🚀 Want the full picture on how AI, automation, and local marketing will shape franchise growth next year? 👉 Download the Free 2026 Franchise Marketing Guidebook to explore 10 major trends and insights from 15 franchise leaders.

For decades, new technology followed a familiar pattern: Businesses adopted first. Consumers followed later.

Websites. Email. Mobile apps. And more.

But according to Lynn Blashford, Chief Marketing Officer of White Castle, AI broke that ruleset entirely. She speaks about this at length in Flamel’s 2026 Franchise Marketing Guide Book. In the book, Lynn and 14 other executives in franchising discuss their predictions for the future of business, technology, consumer behaviors and more.

In her 2026 prediction, Lynn points out a historic shift:

“We recognize how consumers are using AI more in their lives. It’s almost the first technology where the consumer has been ahead of the brands and chains.”

Nowadays, a good majority of your customers are already using AI to search, evaluate and decide their purchases . . . even when your brand systems aren’t fully ready for it yet. In fact, 59% are using generative AI tools for some part of their online shopping. That fact alone creates urgency for franchise brands to modernize not just marketing, but operations, data, and customer experience as well.

How Consumers Are Using AI Today

Whether they realize it or not, consumers have been interacting with AI for quite some time. While 2025 has been named the year of AI, its existence in consumer culture has been prominent for a while though:

• Search & Discovery: Asking AI tools what to eat, where to go, what’s open and what’s best nearby
  
  
  

• Shopping Decisions: Comparing prices, products and reviews through AI summaries
  
  
  

• Recommendations: Letting algorithms surface restaurants, gyms and services based on their own personal behaviors
  
  
  

• Decision-Making: Using AI-generated pros/cons, summaries and comparisons
  
  
  

What used to require multiple websites and tabs is now happening in one AI-powered answer. That means your franchise brand is no longer just competing on:

• Website rankings
  
  
  

• Star ratings
  
  
  

• Ad visibility

You’re now competing on whether AI can confidently understand, trust and accurately represent your brand.

Where Do Franchise Brands Fall Behind?

This is where the “catch-up” risk becomes very real. We consistently see franchise systems struggle in four key areas:

1. Local Data Accuracy

If your hours, services, menus, offers or locations aren’t consistent across platforms, AI gets confused. At the end of the day, confused AI simply won’t recommend you.

2. Content Speed

AI thrives on fresh information. Brands that update content quarterly or annually will lose ground to competitors publishing weekly or monthly using AI blogging tools.

3. Personalization at Scale

Customers now expect messaging that feels local, relevant and timely, as opposed to generic corporate copy. If you share content about your local fitness instructor, dog groomers or restaurateurs, you’re much more likely to resonate within your local community. This is because 46% of all Google searches have local intent, and 76% of people who search for a local businesses visit within 24 hours.

4. Disconnected Systems

When ads, social content, blogs, reviews and CRM systems operate in silos, AI can’t build a clear picture of your brand’s data, and therefore, it can’t make educated decisions about how to help you grow.

When these gaps exist, franchises don’t just fall behind digitally. They become invisible in AI-powered discovery.

The Real Risk of Waiting

Nearly a quarter of businesses are not yet using or seriously exploring AI. This choice of waiting to “figure out AI later” comes with serious business consequences:

• ❌ Lost Visibility: If AI can’t confidently recommend your locations, customers never even see you.
  
  
  

• ❌ Lost Trust: Inconsistent or outdated data erodes confidence.
  
  
  

• ❌ Lost Relevance: Brands that feel slow or outdated fade fast.
  
  
  

• ❌ Lost Market Share: While you wait, competitors move in.

This isn’t about replacing humans with machines or gunning for optimization overkill. Rather, brands adopting the best AI solutions in a crowded market recognize that customer behaviors have already changed and their franchise systems must now align with them.

How Can Franchises Catch Up in 2026?

The good news? Playing catch-up simply means that franchises should focus on building their AI systems, rather than buying into hype alone:

✅ Automate the Right Tasks

Let AI handle content generation, social post scheduling and data analysis. Then your employees can focus on marketing strategy and building community.

