Identifying and understanding your target audience is a critical step in your franchise development marketing strategy. Knowing who your audience is helps you tailor your messaging and strategies to effectively reach and engage potential franchisees.
When it comes to marketing your franchise, do you really know your target audience? Is it a single person? What about a team or a family? Will they be a silent partner, or do they plan to play an active role in the day-to-day operations to grow the business?
Setting up your marketing campaign correctly can help you target your intended demographic, assuming you’re confident in your process.
Curious Jane partnered with a research firm to conduct a scientific study on the attitudes, goals and challenges that shape franchise candidates’ decisions to invest in a franchise business (and which one). We surveyed more than 500 franchisees to better clarify the beliefs, perspectives, preferences, pain points and aspirations of franchise owners. The survey results have a 95% confidence level, a high level of confidence.
Our survey’s respondents were candid about what influenced them through the franchise purchase process. When it comes to buyers of franchising brands, our study showed you’re often not marketing to one person alone.
By the Numbers
The research shows that franchise business owners had help through the purchasing process and often sought the input of others, including their parents, spouses, mentors, former employers, friends and tax/legal professionals.
Some key findings:
- 82% of respondents said their spouse or partner was involved in the decision to purchase a franchise.
- The second and third groups involved in the decision-making process mentioned among respondents were parents (32%) and friends (17%).
- 45% of owners said their spouse or partner financed the business.
- 39% said they are partners in the franchise business and another 36% said they work for the business.
- Respondents under 35 years old said they were more likely than other age groups to have involved their parents, a mentor or boss in the decision-making process for investing in a franchise brand. 80% of those younger than 35 involved their parents.
Measured Targeting
So, who is in the ear of your potential franchisee and what are you doing to educate them?
Depending on your targeted demographic, you could be talking to various audiences among multiple age groups. As you gather information about the potential franchisees in your industry, this will be key to understanding the various demographics, preferences, behaviors and needs to close the sale.
Creating detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal franchisee candidates is part of the process you can use to target these various audiences. These personas are based on fictional characters that embody the traits and characteristics of your target franchisee.
They help you understand your audience’s motivations, pain points, goals and challenges.
If you want to target a younger franchisee demographic, you’ll be talking to their parents, too. Each of these personas has different habits when consuming information and researching companies like yours. In this case, not only are they involved in making the decision to buy, but 46% of those under 40 years old relied on their parents financing the purchase.
Those in older demographics, 40 to 59 years old, often relied on their spouse or partner for financing. Those 60 and older were more likely to have financial assistance from either their spouse or a business partner.
Keeping this in mind the next time you’re vetting a franchise candidate can give you an upper hand in the deal. Knowing the habits of your intended franchisee and the type of partner influencing them can give you better leverage in educating your audience with relevant information needed to close the deal.
