Five Marketing Moves Franchisors Miss

Vern Nicholson

Hey everyone, and welcome to Franchise Fuel: Smarter Growth. I’m your host, Vern Nicholson, Vice President of Strategy & Growth at Vetro Media. I’ve spent over 20 years in digital marketing, including working for two of the largest marketing suppliers in the franchise space—so when I say I’ve seen what works (and what doesn’t), I mean it. From local franchisee campaigns to national franchise development strategies, I’ve been in the trenches helping brands scale smarter. And here’s the truth: Most franchisors are leaving serious performance and dollars on the table by overlooking a few key strategies. So in this episode, we’re diving into five critical things most franchisors are NOT doing that could seriously upgrade their marketing results. Whether you're a startup brand or already scaling, these insights can help tighten up your strategy and increase ROI across the board. Let’s get into it.

Vern Nicholson

Let me ask you—when was the last time you ran a high-converting video ad...without paying a production crew thousands of dollars? Most franchisors overlook this: you can create compelling, professional-looking video ads for free to A - B test along with static ads as part of Vet-tro Media's ad management platform. And ad platforms want you to use video, so they’ll reward you with better ad performance. At Vet-tro, we’ve helped brands boost engagement by 2x using these simple video formats that highlight founder stories, new openings, or franchisee testimonials. Bottom line: You don’t need Hollywood to tell a great story. You just need the right message—and a platform that moves fast.

Vern Nicholson

Here’s a hard truth: most franchisors are optimizing ads based on form fills, not closed deals. If you’re not syncing your CRM—think HubSpot, FranConnect, Client Tether—with your Meta ads, you’re flying blind. Meta’s Offline Conversions API allows your ad campaigns to learn from actual franchise deals, not just inquiries. We’ve had clients cut their cost per deal by over 30% just by feeding Meta better data. And it’s not rocket science—it just takes the right integration.

Vern Nicholson

Look, everyone says content is king, but creating it consistently? That’s the hard part. What most franchisors don’t realize is how powerful AI-generated podcast content has become. We’ve taken client interviews, webinars, even blog posts, and turned them into audio episodes that sound studio-produced. These episodes keep users on your site longer, build emotional trust, and showcase your story in a personal, scalable way. You don’t even need to start a podcast—just embed clips on your franchise recruitment site or ads. Attention spans are short. But when people hear a founder speak, or a franchisee tell their journey, that’s sticky.

Vern Nicholson

Franchisors are great at talking about operations, but often go quiet when they win. Every new franchisee, every community impact initiative, every award—those are PR-worthy moments. And if you’re not distributing that through free or low-cost PR channels, you’re missing opportunities to boost SEO, credibility, and visibility. We helped a large chicken QSR concept push out grand opening stories that ranked on Google News and increased franchise inquiries by 18% in the following month. That’s the power of being seen. You don’t need to wait for a crisis to do PR. Use it as a signal of growth, and let people see your momentum.

Vern Nicholson

This one’s big. If you’re still driving paid traffic to your consumer site or a generic franchise landing page, you’re likely wasting money. You need a dedicated franchise recruitment microsite—optimized for SEO, loaded with trust elements, and designed to convert. Think: founder videos, FAQs, testimonials, funding info, territory maps, and crystal-clear CTAs.A proper microsite separates the consumer brand from the franchise opportunity and meets candidates where they are in their journey. Treat it like a high-value salesperson that works 24/7.

Vern Nicholson

So, let’s recap. The five things most franchisors aren’t doing—but should be: One - Using free video ads across platforms, Two - connecting CRM data to Meta for smarter optimization, three - leveraging AI to scale podcast-style content. Four - Pushing out consistent PR for franchise development. Five Running traffic to a purpose-built franchise microsite. If you’re missing even one of these, you could be leaving tens of thousands in lead value on the table each quarter. If you want help identifying those gaps or getting a free marketing audit, visit us at vet-tro media USA dot com. We’ll show you exactly what’s working, what’s not, and how to fix it. Thanks for listening to Franchise Fuel: Smarter Growth. I’m Vern Nicholson—until next time, keep building smarter, not just bigger.

Vern Nicholson

That’s it for today’s episode of Franchise Fuel: Smarter Growth. Thanks for hanging out with me—if you got value from this, do me a favor and hit subscribe, rate the show, and follow us for more. We’ve got some great episodes coming up on scaling lead quality, the latest in local marketing tech, and trends in franchisee acquisition. Maybe even a guest or two, if I can twist some arms. Until next time, I’m Vern Nicholson—keep building smarter, not just bigger. Talk soon.