Promoting Your Laundromat in Today’s Culturally and Generationally Diverse Marketplace
During the last 20 years, the changes that have occurred – from both technological and cultural/social standpoints – have been profound. And these changes have had a major impact on how today’s consumers purchase goods and services – as well as how small-business owners actually run and promote their operations.
“This isn’t your father’s laundromat business” has never rung truer.
From a technical standpoint, simply look to the many changes and improvements the industry’s manufacturers have developed with regard to washers and dryers, along with the various alternative payment options and other ancillary equipment now available to laundromat owners.
Aside from many advancements in machinery, effective marketing techniques also have changed dramatically. Unfortunately, many laundromat operators – while applauding the technological changes – have largely ignored the marketing alterations that should be incorporated into their promotional and public relations outreach to fully reflect the diversity of their target audiences in terms of not only cultural differences, but also diversity of age, gender, race, family structure and more.
Currently, diversity marketing is employed by large corporations seeking to reach and attract new customers representing the various groups throughout the U.S.
For example, McDonald’s has done extensive research on ethnic perspectives and how such insights can impact mainstream communications. The fast-food giant’s “I’m Loving it” campaign is perhaps the most well-known campaign to emerge from this research. In addition, Procter & Gamble has invested a great deal of time and resources within the Black community – and television commercials for products such as Tide, Oil of Olay and Pantene regularly feature Black families and were created specifically to resonate with African American consumers.
Similarly, Target has released TV spots that realistically show Black families according to their own values and ideals, as opposed to stereotypical or pop culture depictions.
In essence, the four major consumer groups currently reached through diversity marketing include Hispanics, Blacks, Asian Americans and the LGBTQ+ community. Effective diversity marketing means adapting your message to the market, rather than trying to adapt the market to your message.
No doubt, your diversity marketing plan also must apply to generational differences, thus incorporating the members of all five generations within today’s marketplace. These generational groups include the Traditionalists and Silent Generation (born prior to 1946), the Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1976), Generation Y or Millennials (1977-1995), and Generation Z (born after 1995).
Therefore, when you design the marketing program for your laundromat, be certain to keep your marketing efforts diverse, don’t “play favorites” with your message’s medium, and market to all with total respect and without generalizations.
The main takeaway idea is that laundromat owners need to investigate all aspects of the diverse groupings within their overall customer base in order to develop advertising and marketing campaigns that will appeal to their target audiences. Once you have gained that knowledge, your promotional results should improve dramatically, as well as your bottom line.
The information you’ll need to proceed consists mainly of all (or most) aspects of a group’s values, buying behaviors and general views on conducting their lives. I’ll give you an example of just what such analysis contains, which you then can apply in general to any and all groups.
For instance, let’s focus on the group known as Generation Z. These are individuals who were born after 1995 and currently represent approximately 35 percent of the U.S. population.
If you’re thinking that investigating this group can probably wait a little while longer, I suggest you think again. GenZ alone already influences about $45 billion in annual spending, and that number is guaranteed to grow in the coming years.
Approximately 89 percent of GenZers consider themselves price-conscious shoppers, and about 98 percent of those within this group make purchases within brick-and-mortar storefronts (such as your laundromat) at least some of the time. Above all, they value open mindedness, social impact, inclusion and value. What’s more, nearly 60 percent of this generational group already has savings accounts, which is more than any other previous generation at the same age.
What does this all mean? It indicates specifically targeting this group of consumers is the key. They speak their own language. They prefer texts and images, versus email messages. And they think mobile first. They love authenticity and a middle-ground mindset is not their style. They will take a stance.
As a result, defining your unique brand and voice will help your content stand out in this saturated marketplace. GenZ consumers simply won’t respond well to just any generic brand messaging; to these digital natives, such uninspired marketing strategies are all too transparent. Plus, GenZers process information faster than previous generations and are skilled at quickly deciding where to focus their attention.
Generation Z typically will respond to exclusivity messages, such as “limited time only” and “just a few left in stock.” In addition, FOMO – or the fear of missing out – can cause many within this group endless anxiety. In general, print ads will hold their attention, and they will read these promotional pieces for longer periods without distractions than they would on a digital platform. When marketing to this group of consumers, keep your content platform-specific and always be authentic.
Lastly, GenZ’s peers and preferred social media influencers are far more powerful sways to purchase than celebrity endorsements or any “experts” of yesteryear.
Hopefully, the example above will give you a general template for examining all of the various segments of your laundromat’s market. Will it take some time, thought and effort to develop an authentic, segmented marketing program? Absolutely.
A diversity marketing effort should consist of a variety of messaging channels. What sets it apart from other strategies is that the messaging is fine-tuned specifically for the audience it’s trying to reach, and it’s delivered to the target group via their preferred communication channels.
For diversity marketing to be truly effective and to make an impact on your bottom line, it must be data-driven, authentic and, above all, culturally and generationally aware.
As the saying goes, “a lot of different flowers make a bouquet.”
