Are you thinking of advertising ideas for your dry cleaning and Laundromat business? If YES, then here are suitable practical advertising ideas for you.
Dry cleaning and Laundromat businesses make it easier to get laundry done when customers either don’t have a washing machine at home or need to wash more clothing than their machines can handle at home. These businesses also sell detergents and soap, dryer sheets, and other related items to help customers get their laundry done.
Most of these businesses require customers to drop off their laundry, although some companies will pick up laundry from the customers’ homes. A full-service Laundromat and dry cleaning business charge a fee per item for dry cleaning and a fee per pound for standard laundering.
This type of business takes some of the responsibility off customers who may have busy schedules. With repeat customers coming from the local area, dry cleaning or Laundromat businesses need substantive and practical advertising ideas to reach their intended market.
Practical advertising ideas include all the various advertising tools that a business can use. These include television ads, radio ads, print advertisements, and other forms of advertising. It also includes creative advertising ideas to improve the business’ image or overall profits. This type of business advertising tool is often used by businesses that are just starting up.
A strong customer base is the lifeblood of any business, including Laundromats. Loyal customers provide the revenue you need to grow and expand your business. However, attracting new customers is a high priority, but typically a challenging one.
If you are like many of the Laundromat owners, you are not even sure where to start. There are plenty of ways to get your name out in the community and connect with potential new customers. Here are some practical and proven advertising ideas for dry cleaning and Laundromat businesses.
Practical Advertising ideas for Dry Cleaning and Laundromat Business
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Vehicle Sign Writing
Cleaning businesses around the world secure new customers every day just from people seeing their van in the area. Vehicle sign writing is the process of getting your van branded. You don’t need to go all out on this, just paint or brand the company vehicles that you or staff members regularly drive around.
Consider branding these vehicles with your company logo and information that people can reach out to. While a full paint job can be expensive, you can opt for stickers and magnets that stick to the sides and are visible to people. You can also print window decals to put on the side and back windows and/or even give these out to others to use in their vehicles.
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Print Branding
Giving out free yearly calendars/pens/hangers/cloth pegs which have your business details would help out immensely as it would ensure that they always have your numbers in front of them and think of you when they need your services. The fact that these details are printed on things that people use every day only keeps them in longer circulation and is thus visible at almost all times.
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Share A Local Press Release
Press releases will help your laundry business obtain positive media exposure. Consequently, your business will capture the attention of a broad audience. Share your press release in the local newspaper or a niche business magazine. A press release should tell an exciting story and avoid being too ‘salesy’. Some popular press release topics include:
- Winning an award
- Partnering with a new company
- Working with a charity
- Expanding your product line
- Adding a new type of service
- Changing CEOs
- Reaching a notable business milestone
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Form Industry Partnerships
Team up with a business related to your industry (but not a direct competitor) for a joint project. This can be done locally and offline through some kind of special event, or online (which could still be local) with a webinar or promotional giveaway.
Note that partnering with another business means twice as much notice and exposure to a whole new audience related to your niche. While you are out posting flyers, you can also establish cross-promotional partnerships with other local companies. Together, you can team up and:
- Share a booth at a local trade show.
- Sponsor a local charity.
- Create special promotions for each others’ customer base.
- Link to each other’s websites for greater website promotion.
Note that when you partner with another business in your town, you both gain access to each others’ audience. Better yet, you can split advertising costs. It is truly a win-win situation.
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Advertise In The Local Newspaper
Your local newspaper is not only an ideal place for press releases, but many of them also offer advertising opportunities. Newspapers are a credible source for readers, as well as a cost-effective medium for ad placements. By opting to advertise in your local newspaper, you will target a local customer base.
Construction companies, painters, gardeners, and other local service companies find newspaper ad placement to be extremely valuable.
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Billboard Advertising
Billboard advertising is another form of offline advertising that, when used well, can be highly effective — especially for local businesses. There are many forms of billboard ads, these can be everything from posters at bus stops or train stations, to banners on buses, to giant screens.
The cost of your advertising on a billboard will vary depending on the location and size of the board. Adverts placed in busy areas will cost more than those placed in areas without much foot traffic.
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Develop A Customer Referral Program
Word-of-mouth has always been a powerful form of advertising and will remain to be so in decades to come. Therefore, as a laundry business, you need to make sure that you keep your regular customers happy.
