In this series, we speak with Steve Buors, CEO and co-founder of Reshift Media, a Canadian-owned franchise digital marketing agency that works with more than 200 multi-location brands globally, to understand and leverage the expected franchise trends of 2023.

In recent years, consumer behaviour trends have shifted to shopping at and supporting local businesses. Establishing a personal connection as well as contributing to the micro-economy of their own backyards have driven purchasing with purpose and consumers are making efforts to buy from vendors in their area.

In fact, according to Shopify, 49% of North Americans are more likely to purchase from a brand due to its local presence, and CFIB reports that 66% of consumers say they make efforts to buy from small businesses.

But for those living in non-urban cities where franchise and big-box options are more plentiful than mom and pop shops, how can franchises bank on the opportunity to speak to consumers’ sense of purpose?

“The challenge many franchise systems face is that consumers often do not realize that their locations are locally owned and operated, instead believing that they are part of a ‘big business,’” says Steve Buors, CEO and co-founder of Reshift Media.

Buors says to combat this misperception and capitalize on the “buy local” opportunity, he recommends that franchises explore ways to increase visibility for local searches and communicate that the business is indeed a part of the community.

Below, he highlights how to leverage digital platforms to boost localization as a differentiator.

Activate Google Business Profile and Bing Places

All locations should be listed on these platforms, says Buors. Fully completing location profiles, including phone number, operating hours, photos and the business category will ensure the location is found when a consumer uses “near me” searches, such as “restaurants near me.” “Ideally each listing should be hyperlinked to a local page on their website (as opposed to the corporate homepage) to further increase the local relevance,” he says.

Develop local social media pages

“To help emphasize their ‘localness,’ I recommend franchise systems consider implementing local social media pages (such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok) for their locations to replicate their physical footprint online,” says Buors. By using Facebook’s Locations framework, local company profiles have the ability to easily house shared content from head office such as pricing and local deals, photos of the location’s storefront, videos of the team, and more. This method can net franchise’s plenty of benefits besides emphasizing their place within the community – these types of posts have been shown to be effective among consumer engagement.

Create local ad campaigns

It’s unnecessary for franchise owners to be solely responsible for coming up with their own social content. Beyond organic posting, local social media properties also allow franchises to create local ad campaigns which can include information and granular targeting that’s specific to their location. “We saw an explosion of this type of local-specific advertising in 2022, and given the ongoing buy-local trend and the expected economic headwinds in 2023, we expect to see local advertising continue to accelerate as franchise systems look to improve their advertising performance and out-maneuver their competitors,” says Buors.

Language matters

“From a messaging perspective, we recommend avoiding communications and digital ads that contain generic ‘buy from your nearest location’ or ‘at participating locations’ terminology,” says Buors. Instead, he advises that the goal is to emphasize the fact that the store is locally owned and operated – all messaging should drive that home. “This will naturally create additional social media engagement in the communities where the company operates,” he says.