How Franchise Brands Can Bond with Target Audiences
Great franchise brands use creative not just to differentiate themselves from the competition, but to create lasting relationships with customers. Chick-Fil-A’s beloved cows are a standout idea that has been a constant theme in the franchise’s creative for decades. McDonald’s golden “M” arches are instantly recognizable and signal value, convenience and great French fries. Hotel chains like IHG use the architecture and interior design of their properties to communicate brand attributes: EVEN’s cool, urban, wellness-focused spaces speak to a different audience than InterContinental’s emphasis on sophisticated lodging for the global traveler.
By using outstanding creative in advertising, social media, web design, events, customer experience and even architecture, franchise brands can establish deep connections with their target audience. Let’s take a closer look at the processes that create a foundation where great creative is almost secondhand.
Critical Considerations when Creating the Right Content for the Right Audience
Before franchise marketers get to work actually creating, there’s a bit of homework and information to collect.
Research – We always follow consumer trends – who’s buying what, where and why. A look around similar industries can also give clues on emerging consumer preferences. Opinion polls and demographic data are key to understanding the population and its desires. Keeping abreast of current events is also useful in helping understand the target audience’s motivations and concerns.
Customer Profile – It is crucial to understand the choices that the perfect customer makes. Fictional character profiles can be developed to represent an audience. For example, “Jane is a 35-year-old, college-educated mother of two kids. She and her husband love to travel and are in the market for a new car. She is athletic, loves dining out and is a history buff.” From that simple profile, built from our previous research, we can start to formulate ideas about the best creative to get and keep Jane’s attention.
Make a Plan – Don’t forget, creative is not just pictures, it includes copy, graphic elements, animation, photography, sound, music, user interface, casting, textures, building design, and even scent and temperature. It’s helpful to keep a list of your campaign’s creative elements in mind as you prepare to start pulling it all together into a cohesive message.
Ideation – All creative begins with formal or informal brainstorming about a concept. Setting up a framework that includes data on the brand’s key audiences, proposed messaging and desired results is essential. Other useful parts of this structure include competitive creative, the franchise’s past successes, timing, budget and the desired media mix. And of course, the customer profile.
Be Creative! – With the information you’ve gathered, processed and socialized, get busy. Be sure to include elements that should appeal to your perfect customer. Copy and images of teens on mountain bikes may not speak to a parent of a child who’s preparing for the SAT. It’s far better to have several options to choose from rather than just one or two. See what resonates. Discuss it with your colleagues. Good designers, along with creative and art directors, will be able to spot the breakthrough ideas. We like to narrow the choices down to 3-5 potential winners.
Simplicity Speaks Louder than Confusion
Creative that appears simple to the consumer is often the most difficult to produce. Finding just the right words or just the right music track to create an emotional bond is challenging! Consumers receive constant messaging about all sorts of products and services. A simple, consistent message that aligns with the brand’s mission and speaks directly to the target audience is far more effective than disjointed visuals or a hard-to-navigate website.
At Curious Jane, we’ve worked the past two decades with a wide variety of franchise brands to craft messaging that breaks through the clutter with outstanding creative. We understand the process behind fine-tuning creative to capture a franchise’s ideal customer. We love talking to franchise brands about making great campaigns. Give us a shout to find out more.
