In Part 3 of our series, we looked at the importance of choosing a home cleaning franchise partner that can support your business with state-of-the-art technology. Here in Part 4, we turn our attention to why it’s just as important to choose a franchising partner that constantly refreshes and updates their approach to both strategic and tactical marketing.

When it comes to successfully and cost effectively marketing a home cleaning business, there are many traditional things — let’s call that ‘old marketing’ —  that you absolutely must do. You’ve got things like market research, customer personas, and segmentation; branding with consistent, powerful messaging, and high-quality creative; defined channel strategies, advertising, and media buying — think radio, print ads, direct mail, coupon packs, door hangers, rack cards, and so forth.
 

Meanwhile, on the new side, you’ve got things like user-optimized web sites, CAN SPAM-compliant email, search engine optimization (SEO), inbound (content) marketing, social media, online reputation/reviews management, mobile apps, and Big Data-powered behavioral segmentation and micro-targeting. Because new marketing is eminently measurable, you also need to know all about tracking results and correctly interpreting vast quantities of performance. Sounds like a lot...and it is!

If you’re a former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for a large modern corporation, you’ll know all about this. But, if you haven’t been steeped recently in the current marketing landscape, you have good reason to consider teaming up with a franchise company that invests heavily in both the old and new aspects of marketing. 

 Here are some key questions to ask to test whether a potential franchising partner is truly hip to all aspects of contemporary marketing:

• Describe your brand identity and what you do to ensure it is maintained consistently across the franchise network.
• Do you have a required marketing spend?
• What kinds of creative marketing materials do you make readily available to franchisees; are there additional costs associated with obtaining and using them?
• What specific things have you done, so far, to bring your branding and marketing into the digital age? What new things are you working on now, and what is your future direction?
• What types of marketing activities and spend levels do you typically recommend?
• How much flexibility do franchisees have in deciding whether to accept your recommendations and/or to pursue their own ideas for marketing locally?
• What performance statistics can you share to prove the effectiveness of marketing activities that you recommend most frequently to franchisees?
• What if I’m simply disinterested in web sites, social media, SEO, and so forth? Do you offer support and services that can take all that off my plate?
• In addition to helping me market my brand to consumers, what will you do to help me with employee recruiting and positioning my business as an employer of choice?
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Here at MaidPro we are known for our dynamic marketing strategies and "out-of-the-box" creative. Each of our franchisees have a personal marketing coach to help them build strategies and track anlaytics. We even take it a step further by providing an Advanced Marketing Services package that takes a deep dive into digital reviews, SEO, and Pay-Per-Click advertising. Partnering with a franchise that understands the marketing world means you gain back valuable time (and piece of mind) which you can then invest into other parts of your business and life!

Be sure to tune in for Part 5 of our series in which we’ll explore the value and cost efficiency of training cleaning staff using the best online learning tools.