Never Stop Looking for Creative Ways to Get Your Brand in Front of Your Customers – And Potential Customers
If you’re a regular reader of PlanetLaundry, you know that my fellow columnists Stephen Bean and Dennis Diaz are always talking about the importance of your laundry business’ brand and brand recognition.
So, how can you accomplish brand recognition with your wash-dry-fold products? How can you help your customers makes the connection between your top-quality service and your name, logo and overall brand?
It might be helpful to look at some examples of branding from our friends in the drycleaning industry. After all, successful cleaners place their branding on practically everything – from their plastic packaging to their printed receipts to lint rollers they’ll give away to customers. Some drycleaners even go so far as to create customized collar stays with their branding on it.
Basically, you’re looking for anything you have that will continue to get your name and logo in front of your customers as many times as possible to remind them where they received such terrific wash-dry-fold work.
Perhaps the most obvious opportunity is to create customized receipts featuring your name, logo and brand. If you use a POS system for your wash-dry-fold business, be sure that your brand is encompassed within the label in that system, not just the name of your business. Get your brand and logo on that receipt. And be sure to have those branded receipts displayed on the finished products in a prominent manner.
In addition, you can buy branded laundry bags, as well as branded drycleaning bags for covering shirts or hanging items. Also, when returning comforters, place them on a hanger covered with branded drapery plastic. Or, if you’re going to buy comforter bags, be sure to get those customized with your logo as well.
If you don’t want to buy customized bags, you can package your wash-dry-fold orders in non-branded plastic bags. However, then buy branded, logoed stickers to seal these bags. Some of these stickers even have space to add the customer’s name and other information.
How else can you get your branding on your customers’ finished laundry? Think about how a bundle of socks are packaged when they’re brand new – with a paper wrapper around them. You can purchase customized paper wrappers with your logo for packaging customers’ socks. This will keep the socks neat; make them look like new; and remind the customer of your quality, caring and professional laundry service.
At The Laundry Doctor, we like to place branded customer thank-you cards in with our finished orders. And, for a more personal touch, the cards read: “Your laundry was processed by…” And the attendant who handled that specific order will sign the card.
Thank-you cards are another great way to insert your brand into your customers’ laundry. And, when you have your employees sign them, it creates a level of accountability back to the customer, while also giving the employee some ownership of their good work.
You can take the thank-you card idea a step further and include some survey questions on the cards. Customers can receive some sort of reward for filling out the survey, such a discount off their next wash-dry-fold order. This is a great was to generate customer interaction while also getting your brand in front of them again.
I’ve seen wash-dry-fold operators place little bags of candy inside of orders. Some laundry owners will partner with other local businesses – inserting a branded, logoed envelope stuffed with the other businesses’ coupons into their finished laundry orders.
All in all, look for any and every opportunity you can to get your laundry business’ name, logo and brand in front of your customers as many times as possible.
