Looking for an effective marketing strategy for laundry services? Look no further. More people are diversifying their investments and buying laundromats. We’ve had a handful of multi-location clients and here’s the strategy we’ve used for them.
18 point marketing strategy for laundry services:
- Fill out your Google Business Profile 100%
- Post weekly to your Google Business Profile
- SEO optimize your website
- Blog to show up on more Google searches
- Hire a videographer to make some how-to videos for YouTube
- Create a loyalty card program & get their email
- Email new customers to leave an online review weekly
- Respond to all good and bad reviews within 24 hours
- Give away $10K in Thanksgiving turkeys every year
- Donate clean laundry people left a month ago to a homeless shelter
- Create incentives – Get $10 when you sign up for the loyalty program
- Higher a college kid to flyer the neighborhoods when you open a new location
- Plan a yearly event with your shopping center tenants and get free PR from the news stations
- Become friends with Airbnb property managers and do their fluff and fold pick up at no charge when they give you their rental contracts
- Connect with owners of medical practices of acupuncture, massage therapist, or non-surgical medical spas
- Create reasons to email your customer list like inviting them to a customer appreciation BBQ
- On social media, post about home organizing and productivity tips for busy parents
- When you open a new location promote it to your entire customer list
It’s always helpful to find the kind of business that is essentially recession-proof.
People will always need clean clothes!
Fill out your Google Business Profile 100%
Always make sure you have your Google Business Profile one hundred percent completed. In addition to this, you must make sure every online profile you have for your business is filled out the exact same way. I’m talking down to periods, commas, and semicolons. You see… Google is a tad high maintenance (Shhhhh, please don’t say we said this) and very sensitive to details. While this is a great thing for SEO purposes it can be a bit overwhelming to an entrepreneur with a to-do list a mile long.
The point is that each online platform you use to list your business profile needs to have the exact same information. If you change your hours for any reason you don’t want differing information on those platforms. That’s going to upset your customers and will eventually affect your business’ reputation.
Post weekly to your Google Business Profile
You can always post the most up-to-date images to your Google Business Profile but one of my favorite ways to be consistent is by posting your Offers. You can plan your offers ahead each month so you are ready to go with the most current and relevant information. There’s nothing wrong with repeating special offers. In fact, your customers will get accustomed to that and remember when their favorite offer is coming.
Doesn’t just have to be about offers either. You can post tips here too. Here’s one: It can be hard to get that stale sweat stench out of workout clothes. Show your customers how soaking these items in hot water, tea tree oil, and baking soda for 30-45 minutes before washing will help with that.
SEO optimize your website
Who are the people that frequent your business? What kind of neighborhood does your business serve? These are important things to consider when brainstorming keywords that will help you generate more business.
Some ideas for keywords: highlight your city and specific neighborhood, special things related to your particular laundry service or your laundromat, as well as special offers you run on a regular basis.
Are you a newbie to SEO? Schedule A Call to see how we can help your business show up on page 1 of Google.
Blog to show up on more Google searches
You can use the same keywords in your blogs. Whether your business is solely a laundromat or one that offers laundry services, you can find things to blog about that will interest the particular demographic you serve. This could include blogs about stain removal, how to treat certain fabrics, and let them know the least crowded times so they can schedule around that if it helps them. 
Be sure to include a Call To Action in your email in order to grow your email list. This way you can keep your customers in the loop when you have news and special offers. A great way to grow your email list is to include a free offer. For example, you could include a free downloadable stain removal guide.
Hire a videographer to make some how-to videos for YouTube
How about turning some of those blogs into an opportunity to create a companion video? You could do stain removal tutorials, basic laundering tutorials (not everyone has a mom that shows them the how-tos of laundering). I’m sure you can come up with particular subjects that would interest your demographic. You don’t even have to stick with the laundry theme.
Who knows… you could end up having a popular YouTube channel and be able to monetize it for some extra income. That wouldn’t be terrible!
If you do hire a videographer you need to make sure you see their previous work. If it’s a relative newcomer to the field, you can even barter with them. Some things to keep in mind for quality videos: Video quality, good sound, and proper lighting. Nobody will stick around to watch poor-quality work.
Create a loyalty card program & get their email
Another great way to capture emails is to offer a loyalty program. If you’re a service-based business that offers to launder, then you have access to customers when they drop off or at pickup. If you’re a laundromat you’ll either need to have someone on the premises or figure out a way to track and have them turn in their loyalty card so they can collect their reward.
