If you are very familiar with any of the business and franchising online communities, you have probably read quite a few posts, usually from owners of small franchises, about the ongoing cost of paying marketing fees to their franchisors. This is a typical small franchisee complaint, because franchisees for bigger franchising organizations are more readily able to see the positive results of the fees they are paying.
It is doubtful that any McDonalds owner would ever complain that the money paid in marketing fees are not well spent. For small franchise owners, however, the benefits may not be as obvious. In these cases, franchisees may feel that they are not "getting what they pay for".
Thinking Before Acting
Most of the complaints levied by franchisees about marketing fees stem from a lack of understanding about effective marketing. This is understandable, after all, many of them have little experience in marketing. This is one of the reasons that they chose to open a franchise instead of starting an independent company.
However, those who feel that their franchisors are not spending marketing fee money effectively should endeavor to educate themselves about their franchisor's marketing strategies before leveling accusations publicly. Not only do such complaints (especially if they are unfounded) cause friction between franchisor and franchisee, but in many instances, if the complaint is made in a public forum, it can be construed as a breach of contract. Therefore, any franchise owner is well advised to look into the issue very carefully before placing his or her business in jeopardy.
Understanding Marketing
Many franchisees seem to expect their franchisors to pursue flashy ads shot-gunned across a wide range of mediums. While media saturation may be great for a major restaurant chain or retail outlet, it isn't best for all companies. Most small franchisors provide businesses that cater to a very small niche market, often a subset of another industry. As such, advertising on television and in popular magazines would be futile.
Television is a very expensive medium to use in an effort to reach only a small demographic. Popular magazines would most likely fail to reach the target demographic at all. For these organizations, marketing must be as specialized as the services provided by their franchisees.
For most small franchising companies, the smart move is to advertise in trade publications, or online in popular trade-specific venues. In this way they are ensured that every advertising dollar spent is going toward reaching just the people that they want to reach. These venues are often less expensive, as well. Thinking Twice Since the advertising avenues pursued by small franchisors are more specific and less expensive, it allows for these franchisors to collect much smaller marketing fees from their franchisees. Complaining franchisees would do well to consider how much of their profits would be surrendered to support the massive marketing campaigns of the big names. Before lodging complaints, a franchisee should always endeavor to find out just how and where marketing is being conducted. If he or she still feels that marketing fees are being misused, he or she should look for ways within the organization to express a desire for change, rather than jeopardizing his or her contract by making inflammatory posts on the internet.
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