What’s the point of marketing?

To put it simply: you’re trying to make sure that every possible potential customer knows you exist. From there, it’s a conversation about how you get them to come into your store. 

But it’s rarely so simple. 

Proper marketing for your laundry business can easily become a shield that safeguards your business in a very competitive landscape. 

But for newcomers, marketing is fraught with potential pitfalls that can send your efforts spinning. 

So in this post, we want to cover common expectations that businesses new to digital marketing experience. We’ll also talk a bit about the reality, in hopes that you can adjust course and improve your marketing efforts before you burn out. Let’s dig in. 

Expectation #1: Quick Customer Acquisition

Newcomers to marketing often experience significant FOMO, or “Fear of missing out.” The worry is that if they don’t find new customers quickly, they will lose to the competition. 

But the drive for quick growth has plenty of pitfalls. 

For instance, what’s the point of achieving new customers through unsustainable ways like giveaways or discounts? If you’re spending too much money to quickly win customers, you can end up losing money in the long run — because the only reason you’re winning is on price.  

And the fear of missing a potential customer may lead you to poor marketing practices that focus too much on conversion — and not enough on building a long-term relationship with your customer. 

Marketing done right will not only allow your customer base to grow, but to be sustainable. It’s better to glow forever than burn and fizzle out, so remember to take your first efforts slowly.

Expectation #2: Near-Instant Profits

An expectation of quickly reaping profits and customers can also short-circuit true marketing growth. 

The truth is that it can take months to see ROI from marketing efforts. If you don’t go into a campaign with patience (and a long term budget), you can quickly end up at a dead end. 

So to fight this expectation, we recommend sitting down and planning out your efforts carefully. Think about your budget, use SMART goals, and don’t make impulsive changes if you can avoid it. 

A steady increase to customer base means that over time, your marketing will begin to pay for itself. 

Once that becomes true, you can reinvest those profits into upgrading your marketing (or other aspects of your business that need it). 

Either choice will lead to profit to the owner and better user experience to the patrons.

Expectation #3: Avoiding Pitfalls Altogether

Marketing is an art and a science that can grow your business over time, but there is always the potential for downsides. What works for some brands may not work as well for yours — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. 

That’s not to say there aren’t best practices or proven methods. It’s just those methods don’t always provide immediate results — patience here is key 

While marketing done right (with a long-term focus) can increase revenue and business longevity, if done poorly it could have the opposite effect. Poor marketing could have you waiting for an extended period of time for a return on your investment, or potentially never seeing one at all.  

Expectation #4: Quickly Establishing a Brand Identity

There’s a reason why certain company mottos will trigger some kind of emotional response in most people, it’s memorable. Making your brand more recognizable is an easy way to increase your customer base and allow for company growth.

People begin associating your business with the marketing material as they rightly should — but again it’s worth mentioning that this process takes time. Keeping up with the goals and hype created by your marketing will be pivotal in maintaining those new customers that the marketing will bring in. 

They will come because of the sassy ad, great deal, or catchy video, but they’ll stay because they can trust what was said in the marketing material is a standard that the business holds itself to.

Conclusion

Proper marketing’s first goal is always to have you stand out from your competition. 

But the issue experienced by many here is that they expect quick results. 

What do I mean?

Laundromats are a lifeline in more urban areas; knowing your target audience is already half of the battle. The second half will be appealing to them to ensure a sustainable customer base.

Marketing isn’t magic, it’s a data driven practice that is designed to help businesses reach their target audience and grow a recurring customer base. 

If it is done correctly can substantially increase your laundromat’s profit margins over time — so keep these pitfalls in mind when you go to plan your efforts.