local-marketing-blog

Successful Dry Cleaner's Marketing

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:39:24 +0100

When visiting some clients this past week i had the opportunity to talk with a local owner of a DryClean Usa Franchise. He was wondering how effective marketing would improve his business. He has a great plant, and is particularly a very hard worker. For what i saw, they are really good at what they do. That is the reason why he was shocked when i told him that being the best sometimes is not the key for success. I have seen really good cooks open restaurants and offer the best food you can imagine, and then close their doors because their lack of sales.

Believe it or not, the biggest issue you have to address is defining what kind of business are you in. At some point my client explained to me how he was on the Getting-dirty-clothes-clean business, and how he knows how to handle every kind of fabric, or remove any kind of stain. I was impressed. The only problem is that unless people know what you do, differentiated you from your competition, trust you, and then give you their business, you wont make money. He needs to be in the marketing business instead. He needs to be in the Drycleaning Services Marketing Business, and be very successful doing that.

The truth is that there is not much difference between all the dry cleaning stores around. Most of them use the same chemicals, they have the same systems, they return the clothes clean, hanged and bagged on the same plastic bags. So what is the difference that make some of them successful?

Please consider the next five suggestions for your local marketing.

1. MINDSET

Marketing is a mindset. A mindset based on your own integrity and belief in your service. When someone asks you what you do for a living, instead of telling them you’re a dry cleaner, begin to think in terms of being a “problem solver.” Say something like, “I help people who enjoy quality clothing keep their clothes looking and lasting longer.” Remember that your mindset will transform you and make you a 24/7 marketer for your business. Every contact you have is a chance to introduce your business. Always carry Business Cards, Brochures and drop off bags with you and keep focused...

2. POSITIONING YOURSELF IN THE MARKETPLACE

You must finally decide, are you a full service dry cleaner or a discount dry cleaner. Either way your dry cleaning plant, inside and out must reflect this decision. Your personnel, advertising and quality must reflect this positioning statement.

Here’s a 5 point checklist to help you decide if you’re reaching the right market. Ask yourself.

Do they have the money to pay for quality dry cleaning services?
Will they’ll pay a premium for better service and quality if necessary?
Where is the competition weak in my trading area?
Which influential people or companies in my community can I service that will give me credibility and great references?
How can I make sure my prospects know they need what we offer?

3. BUILDING PERCEPTIONS

If you asked your best, most trusted customer, and I encourage you to do this.
“What is it that makes dry cleaning so good?”
“What do you value about the way your dry cleaner gets the job done?”
“What do you value about the way your dry cleaner treats you?”

What makes marketing work is perception. There is very little difference in dry cleaning plants or laundries that use the same cleaning solutions, offer the same services and deliver on their promises. To do marketing right you have to consistently build a perception in the mind of the consumer about what makes you different.

Is it that you’re more trustworthy than your competition? More knowledgeable about difficult cleaning situations? Does your laundry have more modern resources or respond quicker to customer’s requests?
What innovative marketing ideas have you implemented recently? Do you have the capacity to service large corporate clients or hotels? What about wedding gown preservation or fire restoration. Do you offer a shirt laundry or offer a dry cleaning drop box?

4. WRITING A WINNING MARKETING MESSAGE

When you sit down to craft a persuasive results oriented marketing message, keep your problem solving mindset and target market in mind and think about what is the reason people need you, specifically to solve their dry cleaning problems. How do you know you’ve written the right message? When your prospect reads your message and says, “That’s Me!”

For example, to position yourself as the “tough stain remover” a headline like this would command immediate attention, don’t you think? “ Are you constantly switching dry cleaners because of hard to remove stains?” See the difference?

Use the benefit of your service from your client’s point of view. Ask yourself, what is the problem most of my customers face? How can my unique talents, resources, people and services best meet and solve these challenges?

This is why non-intrusive marketing vehicles like newsletters, e-zines and community based sponsorships are so persuasive and powerful. You can deliver this message in the form of articles, samples, case studies and educational materials in a way that your customers and prospects will appreciate.

As you craft your marketing message make sure to incorporate the winning AIDA formula. Get the attention with a problem solving headline that makes them say “That’s’ Me! Grab their interest next by telling them why you’re different and what your service can do that others cannot or will not. Sweeten the deal by attracting desire. Whet their appetitive with an offer so enticing they cannot possibly refuse. Then top it off with a sincere call to action. What should they do now to begin to build a loyal relationship with you? Subscribe to your ezine or newsletter, visit your store for a special in store offer, sign up for your surprise reward scratch and win card.

