CHANTILLY, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A report from BIA/Kelsey titled “Advertising and Marketing Trends of Franchisees” reveals 65 percent of franchisees surveyed use co-op dollars for advertising and promotion, with more than one-third reporting that up to half of their ad spend comes from co-op dollars. The report is based on data from BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) Wave 20 survey of small and medium-sized businesses. This new report specifically examines the media and marketing spending behaviors of the SMBs that self-identified as franchisees or licensees of a national company.
“Co-op dollars present a significant opportunity for franchisees to increase their spending over the next 12 months,” said Celine Matthiessen, VP, analytics and insights, BIA/Kelsey. "Solution companies that are able to report clearly on ad performance and show examples of revenue/customer-driven campaigns that result in increased calls to the business and website traffic will have an advantage with franchise SMBs that want to extend co-op programs."
The report reveals that half of all franchisees are planning to increase their ad spend in the next year and spend across an average of 20 different ad channels to reach customers. Quick adopters of new technology, the majority of franchisees use a quarter to a half of their total annual ad budget from co-op programs on both traditional and digital channels. Programs focus on targeted digital such as search and display and traditional channels like direct mail, radio and community sponsorships.
"Any type of marketing and ad platforms that support customer promotions and deals are especially appealing to franchise SMBs," commented Matthiessen. "It's also worth noting that the development and use of digital advertising is an area where franchise SMBs report wanting support from their franchisor."
To examine best practices for how franchisors can help develop campaign plans and marketing budgets for franchisees, the firm recently completed a report for Vya providing industry data. Research available here.
The complete findings from the franchisee portion of BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor survey are available in a 55-page report, Advertising and Marketing Trends of Franchisees Report. Learn more about this report, including how to order it, at https://shop.biakelsey.com/product/advertising-and-marketing-trends-of-franchisees.
