to first opt-in to receive those offers. With out the customer data, no marketing program can be successful.

Businesses should drive to get customers to enroll with a strong in-store push. A new trend is evolving with electronic data collection in-store using handhelds like Sterizon wiZit (http://www.sterizon.com).

[Nora Reyes]

Thank you for your informative post. I keep hearing about mobile marketing and how successful it can be with sales.

Recently, I read about The Taco Maker increasing quarterly sales by 21% using an SMS strategy. I had been wondering how this was possible, but seeing the statistics on mobile users in your article helps understand that everyone's not just using their phones for calls.

Is it common for franchises to have highly successful SMS campaigns? Is it important to spread the campaign with other means (taco maker used radio)?

[Ola Ayeni]

Thanks for providing a nice introduction to mobile marketing. Some areas that you might also want to add are applications. Beyond apps, you can also mention to readers mobile ordering.

Mobile Dialog

[Email Marketing application]

I will recommend using ePostMailer for all bulk email marketing needs. Its the best bulk email marketing software I have used so far.