✅ Build Content Systems (Not One-Off Posts)

Consistent local publishing trains both audiences and AI systems to recognize your relevance.

✅ Modernize Local Workflows

From publishing ads and blogs to managing reviews, franchise teams need to seek tools that streamline their workflows, aggregating their data in one place. Marketing, reputation and customer data must work as one connected ecosystem, not five disconnected tools.

Final Thoughts: Your Catch-Up Era Is Here

Lynn Blashford’s insight captures the moment perfectly: Many consumers adopted AI before brands did. Now, brands must rise to the challenge of meeting people where they are and learning the technical tools they’re using to get there.

That doesn’t spell disaster for franchise systems, but it does spell urgency.

The franchises that win in 2026 will be the ones that:

• Modernize local marketing systems
  
  
  

• Prioritize accurate data
  
  
  

• Publish consistently
  
  
  

• Build trust at the community level

Sound like these are all things on your 2026 roadmap? You can get full guides, customizable worksheets, 10 trend ideas and 15 predictions inside the 2026 Franchise Marketing Guidebook.

👉 Download the Free 2026 Guide Now

Navigating franchise marketing can feel like a constant balancing act of shifting priorities, high expectations and the pressure to drive results across every location. That’s exactly why we brought together Flamel CEO Paul Ehlinger, franchise CMO Alexandra Russo and Another Nine Co-Founder and CEO Ethan Grob to help the marketers of the franchise world step into leadership with confidence.

Below are the biggest takeaways from this lively, practical and very real conversation about what it means to lead marketing inside a growing franchise system.

Think Like a CMO: Build Scaleable Systems

Alex put it best. “Thinking like a CMO is thinking about what we have in place in order to make everybody's job easier.”

It’s not uncommon for marketers to drown in tasks like social posts, events, urgent franchisee questions and last-minute campaigns. But the shift to a CMO mindset comes when you zoom out and ask big-picture questions like:

• Do we have the right tech stack to see what’s working?

• Are we able to track metrics like bookings, conversions and renewals accurately?

• Is our CRM set up correctly . . . or is it duct-taped together?

• Can this process scale when we go from 5 locations to 50?

Ethan echoed this in a way every operator feels deeply saying, “I kind of toggle between both states on a any given day really, so it’s like you kind of have to wrestle between asking ‘is this something I need to just do . . . or is this something that I need to build for scale?’ My default is always to build it for scale.”

Empower Franchisees With Clarity (Because Clear Is Kind)

Empowerment doesn’t come from saying, “You should post more.” It comes from clear guidance by marketing leaders in the forms of:

• Streamlined platform guidance

• Clear templates

• Clear expectations

• Clear ownership of tasks

• Clear deadlines

• Clear feedback (“This was great, so do more of it.”)

Alex reminded us that franchisees aren’t avoiding marketing. Rather, most simply don’t know what to do or how to do it. Systems + support = confidence.

If you want comprehensive guidance on franchise marketing processes and thoughtful insights from franchising leaders, get your copy of our 2026 Franchise Marketing Guide Book.

The First 90 Days: Attract → Convert → Bring Them Back

Alex broke down the “starter CMO roadmap” into three buckets:

1. How do we find new clients?

2. How do we get them to buy?

3. How do we get them to return?

Everything fits into one of those three categories, and this line of thinking turns an overwhelming job into a manageable structure.

For new marketers or leaders suddenly holding the marketing keys, this framework becomes the compass for all decisions. Marketing simply equates to doing the right things at each stage of the customer journey.

Know Your Metrics (But Don’t Drown in Them)

Both Alex and Ethan emphasized focusing on the metrics that truly drive revenue and actually move the business forward. They highlighted several metrics worth paying attention to, while reminding marketers to prioritize the ones that matter most for their specific franchise model:

• Cost per acquisition (CPA)

• Cost to bring a customer back

• Retention and visit frequency

• Understanding true, realistic baselines

• Customer acquisition cost

• Lifetime value (LTV)

• Conversion rates

Use the metrics that align with your brand and business model, because if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it, and you can’t explain its successes and shortcomings to franchisees.

