As we enter Spring, you might be thinking it's time to freshen up your marketing strategies to ensure your laundromat or dry cleaning business isn’t left hanging out to dry. Figuring out where to start can be overwhelming, especially when you’re running a busy business which is why we’ve rounded up seven dynamic strategies that can help spin your business towards success.
Embrace AI
If you’ve not yet dabbled in the world of AI - now’s the time. Gone are the days where a marketing email would take hours of painstaking work, carefully crafting a snappy sentence. Deleting it. Re-typing it, deleting it again, before reverting back to the original. You can now use AI to make the content creation process even easier. Our recently released email templates come with a powerful AI integration to make creating copy a cinch. You can create a fully formed marketing email in a matter of minutes with just a few specific prompts regarding the type of content, audience and length. Don’t like it? Tell it to try again. And it’s not just emails, you can use AI tools like ChatGPT to create social posts, mine the web for industry trends, and even use it to analyze your business performance.
Check your SEO
An SEO-optimized website should be right up there with ‘invest in washers and dryers’ when it comes to running a laundromat business – it’s that essential. But for small business owners, that’s often easier said than done - building websites requires technical expertise, right? Or at least significant investment in getting someone to do it for you. But not for CleanCloud Customers. With our easy to use website builder, you can build a fully branded, SEO optimized website yourself - simply drag and drop the sections, edit the copy and if you’re feeling confident, change the images.
Claim your Google Business Profile
This is a really simple step, it’s easy to do, it has a ton of benefit for your business, but it’s something that many laundromat and dry cleaner owners fail to do because they don’t fully understand what a Google Business Profile (FKA Google My Business) is.
Essentially your Google Business Profile is a free tool which helps you showcase your business across Google’s suite - listings, maps, shopping etc. You can add information about services, respond to customers, post latest news etc all through your Google Business Profile and it’s great because it helps you get found more on Google. Firstly, this listing will help pull you into Google’s local listings map views so when a potential customer searches for ‘laundry pick up and delivery near me’ - you’re more likely to surface.
Secondly it allows you to respond to customers who leave reviews through Google - and as we all know, reviews count. But what is equally important is how you respond to these reviews. Customers are much more likely to trust a brand where they actively engage with reviews, including the negative ones. Customers accept that everyone has an off day, it’s how you choose to respond to it that makes the difference. Google’s advice is to actively engage with reviews in order to build customer trust.
Finally you can use it to keep customers up to date with the latest news from your company or the latest services and products offered. It’s a really low effort but high impact channel for reaching new customers. So what are you waiting for? Getting set up is easy, and if you need a few pointers there are plenty of guides on getting started like this article from Semrush or Hootsuite’s helpful blog.
Pay to Play
Paid search is nothing new, but many laundry businesses fail to explore this channel and as a result they’re losing customers. Because more than anything else, customers value convenience. They’re searching for ‘dry cleaners near me’ or “laundromats near me’ and they’re clicking on the first option they find. Don’t believe us? Studies show that almost 40% of clicks go to the #1 result on Google. So now you believe you need to be at the top of those search results. But how do you get there? You need a two-fold approach: SEO and paid ads. Once that’s sorted, consider paid ads. Setting up needn’t be a hassle. Do a quick google and look at the keywords competitors are bidding on to help you figure out what you want to target. Setting up an ads manager account in Google is straightforward (and there are always YouTube videos to help!) Then use your new found AI skills to create compelling ad copy, set your budgets and off you go. You don’t need to spend much to see results.
Market Research and Competitive Pricing
Think back to when you first opened your business, did you do market research? We bet you did, you probably had a pretty decent idea of local competitors, how much they were charging, what services they offered. And then your business got started, and you got busy… and suddenly months, or even years have slipped by and you don’t really know what your competitors are up to. And even worse, you don’t know what your customers want.
No matter how long you’ve been in business, it’s vital that you take the time to check in and do some research. Keep tabs on local competition - are your prices staying competitive? What trends are you seeing, these likely reflect customer demand. It takes time but it’s an activity that is likely to pay dividends in the long run.
Local Collaborations
Whether you’re in a bustling city, or a local town, independent businesses like to work together - and for good reason! Partnering with other local businesses builds a sense of community, you can share resources, cross refer customers - and likely find people who can relate to your own challenges. Not sure where to start? Speak to local business owners and see if they’d be happy to put some flyers in their shop and offer to do the same in return. Put together a joint promotion, sponsor local events and get involved in local initiatives and soon you’ll have a bustling community hub.
Sustainability and Service Diversification
Today’s customers aren’t just looking for clean clothes; they’re looking for businesses that care about the planet and offer diverse services. From eco-friendly soaps and techniques, to unique services like alterations and specialized cleaning and community based initiatives that give something back such as charity clothes drives, what makes your business stand out from the rest? It’s not always enough to just clean clothes, you need to build a brand that represents you, and sticks in the mind of your customers.
There’s no silver bullet that will help you boost your laundry business. The most successful business owners who look at the bigger picture, spot the trends that are happening and invest in building relationships with their customers. But there are simple steps that you can take which help you on your way to success. For more tips and advice, join our Facebook Community page, where you can meet like minded laundromat and dry cleaning business owners.
If you’re looking for advice on how to get setup with laundry POS or are interested in switching providers, schedule a short 30 min call with our team to discuss your business needs, or start your free, no obligation trial here.