Top Strategies for Marketing a Franchise Online

By Mideya Kinney | February 13, 2026

According to reports from the IFA (International Franchise Association), franchise growth exceeded projections for 2024, even in the face of ongoing economic uncertainty. Growth rate in 2024 reached 2.2%, exceeding the 1.9% projections, and was expected to grow an additional 2.4% in 2025.

Key Takeaways

Franchise growth is rising, and so is competition—making digital marketing more important than ever.
Franchise marketing must balance national brand consistency with location-level local strategy.
Listings management and a franchise-ready website are foundational for trust, visibility, and lead generation.
Franchise SEO and PPC work together to drive both long-term traffic and fast, high-intent leads.
Social media, email/SMS, and reputation management help build loyalty, engagement, and repeat business.
Hibu One brings all of these strategies into one platform, making it easier to manage and scale franchise marketing.

As the franchise industry becomes increasingly more popular in the U.S., that means competition among franchise owners and brands increases as well. So, as a franchisee or franchisor, how do you maintain a competitive edge in the market?

With a well-executed digital marketing strategy.

Let’s take a look at the top franchise online marketing strategies that will help you stay ahead of the game.

What is franchise marketing?

Simply put, franchise marketing consists of marketing strategies specifically created for businesses that have multiple locations.

Franchise marketing is unique in that it must consider both national and local audiences. Each location needs to consider both the corporate brand partner’s requirements, while also tailoring promotions and strategies to regional market nuances. At the same time, franchisors need to be cognizant of creating a profitable brand and business model that their franchisees can easily replicate.

This complex balance is why it’s so important to have the right marketing strategies in place.

Top strategies for marketing a franchise online

Both offline and online marketing strategies have their merits when it comes to franchise marketing, but not only are we a digital marketing company, the data tells us that 65% of franchise leads come from digital marketing channels, so we’ll be covering exclusively the online strategies in this blog post. Let’s get into it.

1. Listings management allows you to own your local presence

Research tells us that 62% of consumers would avoid using a business if they found incorrect information online. So, making sure your information—name, address, phone number (NAP), hours, etc.—is accurate and consistent everywhere your customers might be searching for you:

Google Business Profile: When a customer performs a local-specific search, your GBP is going to populate as one of the first few results. Make sure your profile is claimed and verified, then update it with the correct NAP, services, hours, website, social profiles, and photos of your business. The work doesn’t stop there, though. Keep it continually up to date with holiday hours, fresh photos, posts, and any other changes.
Your website: After potential customers find your GBP, they’ll probably head to your website next. Don’t leave them astray with conflicting information between the two.
Social media profiles: Your social profiles also play a major role, as they are now a primary channel for brand discovery. In fact, 52% of online brand discovery happens in public social feeds. Keep your information accurate on all the profiles you manage, in case someone stumbles across your location there.
Online directories: Aside from the online channels you manage, your business information can be listed on sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, Better Business Bureau (BBB), Nextdoor, and dozens of others without you even knowing. Check our Business Listings Scan to see if your franchise location is showing up incorrectly.

At the end of the day, listing management is about trust. If customers can’t quickly find accurate information about your business, they’ll move on to one that makes it easy. By taking control of your local presence across Google, your website, social platforms, and online directories, you’re not just cleaning up your digital footprint; you’re making sure each of your franchise locations shows up confidently wherever your customers are looking.

2. A franchise-focused website that’s built to drive leads

Your website isn’t just a digital brochure for your franchise. It’s the foundation for your online presence and a powerful sales tool.

For franchise businesses specifically, your website has to do a lot of heavy lifting. It should represent the brand consistently at the national level, while still supporting each individual location with the local visibility and lead generation it needs to grow.

Which is exactly why a franchise-focused website isn’t just “nice to have,” it’s a must-have.
Work with your web developer or digital marketing partner to ensure it has these key components:

Dedicated location pages: Each of your locations should have its own optimized page that includes accurate NAP information, service details, business hours, photos, and a clear call-to-action (CTA). Not only do these pages help customers find the location nearest to them quickly, but they also play a huge role in local SEO. Meaning they help each franchise location show up in local search results.
Built-in SEO: Your franchise-focused website needs to be built to keep search engines in mind right from the start. It should have clean site architecture, fast load times, a mobile-friendly design, optimized title tags and metadata, and content that targets both national and local search terms. All this also helps you get found in AI searches as well.
A conversion-focused design: Just because someone is visiting your website doesn’t mean they’re going to turn into a customer. You need to turn traffic into leads. And that happens when your site has strong calls-to-action, click-to-call buttons, simple contact forms, and clear navigation.
Consistent brand with local flexibility: Franchisors want brand consistency across the board, and rightly so; they worked hard to build that brand. But franchisees still need room to highlight local promotions, community involvement, and market-specific offerings. A strong franchise website will have the best of both worlds by maintaining corporate-level design standards and personalizing where it matters.
Tracking and analytics: If you’re investing in marketing, you need to know what’s working. Your website should be equipped with tracking tools like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and call tracking so you can monitor where leads are coming from and make smarter decisions moving forward.