Before You Scale, Get the Boring Stuff Right

This might be the most important lesson in the whole webinar. Both Alex and Ethan stressed that brands often skip the fundamentals, such as:

• Correcting Google Business names

• Ensuring accurate hours

• Updating photos regularly on their profiles

• Having consistent Instagram naming conventions

• Managing Yelp + Apple Maps listings

• Cleaning their marketing & sales data

Boring stuff? It can be.
But is maintaining this information transformational? Absolutely.

Be Findable Where Customers Actually Search, Especially in the AI Era

This topic sparked one of the most exciting conversations of the entire webinar.

More consumers are now searching in:

• ChatGPT

• Claude

• Perplexity

• Google AI Overviews

Of course, this means that fewer are typing traditional Google queries.

Ethan’s team is already optimizing Another Nine’s online presence so these AI search models recognize and recommend the brand.

Alex added that one of the easiest wins right now is treating your Google Business listing like a social feed:

• Post weekly photos

• Keep everything fresh

• Respond to reviews

• Make it easy for AI tools to “trust” you

• Understand that Reddit, social and blog data are now powering LLMs, and said data’s authenticity is key.

AI is changing discovery. The brands who treat every digital touchpoint as a part of their strategy will win the next decade.

Authenticity Beats Perfection, Especially in Social

Alex made a compelling point that people want to see the humans behind a brand.

The next breakout franchise on social?
It’ll be the founder who say, “Come with me to work today as I build this thing from scratch.”

Ethan shared that Another Nine keeps their brand consistent but varies their tone across platforms—snarkier on TikTok, more polished on Facebook, etc.—but everything is anchored in authenticity and consistency. Your personality is an asset. Use it.

Ready to Lead Marketing With Confidence?

Whether you’re a founder, a fractional CMO, a newly promoted marketer or an operator who's been volun-told to “take over the marketing stuff,” this webinar is the roadmap you need.

Watch the full conversation above and remember: You don’t need the CMO title to lead like one. You just need the mindset and discipline to execute.

If you want to kickstart your franchise marketing processes and get thoughtful insights from franchising leaders, get your copy of our 2026 Franchise Marketing Guide Book.

Goldfish Swim School started with one pool and a mission to teach children how to swim in a safe, fun and confidence‑building environment. As the brand grew, that mission resonated with families across North America and their over 200 locations. Each of their schools represents a community of families gaining access to life‑saving skills, underscoring a scalable franchise model with strong brand trust at its core. 

In this franchise system, ensuring every location’s social media stays on‑brand while reflecting local stories is crucial. To find a platform that meets both national (franchisor) and local (franchisee) needs, Goldfish partnered with Flamel.ai. They ran a 30-day beta test with a group of 20 franchisees, using Flamel to run their organic social media content and strategy, while adding localized flair.

Here’s what we accomplished in just 30 days.

The Challenge: Keeping All Pools & Socials Aligned

While many franchise social tools offer baseline publishing and reporting functionality, they lack the robust reporting and content‑repurposing functions franchisees need. Franchisees often find it difficult to identify top‑performing posts or replicate successful content across their locations.

Multi‑location franchises like Goldfish also face a broader challenge: keeping social media consistent yet locally relevant. As Flamel notes in a separate case study, localized marketing can triple engagement and boost revenue per location. 

To achieve that, franchises need tools that increase local engagement, grow each location’s social presence and maintain brand integrity while allowing local customization. Goldfish’s franchise team wanted a platform that could offer those benefits and provide granular analytics so franchisees could understand what works.

The Solution: Localized Social Content with Flamel

Flamel’s organic social platform stands out for several proprietary features:

Top Performing Content (TPC): This is a library of the best‑performing posts across your franchise network. Franchisees can browse and re-share localized versions of these posts to their accounts. TPC makes it easy to repurpose high‑engagement videos, educational content and trending reels. In fact, Genevieve Coulson, Goldfish’s Director of Social Media, said that this was a favorite feature of the franchisees. 

"All participants said that Top Performing Content and how easy it was to use was their favorite feature and was their favorite thing (in Flamel),” Coulson said. “It was our most-loved feature."

