CHICAGO — Dry cleaners employ a broad range of marketing initiatives to promote their business and services, and three-quarters believe their efforts pay off by generating real dollars, according to the results of this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wiresurvey.
Maintaining a company website is the most common marketing initiative, used by 71.4% of respondents. A close second, at 66.7%, is community outreach.
Other popular efforts include print advertising (57.1%), direct-mail marketing (52.4%), e-mail marketing (42.9%), and social media (33.3%). A smaller percentage (14.3%) uses other outlets, including radio, for marketing.
What is the main goal of your company’s marketing initiatives? If you’re trying to accomplish a multitude of things simultaneously, then you’re not alone.
Roughly 57% of respondents say their main goal is multi-faceted: to encourage customer loyalty, increase brand awareness, build the customer case, and increase short-term sales.
For some operators, they have one main goal: equal shares of 14.3% are focused on encouraging customer loyalty or increasing brand awareness. Roughly 10% want to build their customer base, and 4.8% is focused on increasing short-term sales.
Operators who responded to the survey spend an average of 3.52% of their annual gross on marketing initiatives. The biggest individual spender devotes 10% of annual gross to marketing, while the least spends just 1%.
Roughly 76% believe their activities have generated revenue, while 9.5% say they haven’t generated real dollars. The remaining 14.3% of respondents are unsure.
“Marketing is critical to long-term growth,” says one operator, while another believes their efforts have paid off: “I’m still in business despite a shrinking customer base.”
While the Wiresurvey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.
Subscribers to Wiree-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each month. All dry cleaners are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.
To sign up for the Wire, click the “Subscriptions” button at the top right-hand corner of this page and follow the instructions.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].