New Technology Enables Franchises to Affordably Extend Brand into the Digital Age

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 3, 2009 -- SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA (October XX, 2009) – New technological advances in the past year have ushered in a plethora of opportunities for franchises looking to extend their brand into the digital age, as localized marketing and social media strategies once considered cost-prohibitive have since become more possible.

“As recently as a year ago, it was simply impossible for a franchise to affordably launch hundreds of autonomous, optimized web sites for each of its franchises, not to mention monitor each of them for brand compliance,” said Jeremy LaDuque, president and CEO of ElementsLocal. “Today, technological developments allow franchises to effectively leverage and maintain control of their brand marketing online, in email and on mobile devices, without costly oversight.”

So, just what is the digital age for franchises and why can more companies now participate? LaDuque explains the key components and why they’re now more affordable to implement:
Local Search

Why it’s relevant: A strong, localized search-marketing strategy is now considered one of the most critical components of an overall web marketing approach for companies with franchises in distributed markets.

Why it’s now affordable: In the past, it was not cost-effective for a franchisor to launch web sites for each franchise location because of the manpower required to effectively monitor and manage the brand. Now, with new technology like ElementsLocal, which can create a large network of interconnected web sites linked to search engines, a franchise can affordably launch fully-autonomous web sites – not just microsites – for each of its locations. A

Email/SMS
Why it’s relevant: Email and mobile-driven strategies are a critical component within any marketing mix, as consumers today rely primarily on the Internet and their mobile phones as a means to seek out information on products and services.

Why it’s now affordable: Until recently, franchisors had no cost-effective options to provide franchisees with simple email software to manage their email and SMS-based marketing strategies and lists. ElementsLocal alleviates the need for cost-prohibitive franchisor oversight of local email/SMS marketing campaigns by providing a template-based platform though which:
1. Franchisors can launch a broad-scale campaign to all franchise lists for a nationwide promotion
2. Franchisors can create a template that franchisees can customize and send to their respective local lists
3. Franchisees can launch micro-scale campaigns by selecting an approved template to send to their respective local lists
ElementsLocal also allows franchisors to efficiently maintain brand control over the simultaneous marketing efforts of the entire franchise network by putting email caps and blackout dates into place.

Social Media

Why it’s relevant: Participation in social media will not only help franchise web sites rank higher in search engines, but it can also help establish the company as a trusted resource.

franchise marketing     franchise social media     franchise websites     online marketing