Your franchise website should act as a lead engine for every location—not just a brand showcase. When it’s built correctly, it helps support all your other marketing efforts, from SEO to paid ads to social media.

3. Franchise-focused SEO helps you top the search rankings

If you want your franchise locations to be found online consistently (without spending your entire marketing budget on paid ads), then search engine optimization (also known as SEO) needs to be a top priority.

SEO is what helps your business show up when potential customers search for things like:

“Best pizza franchise near me”
“Roof repair in [city]”
“Gym membership near [zip code]”
“HVAC company open now”

And when you consider that most customers don’t scroll past the first page of Google, ranking high in search results becomes a major competitive advantage.

Here’s the thing, though… SEO for franchise businesses isn’t the same as SEO for a single-location company. That means your strategy needs to be structured so that each franchise location has the opportunity to compete in its own market, without competing against other locations within the same brand.

Sounds complicated, but your SEO professional or digital marketing partner will know what to do.

However, you should still know what franchise-focused SEO includes:

Local SEO optimization for each location: This will help each franchise location rank in its specific service area.
A keyword strategy that supports national and local rankings: You’ll need to target both broad industry terms and location-based searches.
Unique, location-based content: Prevents duplicate content issues and improves relevance for local searches.
On-page SEO that strengthens visibility: Optimizes key elements on each web page like titles, headers, links, and metadata.
Review generation and reputation signals: Improves trust with customers and boosts local search rankings.
Consistency across locations: Keeps your SEO strategy effective and scalable as you grow.

Franchise-focused SEO will help you build a long-term pipeline of leads that doesn’t disappear the moment you stop spending money (which can happen with ads).

It strengthens your brand visibility, boosts credibility, and helps each franchise location compete within their local market.

4. Paid search advertising helps you generate leads fast

While SEO is a great long-term strategy for franchise growth, paid search advertising (or PPC) is one of the fastest ways to start generating leads.

Paid search allows your franchise locations to show up at the top of Google instantly… especially for high-intent searches such as:

“Emergency plumber near me”
“Best daycare in [city]”
“Carpet cleaning services near me”
“Buy tires near [zip code]”

Searches like these most often come from people who are ready to take action, making PPC a powerful tool for driving immediate results. In fact, franchise PPC campaigns generate 3.5x ROI on average.

But just like SEO, paid search for franchise businesses comes with its own unique challenges. You have to remember that you’re not just running one campaign, you’re often running campaigns across multiple locations, service areas, budgets, and competitive markets.

Building your PPC campaigns strategically will help.

Here’s what a successful franchise paid search strategy includes:

Location-specific targeting: Ensures ads are only showing to customers in each franchise’s service area.
Keyword targeting based on customer intent: Focuses your budget on searches that are most likely to turn into leads.
Strong landing pages for each franchise location: Improves conversions by matching the ad to a relevant local page.
Call and lead form tracking: Helps you measure what’s working and where your leads are coming from.
Consistent messaging with local customization: Keeps branding aligned while still allowing location-level promotions.
Budget control across multiple locations: Prevents overspending and helps allocate ad dollars where they have the most benefit.

Paid advertising helps put your franchise in front of your ideal customers at the exact right time. When your campaigns are set up and optimized properly, PPC becomes one of the most scalable ways to grow both brand visibility and revenue across every location.

Not sure where to start with PPC? Our Ads Campaigns solution is fully managed and powered by Hibu One, so our experts will build a comprehensive set of ads for you and run the campaigns across Google, Bing, Meta, Amazon, and much more.

[Related: How Search and Display Ads Work]

5. Social media marketing builds trust and drives local engagement

Social media used to be a place for businesses to jump on and post the occasional update or promotion, but not anymore. It’s now a vital channel for building brand awareness, connecting with customers, and staying top-of-mind in your local market.

And it’s especially valuable for franchises, because it gives each individual location the ability to create a community while still supporting the larger brand.

Whether customers find you through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or even LinkedIn, social media plays a major role in how people discover and evaluate businesses today. The data tells us that social media advertising drives 61% of franchise awareness.