Email new customers to leave an online review weekly
We know it can be scary to ask for reviews. It feels like placing a target on your door and asking for people to try and hit the bullseye. There is a way to combat this and that is by putting yourself out there at the very beginning of your customer’s experience with you. People can be grumpy, this is true. Some people are offended by oxygen and will never be pleased and although it may not feel like it, these people are, in fact, a very small percentage of the population.
Generally speaking, people are quite reasonable and if they know you’re trying your best to make their experience positive, they will respond in kind. Here are 4 Ways to Ask for Customer Testimonials.
Respond to all good and bad reviews within 24 hours
Remember those pesky people we just spoke about? Since they do still exist, and they will eventually write a negative review that likely has little to do with your business and more to do with whatever challenge life is throwing their way, you need to have a plan.
It helps to have a template of the points to hit in your reply to reviews. Have templates for both the positive and negative reviews and be sure to reply to them within a 24 hour period. Some Tips for Handling Bad Reviews.
Give away $10K in Thanksgiving turkeys every year
People love it when businesses donate. This could be turkeys for Thanksgiving, children’s toys for Christmas, or anything else you can think of donating. Again, it can be helpful if you know the demographic you serve. Your neighborhood may care about something particular to them or their culture. Find out what that is and think about how you can best help that cause.
Donate clean laundry people left a month ago to a homeless shelter
Again with the donations! People are people and they sometimes forget things. Have signs that clearly state that items left over a certain period of time WILL BE DONATED. This way, they know what will happen if they leave things behind.
In line with the donation theme, another idea is to consider organizing a clothing drive for those less fortunate.
Create incentives – Get $10 when you sign up for the loyalty program
I mean… why not, right? If you can reel them in with incentives then we say do it. There’s nothing wrong with incentivizing your customers so start brainstorming about how you can.
Hire a college kid to flyer the neighborhoods when you open a new location
I used to do this for real estate agents when I was in high school. They call if ‘farming’. You’re basically planting seeds throughout the neighborhood soil. But, plan ahead because you need to have a way of tracking the progress and success of this kind of advertising.
First, I have to say you need to know those flyers aren’t just ending up in a random back-alley dumpster. Let’s be honest… it is possible. Have a discount code or special offer coupon that is attached to these flyers so that you can track how many come in with your customers. It’s nice to have confidence that you’re not just throwing good money away.
Plan a yearly event with your shopping center tenants and get free PR from the news stations
Get together with neighboring businesses and talk about how you can work together this way. It doesn’t hurt to build these business relationships and it can be such fun for all involved.
Module 7 of the Communication Made Simple course from Business Made Simple teaches you how to write an effective press release. It will show you everything you need to know about how to communicate with the press so that you can highlight yours and other neighboring businesses should you choose to do so.
Offer FREE pickup for FluffNFold services with surrounding Airbnb property managers
There’s always room for special deals made with other business contacts that are willing to throw you a bone if you do the same. If they’re willing to send you regular business this can be a big win for your location. Do a great job and you’ll also get their reviews and they’ll likely send you more business from the other property managers they know.
Connect with owners of medical practices of acupuncture, massage therapist, or non-surgical medical spas
Do you know what doctors and other medical professionals have? Dirty laundry! I’m sure there are some secrets buried deep but you know what kind of dirty laundry I’m talking about. These types of businesses have plenty of sheets and towels that need to be cleaned before and after each service they offer. That’s a ton of dirty and ever-stacking piles.
In addition, you can find out if they have a need for laundry service for their personal lives too. Anything to make life easier! That is how to think in order to make your customers happy.
Create reasons to email your customer list like inviting them to a customer appreciation BBQ
This is another thing you could team up with neighboring businesses to make happen. It doesn’t have to be a huge yearly event. You could do something quarterly or twice a year. Think about what kind of restaurants are near your location and see if they’d be willing to team up with you for an event that can benefit all your businesses.
On social media, post about home organizing and productivity tips for busy parents
Parents are among the busiest humans. There’s simply not enough time to do all the things these days; at least not as well as we’d like to do them. Do you have any tips, hacks, or other kinds of wisdom you can share with people?
Spend some time brainstorming about what you could offer on social media. You could even choose to post funny videos. While it’s important to keep your service demographic in mind it’s also good to share your personality. Try to find a way to strike that balance.
If for nothing else it’s a great way to engage your customers.
When you open a new location promote it to your entire customer list
Did you open a new location nearby? What about in another city or state? Doesn’t matter. Keep your customers in the loop. Maybe they have family or friends near your new location.
When you FOCUS on SERVING your customers and clients the very best way you can, you’ll never be short on ideas. We have seen this principle prevail across each industry for which we’ve marketed.
Drop a comment below and tell us which items in your marketing strategy have worked well.