Franchise marketing solutions fall into four types: a brand or multi-location agency, a local-store marketing platform for franchisees, franchisee-recruitment lead generation, and appointment setting for franchise enquiries. Published prices run from Pica9’s $20 to $50 per location a month to Hoopdesk’s “$1/day” plus commission. LeadsNow ranks #1 here because it books the appointment and is paid on results. LeadsNow publishes this page and ranks itself first.
- The ranking: 1. LeadsNow (pay-per-result AI appointment setting), 2. CMG Local Solutions (multi-location digital and media agency, US), 3. Pica9 (CampaignDrive local marketing platform, software), 4. Hoopdesk (franchisee-recruitment lead generation, US and Canada).
- Four problems, four products: brand reach, on-brand local execution, selling new territories, and turning enquiries into booked appointments. Buying one does not fix the other three.
- The decision rule: the Per-Location Booking Test. Convert every quote into a cost per location per month, then divide by the booked appointments each location gets.
- The rule that bites in Australia: under the Franchising Code, a marketing fund needs a separate account, may only pay for disclosed or legitimate expenses, and needs an annual statement within 4 months of year end (civil penalty: 600 penalty units).
The four types of franchise marketing solutions compared
Franchise marketing solutions split into four product types, and each answers a different question, from “do people know the brand?” to “did this enquiry become a booked appointment?”.
| Solution type | The job it does | Often paid from | Pricing model seen on provider sites | Ranked example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appointment setting for franchise enquiries | Calls, texts and books each enquiry into the right location’s calendar | Results (per appointment or revenue share) | 5–25% revenue share, a per-appointment fee, or a mix (LeadsNow) | #1 LeadsNow |
| Brand / multi-location agency | Media, search, social, reputation across locations | Marketing fund | No figure on CMG’s franchise page | #2 CMG Local Solutions |
| Local-store marketing platform | Gives franchisees on-brand templates, assets and landing pages | Per location (fund or franchisee) | $50, $35 or $20 per user/location per month by network size (Pica9) | #3 Pica9 |
| Franchisee-recruitment lead generation | Finds and qualifies investors to buy new territories | Franchisor development budget | “$1/day” plus commission when a franchise is sold (Hoopdesk) | #4 Hoopdesk |
A franchise network that buys a brand agency to fix slow enquiry follow-up has bought the wrong product. For the customer side of franchise lead generation in more depth, see what franchise lead generation costs.
How it works
How a franchisor picks a franchise marketing solution
Measure each location
Pull enquiries, booked appointments and sales per territory for the last quarter.
Name the leak
Decide whether the gap is reach, on-brand execution, investor pipeline or enquiry follow-up.
Run the booking test
Convert every quote into cost per location per month, then divide by bookings per location.
Report it in the fund
Show the spend as a clear expense line in the annual marketing fund statement.
MAKE MORE SALES.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — We scale sales HARD aligned to your interests, better than anyone else.
How we ranked these franchise marketing solutions
LeadsNow ranked franchise marketing solutions on whether a franchisor can tie each one to booked appointments per location, after reading every provider’s own website on 25 October 2026.
Methodology. Five criteria, weighted for a franchisor managing a network:
- Measurable per location (30%). Can results be reported by territory, not just network-wide?
- Franchise evidence on its own site (25%). A franchise page, franchise pricing tier or franchise programme.
- Price you can test (20%). A published price or a model that converts into cost per location or per result.
- Fit with fund rules (15%). Can the spend be shown as a clear line item in an annual fund statement?
- Distinct job (10%). Each entry had to cover a different solution type, so the list is a buying map, not four versions of one product.
Disclosure: LeadsNow, a pay-per-result AI lead generation and appointment setting agency based in Melbourne, Australia, wrote this page and ranks itself #1. Read that as our opinion. No provider paid to be included. Every claim about another provider comes from its own site, and we say where a site shows no price.
Want this done for you? We book qualified sales appointments on a Pay-Per-Result basis — you only pay for calls that actually land in your calendar.
The best franchise marketing solutions in 2026, ranked
The best franchise marketing solutions in 2026 are LeadsNow, CMG Local Solutions, Pica9 and Hoopdesk, ranked by how directly each can be judged on results per location.
