How do you get more people in the door? 

You can’t trick them — that’s for sure! You have to win people over, and that’s a process. 

In this post, I want to take some time to iron-out the process that digital marketers use to try to push customers to businesses like yours. From there, I’ll share three quick and easy ways you can implement some laundry marketing improvements that will win you more customers. 

Customer Acquisition Explained

Acquiring new customers is a tricky and often time-consuming process. If you don’t know what you’re doing (or how it works), you can quickly find yourself in a jumbled pile of murky marketing efforts that never come through. 

So what is this process? 

It’s easiest to envision customer acquisition as a funnel, like this:

(Image Source)

As you can see, the wider, top side of this funnel is where people become aware of your business and what you do. As their interest grows and they get closer to purchase, the funnel narrows (meaning fewer people reach that stage). At the bottom you have customers that go through the entire process. 

Other ways you’ll hear this explained is through a four-stage process:

• Attract
• Covert
• Close
• Delight

These are essentially the same thing — you have to cast a wide net, then provide a step-by-step process that helps people learn about you, make a decision, and then fork over their money. 

So now the bigger question: where are common areas that need improvement to make this process flow smoothly? 

There are plenty of ways to answer that, but we’re going to settle on three in this post. Keep reading to learn more!

#1: Define Your Audience

First of all, let’s address the top of the funnel we saw above. 

As I said, you have to cast a wide net to pull in more customers, at least as a general rule. But you can’t just wantonly advertise to people who don’t need your services. That’s a waste of time and your marketing dollars. 

The key is defining your audience. 

Knowing who you want to talk to is the basic building block of acquiring a customer. Know your target. 

You don’t need customers from the next town over, or the next state over. 

You also don’t need people who aren’t interested in your services (maybe they own an in-home washer and dryer).

You’ll need to develop something called a persona. This is basically a “definition” of your ideal customers. 

Word to the wise though — you can still try to be inclusive while focusing on your personas. For instance,a  college town laundry may want to write posts oriented toward parents — who will then refer their child to your location. Don’t get stuck on just one audience!

#2: Build Evergreen 

Once you understand your market, it’s time to put that info to good use. 

A common pitfall at this stage is to create content that isn’t evergreen. That means you make content that’s too seasonal, quickly outdated, or just not helpful. 

Evergreen content is content that you create once and rings true for a long time. As such, it needs to be comprehensive, give helpful advice, and be backed by data (if possible). 

This is where it pays to think outside the box. Try tactics like providing guides on your local area, or a 360-degree tour of your locations. There are plenty of great options that will help customers find you and know your reliability.

#3: Use The Right Channels

Last but not least, take some time to consider the marketing channel you’re using to reach customers. Not all channels are created equally, and what works for someone else might not work well for you. 

Knowing your customer and putting up great content are good and have their own merits, but if you don’t promote on the right channels you’ll never be found. It could be you’re on the wrong social media — or that you just aren’t nailing the timing/message for your channel. You need to experiment, innovate, and listen to your customers!

And there are tons of channels to choose from: 

(Image Source) 

• Word of Mouth
• Podcasts
• Email
• Social Media
• SEO
• PPC
• Content Marketing
• Google My Business
• Local Listing
• Blogging
• Videos

Don’t limit yourself! The key is to find what works for you, and then develop it into a juggernaut for your brand. 

Conclusion

Small stones can start an avalanche — and it’s no different for your business. Small, incremental improvements to your marketing can make a huge impact down the line, and it pays to start now. 

Now that you better understand customer acquisition, start looking at ways you can improve the three areas I shared in this post. With time, attention to detail, and follow-through, you’ll see more customers coming through you door. 

And of course, you can always consult the Spynr team for help with elements like this. We love what we do, and are happy to help you grow your business.