Outside forces and new technologies dramatically affect what happens to your Franchise. You don’t have to respond on a whim, but keep your eyes wide open when major changes occur.

Here are some marketing and business trends that are important to Franchises:

The Cloud – Although social media and mobile get more buzz, the great change-maker for franchises comes from the cloud. Using Internet-based applications to run your business rather than locating those applications on your servers or hard drives sounds pretty liberating, doesn’t it?

Going to the cloud is transformative. You gain powerful functionality, you can spend more of your time on your business and less on your infrastructure.  Now that YOU are mobile, you can access your applications and data from virtually anywhere.  Having your customer contact management, email marketing and document storage is essential.

Social media – Social media is hot.  With good reason, Franchises are entranced with the idea of it. Social media offers the possibility of inexpensive ways to reach and interact with customers, but it seems like it takes up a lot of time with a very uncertain return on that investment.

Keep watching because this year will see the emergence of more easy-to-use tools that help you reach highly targeted customers. More franchises will embrace a wide variety of social media platforms, and Google+ will become a significant player.

Mobile -The mobile juggernaut continues in 2012, both for running your business and reaching customers. Look for greater embrace of mobile marketing, such as offering deals when people check in via Mobile.

Smart Franchises increasingly will use mobile solutions for a raft of business functions. One technology that will explode: accepting payments on smartphones, with tools such as Square (squareup.com).
More companies will embrace the power of being untethered from an office, being mobile and able to run operations on the go, especially when using cloud-based applications and tools.

Hiring – The past couple of years, workers have been “on sale” because of high unemployment, making it possible for franchisees to land great employees at lower costs.  As the workforce recovers, consider college graduates from the past three years who have been underemployed.  They can make great entry-level employees, and big corporations focus mostly on current graduates. Anticipate your needs for expanding your work force.

Credit – Credit for franchisees has been tough for years now. But it will get slightly better this year, making it a bit easier for healthy companies with strong customer demand to expand. Work with community banks that are receptive to local businesses.

Analytics – Knowledge, as they say, is power. One of the great things about cloud applications is they not only give you data, they give you reports.  You can see response in real time to actions you take. For example at ElementsLocal,  we send  monthly newsletters. From our E-Marketing Manager analytics, I am able see exactly how many people opened it, which articles they read, which products interested them and more.

Global – You may not be a global franchise yet, but I’m guessing you may be soon. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to meet many American franchises  who have grown their businesses by going international. I’ve even heard of someone who exports miniature golf courses.  ElementsLocal represents CurvesME,  the middle eastern franchise of the mega company Curves.  Think outside the box by thinking outside your borders.

ElementsLocal is your answer to adaptive Franchise Online Marketing software: Comprehensive and easy to use.

Reflecting back is more than just remembering where you wanted to be. It’s an eye opener about how dramatically the sands shifted under your feet in 2011 and a clear sign 2012 will be no different.

For Franchise Marketers Google introduced significant changes to the way it displays and delivers search results. Many franchise marketers had to quickly react to the importance of social media, blogging and directories. Our own vision of being a complete solution for franchise online marketing was expanded to include new best of breed partners in directory submission and social media. Our dashboard reflects the integrated nature of how pay-per-click, organic search and directories (such as Google Places) inter-relate and converge.

This being said, what does 2012 hold in store for Franchise online marketing? Seeing future trends is exactly what we need to do in order to anticipate change and be at the top of our game.

It’s not just about how to show up, attract and sell to consumers today, but next month, next year and years to come.  Lets transcend ideas like “social network” and “search engine” and focus  on consumers and technologies. Will we be using a search engine like Google in 5 years? Will we be using desktop computers in 5 years? What will future social networks look like? Answers to those questions are answers to the future of marketing and customer engagement.

Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and plenty of other large companies are innovating at amazing speed to gain control of our attention. Some are doing it through devices, some through content, others through infrastructure.

So, what is message we got from 2011? Change… we must take a critical look at what it will take to adapt to change.  Rather than jumping from one place to the next in your franchise online marketing plan, consider developing an adaptive model that allows for rapid assimilation of new technologies and trends.

Creating an adaptive model assumes that you will have to adopt new technologies or new methodologies. Is your company an early adopter? Have you taken on the risk of adopting a technology platform before everyone else? Or have you given up first mover advantage because you felt it was going to be too expensive or time consuming.

Here are some things to consider when looking at creating an adaptive marketing platform:

1. Don’t wait. There is no question that the ramp up time to evaluate and adopt new technologies and trends is expensive. You do not have to play the waiting game by buying expensive technologies. Look for industry specific solutions that are agile, quick to adapt and focused on your exact needs.
2. Buy best of breed. Look for companies who have forged partnerships with other ‘Best of Breed’ providers to bring you a comprehensive solution. This shows a focus and determination to deliver quality solutions.
3. Look for partners who share knowledge. Ensure partners are in tune to trends and data and that they will share that with you so you can more efficiently evolve and innovate at greater speed.
4. Don’t stop.  A key philosophical insight is to not stop when you think you’re at the top or you’ll go the way of the Sony Walkman as the IPod become the norm.
5. Data is the new creative outlet. As search transforms the amount of data needing analysis will multiply tremendously. Find solutions to transform mounds of data into creative content, solutions and insight tomorrow.  Data will move from advantage to basic necessity. Data is something the smartest marketers will leverage again, as a necessity, not a luxury.
6. Never underestimate the power of trying something. What data can you point to that says social media will help you boost your sales or increase your online exposure?  Better yet, what data can you point to that states it will not be an undue risk for your company?  Do not let the rush to data powered marketing trends handcuff you.
7. Personalized = Profitable. The more search results become personal the more the potential for leads.
8. Mobile search will greatly outpace PC Searches. Do not ignore the growth in the popularity of mobile applications and prevalence of local search results.  We ask you, are you optimized for mobile?
9. Lets Franchisees market too. One website will not dominate in search.  In an effort to create competition, variety and a better user experience, search engines will do what they can to ensure your site does not dominate. You can use this to your advantage by delivering truly unique and locally driven websites by giving Franchisees the power to update their own websites.
10. Searchers will continue to gravitate towards content they find useful. What marks the difference between insight and obviousness is the amount of people actually following through.  You have to dedicate marketing efforts to sharing value through search or social channels, rather than simply promotional materials.
11. Search will be about how many times you show up, not whether you’re first. The key to an adaptive approach to online marketing is that you’ll have a multi-pronged approach to showing up in organic search, pay-per-click advertising, directories, mobile, social and more. Are you mobile friendly, local readily optimized, social savvy?

Imagine how many more changes there will be in technology as well as with consumer behaviors in the coming year.

Take a look into 2012 by attending our ElementsLocal Franchise Online Marketing Bootcamp 2012, January 18th, 2012 12:00 p.m. CST.  Sign up by clicking: Franchise Online Marketing Webinar

The Sport Clips company has launched their newly redesigned website using the ElementsLocal online franchise marketing software.  The new cutting edge design has been optimized to improve search engine placement and to increase lead conversion.  “Our 2.5 year partnership with Sport Clips enables our combined team to produce extraordinary interfaces to communicate their unique brand message,” says, Michael Boyer, COO of ElementsLocal.

The SportClips.com website features:

• Implemented SEO best practices
• Simplified navigation to make it easier for users to find Sport Clips locations near them
• Striking sports-themed visuals that are consistent with the Sport Clips in-store design

Sport Clips is a themed haircut chain for men that includes services such as a relaxing massaging shampoo, a hot towel facial and a neck and shoulder massage to finish.  “Our new website was inspired by our unique Sport Clips Client Experience,” said Martha England, Vice President of Marketing at Sport Clips, Inc. “SportClips.com features better search engine optimization and an enhanced user interface that will make finding our site easier and learning more about Sport Clips an enjoyable experience.”

To learn more about the new Sport Clips website or their business partnership with ElementsLocal you can view the press releasse here.

ElementsLocal is excitedly preparing for IFA 2012.  We are launching our BrandLocal campaign at IFA.  Please stop by our booth 724 to find out that that means for the future of Franchise Online Marketing.

Make an appointment to meet with our Franchise Online Marketing experts at www.ifaconference.com.  Setting up an appointment will ensure you reserve your spot to roll the dice at a chance to win $25,000. Rolls are limited, so sign up now.

Tips on making this conference the most productive:

• Planning – reaching out for networking now to make the most of the IFA potential
• Bring power and power cords (We have power in booth 724!)
• Face time appointments – reaching out now to people to make time for personal interaction.
• Prepared to go with the Flow – knowing full well all plans can change at a moments notice, be prepared to move forward with any glitches that come your way and still make the most of the IFA experience

Make an appointment with your ElementsLocal team at www.ifaconference.com

The use of call tracking numbers in your Franchise Online Marketing ads is very useful because it is a great way to track incoming ad generated leads for your franchisees.  Search Engines like Google aim to provide the most useful and accurate information for users, so a local phone number is always preferred.  That being said, if you are using a call tracking phone numbers in your advertising you may be run up against a few challenges.

There are three fundamental reasons why call tracking numbers can cause issues with Google Places, and other directories, and and even organic search rankings.

1. Google may not recognize the call tracking number as your local number and think you’re spamming.
2. You may confuse Google because many local business directories use the phone number as a key identifier for individual businesses. A phone number is often an easy ID to use for indexing businesses because they are generally prone to less variation in how they’re presented in databases or on webpages. A second phone number associated with a location may ‘devalue’ that location or produce a duplicate location.
3. If the business ever changes call tracking solution providers or stops using the tracking numbers, the phone numbers they’ve been using will stop working, yet will be published throughout the Internet

We suggest using a locally recognized phone number and when you are able to, purchase the use of that phone number for your exclusivity for use in the call tracking. That way that phone number will remain consistant when changing providers or stop using the tracking numbers. There are also new ways to place call tracking technology on your existing phone numbers.

We also suggest that as part of your inside sales procedures for franchisees, asking callers directly where they found you  You may or may not be able to collect that data from your franchisees, but at the very least encourage the collection of the data.  Have the employees who answer the phone write down responses for you to see later. This remains an excellent and free way of polling to see how effective different channels are performing.  Optimize leads by asking for referrals as well.

The data and feedback for our advertising campaigns is imperative, but you also need to follow good SEO practice to drive business locally.

ElementsLocal has worked with many Franchises on call tracking and has integrated the service directly into our platform..  Take an online tour today: elementslocal.com.