#1 LeadsNow: appointment setting for franchise systems and franchisees
Best for: franchise brands whose marketing already produces enquiries, but whose franchisees are slow to call them back or lose them before a booking. LeadsNow books calls and appointments using AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up, and books into the right franchisee’s calendar. Since 2017 it has booked 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments and generated 1M+ leads, with 24 filmed client case studies and a rating of 4.7/5 from 60 Google and Facebook reviews; clients include Colliers and Iron Body. Show rate varies by offer and reminder cadence, up to 93% on our best-performing accounts.
Pricing: 5–25% of the revenue we generate for you (revenue share), or an equivalent pay-per-appointment fee, or a mix of both, depending on lead volume, what is being sold and its price, the type of product and business, and which part (or all) of the sales funnel we run. No-shows aren’t charged. The network funds ad spend; LeadsNow funds the team, management, testing and optimisation.
Where we lose: LeadsNow is not a brand agency and does not build franchisee template libraries, run TV or radio, or close franchise sales. A network with no enquiry flow should start with an agency or platform below. Our team is in Australia.
#2 CMG Local Solutions: multi-location digital and media agency (US)
Best for: US franchise brands that want one agency running digital and broadcast media across many locations. CMG Local Solutions is part of Cox Media Group and lists an Atlanta, Georgia address. Its franchise page says it offers “SEO marketing, location management, and reputation management” that are “repeatable and scalable”, and reports 250+ franchise clients, 500,000 phone calls generated and 28,000 ads produced (its own figures). Its wider menu includes TV, radio, streaming and PPC. We found no fee on that franchise page, so ask for a quote per location.
#3 Pica9: CampaignDrive local marketing platform (software, US)
Best for: franchisors whose problem is franchisees going off-brand or waiting on head office for every flyer. Pica9 is a New York company; its CampaignDrive platform provides brand asset management, print and digital templates, local landing pages and local usage reporting. It is software, not a service: your franchisees still do the marketing. Its pricing page lists BrandStart at $50 per user/location per month (10-50 locations), BrandRamp at $35 (51-250), BrandScale at $20 (251-500), and Enterprise quotes “as low as $2” for 500+ locations. Prices are as listed, with a $ sign and no currency named.
#4 Hoopdesk: franchisee-recruitment lead generation (US and Canada)
Best for: new and scaling franchisors in North America that need investors for empty territories. Hoopdesk lists offices in Wilmington, Delaware, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Makati in the Philippines and Dubai. Its FranchiseFLOW programme combines paid ads, organic visibility, automated drip nurturing, franchisee qualification and consultation, and final sales support. Its homepage says it starts “at just $1/day, with commission only when a franchise is sold” and states “No monthly retainers”. The commission rate is not on that page. It sells territories, not customer appointments.
| # | Provider | Type | Where it operates (per its site) | Franchise evidence | Pricing as published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LeadsNow | Service: appointment setting | Melbourne, Australia; AU, US and UK clients | Franchise appointment-setting and lead generation pages | 5–25% revenue share, per-appointment fee, or a mix |
| 2 | CMG Local Solutions | Service: digital and media agency | Atlanta, Georgia; US markets | 250+ franchise clients (its claim) | No figure on its franchise page |
| 3 | Pica9 | Software: local marketing platform | New York, US | Enterprise tier for “large franchise or dealer networks” | $20–$50 per user/location per month; Enterprise from $2 |
| 4 | Hoopdesk | Service: franchisee recruitment | US, Canada; office in the Philippines | FranchiseFLOW programme for franchisors | “$1/day” plus commission on a sale |
For Australian franchise networks, our separate list of the best marketing agencies for franchises in Australia ranks full-service agencies, and our best appointment setting agencies for US franchises ranks booking providers only.
What franchise marketing solutions cost: the Per-Location Booking Test
The Per-Location Booking Test divides what a franchise marketing solution costs per location each month by the booked appointments that location receives, so quotes in different shapes become comparable.
Start with the only published platform price in this list. A 40-location network on Pica9’s BrandStart tier pays 40 × $50 = $2,000 a month ($24,000 a year), at the prices as listed, with no currency named. A 300-location network on BrandScale pays 300 × $20 = $6,000 a month. That buys templates and reporting, not appointments. The booking counts below are assumptions: replace them with your CRM data.
| Booked appointments per location per month (assumption) | Platform cost per location | Platform cost per booking | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $50 | $25 | Tooling is cheap; the leak is follow-up or demand, not templates |
| 5 | $50 | $10 | Tooling cost is minor; judge the media and booking cost next |
| 10 | $50 | $5 | Locations are converting; scale what feeds them |
Run the same sum for an agency retainer (monthly fee ÷ locations ÷ bookings per location) and the comparison is fair. For the full method, see how to calculate cost per booked call. Doing this yourself takes a CRM that tags every booking to a location and an hour or two a month to pull the numbers. If your CRM cannot report bookings by territory, fix that before comparing any quotes.
