DIGITAL

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Walk before you run.
Take each suggestion and recommendation to transform
your tech one step at a time. If your website is not yet mobileoptimized,
use that as your starting block. If you are already
mobile-optimized, start to examine apps.
Evaluate opportunities, but don’t feel compelled to do
everything.
This point is especially important for social media purposes.
For example, a restaurant or vendor that sells products would
probably benefit from a Pinterest and Instagram account,
where they can show off specific items. A service-based
franchise, however, may not be a good fit for visual social
media platforms.
Stay true to your brand and demographic.
Creating a loyal online following comes after you have
created a loyal customer base. Utilize technology to enhance
your brand, but not to change it. Apps and social media sites
provide new platforms to reach your demographic, but can
also lead you astray.
DEEPER DIVE: FIVE WAYS TRANSFORMATIVE
TECHNOLOGY CAN MORE EFFICIENTLY TELL YOUR
BRAND’S STORY
Now that you know more about transformative technologies
and how to integrate them into your franchise businesses,
let us transition into a discussion on how they can provide
compelling pathways for brand storytelling — how you share
your brand’s vibe, culture and values through persistent and
engaging marketing programs.
1. Incorporate video into all forms of digital marketing
First and foremost, in today’s online marketing world,
video always wins. Why? Because human beings are likely to
spend extended periods of time watching moving images and
sounds. Static text or photos don’t command the same kind of
attention from web. As such, search engines and social media
sites such as Facebook reward the use of video.
Incorporate well-shot and tightly edited video productions
into your digital assets. Websites, social posts, blogs, landing
pages and more with video always outperform other formats.
Pivoting your mindset on this from static text and photos to
active video takes a team effort. Your social and public relations
team, web developers, e-mail distribution company and more
all need to collaborate to bring video to the forefront. Several
marketing departments at franchise companies are already
shifting resources towards full-time video production teams.
2. Mobile apps are more than just for placing orders
Mobile apps provide brands a unique storytelling
opportunity, but it takes creative ideas to think beyond the
typical app, which most commonly is designed to allow
customers to place orders.
Additional options to consider include:
• Customer-driven, branded photos and videos,
• Video games,
• Project management – keep your customers up to
date,
• Behind the scenes access to news, information and
executives only available on the app, and
• Alert push notifications.
The list goes on, but more importantly, mobile apps
provide a platform to continue the story about your brand. As
mobile devices outpace other forms of computer technologies,
developing an app strategy is going to become increasingly
common.
3. Tread lightly on in-store technologies
There are a variety of in-store marketing considerations to
make, such as oversized monitors and self-ordering kiosks, but
today’s hottest in-store marketing topic is the beacon.
Becoming all the rage in retail, beacons are simple
Bluetooth technologies that can customize dining, shopping,
traveling and entertainment experiences by tracking customer
experiences.
For example, a guest could arrive at hotel and be greeted
with a very personal message based on their preferences and
travel history. Their hotel amenities usage, such as restaurants
and workout facility, could all be tracked, and special messages
could then be shared with that guest throughout their visit. The
transmission of data back and forth between customers and
brands is powerful and can be used to create an experience
completely personal.
4. Content aggregation
Until recently it was hard to justify spending the thousands
that it would take to thoroughly monitor your brand online –
review sites, social media, message boards, blogs and more.
But, content aggregation tools have come a long way.
These monitoring applications can assist immensely and will
be transformative in terms of your ability to assess sentiment,
respond to complaints, resolve issues and more effectively tell
your brand story.
You will take greater control over your brand’s story by
being able to “social listen” with greater ease and shape
conversation in real time.
A few to consider include Hootsuite for Agencies, Likeable
VIP and Agorapulse.
5. Virtual Reality
Now this is some heavy stuff. It’s rarely seen today, but
you’ll be hearing more about it on a regular basis in the coming
years. Virtual reality will become a consumer marketing channel
that will vastly enhance brand storytelling.
Consider that you will be able to visit a restaurant virtually
before setting foot in it. Or, that you can visualize products
and services before they are actually in hand or performed.
Leading companies such as Google have begun to transform
our world into virtual experiences.
Gartner, a technology research firm, predicts that 25 million
virtual headsets will be in consumer hands by 2018…the future
is arriving quickly.
Jamie Izaks is president and
founder of All Points Public
Relations and Katharine Nichols
is a senior lead for the company.
Find them at fransocial.franchise.
org
32 FRANCHISING WORLD NOVEMBER 2015