Scaling Global Franchisee Operations through Site Relaunch and Content Aggregation
The Challenge
A professional association with numerous local franchises and subsidiaries worldwide faced stagnant growth and the entry of a new competitor. The local franchise teams grew increasingly frustrated with oversight from the global headquarters and the use of sub-optimal digital platforms that hindered their operations. They lacked marketing and operational support from the global office and resorted to creating their own websites, event listings, insight blogs, and publishing content from their member bases.
The Approach
To address these challenges, we comprehensively analyzed each franchise's digital efforts and identified commonalities. Based on this analysis, we designed a new global website and content management system (CMS) that eliminated the need for each franchise to deploy its own technology solutions. By centralizing the necessary tools for website management, marketing, and member content collection, we empowered the franchises to focus on their core competencies: local sales, events, and member satisfaction. This approach reduced overall company spending on digital platforms while enabling the global home office to aggregate all franchise content, including event listings, insights, and media. The content aggregation strategy aimed to drive increased site traffic, enhance brand recognition, and ultimately generate more leads for the local franchises.
The Result
The site relaunch and content aggregation initiative significantly benefited the global professional association and its franchisees. Through discovery, wireframe development, UX design, multi-year roadmaps, process transformation, automation, and content aggregation, we transformed the franchise operations. The centralized digital platform streamlined operations, reduced costs, and allowed the franchises to focus on local growth. The content aggregation strategy amplified the association's online presence, increased brand recognition, and drove more leads to the local franchises. Ultimately, this revitalization effort positioned the association and its franchises for renewed growth and success in the competitive market.