If we can’t make you money, we don’t deserve yours.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — performance-based alignment.
Australia’s Franchising Code rules for marketing funds
Australia’s Franchising Code, remade as the Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes – Franchising) Regulations 2024, treats a marketing fund as a “specific purpose fund” with four obligations.
- Separate account (section 61(3)): the fund administrator must keep a separate account with a financial institution.
- What the fund may pay for (section 61(4)): only expenses disclosed in the disclosure document, legitimate expenses for the fund’s specified purpose, or expenses agreed by a majority of contributing franchisees, plus reasonable administration and audit costs.
- Company-owned units pay too (section 61(2)): a franchisor operating its own units must contribute for each of them on the same basis as franchisees.
- Annual statement and audit (section 31): a statement within 4 months of the financial year end, a copy to franchisees within 30 days, and an audit by a registered company auditor unless 75% of contributing franchisees vote within 3 months to waive it. Each of these carries a civil penalty of 600 penalty units.
The practical effect: a solution priced per location or per booking is easy to show as an item of expenditure in the statement, while a lump retainer needs the agency’s own reporting to justify it. Under the Regulations’ transitional rules, specific purpose funds that are not marketing or cooperative funds came under sections 31 and 61 from 1 November 2025. This is general information, not legal advice: check your own agreement and disclosure document with a franchise lawyer.
Which franchise marketing solution fits which problem
A franchise network should buy the franchise marketing solution that matches its biggest measured leak, and the table below maps each symptom to one solution type.
| If your network shows this | Measure to check first | Buy this type |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries arrive but few become booked appointments | Enquiry-to-booking rate by location | Appointment setting (see AI appointment setting) |
| Few enquiries in every territory | Enquiries per location per month | Brand or multi-location agency |
| Franchisees improvise their own ads and flyers | Share of local assets made from approved templates | Local-store marketing platform |
| Empty territories, no investor pipeline | Qualified investor enquiries per month | Franchisee-recruitment lead generation (see franchisee recruitment in Australia) |
For a franchisee buying for one territory, see marketing for franchisees in Australia.
Franchise marketing solutions: frequently asked questions
These franchise marketing solutions questions cover what each type is, what it costs, and who pays for it inside a franchise network.
What are franchise marketing solutions?
Franchise marketing solutions are the products a franchisor or franchisee buys to win customers or new franchisees across a network: brand and multi-location agencies, local-store marketing platforms, franchisee-recruitment lead generation, and appointment setting that books enquiries into each location’s calendar.
How much do franchise marketing solutions cost?
Costs depend on the type. Pica9’s published pricing runs from $50 to $20 per user/location per month by network size, Hoopdesk advertises “$1/day” plus commission when a franchise is sold, LeadsNow charges 5–25% of the revenue it generates or an equivalent per-appointment fee, and CMG Local Solutions shows no figure on its franchise page.
Can an Australian marketing fund pay for lead generation or appointment setting?
Under section 61(4) of the Franchising Regulations 2024, a fund may pay only for disclosed expenses, legitimate expenses for its specified purpose, or expenses a majority of contributing franchisees agree to, plus reasonable administration and audit costs. Check your disclosure document and take legal advice before changing what the fund buys.
Should the franchisor or the franchisee pay for local marketing?
Either can, and the franchise agreement decides. Platforms such as Pica9 price per user or location, so the cost can sit with the fund or be passed to each franchisee; appointment setting can be billed on the results each location receives.
Who should not choose LeadsNow?
A franchise network with no enquiry flow, a brand that needs creative and broadcast media, or a franchisor that mainly needs to sell new territories should start with an agency, a platform or a recruitment specialist. LeadsNow fits once enquiries exist and the leak is turning them into booked appointments.
Pay-Per-Result appointments
See if we’re a fit
We book qualified sales appointments for you and you pay on results, not retainers. Our booking page asks a few quick questions so you find out in two minutes whether that model suits your business.
- 50,769+ appointments booked without cold calling.
- Pay-Per-Result pricing — you pay for booked, qualified calls.
- Pick your own time on our live calendar, no phone tag.