Stand Out Local Marketing

Allan J. Katz content used on this post

5 Costly mistakes to avoid marketing your business

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:50:51 +0100

When creating a marketing strategy plan, lots of business owners start thinking like a marketer (or at least how they think a marketer think...) and then try to implement everything they have known or heard in the past. Please keep in mind this costly mistakes that you need to avoid at all costs...

1. Not thinking like a customer: For some reason we forget what we do every time we are not on the Marketer Position, and then create a lot of strategies and campaigns that we already know are not working. How do we know? Easy. We wouldn't buy that way... As the business owner you will feel the need to get your business on the Yellow pages book, however as a client you know that you haven't open the book for months now. Think how would you react as a customer to your campaign and adjust accordingly.

2. Create false expectations: Nothing worst that expect miracles from your campaigns or your strategy. I have had some clients that for years, they didn't spend any money on marketing, rely on referrals and word of mouth, and then, they create a website, and expect that their phone wont stop ringing. WRONG!!! There are some campaigns that will deliver immediate results but it is imperative that you understand that marketing is not a way to triple your sales next month. However, it is a way to ensure that you will have a future on your business, and that you will grow every month.

3. Loose your clients information: Everytime the phone rings as the result of any of your campaigns, you need to know that you paid for that phone call, and unless you are good gathering information you will have to pay for the same client again. It is very easy to implement a system to collect information to contact your customer again.

4. Change your campaigns. any marketing campaingn is a way you have into changing the minset of some one else. Unfortunately, unless your marketing campaign involves hypnosis, you won't be able to change a paradigm that most people develop thru all their lives in a matter of weeks. When people is exposed to your campaigns, they need time to understand what you offer, create credibility on your brand or service, and then get ready to buy. Advertising is a game of numbers. For example, lets take a printed ad on a local newspaper. Usually, a potential prospect need to see the ad a minimum of 9 times to be able to associate your brand, get confident, and be ready to initiate contact. The problem is that the average prospect won't see your add every time you are published. The number is one out of three. What that means is that you need to publish your ad a minimum of 27 times (based on weekly publication) to be able to generate some results. So, if you got anxious after the 3rd or 4th week, and change your campaign, or jump to other chanel, you just lost your time, your money, and even worst, generate a bad feeling on those who saw your ad and now can't see it again. Probably they now think that you were just an occasional business.

5. Take yourself for granted. This is one of the most common mistakes i have seen on small business and professionals. Sure you have great ideas, and you have the ability to put together some campaigns, but you cant take yourself for granted. Not planning ahead for your absence is foolish and a recipe for disaster. You need to create systems. A system is an ordered list of steps that you need to accomplish something, with the instructions on where and how to do them. At the office we have lots of checklists. From the moment you call to set an appointment, we are running systems. It make it a lot easier to train other people, and to step aside of all the processes on your company. That will allow you to replicate the process, outsource and use your tine on getting new good ideas.

This mistakes can hold you on getting your marketing off the ground. Make sure you stay away from them.

The need of a Marketing Plan for your Small Business

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:48:20 +0100

After you open your business doors every day, you just know that you need more traffic, more customers, more calls or more appointments. Unfortunatelly you are too busy running your day to day business to plan and execute a whole marketing campaign. To be honest, for many years and many business ventures i personally thougth that marketing was for big companies with huge pockets. Then i would start a campaign, make some flyers, or some direct mail advertising and hope for the best. After a couple of weeks, i would change the strategy...

Does this ring any bells...

The numbers are amazing. Please take a look at this statistics...

54% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search for phone books – comScore networks
61% of local searches result in purchases – TMP / comScore
80% of budgets are spent within 50 miles of the home – DMA / proprietary
82% of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone call or purchase -TMP / comScore
73% of online activity is related to local content – Google 9
7% (nearly all consumers) now use online media to shop locally – BIA/Kelsey and ConStat
When asked about the top marketing methods for local businesses, 40 percent of respondents say search is best MerchantCircle

A marketing plan will give you the chance to put on paper all the objectives you want to achieve from your marketing, and have a blueprint on what to do at all times during the next year.

Planing will save you time and money and will save you from changing your campaigns before time or going in diferent directions at the same time.

Busines dont plan to fail, they fail because they dont plan.

Some will disagree with me on this, but my advice is that you need a very practical marketing plan. Not a big, complicated document that will end up on the shelves, and no one will look at it because all the wording is so made up that will not bring anything positive to your day to day work.

You need a marketing plan that will show you at any time, for at least 52 weeks, what are you doing, who is doing it, what campaigns are running at any given time, and which results are you especting. This will take away that feeling you have almost every monday when you ask yourself "What can i do to pomote my business this week?"