Lost in Translation

Posted on | July 8, 2010

All marketing is local. There, I’ve said it.

I like reading up on Franchise opportunities. They all boast about having ‘world-class marketing’ (where did that phrase come from anyway? It sounds like some sort of weird advert for hoovers) systems in place that will guarantee that their franchisees will make tons and tons of money.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I was always told that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The reality is most franchises fall down in translation – translating what they found successful in one area into another one. This isn’t as easy as it seems, and it’s a critical part of developing a marketing strategy for your franchise.

Repeat after me: All marketing is local. All marketing is local. All…you get the idea.

What works in one place won’t necessarily work in another. What works for one type of customer will turn another one off. You simply have to understand the local market before you send your new franchisee out to sell. If you don’t, they’ll get frustrated and accuse you of shoddy marketing. And they’d be right. Just because it worked in one area doesn’t mean it will work in another.

I speak three languages. That’s not bragging, it’s the truth. When you’re translating from another language, you very rarely do it literally – you almost always form your words in a way that will make sense to that new language. You adjust for your new audience.

It’s the same with marketing. When we create a marketing strategy for a franchise, we look to adjust it as new franchisees come on board. We translate it into the local market – taking advantages of what the local opportunities are.

Go on, say it one more time: All marketing is local.

- j

(this was originally written for The Franchise Gap)

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