Many franchises offer great support to their franchisees. They help with hiring, operations and also sales and marketing. Some of it is offered as a service from the franchise or from a preferred partner. But other times they might just say something like, “We recommend you do this…”.
That might be the case with blogging for your franchise. The corporate office may suggest blogging. But they may leave it up to you to handle all the details.
If you would like to start a blog for your franchise, here are some tips for making it work.
1. Question and Answer
If you’re not sure what to write about with your blog it’s a good starting point to answer questions your customers are asking in relation to your business and industry. And it doesn’t just have to be customers. It could be potential customers or even people that interact with potential customers.
Let’s say, for example, you’re opening an oil change franchise. Your customers are probably asking questions like:
How long does it take to get an oil change?
What else should be checked during an oil change?
Do I need a full tank of gas before an oil change?
Can I skip an oil change?
They can be simple. They can be more involved. Try to come up with a large list of questions and turn those into blog posts.
2. Local Happenings
Local news is struggling. It’s been a steady decline for at least a decade and really since about 2000. The generations that grew up reading papers and watching the local TV news are still around and are still customers. But new generations are more comfortable with online news and social media.
You don’t have to become a local journalist, but people in your area are looking for some news and updates and happenings. You probably hear these types of things in your office. Share them on the blog and then on social media. It can be a way to bring attention to your local business.
3. Customer Stories
Stories can be a great part of a blog. You can ask customers if you can use their names and quotes in blog posts. Sharing their experience is a way for potential customers to see if they want to use your service. You can even share anonymous stories in blog posts.
For example, say you run a franchise print shop. A customer comes in with a certain idea for what to print. After talking with them you realize they may be better off doing something a little different. And in the end it worked out really great for the customer.
That can be a great story in full for a blog post or as part of a blog post.
4. Employee Stories
You can also share employee stories. People like knowing the people behind a business. They want to get to know the people and the values. This is especially true it seems if it’s a competitive industry where little things can make the difference.
5. Experiments
If you’re just starting out you’re going to need some experimenting. You’ll need to try new things to see what works. You can start with the ideas here. You can also try some other formats for posts. Long posts. Short posts. Daily and weekly. Try it all.
The more you post the more feedback and data you’ll collect that will help you determine what to focus more on in the future.
Conclusion
A blog can be a great tool for a local franchise. You can create regular blog content. Then you can snippet the content for social media to get even more use for it. It’s a long-term commitment, but it’s an opportunity because people are looking for more content than ever and not many are there to create and provide it.