2018 AFDR Highlights: Where the Recruitment Budget Money Goes

This is the second in a series of highlights from the 2018 Annual Franchise Development Report (AFDR). The 2018 AFDR, unveiled in mid-October at the annual Franchise Leadership & Development Conference, is based on responses from 142 franchisors representing 85,734 units (74,000 franchised and 11,734 company-owned). Participants in the survey consisted of franchisors that completed an extensive online questionnaire.

Responses were aggregated and analyzed to produce a detailed look into the recruitment and development practices, budgets, and strategies of a wide cross-section of franchisors. The data and accompanying commentary and analysis provide the basis of the 2018 AFDR. Ordering information is below.

Conference attendees received a complimentary copy. This week: Recruitment budgets—where the money goes. With the increased emphasis and steady shift to online recruitment methods, we did something new this year in the AFDR: we broke out spending on franchise websites and social media from the “digital” category.

Adding back spending on franchise websites (12 percent) and social media (10 percent) shows a total of 52 percent on overall digital spend, up slightly from previous years. We also added three new categories this year to provide finer granularity — direct mail, in-market meetings, and TV/radio — which subsequently reduced the “other” category. Spending on print (10 percent), trade shows (17 percent), and public relations (11 percent) has remained essentially the same over the past 6 years, with print showing a gradual decline as digital takes a greater share.

Next time: Where the digital money goes, by category of spend. *Ordering Information The complete 2018 AFDR, with analysis and benchmarks, is available for $350.