If you’re a franchisee, you are most likely looking for opportunities to expand your business and improve your efficiencies. Scaling a franchise can be challenging, and many factors could impact your ability to grow. If you’re looking to scale your franchise, here are a few key considerations you should keep in mind.
Server Migration
The success of your franchise will depend, in part, on the success of the websites that support your business. Each location of your franchise should have its own site where customers can place orders, make bookings, and learn more about your products and services. Most small and medium-sized businesses will begin with a VPS and graduate to shared server space. However, dedicated servers are essential for maintaining high performance and speed for large franchises. Dedicated hosting services by Liquid Web offer “fully customizable dedicated server hosting with real-time monitoring and a 100% power and network uptime guarantee.” This means you never have to worry about optimizing your site, losing traffic to failed servers, etc. Your digital network’s technical aspects will be managed and secured through the dedicated team of IT professionals at Liquid Web. There are endless benefits to utilizing a dedicated server, including speed, reliability, uptime, site security, data security, cost, and much more. Migrating to a dedicated server can help you effortlessly scale your franchise as you see fit. A quality server environment is essential for operating a successful large-scale franchise.
Location & Team
As you expand your franchise, the location of your stores is an essential consideration. Your new store’s location can heavily impact your business’s success and your ability to operate efficiently. Always research the area ahead of time, so you are sure it will be a profitable investment. Not only is the site of your new expansion essential, but the new employees you hire to operate that new location are also essential. Hiring new team members is an integral aspect of scaling any business. Hiring skilled professionals with helpful experience can significantly improve your new business in the area. Always offer competitive benefits for your employees to attract skilled workers, and provide comprehensive training in their positions and other areas of professional development. Running a franchise requires a certain level of continuity across your store network, so effectively training your employees is vital for maintaining your brand. Conduct a competitive analysis of the area, and scout out a top-notch team to help launch your new store location successfully.
Marketing & Engagement
As a successful franchise owner, you understand the importance of marketing and engagement in building your brand. There are many low-cost marketing techniques, such as social media marketing and search engine optimization. Social media is a great way to engage with the locals in your new area. You can also do email campaigns, newsletters, in-person events, giveaways, and much more to help spread the word of your brand in that location. Engagement with your customers is an essential part of successful marketing. You want many followers and want them to interact with your content and visit your site to check out your products and services. You can create new content across your sites to rank higher on Google for specific competitive keywords. This SEO technique can be highly beneficial in the long run but will require work up front to create original content. These are just a few marketing strategies you can use, but having a solid marketing plan of action before launching your new location is essential.
Scaling a franchise of any kind requires a lot of work and market research to be successful. If you’re planning on growing your franchise this year, these considerations should help you succeed.