For this, you need to offer existing customers some free products, or services, or reward them in some other form for referring new customers. So always keeps your loyal customers and friends happy as friends talking about your business have incredible value.
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Sponsor A Team Or Organization
Plenty of local sports teams and non-profit organizations — including community theatre groups, animal shelters, schools, alumni groups, and more — look to community businesses to help cover costs. In exchange, they’ll usually wear your logo, provide free ad space in their printed materials or website, or allow you to speak at their events.
Sponsorships are another wonderful way to give back to the community while still increasing brand awareness and connecting with potential customers. Plus, people love to support businesses that give back to the community.
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Advertise with Your Local Chamber of Commerce
Some local chambers of commerce offer advertising partnerships. These help you get your message out in a variety of ways, from local chamber events to the website. These are especially good for B2B businesses (i.e., laundry businesses).
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Post on Community Billboards
Take a look around your local community to find businesses or landmarks that have bulletin boards allowing open posting. Then create tear-off flyers or signs. Other than some legwork and a little ink and paper for your office color printer, it is free.
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Post Flyers In High-Traffic Community Hubs
Posting flyers is a simple, inexpensive way to promote your laundry business. Simply design a brochure, print out some copies, and ask for permission to post them around town. Most libraries, coffee shops, community centers, and grocery stores will allow you to place your flyer in their establishment. As a result, you will catch the eyes of many people in your local community.
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Quizzes
Quizzes are so popular for one reason — people love talking about themselves. Turn this knowledge into a creative advertising idea and publish branded quizzes. It can be a fun trivia quiz or one that’s more specific to your niche. Either way, it is an efficient way to get people to interact with your brand.
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Create and Distribute Brochures
Distribute stacks of physical brochures or postcards to visitors’ centers or local businesses such as coffee shops that allow it. Find the popular spots. This is one time when it is good to be among competition. The more flyers or cards, the more likely consumers are conditioned to look for them there.
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Podcast
Podcasts have quickly become the internet’s favorite. They’re entertaining, educational, and much easier to digest compared to other forms of content. Share industry insights, collaborate with influential people in your field and grow your audience organically. There are endless creative ways to turn podcasts into advertising ideas.
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Create Cable or Local TV or Theatre Ads
TV commercials offer another traditional ad format. Forget national networks. For small businesses, target local news stations or cable TV that fit within your budget. Get your message across to hyper local customers when they’re likely to be paying attention: just when a movie is about to start. Theatres offer advertising options to local businesses, to air before movie previews.
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Memes and Cultural References
Memes are the perfect way to humanize your brand and connect to your audience better. They’re especially powerful if you are dealing with a younger audience.
Millennial and Gen Z-ers tend to dislike overly promotional content. So, charge up your ad campaigns with memes or cultural references to make them more appealing to your customers. Have a slightly older audience? Interject cultural references from their favorite movies or songs.
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Use Human Billboards
To call attention to your laundry business from the street corner, hire a human billboard or a sign spinner service such as arrow Sign Spinners. Sign spinners are people who stand on the corner with a sign, usually paid hourly. Check local ordinances to see what is permissible.
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Create Company T-Shirts
You can also create t-shirts with your laundry business name and logo, or even a short tagline. They serve as a sort of wearable ads. Wear them at local events or even hand them out to customers so they can participate as well.
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Creative Packaging
In the laundry business, outside-the-box thinking takes on a literal meaning when it comes to using product packaging as one of your creative advertising ideas. Give your packaging a smart twist to make it stand out. This will show that you are prepared to go the extra mile to please or surprise your buyers.
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Target People Based on Age and Location Via Local Radio Station
Despite the increase in the popularity of podcasts, radio still receives massive listening figures. According to reports, nine out of ten adults listen to the radio at least once a week. As well as the national radio stations, these figures are shared across 17 regional and over 290 local stations.
This allows businesses to target local areas. There are many other benefits to advertising on the radio when compared to other formats.
While people may skip past print ads, or be making a cup of tea during TV ad breaks, it is very hard for them to ignore a radio advert. Radio adverts are also generally repeated often throughout the day. This repetition means listeners are more likely to take the information in and remember it.
There are plenty of ways to get your name out in the community and connect with potential new customers. Consider and implement these ideas outlined above to attract more customers to your Laundromat.