A social media strategy is essential these days, and this is a good baseline for what it should include:

Consistent branding across all locations: We’ll keep hammering this point home because it keeps your franchise looking professional and recognizable no matter where customers find you.
Local content that feels authentic: Helps each location connect with its specific audience and community.
Promotion of services, events, and seasonal offers: Drives traffic by highlighting what customers care about right now.
Engagement and responsiveness: Builds trust by showing customers your business is active and accessible.
Paid social advertising: Expands your reach and helps you target local audiences with precision.

Social platforms are putting more and more focus on search and local business discoverability. So, having a solid presence there is just another way for franchise locations to stay visible.

6. Email and SMS marketing help you stay connected and drive repeat business

Getting a lead is great, but turning that lead into a customer (and keeping them coming back) is where real franchise growth happens.

That’s where email and SMS marketing come in.

These channels allow your franchise to stay in touch with prospects and customers directly, and since so many franchise businesses depend heavily on repeat visits, ongoing services, or seasonal demand, consistent communication can make a major impact.

Here are some ideas for what your franchise email and SMS strategy should include:

Lead follow-up automation: Helps you respond quickly to new inquiries before they move on to a competitor.
Appointment reminders and confirmations: Reduces no-shows and keeps your schedule running smoothly.
Promotions and limited-time offers: Drives quick action by putting timely deals right in front of customers.
Customer retention campaigns: Encourages repeat business with check-ins, service reminders, and loyalty messaging.
Segmentation by location and customer type: Ensures messages are relevant to the right audience in the right market.
Consistent branding with local messaging: Keeps communication aligned with the franchise brand while still feeling personal.

Use email and SMS marketing to help you build relationships over time. Instead of constantly chasing new customers, you’re staying top-of-mind with the people who already know your name… and making it easier for them to choose you again!

7. Online reputation management boosts trust (and sales)

In today’s digital-first world, your online reputation is your first impression.

Before customers call, book, or visit your franchise location, they’re going to do what about 93% of people do… check out your reviews. If they see a low rating, unanswered complaints, or inconsistent feedback across locations, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll move on to a competitor.

For franchises, reputation management is so important because customers don’t always separate the individual location from the brand as a whole. One poorly rated location can impact trust in the entire franchise. That’s why having a proactive online reputation strategy is key.

Here’s what franchise reputation management should include:

Consistent review generation: Encourages happy customers to leave reviews regularly, keeping ratings strong and current.
Responding to reviews quickly and professionally: Shows customers you care and helps protect your brand image.
Monitoring reviews across platforms: Ensures you don’t miss feedback on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and other directories.
Handling negative reviews strategically: Helps you resolve issues publicly and reduce long-term damage.
Location-level accountability: Keeps each franchise responsible for maintaining a strong local reputation.
Using customer feedback to improve operations: Turns reviews into actionable insights that strengthen service quality.

A strong online reputation builds trust, but it also improves local visibility. Google considers reviews when ranking businesses, meaning better ratings can help your franchise locations appear higher in search results.

At the end of the day, reputation management isn’t just about protecting your image. It’s about making sure customers feel confident choosing your franchise over the competition.

Hibu One makes marketing a franchise easy

We’ve walked through the top franchise digital marketing strategies, from local listings and SEO to paid ads, social media, email/SMS, and reputation management, so now you might be wondering how it all comes together in a real, manageable way.

That’s where Hibu One can help you out.

Hibu One is an all-in-one digital marketing platform designed to bring all the top strategies we just discussed together, so your franchise doesn’t have to juggle multiple vendors, logins, tools, or platforms to stay competitive online.

Here’s how Hibu One helps franchise marketing work smarter and more efficiently:

All your marketing in one place: Hibu One gives you a unified dashboard to manage your website, local listings, reviews, ads, SEO, email and SMS outreach, and more.
Built-in automation and AI: From automated email and text follow-ups to AI-powered lead tracking and performance insights, the platform helps you nurture and convert leads with less effort.
Consistent brand and localized execution: Whether you’re a franchisor managing national strategy or a franchisee focused on local growth, Hibu One helps balance brand consistency with market-specific customization.
Expert support behind the tech: You get help from our dedicated digital marketing specialists and professional guidance, so you’re never left guessing what to do next or how to optimize your campaigns.
Data that drives decisions: With performance tracking and insights built right into the platform, you can see what’s working across channels (and where to double down) without switching between tools.

Having the right strategies that work both individually and together can give each franchise location the visibility, engagement, and lead flow it needs to win locally while reinforcing the strength of the overall brand.

Not only does Hibu One make that happen, it makes it easier, faster, and more efficient than trying to build all of this yourself, piece by piece.

Ready to learn more about how Hibu One can take your franchise business to new heights? Call us today at 877-237-6120 or request a free Hibu One demo.