Most laundromats are utilizing mass marketing techniques to try and draw business.

While those techniques aren’t completely obsolete, they are not nearly as effective as other, more personalized approaches. 

Highly-targeted and personalized marketing – sounds expensive, right?

It doesn’t have to be.

This article will do a deep dive into two of the most effective digital approaches for local businesses such as your laundry business, that are also underutilized and less expensive than other channels.

Let’s get to it!

Secret #1: Facebook Messenger Marketing 

If you use Facebook at all, you are likely aware of, and have probably used, Facebook Messenger. If you aren’t familiar with it, Facebook Messenger is the means of private communication between individuals on Facebook. It can also be used for video calling and group messages as well.

Facebook began allowing advertisements on Facebook Messenger in 2016. The ads were referred to as an “unprecedented opportunity to use amazing targeting capabilities and reach of the Facebook News Feed” by Facebook officials.

Despite this, many businesses are still struggling to incorporate Messenger ads into their digital marketing mix. 

3 types of Facebook Messenger ads

Facebook has 3 types of Messenger ads to choose from including Messenger ads, Sponsored Messages ads, and Click-to-Messenger ads.

The type of Messenger Ad that will best work for your laundry business will depend on a variety of factors. You might even consider running two or all three types to test and see which gives the best results for your business.

To start considering the ads you might run, here is a bit more information on each type of ad:

1. Messenger Ads:

   Messenger ads appear directly on the home screen of the Messenger app. This means they will show alongside the other messages in your target audience’s inbox. These ads are a good choice if you want to expand the reach of your advertising campaigns, and try to get your business in front of new people from your target audience. 

2. Sponsored Messages:

   Sponsored messages allow you to deliver a message directly into the inbox of a potential customer. However – the caveat is that you can only send these to people you already have an existing conversation with. This can be a great option once you start building a customer base in Facebook and reach out to them via Messenger, or encourage them to reach out to you. Think of this like “remarketing” or “retargeting.” You can also think of it as a loyalty-building mechanism. Use this ad type to connect with those who are already aware of your brand.

3. Click-to-Messenger ads:

   Instead of showing in the Messenger app itself, these ads show in the newsfeeds of your potential customers. Unlike a typical News Feed ad, the call-to-action is to “Send Message” and will open a Messenger chat with your brand if a customer clicks. This is a great ad type to run in tandem with Sponsored Messages because you can create a system that gets them to engage with you through Messenger via a Click-to-Messenger ad, and then follow up with them or encourage them to visit if they haven’t already with a Sponsored Message directly to their inbox.

Facebook Messenger ads are a great option to consider because there is less competition and Facebook has a huge audience to pick from. Facebook’s ad capabilities also offer great targeting options. You can build audiences based on customer matching, interests, location, or demographics. For your laundry business, the targeting capabilities are excellent. You can choose to target people who live in the same city as your business who are in your target age range.

Facebook Messenger ads also offer a wealth of reporting, so you can tell if your ads are working. You can track offline conversions (like visits to your laundry business) within the Facebook ads platform, and build those sales directly into your ROI analysis for your marketing efforts. This can be a bit tricky to set up on your own, so it may be worth referring to an outside marketing agency to make sure your advertising efforts are set up well, to provide you with the best results and reporting options available. 

Secret #2: Local SEO

If someone in your area is searching for “laundromat” or “laundry service” – obviously, you want your business to be at the top of the list, right? Well, search engines like Google don’t just magically select which results to show first (although sometimes it can feel a bit like sorcery.) 

There are several steps to help with your SEO efforts, which will help you show up at the top of those search results. It is important to realize that SEO is an on-going process, not a one-time optimization, but these steps will get you started in the right direction.

Optimize Your Website for SEO.

Your SEO efforts start at your website. Make sure your website copy is clear and well-written. Yes, Google is smart enough to know if you have low-quality or super generic content and will absolutely “ding” your results because of it. 

You’ll also want to make sure you include your city and state in multiple places on your website. This helps tell Google EXACTLY where you are, so you show up in search results when someone is looking for laundry nearby. 

Claim or Create Your Business Listing.

If someone has already reviewed your laundry business on Google My Business or Yelp, you’ll just want to “claim” the profile listing so you can fill in all of the missing information. Make sure you include important details like your hours, your exact address, and anything else you might want potential customers to know like perks you offer (WiFi, coffee) or your prices, so customers know what to expect when they get there. 

You should also be sure to respond to any reviews you get – good or bad – positively. If a review is negative, ask the person to reach out privately to come to a resolution. Many times, the person won’t reach out. That’s OK – to anyone who reads that review, later on, you’ll come across as a responsive and caring business owner – which is exactly what you want. By responding to the positive reviews, even with something as simple as “thank you” – you’ll encourage more interaction with your page. Having more positive reviews also influences your search results and will help improve your overall laundry marketing efforts. 

Get Active on Social Media

No one knows exactly how search engines figure out who is going to get ranked where. But we do know that having active social media profiles definitely helps with search results. So create some social media profiles, especially on Facebook, and post relevant content for your audience. You can create your own content, or curate it from detergent brands. 

Conclusion

By harnessing Local SEO and Facebook Messenger Marketing, you can set your laundry business up for online success. Hopefully, by encompassing these two secrets into your digital marketing strategy, you’ll be well on your way to beating out your competitors and becoming the best and most successful laundromat in town.