By Pip Wilkins, Chief Executive, British Franchise Association
As the franchise market continues to evolve, your brand’s long-term success depends on more than just standing out; it requires standing the test of time too.
Pip Wilkins (centre) on the BFA exhibition stand.
The British Franchise Association (BFA) is here to ensure that you not only survive but thrive, by providing support, education and a strong network of like-minded professionals.
The BFA – setting the standards in franchising
A standards-based association, we’ve been supporting franchisors since 1977, with our commitment to ethical franchising. We work with the entire industry as it evolves and matures in today’s marketplace. We are widely considered the ‘home of franchising’ in the UK, and we also work closely with other franchise associations worldwide, through our partnerships with the World Franchise Council and European Franchise Federation.
Jo White, founder of We Love Pets explains why membership is important to them: “Being a member of the BFA not only gives us huge credibility with any new franchisees coming in, knowing that we meet those higher standards, but we also love the collaboration and community feel, so we can all help each other through the same challenges, sharing best practice and ideas.”
Why become a member of the BFA?
Sometimes it’s easier to let our members do the talking. Theo Millward, franchisor of Swimtime, said: “Membership of the BFA places us in a community of like-minded ethical franchisors. This creates a space for learning and sharing, ensuring our industry operates at the highest standards, increasing value for all.”
Community counts
We often hear from members that one of the main benefits of membership is the access it gives them to other experienced franchisors and the very powerful connections and relationships they go on to build.
Ruth Brown, chief operating officer of Home Instead, agrees: “Being a member of the BFA offers a wealth of benefits. It’s an excellent way to showcase your commitment to ethical franchising to potential franchisees but perhaps most importantly, the peer support within the association is outstanding. I’ve built meaningful relationships and friendships with fellow members, who have generously shared ideas and support throughout the years.”
BFA events
All relationships must start somewhere and for most people that will be at one of the many events we run each year, from Empowering Women in Business and our prestigious Conference and British Franchise Awards, to exhibiting at The Franchise Exhibitions at the NEC and Olympia.
These face-to-face events are where the strongest connections are formed and the most useful conversations are held, leading to long term support from colleagues across the industry.
Effective marketing
Alongside the community aspect of franchising, we also spend a lot of time focusing on marketing, promoting franchising to a wider audience.
Digital marketing
From paid search to social and display advertising, these campaigns, featuring individual member brands, reach over 1m people in the UK and have an above industry standard engagement rate of 5.25%.
Marketing campaigns
This year we took part in World Franchise Day, to elevate brand awareness to a worldwide audience and we’re launching our own inaugural National Franchise Week, to focus on the health and wellbeing of the people in the franchising industry. We will also be releasing the results of the first ever National Franchise Wellbeing Survey, in collaboration with franchise mental health consultant, Cinder.
The National Franchise Survey
As part of our marketing activities last year, we published the National Franchise Survey, sponsored by NIC Local, housed in the British Franchise Journal 2024. It gave us some incredible facts and figures that we, and the entire franchise community, have been able to use to demonstrate the health and success of the industry to prospective franchisees.
The headline figures of £19.1bn contribution to the country’s GDP, less than 1% failure and the 53% rise in the number of ‘Personal Services’ franchises, have given members some very strong figures to use, and we are pleased to say that we will continue to publish the survey bi-annually in the future. Members have free access to download the entire survey from our website.
Social media
No matter how good the figures are, it’s how we share them that matters. It’s 2025, so as you would expect, we are active on social media, posting regularly across all the most popular channels, to keep brand awareness for franchising high.
In 2024 we posted 3,080 times, giving us 818,801 post impressions and gained 26,215 followers. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and LinkedIn.
Public relations
If social media is the mouthpiece, public relations (PR) is the author, creating the content for social media to share.
We take our PR very seriously, writing numerous articles and press releases every month and featuring our members where possible. From case studies about successful former military franchisees in military resettlement magazines, to quotes from franchisors on national news websites, we work hard to educate the public about franchising and give our franchisors exposure as often as possible.
National coverage
We also subscribe to a premium journalist response service and put forward brands who fit the journalist’s requests on a regular basis. These opportunities have resulted not only in articles in leading magazines for franchisors but repeat free coverage from those same key journalists.
Coverage figures
On average the BFA is mentioned 48 times a month across a comprehensive mixture of national and regional media channels, with an average reach of 66m each month.
The BFA Magazine and Newsletter
Our magazine, published bi-monthly, is packed full of industry news, franchisor interviews, updates and educational articles. This is the showpiece in our communications toolkit and back copies are available to download from our website, giving contributors evergreen content. We also send out a weekly newsletter to all our subscribers, which includes prospective franchisees.
The BFA Magazine offer members a great opportunity to tell their stories in a professional manner, to an engaged audience, at no cost.
The BFA website
Of course, the first place a prospective franchisee is going to look for information on the sector, is our website.
A mine of information, it not only lists all our members but also hosts a myriad of educational articles and how-to guides. Our website is regularly updated and receives over 25,000 page views every month.
It should be noted that we are not a lead generation site; our members use it as a ‘shop window’ displaying a business overview, news, photos, advice, resales and franchisee success stories.
Education that elevates
If you sliced the BFA in half you would find ‘ethics’ on one side and ‘education’ on the other. It is fundamental to the association and is one of the pillars of our offering to our members. All franchisors, at every part of their journey, can benefit from taking part and keeping their skills sharp.
Claire O’Connor, founder of Baby Ballet, explains how BFA education has helped her grow the business. “For us it’s the support and reassurance that we are doing the right things, that we have the right systems and processes in place to make sure we are compliant and that our franchises can be confident that they are buying into a business that is ethical and professional.”
Qualified Franchise Professional (QFP)
In 2012 we developed our QFP qualification which gives franchisors and their staff the ultimate toolkit not only to run their franchises properly, but also to signal to prospective franchisees that they are experts in their field.
The BFA Academy
Our renowned academy is the home of all our educational events; from sessions on ‘Leadership in action’, to ‘Mastering marketing’, ‘Franchisor foundations to wellbeing’ and ‘Renewals and resales’. We are 100% committed to offering our franchisors the very best educational opportunities, to help them grow their businesses.
No franchisor is too experienced to benefit from our help. Ruth Brown said: “The educational opportunities have been invaluable for the growth and development of both me and my team.”
Monthly Masterclasses
Our popular Monthly Masterclasses are held online and available on catch-up for those who can’t make it live. These meetings tackle a highly relevant topic for our franchisors each month, such as ‘Maximising territory efficiency’ and ‘Leveraging AI for business transformation: Driving innovation and efficiency’.
Prospect Franchisee Certificate
Education doesn’t stop with franchisors. Our Prospect Franchisee Certificate is widely used by franchisors to ensure prospects have a clear understanding of what it means to be a franchisee, before they begin further conversations. We also offer monthly ‘Franchise your business’ events to guide those coming into the sector.
Dispute resolution services
If things do go wrong, members can access our expert advisors and use our dispute resolution services which include informal conciliation, mediation and arbitration to help them resolve the issue quickly and ethically.
Membership matters
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to expand your growing franchise, there is a world of education and support to be had from being a member of the BFA.
Our success is your success, and we’re committed to helping each and every member grow their businesses in an ethical and professional way. Visit our website or call our membership team on 01235 820 470 for more information.
Posted: 18th June, 2025