a table full of food

Food Franchise Marketing Strategies

Hungry for 
More Customers?

How to Market Your Food Franchise Business

We're serving up strategies and tactics that work.

The food franchise business is a tough one and competition is stiff. But we've got just the recipe for ongoing success in your local or regional market. Let's get cooking!

a table with wine glasses and plates

Leading food franchisees are embracing the digital marketing landscape.

"Our business saw sales increase 12% year over year in the first 30 days! In addition, Lee's franchise owners to the South and Northeast saw residual value from the promotion and are interested in starting their own campaigns."

Fast Food Franchise

Marketing Quick Wins for Food Franchises

Try these fast and easy tactics while they're hot.

As a food franchisee, there's a lot, marketing-wise, that you don't control. But these quick wins offer real impact.

Work on Your Reputation

Food franchises get fast reputations in their area—for better or worse. Make quick fixes by responding to negative reviews and starting a relationship with an expert partner who can help whip things into shape.

Get on the Map

Most likely, your location/s is popping up when people search for food in their area. But are you at the top? Implement some fast search campaigns to ensure you get top billing.

Entice Them on the Road

OOH (billboards, bus ads, etc.) are a longtime tactic for food franchises; but did you know that new digital billboard options offer faster implementation? Explore the options in your local area.

Suggested Services

SEO, Reputation Management, Email, CRO

Primary Key Performance Indicator

Walk-ins, reservations, Click for Directions

Recommended Time Frame

12 Months

A Step-By-Step Guide to Food Franchisee Marketing

Here's your 5-step menu for success.

Feeding the masses is tough business. Follow this process for impactful marketing that goes beyond the corporate franchise owner's efforts.

Work on Your Listings

Most food franchisees don't have much control over corporate websites, mobile apps and other digital tools that are franchise wide. But you likely have more control of your location pages or listings. Start any marketing effort by making sure all listing information is correct and up to date. You can even add content to some listings to improve local SEO (see Step 2!)

Supercharge SEO

Location-specific/local SEO is crucial for your food franchise business. Use a combination of local paid search and local SEO to ensure customers find you first when they're searching for specific food items. But beware—in a competitive segment like the food franchise business, you'll want a pro partner to help you navigate this element.

Bring Them In, Bring Them Back for More

Besides search, you can bring in foot traffic with other channels—from the aforementioned billboards to in-app advertising. There are even geo-targeted ads that can trigger messages when people are nearby, or at certain times, like for seasonal specials. Then, opt-in to corporate-sponsored incentive programs and special offers so you have something to keep customers coming back for more.

Keep Customers Happy

Happy customers take stellar service and a quality product, but managing your reputation online takes work, too. Take the time to monitor and respond to reviews online and have some offers in your back pocket to win back anyone who had a bad experience.

Build Your Local Brand

Even though your food franchise's corporate team is investing in the franchise brand at a national level, you'll likely need to work on some local brand building. Connected TV, radio, social and OOH can be laser targeted to the right demographic in your area, and help build a name for your franchise within the community.

Food Franchise Marketing Trends

What's On the Menu? These Hot Trends. 

Franchise landscape trends highlight the need to focus heavily on building brands locally and regionally. Even if your food franchise is going national, you'll likely need a local or regional approach as well.

Over 80% franchises are local or regional

300 companies start franchising every year (on average)

a plate of food

In just 3 months, a BBQ franchise was able to gain 570 new cutomers in their loyalty program across 2 locations as a result of CMG's multi-channel strategy.

570 new cutomers

Get FREE Custom Insights

We have inside information on the audience and market trends affecting your food franchise business.

From information about the size and makeup of your local or national market to insights on your competitors and their marketing activities, we'll provide you with in-depth, free reports to help guide your food franchise marketing strategy in the right direction. Fill out the form to get started.

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Facebook Marketing Partner
Google Ads Partner
graphical user interface, text, chat or text message
optimize 360 logo
logo, icon
graphical user interface, application, Word
logo, company name
logo, company name
a drawing of a face

Our Partners and Publishers

When it comes to your digital marketing, we only partner with the top leaders in the industry to help get you the best results possible. Because we're a part of CMG, digital advertising with us is credible, accessible, data-driven and transparent.