In the fiercely competitive food and beverage market, a recognisable brand and a proven system are just the starting point. To start cooking with gas, you have to master the art of local marketing. If you’re relying on the brand to attract customers without actively building your local presence, you risk being EEATen alive by the competition.
EEAT is Google’s algorithm that determines the quality and relevance of a website, and more importantly, it’s how customers decide who to trust. It stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. While it’s an expectation that franchise owners should understand marketing, it’s the least likely skill set franchisees bring to the table. Great franchisors provide a clear recipe for success in the business, and offering bite-sized, actionable steps that make local marketing palatable and compelling is a vital part of that process.
What Is EEAT and How Does It Relate to a Food & Beverage Franchise?
EEAT isn’t just about search engine rankings; it’s about building a robust and resilient brand at a local level. For a food and beverage franchise, EEAT is the foundation of your reputation and the key to attracting ideal customers and team members.
- Experience: This is about delivering on your brand promise. It’s the taste of your food, the quality of your coffee, and the atmosphere of your store. It’s the entire menu, not just a taste of what might Franchisees need to deliver experiences that bring people back, creating a positive word-of-mouth reputation that extends far beyond the brand’s national or global standing.
- Expertise: This is the in-depth knowledge your team has about your products and services. It’s the barista who can recommend the perfect coffee blend or the server who knows the ingredients in every dish. This expertise builds credibility and reinforces that you are a quality brand with quality offerings. It’s a key factor in building the valuable ‘know, like, and trust’ factor that customers seek.
- Authoritativeness: This is your brand’s reputation as a go-to authority in your local community. It’s the public recognition of your quality. Winning awards is a powerful way to build this authority. Displaying awards from organisations like the Australian Small Businesses Champion and the Franchise Association Awards everywhere – from your store to your social media – signals to customers that you are a brand they can trust and rely on to deliver.
- Trustworthiness: This is arguably the most crucial element of EEAT. It’s the trust you build with your community through consistent quality, positive customer interactions, and transparent One of the most effective ways to build trustworthiness is by encouraging and managing online reviews. A QR code on the counter, at the table, or on a pizza box can make it easy for customers to share their positive experiences. When a poor review does come in, responding quickly and positively shows that you care and are committed to customer satisfaction. Building a steady stream of positive reviews helps to bury the bad ones and solidify your reputation.
Creating a Compelling Marketing Menu
While the allure of a recognised franchise brand and proven system remains strong, franchisees must be proactive marketers. Franchisors need to create marketing plans that are simple to follow and campaigns that are easy to implement. It’s about spoon-feeding the information and making it effortless for franchisees to participate. This proactive approach helps your business become a standout success. The goal is to develop opportunities for people to experience the brand locally.
Hello Harry, with 18 stores across Australia, understands this perfectly. For them, local area marketing is all about community engagement and involvement. Development Agent Deb Fife explains that they have a 12-month marketing calendar that all stores follow, making it easy for franchisees to take action. This calendar includes “sponsoring sports clubs, schools, community groups, volunteering & providing gifting, prizes, vouchers.” This community connection is what builds their brand reputation and creates opportunities for people to experience the brand.
To ensure consistency in this experience, Hello Harry provides extensive training. Head office offers five weeks of training, with one week dedicated to business training, followed by two weeks on-site, with quarterly on-site reviews. This ensures that the frontline team is consistently delivering on the brand promises.
Delivering the Full Menu
Franchisees can’t rely solely on the head office to do everything for them. The brand’s national reputation gives people a taste of the experience they might have in store, but the local experience is the entire menu. Franchisees must have delectable offerings that match the brand on their menu, and they need to be able to deliver on them, creating experiences that bring people back. This includes tailoring marketing efforts for maximum impact by understanding the local audience.
Miguelitios Ice Cream, a brand with a 23-year history and 600 stores globally, supports its franchisees through a centrally managed social media strategy. President Michelle Aman explains that HQ’s team creates targeted campaigns using “geotargeting and highly targeted trending topics, plus utilising the credibility of brand ambassadors.” This ‘branding by association’ and leveraging of well-known celebrity figures helps the franchise brand tap into search and build credibility.
Dawg Boys, a brand launched in 2021 with eight sites, places a heavy emphasis on building trust through its local marketing. Chris Rishi from Dawg Boys describes their strategy as an “age-old tactic often found in traditional F&B.” He says the company trains its teams to serve with a smile, “approaching people on the street with a highly personalised invitation to come inside the restaurant.” They then seat people instead of solely driving take-away, believing that people are drawn to the busiest restaurant as “that’s a sign it’s good.” This intensive training approach, with four of the six weeks spent in-store and monthly on-site audits, ensures that the service skillset is deeply embedded in the company culture.
Your Recipe for Success
The goal is to provide franchisees with a recipe to follow, including bite-sized marketing activities that are compelling and palatable, not overwhelming gluttony. By engaging in tactical local marketing, you can build a reputation of trust and authority that extends far beyond your national brand.
- Develop a simple, actionable marketing calendar that your team can
- Provide comprehensive training on both business operations and the importance of customer service.
- Make it easy for customers to leave reviews, sharing their experience with you on social media, and train your teams on how to respond positively to all feedback.
- Encourage your team to get involved in their local communities through sponsorships and events.
- Utilise tools like geotargeting and automated local marketing and social media platforms to connect with local audiences.
By encouraging locals to taste test your brand and ensuring that your team can deliver on the expected service, you’ll build the trust and authority that’s essential for long-term sustainable growth.
Lauren Clemett is a Keynote speaker, International award-winning Neurobranding specialist and best selling author with over 25 years brand management experience. Lauren shares how to overcome overwhelm and lead with direction, purpose and meaning, making marketing your professional services a walk in the park!
www.yourbrandtruenorth.com