Unity and individuality play crucial roles in franchise marketing.
However, maintaining consistent branding while catering to varied markets is like telling someone to whisper loudly—it's a bit of a contradiction. How are franchises supposed to maintain cohesive branding when every market has its own distinct flavor?
The answer? A franchise marketing portal.
Similar to an e-commerce storefront, a franchise marketing portal centralizes all of your marketing assets in an easy-to-use, online platform where franchisees can browse, customize, and order the marketing assets they need when they need them.
Keep reading to learn how a franchise marketing portal ensures brand-compliant marketing materials that resonate with the local vibes of each franchise location, including:
- Customized print marketing materials for each franchise location.
- Franchise signage, displays, and graphics.
- Branded apparel and promotional products for franchises.
- Demographic and diverse messaging through variable imagery.
Customized Print Marketing Materials For Each Franchise Location
Franchise print marketing efforts need to reflect each location's unique demographics, cultural nuances, and diverse audiences. For example, what appeals to urban customers often might not resonate with customers in a rural area, and vice versa.
However, customizing marketing materials for each franchise location can overwhelm corporate marketing teams due to the sheer volume and variety of requests. Not only does this strain bandwidth and resources, but it can also lead to delays and missed opportunities.
Fortunately, implementing a franchise marketing portal makes it fast and efficient for franchisees to produce brand-compliant print marketing materials customized for their location.
Here’s how it works.
First, corporate marketing teams create design templates for print marketing materials, such as brochures, flyers, direct mail postcards, and business cards.
These templates lock key branding elements in place, such as logos, color schemes, and fonts. Franchisees can also customize certain sections of the templates with images, special offers, and information specific to their location.
Next, the template files are uploaded to the marketing portal and ready for franchisees to customize and order the marketing materials they need with minimal involvement from corporate marketing teams.
For corporate teams that want to approve all orders, automated approval workflows within the portal can be customized so that orders are routed for review before production.
This drastically expedites the time from design to delivery, reduces the strain on corporate marketing teams, and ensures consistent quality of print marketing collateral across all franchise locations.
A franchise marketing portal's utility extends beyond brochures and business cards. Franchisees can also use the portal to order and customize signage, displays, window graphics, and other types of large-format printing.
>>> Learn more about marketing portals and managing print materials more effectively.
Franchise Signage, Displays, and Graphics
Signage, displays, and graphics are critical for brand recognition and driving foot traffic.
“One of the most common requests we receive from franchisees is to produce branded signage and displays. These materials serve as a critical component of our franchisees' local marketing efforts, allowing them to establish a visible presence in their respective communities and attract potential customers. Whether it's storefront signage, outdoor banners, or promotional displays for events and trade shows, franchisees rely on these printed materials to create a lasting impression and drive foot traffic to their locations,” said Ben Davis, CEO of The Gents Place franchise.
The importance of signage and graphics are critical for visual branding well before a location even opens its doors.
“Window graphics during construction that include the website, who and what they are, and where to apply are extremely helpful to provide while the franchisee begins building their team and community,” said Lily Collins, owner of The Daily Pilates® franchise.
Yet, producing signage and large-format print materials for multiple franchise locations presents several challenges. 
For instance, not all franchise locations are built from the ground up. Some may have to adapt to an existing space that was previously occupied by another business. This requires careful consideration of the dimensions, location, and climate of each franchise.
For example, some locations might be indoors or inside of a mall, while other locations require outdoor signage. Another example is when one location requires an eight-foot sign, while another only has space for a five-foot sign.
With a franchise marketing portal, franchisees can access a selection of pre-designed templates for signage, displays, window graphics, and other large-format print assets that can be customized to suit the needs (and space) of their location.
Keep in mind that signage is more complex and nuanced than flyers or business cards. For this reason, it’s best to work with a printing partner that specializes in large-format printing services and installation-ready signage. They will have the knowledge, experience, and digital printing technology to ensure a uniform look across all locations, regardless of sizing or architectural impediments.
Branded Apparel and Promotional Products for Franchises
While a franchise marketing portal excels at facilitating localized marketing, it can also be used as an online storefront where franchisees can order promotional products, apparel, and branded merchandise.
This provides a multitude of benefits for both franchisors and franchisees, including:
- consistent presentation across all locations.
- streamlining the procurement process and eliminating the guesswork for franchisees.
- efficiencies that can significantly impact the bottom line and operational fluency of the entire franchise network.
- reporting and tracking mechanisms that allow corporate direct insight at an operational level.
Customizable user settings within the portal can be structured to offer franchisees various financing options, such as direct payment or drawing from a pre-allocated marketing budget provided by the franchisor.
Franchise Marketing Made Easy with Artisan Colour
Maintaining consistent colors and branding is tough for any business, especially for franchises where the complexity of branding and operational demands increases with each new location. Artisan Colour is here to help with OrderJet, our state-of-the-art franchise marketing portal.
One of the biggest benefits of our franchise marketing portal is what lies behind it: turnkey access to all of Artisan Colour’s printing, fulfillment, promotional product purchasing, and distribution services.
Print Marketing Materials
- Brochures, business cards, menus, direct mail postcards
- Signage, wall and window graphics, POS displays
- Promo items, branded apparel, training manuals
Inventory Management
- Secure, onsite warehousing and storage
- Real-time inventory updates and reporting
- Automated notifications for low-stock levels
Fulfillment and Distribution
- Order processing and on-demand online ordering
- Kitting, assembly, insertion, packaging
- Shipping, tracking, delivery notifications
For over 26 years, we've merged traditional craftsmanship with modern digital printing technologies to deliver exceptional print and marketing fulfillment solutions for franchises across the nation.
Contact us today to learn how Artisan Colour’s expertise, experience, and technology make it easier than ever to manage, produce, and distribute high-quality franchise marketing materials.
Editor's note: This blog was originally published in April of 2023, but has since been updated with relevant information.
