2021 Franchising Trends: Make Your Mark

Why should someone go to your location? In 2020, franchises proved to be longstanding and held strong to the footholds they had carved out in their communities. But as life gets back to normal in 2021, your customers are going to need a reminder for why your location is the one they should go to.
Make your mark on your community, so that long after the pandemic is over and COVID-19 is a distant memory, your franchise location will still be the place to be.

Create a Robust Social Media Presence

Nothing says free advertising like word of mouth. By creating a robust social media presence for your location, you can encourage your customers to interact with your business daily. This will not only increase the frequency that your business is brought to the front of your customers’ minds, but it also creates an excellent platform for engagement and growth.

When you use social media to engage your customer base, you also leave room for them to tag your location on their visits, take and share photographs and videos when they visit your location, and encourage organic growth from their followers, encouraging more business for you.
Social media in its most basic form is free. And with paid promotional content on Instagram and Facebook, you can quickly get posts in front of thousands of people within seconds. It isn’t even necessary to hire a social media manager, but if you’re interested, there are plenty of college and high school students looking for a side job that have the youthful advantage to know what they’re doing.

Look at the Competition

All’s fair in love and war. Sure, belonging to the same franchise doesn’t mean you are at war with one another – not in the least. However, when you’re aiming to stay relevant and competitive, it’s vital to see what other locations and even competitors in your area are doing to attract customers. Perhaps it’s their lighting fixtures that have people swooning. Or maybe modern décor, vending machines, or other slight details that just make that much of a difference for convenience and comfort.

There’s no shame in playing it smart. Check out the competition to make sure you are staying on your game.

Benefit Nights, College Deals, and Charity

You’re a business leader, so people look up to you. Make sure to use this to everyone’s advantage by helping out your community. If your location is in a college town, this the perfect opportunity to link up with organizations from the college campus. Greek fraternities and sororities are philanthropic organizations based on charitable giving and brother/sisterhood.

Some of these groups have philanthropies like St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and have a fundraising threshold to meet each year or semester. By working with these students when they ask, or proactively offering it upon request, you can donate a portion of the proceeds to the organization’s chosen charity on college nights.

With cheaper deals for college students, and a portion of the proceeds going to charity, your location will become known as a do-gooder in the community and people will be more likely to support it in the future.