Local area marketing:
the store's job, and head office's.

In most networks, LAM means anything a single location does to win customers in its own area. It's usually funded by the franchisee, sometimes with a minimum spend in the agreement, and run within the brand's rules. The usual menu looks like this.

• Reviews: asking every customer, and replying to each one with something specific.
• Local social posts on the store's location Page: the team, a job done, a local event.
• Sponsorships: a junior sports club, a school fete, the surf club's raffle.
• Community events and stalls: markets, open days, a local business chamber night.
• Letterbox drops and local print, in the store's own territory.
• Local partnerships: a real estate agent, a builder, a gym or cafe next door.
• Local paid ads: a Google Ads or Meta top-up for this store, run through head office's set-up.

The test is simple: if it has to be the same at every store, head office owns it. If only someone in that suburb can do it well, the store owns it. Everything else is shared, with head office building the template and the store filling it in.

Pick who does each job in your network today. The sorter compares it with the split above, explains each difference, and lists the jobs nobody owns. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Shared jobs need shared tools, set up properly. On Google, put each store's profile in a business group that head office owns, and add the store manager as a manager. Managers can edit the profiles in the group; owners can also delete it or hand it over. When a store changes hands, head office removes the old manager and adds the new one, and nothing is lost.

On Facebook, give each store a location Page under the brand's main Page, which Meta describes as page locations of a parent business Page. The store's team gets access to its own Page. Standalone Pages a franchisee made years ago should be claimed or closed, so customers don't find three versions of the same store.

In Google Ads, a store's local campaign lives in head office's account or under its manager account, never in a separate account bidding on the brand. The Google Ads page covers the structure.

This is where good franchisees beat everyone. The owner of the Kincumber store who sponsors the under-10s, turns up at the school fete and knows the real estate agents by name is doing marketing no fund can buy. Head office's job is to make it easier, not to control it.

Make the local work count online, too. Ask the club or school to link to the store's location page, not the brand homepage. Post the event on the store's profile and Page. Take photos with permission. A sponsorship that only exists on a banner at the oval is half wasted.

And keep a simple record: what, where, how much, what came of it. One line a month. The budget page explains why that record matters when the network splits its money.

Store-only offers are fine, as long as the ad makes clear where they apply. The ACCC says fine print can't conflict with the overall message, and NSW Fair Trading lists bait advertising as an offence: advertising goods when there are reasonable grounds to believe you can't supply them at that price for a reasonable period. 'This week at our Charlestown store only' is clear. A national-looking ad with a local price is not.

Letterbox drops need to respect 'No junk mail' signs. In NSW, ask your distributor whether it follows the industry's Distribution Standards Board code and how it handles signs. Queensland's government says you shouldn't receive unsolicited advertising with a clear sign on your mailbox and points complaints to that same board.

Texts to past customers are marketing messages. They need consent, your business name and contact details, and a working unsubscribe, honoured within 5 working days. A store's list belongs in the network's system, not on the manager's phone.

A good LAM kit saves every franchisee from starting from scratch. Build it after the first month's housekeeping in the 30-day plan for franchise networks. It should include:

• Ad and flyer templates with gaps for the store's name, suburb, team photo and offer.
• A list of approved local activities that need no sign-off, and the ones that do.
• A review request card or text, the same wording for every customer.
• A sponsorship guide: what to ask for (a link, a logo spot, a mention) and what to avoid.
• The current offers, with which stores run each one.
• A one-line monthly record sheet for local spend and results.