People launch small businesses every day but sadly only a few remember to launch a series of marketing strategies alongside their formal launch.
Most of them just focus on opening the location, then waiting for customers to walk in.
A good business owner does not wait for customers. He goes to them.
Here are 10 marketing strategies I would deploy if I open a local car wash or laundry service.
1. Spend 1000 or 2000 Naira every day on Facebook Ads targeting people who live in the area, especially men.
This advert will contain a crystal clear sweet offer like “FREE COKE + FREE DASHBOARD POLISHING FOR EVERY CAR WASHED
2. Ensure to place my business on Google Maps. This is very important for those who do not even know my business but are searching for a car wash or laundry business in the area
3. Place signage in front of the location that contains an offer.
Small businesses waste signage on writing their name and drawing images when they should use signage to draw more sales.
Mama Nkechi who sells Jollof rice on a small table outside is better off writing “Sweet hot Jollof from N200” than writing “Mama Nkechi” with some boring pictures.
4. Train my staff to upsell every customer.
If you ask to wash your car, they can suggest washing the engine too while you sit and drink your free chilled coke.
5. Deploy retail software that stores customer data and generates a receipt after each service. Promise customers half-price on every 5th visit. The system will track this.
This is the retention strategy that gets them coming back.
6. Invite a customer service expert to train my team.
They must learn how to speak to customers, how to greet them, how to handle an angry customer, how to dress, how to exceed customer expectations and so much more.
Just saying “thank you for using our service, we hope you liked it. Please come back again Sir”, can bring 4 customers out of 10 back.
This one alone is a far stronger retention strategy.
7. In the process of doing no 5 above, collect customers Whatsapp no to send their e-receipt.
Save all Whatsapp numbers. Ask them to save ours.
Publish daily on Whatsapp status to stay on top of their minds
Every new month or celebration, push out a bulk Whatsapp message to everyone.
Keep collecting and consciously growing the Whatsapp list.
They can chat with us on Whatsapp.
8. On the day that a customer claims his 5th visit discount, have a friendly 2 minutes conversation asking if he has enjoyed our service and if he would kindly refer his neighbors to use our services.
Collect any feedback from him and document it for improvement.
9. Ensure that employees are dressed in a bright colour Tshirt like orange and that their shirts carry a strong brand promise like “Expert care for your car’
10. Go to ChatGPT and ask the artificial intelligence tool to tell me more strategies I can deploy to rapidly grow sales at my new local car wash or laundry.
I hope that many people will stop saying they do not know how to market their businesses.
This is a simple guide.
Once you launch a small business, sit down and think up marketing strategies that work.
Did you notice I didn’t mention sharing of flyers?
Because it is not an effective strategy.
So, sit down and think up effective strategies to market your small business and rapidly grow your sales.
I hope this helps someone.