Personalized onboarding and support: Each school scheduled its own onboarding session, and the Flamel team provided continuous support throughout the pilot. This individualized approach was especially valuable in a franchise system with varying levels of social media expertise.

“Everyone had a direct line of contact with someone from Flamel to get help,” said Coulson. “Within a franchise system, it’s common to have different levels of expertise, but Flamel’s onboarding and user experience was one of the easiest I’ve ever seen!”

Granular analytics: Flamel’s reporting surfaces keywords, hashtags and other granular data that other tools don’t capture as cleanly and simply. Franchisees noted that Flamel’s metrics were stronger than its competitors, and that Flamel maintains brand consistency at scale while allowing each location to add its own touch.

“The bottom line was that a lot of people felt like the reporting capabilities and metrics were stronger with Flamel,” said Coulson.

AI‑powered social management: Flamel delivers custom post ideas and templates, automated scheduling and a centralized asset library. For multi‑unit owners managing several schools, Flamel’s library structure was far easier and more streamlined than other systems.

The Results: Stronger Insights & Engaging Content

In just one month, Goldfish Swim School saw several qualitative wins emerge:

• Video & trend amplification: The Top Content Library democratized access to top‑performing social content. Franchisees who previously struggled to produce weekly videos could now localize and share proven posts. This not only helped every location share more top-performing content, but it gave everyone the ability to participate in social media trends in real time.
  
  
  

• Better reporting: Franchisees consistently remarked that Flamel’s KPI metrics and displays of Earned Media Value were more insightful than other tools. By exposing keyword and hashtag data, schools gained a clearer view of what resonates locally and could adjust their content strategy accordingly.
  
  
  

• Streamlined workflows: Multi‑unit owners found that the platform reduced the friction of searching for assets and enabled quick scheduling, saving time for busy operators.
  
  
  

• Proof of concept for future decisions: Goldfish’s franchise team viewed this 30-day sprint as an essential “test drive” to evaluate whether a single platform could serve both brand‑level and franchisee needs. Their experience with Flamel did just that, providing invaluable data for comparing tools and planning future social media strategy.

Why This Matters for Franchisors

For franchisors evaluating social media tools, Goldfish’s experience highlights several takeaways:

• Balance brand and local needs: Platforms should support national content strategies while empowering franchisees to customize posts for their communities.
  
  
  

• User experience matters: In a system with varied social media expertise, onboarding and support can make or break adoption. Goldfish found Flamel’s onboarding to be one of the easiest they’ve experienced.
  
  
  

• Data drives strategy: Robust reporting helps franchisors and franchisees alike understand what works. Granular metrics such as keywords and hashtags enable smarter content planning.

Final Takeaways

Goldfish Swim School’s experience underscores how AI‑powered social platforms support franchise networks seeking to grow their digital presence. Even in a short timespan, Flamel AI delivered:

• Simplified content repurposing through the Top Performing Content library, making it easy for every school to publish engaging, on‑brand posts.
  
  
  

• Flexible, individualized onboarding and continuous support: a hallmark of the Flamel team’s partnership‑oriented approach.
  
  
  

• Stronger analytics that outperformed existing tools and provided actionable insights on creative and post performance.
  
  
  

• Time savings and more streamlined workflows for multi‑unit owners, demonstrating that the platform can scale with a growing franchise.

When speaking of her team’s full experience with the Flamel beta test, Coulson added the following. 

“I think Flamel is immensely valuable from the franchisor perspective. In my role, when I'm looking at a social platform, it’s really important that I can use it at the brand level - that’s far more robust and advanced. But it’s also really important that our franchisees can easily use and get everything they need out of it. They need their own local strategies, and I don’t control that. Flamel helped me evaluate our ability to get their hands on a very valuable social tool.

If you’re a large franchise and you’re trying to put systems in place for hundreds of locations, or if you’re small or have a small team, Flamel’s strength comes down to streamlined workflows and efficiencies that are very helpful and valuable.

With Flamel, we had so many things that got pulled out as big wins.”

