Advertising & Exposure for a new mat

[supersuds]

Took over a mat that had been running for years - we shut it down for 4-5 months and rehabbed the whole place - all new machines - brand new store now -

the self washers seem to have come back pretty fast and love the new look of the store. We're still trying to get the WDF cooking again as it had been a huge biz their in the past.

I'm wondering what's the best way to advertise that and the business in general to let the neighborhoods know - we're open again! We tried some local paper ads $2 off coupon wdf - minimal return - we were thinking maybe do $5 off one time offer to spike the volume. We're wondering if the paper's are giving enough exposure though or if we're just throwing money down the drain with that. We were recently approached by one of those "door hanger" ad places also - which could be effective I guess for the neighborhood. Was also thinking of direct mailers for within a 1 mile radius of the store if possible. Ofcourse we're looking for the best ROI.

What do you Vets think? We've also been open only 4 months now. We're allready at about 12k revenue a month on the machines the WDF is about 3k revenue - which is roughly about 1/3 of the old ownerships suppossed take (and if you take out a large commercial account we were lucky to get, the residential WDF drops to about 2k a month at this point.) Which is pretty pitiful compared to where it was. (We're not losing customers by the way - people love the service our employees give.) Just wanting new blood faster.

Like I said - only been open with store for like 4 months - so we know the WDF biz takes more time to grow. We're just wondering what the most effective strategies are to push it!!$ as well advertise the biz in general.

[MGS]

When I bought my mat, none of the local mats had a Yellow Pages ad in the local directory. I took one out, the minimum price ad, and it seems to have increased traffic. I get a lot of WDF from pretty far away - I know that some of the customers live closer to laundromats who offer WDF but don't even have a free listing in the Yellow Pages (I guess this means they don't have a phone?!?).

I was lucky because a cheap ad makes me look like the best game in town.

[supersuds]

Really? that's interesting - is it impertive to be in the yellow pages? they keep sending us letters but it's like $200 for the year - is it worth it? Do alot of transients just look in the yellow pages to find their next mats? Maybe we'll do it then.
Thanks for your info...

[Adamski]

MGS,

I used to run an ad in the Yellow Pages back when there was only one phone book in the area. After they came out with the Yellow Book, I wasn't sure which book I should advertise in ... so I didn't advertise in either one. Of coarse, I have the free listing with just the phone number.

I didn't experience any drop in business after dropping my listing.

My laundromat is located at the intersection of a state highway and a US highway. Unfortunately, it is situated behind a Pizza Hut restaurant which is directly on the state highway. I installed a 45 foot high pilon sign that has 5 foot by 20 foot internally lit faces. This sign gets my business noticed from both highways.

A laundromat needs proper signage so customers can find you. If they find your competitor before they find you ... you're in trouble.

Larry

[supersuds]

yeah we're back a ways in a strip mall but have a nice location - have huge lit sign over our store and a 2/5 x 4 lit sign with the other mess of store signs and the front entrance - I guess we just want to make sure we're doing the most effective types of advertising too to spark the area - let them know 1) we're open again 2) Spark WDF biz that was so big there before

My partner is looking at those door hanger ads thing - cheap but I'm wondering how effective those are since they just look like they're 1 color and you company name is just typed on there in like black font letters - we've done some paper ads too - didn't seem too effective - maybe we should raise the discount - what advertising do you feel gives you the most bang for the buck adamski?

[Adamski]

SuperSuds,

I've tried about every form of advertising you can think of. If the goal of advertising is to increase your net enough to pay for the ads plus a little extra for your trouble, then I'd say most advertising will not reach that goal. In this business, it's all a crapshoot.

Having said that, the only time I actually saw an increase in business that I could directly attribute to advertising was in 1993 when I was doing TV advertising. We alternated three 60 second commercials (each produced at one of my 3 laundromats) and ran them for a little over a year. We experienced some increase in business the first 6 months and then it leveled off for the remainder of the promotional event. Those ads were costing me about $3,000 per month (1993 dollars).

Nowadays, I feel I am better off putting my advertising money into visible laundromat improvements or possibly doing some sort of instore event to promote customer goodwill.

Larry

[JeffD]

Adam, do you recall how much this large sign cost to be made and installed ? I am looking into new signage and haven't contacted anyone yet. Just looking for a ballpark figure what is reasonable.

Thx

[JeffD]

Who are the typical customers that pay for WDF ? obviously low income people will do it themselves instead of paying for it.

Single working guys ? families who don't have enough time to do it at home ?

[Adamski]

JeffD,

In 1991, my sign cost $13,000 so I guess you could double that figure to buy one that size today.

Larry

[supersuds]

Really a smattering of what you mentioned. Working guys, families that don't want to bother, retirees who don't want to bother. People that rather drop and go and not hang out in the good ole MAT.

I think the biggest problem I see in this business are the people charging under 80 cents or less per pound. What's the point? These are your premium customers so charge for it.

[petefritz]

I am kind of with Adamski on this one, I really have never done any advertising at all. My stores have good signage and are clean and newer machines. They all do very well. I was going to walk the neigborhood when I put the card store in and give away $5 cards, , also have a cook out type thing, but never even did that. Got to busy. You are ony going to do as much business as your location is worth. That is why a key location is so important.
If you have to do something, walk the neighborhood on sat afternoon giving away something of value, IE, a free wash coupon or a free w/d/f order or something that creates buzz. A $1 off coupon is not much.