Franchise online marketing workshop for franchisors and marketing teams

Why a franchise online marketing workshop?

In almost every franchise organisation the same questions get tangled up. Who pays for local campaigns? Can a franchisee advertise on their own? Why does the national campaign generate reach, but no more customers come through the door at the location? And who keeps track of what works? As long as there is no shared answer, online marketing mainly costs time and debate.

The franchise online marketing workshop brings head office, the marketers and, if desired, a delegation of franchisees together for one half-day session. We look at your franchise brand, not at a generic marketing model. At the end there is a division of tasks, budget and channels that everyone supports, and a plan for the next ninety days. The difference from a general marketing training is the franchise context: the Dutch Franchise Act, the marketing fee, the house style and the tension between central direction and local freedom.

The workshop programme

The programme consists of six blocks. We adjust the balance to what your franchise brand needs most; we decide that in the preliminary meeting.

1. Diagnosis of your franchise brand

We start with a short review of three locations and the national channels. Where do new customers come from now, which channels cost money without anyone seeing the result, and where are the biggest gains? This diagnosis uses the same approach as a free analysis of your locations, but discussed together with your team.

2. National and local in one model

Which tasks belong centrally and which locally? We work out the model of central direction with local freedom for your organisation, with a clear line between brand campaigns and dividing national and local marketing.

3. Choosing channels per goal

Not every channel suits every goal. We put Google Ads, social media, email and local visibility side by side, asking for each channel: what does it deliver per location? You get the trade-offs from search advertising for franchises and social media marketing for franchises in a form your team can apply itself.

4. Marketing fee and budget allocation

Most conflicts arise over money. We discuss how to explain the marketing fee in franchising to franchisees and how to arrange the split of the marketing budget without the best-performing locations paying for the rest.

5. Measuring per location

Reports at brand level hide the differences between locations. Together we draw up a KPI set that shows per location what online marketing delivers, in line with a monthly report for the franchise brand.

6. The 90-day plan

We finish with a plan for the first ninety days: who does what, with which budget and which measuring point. That plan is the basis for an annual marketing plan for franchises for the following year.

Who is this workshop for?

The workshop is designed for franchisors with ten or more locations. Think of the marketing manager or marketing team at head office, the management, the franchisee advisory council or a group of franchisees who help shape marketing. For a franchise brand that has yet to launch, a shorter version works, focused on the choices before the first location opens.

You do not need to be an online marketing specialist. In fact, marketers who lack the time or knowledge to figure everything out themselves get the most out of it. Anyone who decides after the workshop not to do the work themselves can have franchise marketing carried out by our team.

What a workshop day looks like

A half day on location usually follows the schedule below. On a full day each block gets more time and participants work in small groups on their own locations. Online, we spread the same programme over two sessions of two hours, with an assignment in between.

Preparation: what we ask of you in advance

A good workshop starts a week earlier. In a thirty-minute preliminary meeting we discuss the goals, the number of locations and the channels currently running. We ask you to choose three locations that together give a reasonable picture of the franchise brand: for example a strong one, an average one and a location that is lagging behind.

If possible, we get read access to the advertising accounts in advance, plus an overview of the current marketing fee. That is not mandatory, but it makes the examples in the room more concrete. We treat all data confidentially and use it only for the workshop.

What this workshop is not

This is not a sales pitch for an agency, nor a general online marketing course with examples from online shops. Every exercise is about a franchise brand with locations, with the tension between central direction and local freedom. Nor is it a technical training: we do not teach your team to build ads, but to make the right choices and ask the right questions of whoever does the work.

That is why the workshop also works for organisations that have already outsourced the hands-on work. You gain a grip on what your agency does and can better judge whether the results per location add up.

After the workshop: do it yourself or have it done

A workshop is only valuable if something changes afterwards. That is why at the end we discuss three possible next steps. Your team carries out the 90-day plan itself and we schedule a short one-hour follow-up session after six weeks. Or your team carries out the plan and we review the figures per location every month. Or you outsource the delivery, and the plan from the workshop becomes the brief.

Which route fits depends on the capacity of your marketing team. Organisations with one marketer for forty locations often choose to outsource the recurring work, such as profile management, reviews and local campaigns, while strategy and brand stay with head office. A larger team often carries out the work itself and uses us as a sounding board.

Who runs the workshop?

The workshop is run by Gijs Bodenstaff, the author. He has worked in local SEO and online marketing since 2010, founded the first Dutch link building agency and has written several books on the visibility of chains. On 2 October 2026 he presented his latest book at De Nationale Franchise Beurs 2026 (the Dutch National Franchise Fair) in Gorinchem. The examples in the workshop come from the benchmark of 500 Google Business Profiles of the 100 largest franchise chains and from our own client work.

Want to know what is possible after the workshop? See overview of franchise marketing services and what franchise marketing costs.

The handbook as the basis for the workshop

The content of the workshop ties in with the Franchise Local SEO & GEO Handboek 2027 (Dutch-language edition). Participants who read the book beforehand get more out of the day, because they already know the concepts. The book is also useful as a reference afterwards, with checklists, test protocols and a 12-month plan.

Sign up for the workshop or get acquainted first

Fill in the form with your preferred format, date and number of participants. Within one working day you will receive a proposal with programme and price. Prefer to talk first? Book an appointment, send a WhatsApp message or call directly. Looking for a workshop that only covers local visibility? Then see the franchise online visibility workshop.

• Book a 30-minute introductory call
• Send a WhatsApp message
• Call 06 - 38 04 83 47, 7 days a week from 08:00 to 19:00
• Email info@franchiseseo.nl