Google’s 2011 ebook Winning at the Zero Moment of Truth has been downloaded over 200,000 times to date. While the brands from all scales, shapes and sizes are globally embracing this as the critical moment for strengthening their bottom lines, most brand marketers are left to wonder just how to get started.
Here’s the good news; Google followed up their 2011 version with the ZMOT Handbook, providing very practical tips on how to apply these principles to your strategy. So what’s the bad news? For several franchise brands, these principles remain un-implemented. (Perspective however, this bit of bad news spells opportunity and a win-win for you and the right marketing partner.) Google talks a lot about the multi-screen world we live in today; their largest move to date supporting this is about to come down when Enhanced Campaigns takes full effect across AdWords on July 22nd. This migration of desktop and mobile campaigns from the current capabilities in theory is designed to make it easier for marketers to reach their customers across all devices.
My point? For franchise and multi-unit brands, the local consumer path to purchase within today’s multi-screen world takes on a set of challenges of their own. It’s the whole national vs. local conversation, and finding the right balance between the two.
Safe to assume no one needs any more education around the importance of a brands findability and performance at the local store level. This message has been engrained. The same could be said regarding a true mobile strategy. So why then do most franchise systems in high growth mode continue to miss the mark? Budget deficiencies? Lack of a national ad fund? Both? Perhaps this question should be placed directly on the desk of every CFO and CEO of franchise systems under 200 active units who fall into this bucket. It’s critical to implement these strategies to remain competitive, as well as to retain and grow market share. We all have a bottom line to manage, I promise, I understand that. However the franchisee is most at stake here.
At risk of over plugging my friends in Mountain View, a recent case study regarding how American Apparel increased mobile conversions by 100% with their early upgrade to Enhanced Campaigns should frankly speak for itself. The summer season is upon us, ripe for outdoor activities, active wear and sports and fitness business unit growth. I see plenty of opportunities across the multi-screen channels for the sports and fitness vertical specifically. Some strong up and comers such as Orange Theory Fitness are really embracing this, while enjoying some monstrous growth at the same time. Other more established brands such as Gold’s Gym are working towards getting there. No matter the vertical, your customers, both current and future, are searching for you.
The data is everywhere. Mobile, local and social consumer engagement continues to climb at an astronomical rate. The times of remaining on the sidelines while your competition gobbles up new customer conversions is over. Get in the game. Your franchisees will thank you, I promise.