Interested in scaling your franchise’s social presence and making content creation easy and effective? Schedule a demo of Flamel to see how AI‑powered social media will make waves for your multi-location brand.

TikTok isn’t just for viral dances. It’s where communities connect, stories unfold and brands show their human side. In fact, 92% of users take action after watching Tik Tok content, whether that’s visiting a location, sharing a post or making a purchase. For franchise systems, that makes TikTok one of the best ways to highlight local stories, feature real people and build trust with audiences in every market. 

Let's look at five franchise brands that are already showing how powerful TikTok can be for driving local engagement and brand love.

Franchises on TikTok: 5 Brands That Are Crushing It

DivaDance: Masters of TikTok Trends

DivaDance’s TikTok is pure joy. Their videos highlight real people—students, instructors and community members—dancing, laughing and having fun. By joining trending sounds and challenges, they make their classes feel friendly, welcoming, approachable and exciting. Their content celebrates confidence and community, giving potential customers a glimpse of the experience they’ll have when they join in.

Watch these videos for inspiration!

• 💃 Diva Dance Dance Highlights

• 😂 Unhinged Instructor Dance Names

• 🪩 A Dance for Entering Dance Class

Last Crumb: Influencers & Franchise Social Media Collabs

Luxury cookie brand Last Crumb has built a following by combining storytelling and spectacle. Their TikToks feature influencer collaborations, celebrity shout-outs from Lili Reinhart and Doja Cat and fun “talking to people on the street” interviews that capture real reactions to their over-the-top cookie experience. It’s a great example of how franchises can use personality-driven, authentic moments to build hype and turn customers into ambassadors.

Watch these videos for inspiration!

• 🤳 A Top-Tier Influencer Collab

• 🏆 Cookie + Emmy Award Stack 

• 🏋️‍♀️ A Sweet Treat at the Gym

Goldfish Swim School: Experts On Building Community

Goldfish Swim School strikes the perfect balance between fun and educational. Their TikToks feature instructors joining in on trending sounds, sharing water safety tips and showing families in action. 

Theirs is an approach that builds trust and community. Viewers see the faces behind the brand and learn something valuable in every post. For parents especially, this blend of personality and purpose makes the brand feel both caring and credible.

Watch these videos for inspiration!

• 💪 Overcoming The Fear Of Swimming

• 😄 A Funny Pool Tour

• 🏊 Instructor Highlights

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers: Local Marketing At Scale

Freddy’s brings humor and heart to TikTok. Their behind-the-scenes clips highlight what makes their kitchens and culture so fun. They have partnered with athletes from many states to extend their local reach and create excitement around their brand. By jumping on trends and keeping things lighthearted, Freddy’s shows how franchised restaurants can feel local, human and relatable at scale.

Watch these videos for inspiration!

• 🏌️ Their Bubba Watson Partnership

• 🍦 How To Make Freddy’s Frost

• 🍔 Funny Customer Highlights 

DoodyCalls: Scooping With Humor

DoodyCalls, a pet waste removal franchise, is relatively new to TikTok but already making a splash. Their content mixes behind-the-scenes shots, funny moments and clips that show how their service works. They’re proving that even a niche or not-super-glamorous business can stand out with humor, relatability and a willingness to experiment. It’s a reminder that you don’t need a production team, but rather a consistent presence and a clear voice!

Watch these videos for inspiration!

• 💩 DoodyCalls Went From This To This

• 🚚 DoodyCalls Truck Highlights

Bringing It All Together: How to Make TikTok Work for Any Franchise

These brands prove that TikTok is a storytelling playground where franchises can show personality, build community and strengthen local connections. 

Flamel.ai makes that even easier, too. Our TikTok Integration lets franchisors and franchisees publish TikTok posts alongside Facebook and Instagram, right from the same dashboard.

It’s part of our newly released suite of tools that help franchises create, schedule and scale marketing with ease. From Social Ad Playbooks to AI Blogging for Local SEO and Bulk Scheduling with AI Captions, Flamel.ai gives franchise brands everything they need to grow locally while staying perfectly on-brand. 

Schedule a demo to see how Flamel.ai can help you grow your following and customer base on TikTok, Meta and beyond!