Be a Competitor in Your Market
The landscape for dry cleaning advertising has drastically changed in the last 10 years. From business casual to “no-wrinkle” fabrics, consumer habits don’t rely on dry cleaning as heavily as they used to. While you may not have control over what people wear to work, advertising is well within your control. Even in an overcrowded market, effective dry cleaning advertising can make your business stand out.
Tips on Advertising Dry Cleaners
Laundry is among the most basic services required by everyone, which explains why laundry businesses remain lucrative, despite the tough competition. Market forecasts predict that the drycleaning and laundry service market will grow to $129.3 billion by 2027. Entrepreneurs can market their drycleaning business through:
Services
Speed, quality, and range of services are crucial indicators of an effective drycleaning business. Offering services, such as same-day delivery, especially for customers who need their clothes within a short time, can attract more customers to the business.
However, to prevent overloading, such services should be restricted to customers who bring their laundry for cleaning within a given period and for a slightly higher price. Drycleaning businesses should also highlight unique services offered through signage and advertisements. Customers should know if the business cleans leather, wedding dresses, comforters, and more.
Pricing and promotions
Most laundry businesses charge a fixed price for all clothes. However, businesses can attract new customers by offering varying prices for different clothes. Customers with specific needs won’t have to feel they are paying more if their clothes don’t meet the standard price requirements. Offering weekend specials and discounts for large orders also widens the customer base.
Advertising platforms
Drycleaning businesses heavily rely on the local market. Therefore, marketing strategies should focus on reaching the local target market. Effective advertising platforms for laundry businesses include local business publications, newspapers, and other local programs. Businesses can also advertise through their website or local directory by optimizing their business Google listing.
Cross-promotion
Partnering with other complementing businesses is another excellent way of marketing a drycleaning business. This includes leaving promotional materials in restaurants, offices, and other businesses. Cross-promotion is an excellent strategy that helps in generating traffic.
Make a Tangible Difference in Your Advertising
IndoorMedia’s Register Tapes Unlimited division is a 1 year program that sets your dry cleaning business on the path to successful dry cleaning advertising. Following our program steps, you will identify your market, design your offer, and publish your ad. Careful monitoring gives you the opportunity to modify your program to do more of what works. Get started today with the only dry cleaning digital marketing and register tape ad campaign designed from the ground up to make you a competitor in your market.
“This is a great way to keep my cleaners on the minds of people in my community. I’ve always been taken good care of as a client. I have been seeing 25 to 30 coupons per week from my local register tape coupon program for the last 7 years, and I am seeing a good return on my investment.” – Greg Hazelwood, Collegiate Cleaners
Average Coupons Redeemed: 30 per week, 120 per month
“This is a low cost advertisement that works! It keeps your name in front of customers all week long and brings in new customers each week. Other businesses should try this. They will be delighted with the results!” – An Sook On, Modern Cleaners
Average Coupons Redeemed: 21 per week, 84 per month
“We have been using our local Stop N Shop for 26 years running a double ad which covers all three of our services. We get a very good consistent return on this program. Most are new customers, and some are existing customers so it also helps with customer retention.” – Chris Balestracci, Super Wash Laundry & Dry Cleaner
Average Coupons Redeemed: 45 per week, 180 per month
Digital marketing for dry cleaners
Drycleaning businesses should also find ways of reaching potential customers online. Digital marketing helps laundry service providers expand their reach, attract, and retain customers. Digital marketing strategies for drycleaning businesses include:
Pay-per-click
Drycleaning businesses can use pay-per-click advertising to promote their cleaning services. Unlike other paid ads, the business only pays when an interested client clicks on the ad link. PPC ads are fast and drive a higher volume of traffic than SEO. However, marketing managers should choose the right keywords and bidding strategies to use.
Google ads are a perfect example of PPC ads. With Google ads, the business is featured on top of search engine results when someone does an online search for drycleaning services within the target location. Besides choosing the right keywords, marketing managers should also set an average daily budget, identify the target audience, create an ad copy, and maximum CPC.
Paid social ads, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok ads, are also excellent PPC options.
SEO
Drycleaning businesses should embrace search engine optimization to improve their search engine rankings. The primary goal of SEO is to increase traffic and rank higher on search engine results pages. General SEO best practices to consider include:
- Proper use of alt-tags
- Using focus keywords throughout the content
- Internal and external linking
- Creating compelling meta descriptions
- Using high-quality visuals
- Fixing broken links
- Improving page-load speed
Businesses should adopt on-page, off-page, and technical SEO for effective results.
Content marketing
Content marketing is another effective marketing strategy for dry cleaning businesses. As the name suggests, this involves publishing relevant content to websites and blogs. Doing this increases the business’s reach. The main goal of a content marketing strategy is to answer customer queries.
Social media marketing
The importance of social media marketing in the current digital age can’t be ignored. Drycleaning businesses should post engaging content to their platforms to humanize their brand. Effective social media marketing tips include:
- Proper use of hashtags – various types of hashtags can be used to broaden the reach of promotional messages on social platforms. Marketing managers can use branded, industry-specific, event, or community hashtags for various social media posts.
- Engage with the audience – businesses should engage with their followers through comments, shares, conducting polls, and responding to customer queries.
- Consistent posting – posting consistently on various social media pages increases the chances of reaching more social media users. However, this doesn’t mean spamming social media profiles. Marketing managers should post consistently and at the right time.
Get listed in online directories
Drycleaning businesses should also market their services using online directories like Yelp, Google My Business, and Bing Places. Being listed in these online directories increases the business’ visibility. Customers also get a chance to share their experiences. Businesses should ensure all details are accurate and updated, upload photos, and pin the business’s exact location to claim the listing.
Email marketing
Email marketing is still trendy and an effective digital marketing strategy that can benefit drycleaning businesses. With this option, businesses can share the latest updates, discounts, coupons, and other business-related information to their customer’s inbox. Email marketing helps retain existing customers.
Important email marketing tips include:
- The right timing – emails sent at the right time have a higher conversion
- Use of automation tools, like HubSpot and Mailchimp
- Structured and eye-catching subject lines
- Subject lines shouldn’t exceed 60 characters
SMS marketing
As the name suggests, SMS marketing involves sending promotional messages directly to the target customer’s inbox. SMS marketing is effective for updating customers on product dispatches and other real-time information.
The final word on dry cleaning advertising ideas
The dry cleaning industry has seen steady growth after the challenges of the pandemic. Running a drycleaning business is a great opportunity for success. Even though customer habits have changed over time, dry cleaning businesses are here to stay. The biggest challenge facing drycleaning business owners is attracting or broadening their customer base.
For startups, focusing on attracting local customers is important. Drycleaning businesses should target foot traffic by promoting their services using various advertising platforms. However, as the business grows, owners should focus on other effective marketing strategies, such as digital marketing.
If you want to learn more about drycleaning advertising, contact one of our marketing specialists for expert guidance.
By Talitha Turkin
