Behind the Curtain: Why PPC Alone Isn’t Enough Anymore
Behind the Curtain breaks down what’s actually working inside franchise systems, cutting through surface-level best practices to spotlight the strategies brands are using to win right now, pulled directly from our monthly insider newsletter, Franchise Unfiltered. Each edition captures the behind-closed-doors conversations, experiments, and proven tactics shaping real franchise growth before they become industry talking points.
In the early days, pay-per-click (PPC) channels like Google were a true growth unlock. That reality led me to a simple question: What changed?
To answer that, you have to look at why PPC worked so well in the first place.
Google unlocked growth for franchise brands at both the local and national level. Competition was low. Buying behavior was straightforward. And success wasn’t determined by who spent the most, but by who was the smartest marketer.
For franchise systems especially, PPC became the default customer acquisition engine. It delivered fast local impact, scaled easily across markets, and was simple to measure and optimize. But those same strengths ultimately led to its decline as a standalone strategy.
As more brands adopted Google as their primary growth lever, the channel became crowded. Prices rose and efficiency fell. The truth is Google became a tool that rewarded scale rather than marketing prowess, directly impacting franchisee unit economics.
I’m not saying PPC is broken, it just stopped working on its own.
The franchise brands thriving today are shifting away from single-channel dependency and toward a full-funnel approach. They’re repositioning PPC as a conversion tool while investing in upper-funnel tactics that create demand before a consumer ever searches.
Through channels like organic social, Connected TV, SMS, and email, these brands are building familiarity and trust at the brand level. That awareness flows down the funnel, making local PPC more efficient, lowering acquisition costs, and improving conversion rates without breaking the bank.
The winning formula isn’t abandoning Google. It’s building demand first, then letting PPC capture it.
That’s what’s really working behind the scenes. And that’s how franchise systems scale sustainably.
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