Is your business newsworthy?
diligent,
conscientious, hard-working drycleaner, who day after day aims
to deliver the very best quality and service possible, would
answer with an enthusiastic and emphatic “Yes!”
With that thought in mind, a good rule to live by is
this…
Don’t lose contact with your
customers!
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Always try to keep the name of your
cleaners fresh in their minds. If you can pull this off on a
timely basis, they will probably continue doing business with
you, even if a competitor offers the very same service at the
very same price… right down the street.
Explain the difference
Think for a moment. How different are you
from your competitor? Have you ever taken time to list the
advantages you offer?
Nowadays, meaningful differences between
drycleaning operations have narrowed almost to the point of
insignificance, especially in the eyes of the consumer. You may
think you’re a lot different than the guy a few blocks
away, but does your customer really notice the difference?
One of the best and most effective ways to
distinguish yourself from the other guy is with an e-mail
newsletter. It’s cheap, fast and gives you freedom to say
what you want — and it doesn’t have to be Pulitzer
Prize material either. You can be an average writer and still
replace your competition in the mind of your customer —
so long as your competition doesn’t suddenly wake up to
the value of publishing a newsletter as well.
In short, it reminds customers that you
are someone who takes the time to keep them informed.
Why start a newsletter?
Just as in the old days, trust builds
relationships and relationships build sales. If used properly,
newsletters can build business relationships based on trust.
With consistency, over a period of time,
your customers and even your prospects will come to recognize
you as a reputable and reliable drycleaner.
When someone signs up for your newsletter,
the mailing itself will serve as a reminder to visit your store
again and again and it will eventually turn occasional spenders
into consistent, regular users of your service. In time they
will view you as an authority in your field… someone they
can trust to capably handle all of their wardrobe concerns.
Overcoming fear
Perhaps the greatest unnecessary worry
that keeps most drycleaners from starting a newsletter is the
fear that they won’t have enough things to write about.
In fact, the opposite is true. Once they
get started, many writers just can’t stop. They get
interested in their topic, start to ramble and don’t know
when to quit. It’s important to keep it short and simple.
Unless it’s really great stuff, don’t give your
readers too much to slog through.
Direction and focus
Starting a newsletter is like starting an
ad, a brochure or a direct mail piece. First, you have to
determine what you want to accomplish.
For example, you can use it to promote an
awareness of your company or to stress your capabilities. It
could focus on new or existing services that your customers are
unaware of or should know more about. You could even introduce
employees or highlight success stories related to cleaning.
One caution, however. Announcing specials
or discounts should be done sparingly. Ideally, the newsletter
should position you as an authority in the industry, someone on
the cutting edge.
Next you will need to determine the timing
and the frequency. Decide up front whether you want it to be
quarterly, monthly, bimonthly or whatever. It’s your
business, your budget and your time, but once you make the
decision, stick with it. It’s better to start out with
less frequency and add an issue than it is to miss an issue
because you couldn’t keep up with the schedule.
Collecting information
Now, begin gathering your information.
With a little research, you’ll be able find interesting
information from a variety of sources.
The key here is the word
“interesting.” Your letter should be perceived as
good news, unlike the newspaper, which is dismal, and a mailbox
that’s full of ads and bills. Take advantage of this
perception. Make your news good… make it interesting
and informative.
There are numerous sources where
interesting information can be found including customers,
suppliers, consultants and employees. Review books, tapes and
videos. Surf the Internet. Scour the trade journals and consult
IFI and NCA for valuable industry-related information to
highlight. Join your state trade association and participate on
a local level. Take any and all courses offered which would
better qualify you as a professional operator.
When you are an expert in your field,
there are surprisingly many tasks that you perform daily. Just
write about them. And remember to write as if you’re
talking to a friend. In other words, don’t use hi-tech
jargon. Not only will this confuse them, it could even bore
them to death.
Develop a mailing list
Of course, the key to any effective
correspondence is the all-important mailing list. Miss the
audience and all of your time money and effort will be
completely wasted. But if you have a computer on your counter
and are tracking your sales transactions right now, you already
have a customer list. A postcard mailing to your customer
addresses, combined with an over-the-counter e-mail collection
campaign, will quickly net you a starting base of hundreds of
newsletter readers.
Alternative formats
This brings up an important consideration.
E-mail newsletters are quick, easy and inexpensive.
That’s for sure. But there are alternatives to online
communication. Instead of having to collect e-mail addresses,
you may want to shortcut the process and use your existing
customer list to publish a print version of your newsletter.
Doing so will certainly incur a greater
cost. However, many people prefer a newsletter in print version
over one that’s digital. First of all, it’s easier
to read from a sheet of paper than it is to squint at a screen
and, second, the amount of content can be expanded without
losing the attention of the reader.
In addition, if you are considering a
print newsletter but have neither the time to gather
information nor the creativity to write, you may want to
consider publishing a “mini-newsletter.”
Our company used this format years ago to
make quick contact with our customer base. It was published
monthly on a 4" x 6" postcard.
Each issue contained at least a dozen
items of interesting trivia, the kind everyone likes to read
and pass along. It was light, easy, fun reading, but we always
encouraged some sort of response from our readers. (If you
would like to publish this type of quick read and need a source
of instant content, drop me a line at bish8@comcast.net and
I’ll see that you have all the information you need to
publish your own version of The World’s Smallest
Newsletter — almost overnight).
Regardless of the format, whether it be an
online newsletter or a traditional printed publication, your
goal is to communicate regularly with your customers. Never
lose contact with them. Remind them of your presence often and
always write in a style that shows you are an authority in the
industry.
Bill Bishop, an industry consultant with
the Golomb Group for 14 years, is now president of Mak
Marketing, Inc. He can be reached at 630-456-4195 or by e-mail
at bish8@comcast.net
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