CPG Corporate Orange Paper

The Balancing Act of Building a Franchise Brand


Today customers have access to greater amounts of information, faster than ever before. With pervasive social media tools like Facebook and the current trend of video snacking with websites like YouTube.com, brand managers are met with an ever increasing number of threats to maintaining their brand’s image and credibility. This is particularly challenging for franchising companies. Franchisors wrestle with the balancing act of protecting their brands while supporting the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of their franchisees. This universal challenge exists, in large part, because of the very nature of the franchising model and its inherently competing characteristics.

Successful franchise brands are built over time by consistently setting and meeting customer expectations of the brand experience. This can’t be done without network-wide adherence to brand and operating standards. However, many people purchase a franchise so they can be their own boss, own their own business and control their own destiny… not necessarily so they can follow the brand guidelines established by the corporation. These don’t have to be mutually exclusive, if expectations are properly managed from the beginning stages of the franchise acquisition process. But even the most thorough disclosure process cannot control what people believe or remember during the sales process, creating the inherent conflict that pits the enterprising franchisee against the corporate brand manager.

There are four strategies that, when used, foster franchisee creativity and enthusiasm for the brand, while maintaining the brand promise.

1 Rationalize the Need to be Compliant with Education

Many franchisees don’t understand the complexities of creating and growing brand awareness because they’ve never been exposed to the role of brand management. Key to this strategy is educating franchisees about the potential harm to the brand when guidelines aren’t followed, which in turn can negatively impact their own individual investment in the business. As reinforcement of the franchisee education, it is important that all franchisee-facing personnel understand the brand guidelines and the need for them. This is especially true for bigger networks with field support personnel. In some cases, franchisees are more likely to be influenced by their local operations or marketing representatives with whom they interact on a more regular basis. Show examples of the good, the bad and the ugly … and explain how each impacts the customer and their loyalty to your brand.

2 Make it Easy to Follow the Rules

Let’s face it. Not all franchisees are created equally when it comes to computer skills, graphic design and frankly, good taste. By their very nature franchisees are do-it-yourselfers and when they are looking for a particular marketing tool that they can’t find or they don’t believe exists, they will surely create their own. The second strategy is to provide a robust platform of tools for franchisees to use in their advertising and marketing efforts. The trick here is to control the overall brand identity and message, while giving franchisees enough flexibility to tailor the tool to their particular need. Most franchisors use a web-based platform with a library of marketing tools, everything from point-of-purchase materials, free-standing inserts and print ads to outdoor banners and radio spots. This allows the do-it-yourself mentality to be nurtured and promoted within the context of your brand strategy.

3 Avoid Brand Extremism

Every franchisor knows how critically important it is to develop and nurture positive relationships with their franchisees. Otherwise, franchisee validation can suffer, which in turn impacts network growth. The third strategy is use common sense to avoid an overly harsh approach to brand management. It might be okay to use red and green during the Christmas holiday promotion, even if red and green aren’t part of the approved color palette. In the majority of situations, this level of flexibility will not harm the brand. And if an individual unit happens to have an odd shaped wall, thereby making it impossible for customers to see the menu if installed per build-out guidelines, by all means make an exception.

Brand extremism can be destructive to the cause and erode trust among the network. Certainly standards must be maintained and brand management is not for the weary. However, it is easy to become so mired in protecting the brand that we lose sight of the bigger picture, and flexibility and common sense get lost. When this happens, guidelines become overly rigid and they suffocate creativity and enthusiasm for the very brand they are meant to protect.

Before standards are established and put into place, they should pass a “common sense test” that would pose the following questions:

  1. Who is this guideline protecting … and how? The Brand? The Corporation? The Franchisee? The Customer?
  2. Who gets hurt when the guideline is not followed? Can such damage be quantified?
  3. Is the brand image, at its core, at risk if the guideline isn’t followed? (corporate values, brand promise, etc.)
  4. When would it be appropriate to alter from the guideline? How likely and often might this happen?
  5. Can this guideline be enforced?
  6. Does the guideline prevent the franchisee from promoting the business or make it difficult to explain the value proposition to the customer?
  7. Does the guideline have legal implications?
  8. Does the guideline have safety implications?
  9. These questions and their answers should be used to guide your brand management strategy and dictate the extent to which you define and enforce the guidelines.

4 Emotionally Engage your Network

If you are successful with the first three strategies, the fourth can make the biggest difference. Successfully balancing franchisee spirit and brand management depends on your ability to motivate and foster emotional engagement of the brand across the network. It doesn’t happen overnight. Unfortunately, the passion and enthusiasm created at the beginning of the franchisee training process, or at the annual convention rarely last on their own. Many franchisors agree that the most important brand marketing you do targets the franchisees directly. Videos that celebrate the brand and position franchisees as heroes and leaders in their communities can be very inspirational and create an emotional attachment to the brand. Programs that recognize and reward franchisees for the way they represent the brand can also have a sustaining impact. All of this should be complemented with an ongoing communication strategy that reinforces the value of the brand and business model through relevant and open franchisee discussion.

The balancing act can be tricky but consistently executing these four strategies will make it easier. By educating the network on the risks of noncompliance to their own investment, you’ve provided them with a rational reason to follow the rules. And by giving them a flexible platform of marketing tools, you make it easy and practical for them to market their business. Flexibility, when demonstrated, shows your commitment to franchisee success and strengthens the partnership. And when your network is emotionally engaged in building and protecting your brand, they become the brand itself. They talk it, they live it, they promote it and they defend it.