2019 AFDR Highlights: Where the Digital Recruitment Spend Goes

This is the third in a series of highlights from the 2019 Annual Franchise Development Report (AFDR). The 2019 AFDR, unveiled in late October at the 20th annual Franchise Leadership & Development Conference, is based on responses from 109 franchisors representing 34,058 units (26,838 franchised and 7,220 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 2019 AFDR. Ordering information is below.

Conference attendees received a complimentary copy. This week: Where brands are spending their digital recruitment budgets, by channel. As digital spending continues to account for an increasing percentage of recruitment budgets, franchisors were asked to break out their digital spending by category.

For the 2018 AFDR, as we did with overall digital spending (see previous FLDR), we added new categories that formerly were included within other numbers — franchise opportunity sites (25 percent), social media advertising (11 percent), and digital asset creative (4 percent) — making direct comparisons with previous years more difficult, but more importantly, providing a deeper look into where development budgets are headed. This year we added another new category: Sponsored Content/Native Advertising (5 percent). Breaking out these categories reduced the “Other” category to a mere 2 percent, which compares with 4 percent in 2018 and 8 percent in 2017.

Brands are becoming more aware of where they’re spending their money on digital. Where the Digital Money Goes 2019 2018 2017 2016 Franchise Opportunity Sites 25% 22% 33% 33% Other Business Media 2% 4% 8% X Pay-per-click 24% 15% 19% 18% Search Engine Optimization 9% 10% 13% 12% Email Marketing 8% 7% 9% 9% Social Networking 6% 6% 11% 12% Re-Marketing / Target Trailing 5% 7% 8% 7% In Market Meetings 3% 4% Social Media Advertising 11% 12% Digital Asset Creative 4% 3% Social Media Advertising 5% Next time: A look at the top digital sales producers, by category. *Ordering Information The complete 2019 AFDR, with analysis and benchmarks, is available for $350.