Laundromat marketing that costs (next to) nothing

Laundromat Marketing Malady
Marketing is NEVER easy, only a mindreader "KNOWS" 
how to market! 

          I am constantly astounded by the sheer numbers of laundromat owners and operators who have no form of advertising whatsoever! Imagine trying to run any successful business and not spending dime one on marketing. Well, it happens. Would you open a restaurant, hire a chef, wait staff, and a pretty girl as your hostess then simply sit back and hope that “word of mouth” makes you rich? I hope not. However, this is the attitude of a number of laundry owners. I see this occurrence first hand, and often enough that I would confidently say it is the rule rather than the exception.

          So, why are laundry owners so complacent? The fact is that they far underestimate the cunning of the laundry Customer. Innumerable owners see the customer as a non thinking, mindless thing. A thing that will always be there, inserting quarters like some mindless robot. After all, “these people aren’t even smart enough to own a washer and dryer.” “These folks have made some wrong turn in life.” “They aren’t property owners. They haven’t the smarts it takes to have kept good credit. They are stuck coming to my store!” Wrong.

          The facts are far different. Although the customer profile may be that of a lower income individual, they will appreciate being treated more like a high end customer because of it, not in spite of it. When I installed Free Wi-Fi internet access in all of my stores my critics said “Oh, come on, they don’t have computers... they don’t even have washing machines.”  I’ll tell you what, I love touring my stores and seeing my customers happily surfing the web while I’m collecting their hard earned dollars!

          Those same customers might have found my store by surfing the web, and that leads us full circle back to the effectiveness of marketing. Let the other owners ignore marketing. That’s more consumers for YOUR store! An effective and ongoing marketing strategy is as important to your single Laundromat as it is to a national retail chain. Perhaps, even more so. How do you think franchises are able to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from store owners taking delivery of a brand new establishment? Advertising, that’s how. Advertising leads to brand recognition, and that leads to customer loyalty.

COST

           You can spend a boatload of cash on your marketing, but I don’t recommend it. I’m certain that a big time prominent marketing firm would love to throw together a “plan of attack” for you, but that would be a bit overboard.

Rule of Three

          Simply use the rule of three. Always have three separate marketing plans in effect at all times! These three can be of your choosing. And, yes

one of them can be “w.o.m.” word of mouth is probably the most valuable tool in your marketing kit. But don’t take it for granted. W.o.m. can turn on you if not cared for properly. A disgruntled customer can just as easily push away friends and neighbors as a happy one might send them your way. The point here is simple, even word of mouth takes some “tlc”. Don’t forget, all the best marketing plan on earth can do is bring the customer to your store, it’s then up to you to keep them coming back.

Internet

          Here again, a large investment isn’t necessary. In fact, some of the best online advertising tools are FREE. About a month ago I had my Mom over and a tidbit about Google’s yearly earnings was mentioned on the news. It was in the multi Billions.  “How do they even make money?” she queried.  “By giving people what they want.” I explained. And you can utilize search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Yellow Pages.com, and Kudzu without paying a red cent. The easiest method here is establishing a phone line. Remember those Laundromat owners who conduct no advertising that I wrote about? Well, those same sorrowful owners typically don’t even keep phone lines operating in their mats! A simple telephone line places you in the phone book, and in turn wracks up countless free web links to your store!  The next step is sitting in front of your computer for a few well spent hours and fine tuning those free searches. As the owner, they allow YOU to edit the content, list amenities, and often include a press photo at no charge. Just don’t cheese it up with phony “testimonials” That’s a dead giveaway. Again, give your customers a little credit!
I will teach you How to buy a laundromat - But with one difference - you will obtain it for FREE .

Flyers

          Good ol’ fashion flyers! They DO work. I’ve spent a lot of time talking up the customer’s savvy, but I can say that a well placed flyer is still a wonderful advertising practice. Just don’t deviate from these rules!

·        ONLY on Apartment doors

   Every house built after 1950 has a washer dryer hookup. Homeowners DO frequent Laundromats, but you’ll walk nine or ten miles to drop 100 flyers on homes, and 1/8 mile within an apartment complex.

   Cars are another “No No”. Do you read what’s left on your windshield?

·        DIY

   You MUST place the flyers yourself. If you don’t you’ll never know if they were effective, because you’ll never truly know if they ended up in a dumpster somewhere!

Can Danny call landlords FOR ME? WATCH the VIDEO

Coupons

·        Print out an incentive

  A simple offer such as “Free Dry with Flyer!” or  “ $.75 cents per pound for first time drop off customers!” will show you the total effect of the Flyer campaign!

Good luck, and don’t get complacent with this marketing. The turnover rate in apartment complexes is high, and this provides you a never ending supply of potential happy customers for your all cash Laundromat!!!

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