Over the past two decades, franchise brands across food, fitness, retail, and service industries have seen explosive growth. With proven models, franchises offer one of the most effective ways to scale operations while minimizing risk.
But what makes the franchise model so effective? And how can brands sustain and accelerate growth in a competitive marketplace? This blog explores those answers and offers a roadmap for current and aspiring franchise businesses.
Let’s Start by Understanding Why the Franchise Model Is So Successful
1. Scalability With Shared Investment
Unlike traditional business models that rely on corporate funding for expansion, franchises allow entrepreneurs (franchisees) to invest their own capital. This decentralized approach enables rapid multi-location growth without putting excessive financial strain on the franchisor. The trade-off is corporate support in other forms – operations, marketing, real estate, and more.
2. Local Ownership, Global Brand Quality
Franchisees are motivated business owners who actively manage their locations. Their financial stake encourages high performance and accountability, all while maintaining the brand consistency established by and supported with marketing resources and strategic recommendations.
3. Standardization With Flexibility
Franchise brands standardize branding, training, and core processes. However, they often allow room for local customization and community-focused efforts—which helps franchises resonate with regional and local customers while staying true to the core brand.
4. Built-in Training & Support
Franchisors provide franchisees with comprehensive training, operations manuals, and ongoing support. This reduces the failure rate and enables people with little business experience to run successful locations.
5. Marketing Leverage
Franchisees benefit from national advertising campaigns, brand awareness & sponsorships, as well as savvy marketing strategies and insights for what works at other locations. This gives new locations instant credibility, customer trust, and a proven roadmap to success.
Franchisor Support Paired with Easy Local Marketing Enablement Empowers Franchisees to Grow
With an abundance of responsibilities across daily operations, financial reporting, marketing, staffing, customer relations and more, it’s imperative for franchisees to have a strong foundation of franchisor support – with simple-to-use technology being crucial to manage it all.
The current local marketing processes for many franchisees are often complex and cumbersome, spanning working with multiple local media vendors, program and creative approvals, clunky reconciliation processes, and lack of visibility into aggregated insights to see what’s working best for other franchisees.
This is where Mspark’s Mpower marketing platform can help. Designed to simplify the martech stack and streamline local marketing, Mpower enables local franchisees to easily plan and execute integrated, full-funnel campaigns using corporate-approved brand messaging and assets – all in one platform. Mpower also allows corporate teams to track performance across channels, access detailed post-campaign reports, and optimize future/on-going marketing efforts and local recommendations.
Where Strategy and Technology Come Together to Drive Success
Success is best achieved when corporate teams and local franchisees understand their respective focuses and synergize on execution of their brand’s marketing strategy to drive full-funnel results. Let’s explore how these entities can leverage a multichannel approach that combines mail, digital ads, SEO, streaming/connected TV (CTV), paid social, and/or digital out-of-home (DOOH) to increase visibility, drive sales, and build lasting customer relationships.
1. Mail: The Physical Channel That Still Delivers
Shared mail remains a powerful tool for franchisees. While many marketers focus on digital, physical mailers offer a tangible, high-converting touchpoint—especially when targeted by ZIP code or neighborhood.
Why It Works:
- Local reach: Target households near your location
- High engagement: Coupons and menus are saved and used more than digital ads
- Measurable ROI: Track response with unique coupon or QR codes
Best For:
- Grand openings
- Limited time offers
- App downloads (“Get a free drink with your first app order!”)
Pro Tip: Combining mail with digital ads boosts response rates by 118%.
2. Digital Display Advertising: Precision at Scale
Franchisees use Digital Display Ads to reach and re-target customers with offers and updates based on location, interests, and behavior. Every action is trackable, including clicks, impressions, and conversions.
Optimization Tips:
- Click-to-order: Link directly to your online ordering or app
- Keyword retargeting: Reach users searching for similar services nearby
- Audience refinement: Use first-party data and lookalike audiences to target users who closely resemble your best customers
Best For:
- Promoting limited time offers like “Buy One, Get One Free” or seasonal specials
- Driving traffic to online ordering platforms during peak hours
- Announcing new store openings with geo-targeted ads in nearby ZIP codes
Pro Tip: Digital ads are most effective when layered with SEO, mail, paid social, and CTV for a full-funnel strategy.
3. Streaming/Connected TV (CTV): Digital Storytelling in Living Rooms
CTV and streaming video ads reach audiences on every screen. Ads are streamed through popular apps like HGTV, ESPN, Bravo, and more while reaching consumers via smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices.
Why It Works:
- Zip-code targeting: Deliver video ads to viewers in your trade area
- Dayparting: Show breakfast deals in the morning, dinner promos at night
- Brand + performance: Combine awareness with measurable results
Best For:
- App promotions (“Order now with our mobile app!”)
- Seasonal campaigns
- New store announcements
Pro Tip: Maximize the impact of your Streaming/CTV campaign by pairing it with complementary channels like digital display and mail.
4. Paid Social: Influence Where People Scroll
Social media is where customers discover, share, and engage with brands. Paid social allows franchisees to target local audiences with thumb-stopping content and drive real-world action.
Why It Works:
- Hyper-local targeting by ZIP code, interests, and behaviors
- Visual storytelling through Reels, Stories, and carousels
- Retargeting: Re-engage users who’ve visited your site or interacted with your content
Best For:
- Promoting in-store events or flash sales
- Sharing user-generated content or reviews
- Driving app installs and online orders
Pro Tip: Use geo-targeted ads to boost visibility of time-sensitive offers and sync messaging with CTV or DOOH for greater impact.
5. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH): Location-Based Branding at Scale
DOOH includes digital billboards, transit screens, gas station TVs, and mall kiosks. For QSR and retail franchisees, it’s a high-visibility way to stay top-of-mind near store locations.
Why It Works:
- High visibility in high-traffic zones
- Geo-fenced delivery ensures ads appear only within your trade area
- Dynamic content rotation based on time of day
Smart Placements:
- Digital billboards near competitors
- Gas stations within 2 miles of your drive-thru
- Transit shelters in busy neighborhoods
Pro Tip: Pair DOOH with CTV for a surround-sound effect that reinforces your message across screens and streets.
Final Thoughts: Streamline Marketing to Build Stronger Local Brands
Unified branding gives large and growing franchise brands a consistent identity across markets, while allowing franchisees to tailor messaging to their local audiences. Mpower efficiently and effectively puts the power of full-funnel marketing in the hands of franchisees at the local level.
What to learn more about Mpower and how it works? Contact Mspark to Request a Demo today.