How to Produce Compliant Content for Your Franchise Local SEO Strategy

whats that 264245 m 150x150 How to Produce Compliant Content for Your Franchise Local SEO StrategyNowadays, it’s becoming more and more imperative to have franchisee websites for franchise local SEO. Visitors want to find a solution for their problems or needs and they require local and customized content that caters to them specifically. Case in point: according to Content+, 60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content. And who knows local audiences better than the partners that serve them, right?

But, at the same time, having partners write for their franchisee website (even if it’s only once in a blue moon), can be really stressful for corporate. This is because they fear that brand compliance could take a hit! From the topics, to the tone and how they approach clients, it all represents who they are as a company: it’s their brand voice, and getting it wrong, means being misrepresented.

If you want to take advantage of content marketing for your company (and get the SEO and lead generation perks it can bring) without jeopardizing your presence online, here are a few tips and areas to look after so that you can rest assured that your brand is only getting stronger!

The Pre-production Stage

Train Your Franchisees

Establish clear goals and parameters and let your partners know about them! Train them well in the ways of SEO and content marketing and make it clear on what’s expected from them. Obviously, they won’t have the time to become masters at it but, by giving them clear goals and letting them chime once in awhile, you’ll have a localized content strategy that addresses specific needs!

Offer Support

Content isn’t a one time thing and training shouldn’t be either! Make sure they understand what they’re doing and give them notes to better themselves. Just as you expect something from them, they’ll expect you or your team to be of help in their content process.

Get Help

It’s a good idea to have a team of writers to review what your franchisee websites produce. They could even write up templates for them to customize and expand on. A content strategy is a lot of work and a team of experts could make it run a bit more smoothly.

Topic Guidance

Finding inspiration on what to write about is hard! So if you want your partners to be part of content from time to time, you should give them topics to write about! Topics should be compliant and customizable to fit the franchise local SEO audiences.

At the same time, are there any subjects to avoid? You should let them know what isn’t appropriate for them to dig into. This can also be tied into what you’re trying to achieve or target with your content.

Round it Up in a Document

Handouts can be great for maintaining brand voice. You can prepare a document with all the points in this post (plus, some examples to make the points clear) and have it ready for your partners! Moreover, if you recruit new partners for your team, it’ll be easier to handout this set of rules!

Producing Compliant Partner Content

Referring to Customers

Some companies have a specific terminology for their customers and if your company is like that, you should let your partners know so they don’t mess it up! How should they approach readers?

Referring to the Company

There’s a specific way companies refer to themselves and to their products or services in written form. Should it be in italics, bold, just initials, should they link out to it, should they include the trademark, or the specific location of the unit? These are questions that should be answered!

Watching the Tone

The tone used can give the text a different interpretation. Should they write conversationally, technically, in a friendly approach or with a humorous tone? Establish this so your brand voice is protected!

The Go-To Words/Phrases

There are certain words or phrases that speak to you and that your partners should pump up in content (which could also be keywords you may want to rank for). What are they and how should they be used?

The No-No Words/Phrases

On a similar note, certain words can be controversial or simply don’t go with the image you’re trying to portray. Anything from rude language, to the mention of competitors in posts, this should be laid out to avoid confusion and bad results in content!

Technicalities

This could be a bit more complicated but it can affect the tone in your brand’s image! Should they write in a passive or active voice? What verb tense should they talk in? Some of these may not be required all of the time, but it’s a good idea to keep them in mind for certain topics.

Extra Tips for a Compliant Partner Marketing Strategy

Collaboration

Remember to always collaborate with the creation of the franchisee websites, they have the local expertise at the end of the day! Share tips, hear their concerns and make sure the communication channels are opened to get rich feedback on your franchise local SEO strategies!

Proofreading

Be sure (whether it’s you, your marketing or content department), to review everything they produce right before publishing to make sure it’s compliant and well written.
If you still feel a bit icky about letting your partners take care of the franchise local SEO from time to time, we can help you out with it! We talk to you and come up with an SEO and content plan that will take the burden of content off your shoulders.

Produce Compliant Partner Content with Empowerkit!

logo 150x150 How to Produce Compliant Content for Your Franchise Local SEO StrategyA great alternative to make sure you always have fresh, targeted and locally relevant content that won’t misrepresent your brand is with Empowerkit! Not only is it an intuitive website builder that provides flexibility to partners and allows corporate to oversee and control brand compliance, but, it offers a variety of services to help your brand succeed online! Our team of experts will help you and your franchisee websites with SEO, content marketing, social media management, business listings, among other tactics aimed at getting you seen!

Each content will be produced specifically for your company and for franchise local SEO partners!  At the end of the day, you’ll have a localized strategy that will engage readers and get you a higher rank online!

Conclusion

A franchise local SEO strategy is great for you, your partners and your company! Not only does it show your readers that you care about their needs but it also gives you authority in your field. Still, if you’re worried about compliance and want to make sure that there won’t be a crack in your brand’s voice, remember to follow what was mentioned in this post! By having a strong brand presence online, there will be no stopping you: you’ll be able to increase lead generation and ROI through your franchisee websites!

October 7, 2013

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