Is your QSR chain ready for multichannel marketing? 5 things You must have in your online/offline marketing mix

New digital marketing platforms- a flash in the pan, or something to seriously focus on? While traditional marketing channels are still relevant, like all other companies in the global marketplace franchises are moving their marketing to new media. Facebook, Twitter, Pointpal… should you be using them? More to the point, how should you be using them?

Franchise marketing is complex compared to marketing other types of businesses. Is your franchise chain approaching the growth in marketing channels with the right foundations? Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start with new media; the options are almost boundless and it’s possible to waste your valuable time if you don’t have a strategy firmly in place.

The fact is, digital channels will come and go over time, but a live, maintained database of contacts will retain its value. The list of apps allowing push notifications is growing every day; you can’t be everywhere at once! Apps, programs and sites do become obsolete or little-used and it’s difficult to predict which ones will stand the test of time. Remember faxes? Some of your younger customers may not!

To run a successful business, you need to future-proof it. Building a marketing platform across many channels in a targeted way with a definite strategy is the first step but it’s not the only thing to consider. I’m concerned that many chains do not have a well set-up, well backed-up, single, point of truth database. This should be the hub of your multi channel marketing strategy. Your ability to hold your data outside any single channel, and being able to apply it across various marketing channels is extremely important. You need to be able to analyse the collected data, segregate it, di-duplicate it, augment it from campaigns and generally maintain it in an efficient and effective manner.

It’s actually pretty simple once you get your focus right. Ask yourself why you are collecting this data. Why is it important to gain a snapshot of your customer base? For a franchised chain, the strategy with digital can’t only be about collecting useful data but also allocating it; where should this data be used? Could it be distributed to different territories or franchisees to allow effective LSM activity coordinated off a single data source? If the answer is yes, then you have a starting point.

Large companies with big budgets can host their databases in-house, but some fall into the trap of using their POS or online ordering system as a default, single point of truth database. These systems are usually not designed to act in this capacity and connecting them to other channels can be problematic. My advice is to have a neutral (non channel-aligned), single point of truth. It can be in-house or outsourced but it must connect all the marketing channels you have selected and it must centralise your data in one place. If it cannot do this, it is simply wasting your valuable time.

Social media is here to stay, but I have seen businesses getting confused with its purpose. Use it as a digital marketing channel but do not make that channel the core and host of your database. For example, using Facebook as the main channel and host of your data can potentially be dangerous as it might not be as popular in the future. A franchise needs to be able to trigger campaigns beyond a current trend. What will the social media marketplace look like in 5 years… in 10?

Don’t be monogamous - spread your marketing love around! Your strategy should include multiple channels, and don’t discount combining new media and good old-fashioned ‘offline’ to reach your targeted consumer. Any data collected should include the right fields and the marketing platform must allow the supplementing of existing databases with new data collected via campaigns from other methods.

Your business could choose to collect contacts from an in-store loyalty app like Pointpal then use a push notification to drive a promotion or competition to match these contacts with mobile numbers and email addresses. You could then use electronic direct marketing to invite your contacts to join a club, registering their physical addresses in order to receive a direct marketing reward. Remember there has to be some benefit to your customer. This simple strategy utilises 3 channels and augments an existing database twice. If you do not have a solid platform, this cannot be done effectively.

Digital marketing is here to stay, but traditional channels like flyers and POS can still play a big role. You need to accept that customers now consume marketing in different ways. It’s important to enhance traditional methods with digital content like linking QR codes to websites on flyers, this will lead your consumers back to the overall database, keeping all your contacts together for you to use again.

This needs to happen at the national level and at the local level, but it’s not always easy! Executing digital campaigns based on nationally collected data, linked to territories or stores is a major challenge. We know that LSM is usually a fundamental part of your marketing mix. You cannot just block franchisees from digital, but opening it up completely is dangerous, especially as your experience in some channels could be limited. Every QSR chain need a well thought out strategy utilising appropriate channels, but with controls and measures firmly in place.

So how to start?

1. Build and maintain a solid single point of truth database independent to any marketing channels.
2. Provide marketing teams with systems and tools to be able to implement campaigns across channels from your database efficiently. Make sure they will not be bogged down with administrative work.
3. Link your digital and traditional channels together.
4. Have a solid platform to manage local and national campaigns.
5. Have a vision for how franchisees can execute LSM in the digital world, leveraging the chain database in a controlled manner.

Used in the right way, new marketing platforms can help you make the most of marketing your business, but without some forethought and planning, you’ll soon find that you’re falling behind. New media is nothing to be afraid of, provided you begin with these simple 5 steps.