Franchise marketing has two jobs: build one brand nationally, and win customers one suburb at a time. Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and how well known a business is, so every location needs its own accurate Business Profile and page, all under the same name across the country. The money usually comes from a marketing fund, and since 1 November 2025 the Franchising Code requires a separate account, an annual statement within 4 months and an audit, unless 75% of contributing franchisees vote the audit out.
Written by Dan Picken, founder. Last checked 6 November 2026.Network, outlet and revenue figures from the Franchise Council of Australia. The 4-month deadline is from the ACCC guide to specific purpose funds. Tens of thousands of locations, each fighting for its own suburb, paid for from pools that franchisees are entitled to see itemised.
Source: Franchise Council of Australia
How customers choose a location
Someone needs a car service or the lawn mowed. They search nearby, see a brand they know, then check this location's reviews, hours and whether the deal they saw applies here. The brand gets the look. The location has to win the job.
The psychology
The brand answers 'is this kind of business any good?'. These are the questions it can't answer, asked about one location.
01
Each Business Profile carries its own reviews, and Google says reviews and ratings feed local ranking. A weak location undoes the national ads in its own suburb.
Show them: Recent reviews for this location, with replies from the local team.
02
National ads often carry 'participating stores' fine print. The ACCC says fine print can't conflict with the overall message.
Show them: A line on each location page saying whether the current offer runs there.
03
The same store can read as a faceless chain or as a local owner with a national brand behind them. The facts don't change. The frame does.
Show them: The owner's name and photo, and the suburbs they serve.
04
Customers don't know whether to chase the store or head office. Not knowing who owns a problem makes people hesitate.
Show them: One clear path for complaints and warranty claims, and who looks after it.
05
Nobody wants a wasted trip or a no-show. Wrong hours on one profile cost that store the visit, and dent the brand.
Show them: Exact hours, holiday hours and service areas on every profile, updated in bulk.
From my audits
These are the patterns that come up most in multi-location marketing, and the first things I'd check.
A Business Profile a franchisee set up years ago next to one head office made, or profiles for closed stores still showing.
Location pages with the same text and a different suburb, and nothing about the team, services or area.
Every profile pointing to a central number, so customers can't reach the store and nobody can tell which location got the lead.
National ads promising a price some locations don't honour, with the catch in the fine print.
Marketing fund statements with lines like 'digital' or 'social media' and a total, and nothing on where or when it ran.
Marketing fund check
Enter your financial year end to see the deadlines, tick what your statement already does, and paste a few expense lines to test their detail. Built on the ACCC's guidance on specific purpose funds, checked 6 November 2026. The starting lines are made up.
Your statement
Deadlines
Statement
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Expense lines
Deadlines assume the statement is prepared on the last allowed day; the 30 days run from when it's actually prepared. A marketer's check, not legal or accounting advice. Read the ACCC guidance linked on this page.
AI search
People ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode things like 'best car service near Gosford' or 'is the Kotara one any good'. Google says its AI responses can include information about local businesses, and recommends managing your business details on Search. For a network, that means every location's facts need to be right, not just the brand's.
An answer can send someone to the brand's other location across town, or one that closed. Stale profiles and old location pages feed that.
Google says query fan-out shouldn't be used to create large numbers of pages for every variation, because that can breach its scaled content abuse policy. One strong page per real location wins.
What to do now
My take: AI tools don't see your network the way head office does. They see a pile of location facts. Get those right and the brand comes through.
Australian rules
These come up most when a network markets to customers, checked on 6 November 2026.
From 1 November 2025, each fund needs its own bank account and corporate stores pay in on the same basis as franchisees. The statement is due within 4 months of year end, then goes to contributors within 30 days.
Costs in the disclosure document, legitimate expenses for the fund's purpose, expenses most contributors agreed to, and reasonable costs of running and auditing it. Paying in doesn't guarantee your own store gets promoted.
The Full Federal Court said Ultra Tune's statements, showing spend on TV advertising, gave no meaningful information. A statement has to show how, when and on what the money went.
Fine print can't conflict with the overall message. Advertising something some stores can't supply for a reasonable time is bait advertising, which NSW Fair Trading lists as an offence.
Google requires the same name for every location in the country, no suburb or landmark in the name, and no more than one profile per location.
Google bans review incentives, selective asking and staff review quotas. Under the Australian Consumer Law, fake reviews and suppressing genuine negative ones can mislead.
A marketer's summary, not legal advice. The full set is on the franchise marketing rules page.
The channel mix
The franchises hub
Marketing a brand sold through many separately owned locations. Head office builds the brand and runs national campaigns, usually from a marketing fund, while each location has to be found and chosen in its own area. Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and how well known each business is.
Yes, one for each real location that serves customers in person. Google says don't create more than one page for each location, and every location in the country should use the same name.
No. Google's guidelines say location details don't belong in the business name, and all locations in a country must have the same name. The address and service area show where it is.
Under the Franchising Code: costs in the disclosure document, legitimate expenses for the fund's purpose, expenses most contributing franchisees agreed to, and reasonable costs of administering and auditing the fund.
Not necessarily. The ACCC says paying into a marketing fund doesn't guarantee your business will be promoted. If the franchisor must spend part of the fund for a franchisee's benefit, the disclosure document has to say so.
They can be. Google's spam policies list pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page as doorway abuse. A page for each real location, with that store's own details, is a different thing from hundreds of near-identical suburb pages.
Keep going
Takes a minute. Audits come back within 1 to 2 business days. For anything else, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
What happens next