CHICAGO — In today’s digitally driven marketplace, delivering high-quality content is almost essential. For laundry businesses looking to connect meaningfully with customers and stay competitive, a strong digital presence powered by strategic content can make all the difference.
By publishing valuable, engaging material on company websites and social media platforms coupled with smart search engine optimization (SEO) practices, brands can do more than just attract attention. They can inform audiences, build trust, and even entertain, turning casual browsers into loyal customers.
American Coin-Op interviewed two digital marketing experts to ask how laundromats and laundry businesses can harness the power of content marketing to elevate their online footprint and drive measurable results. (Editor’s note: Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.)
Dennis Diaz is president of EVI Industries company Spynr, a digital marketing firm that specializes in supporting laundry businesses through its “W.A.S.H.” strategy: website, audience development, strategy (search and social), and how did we do? (measuring and tracking). Spynr serves roughly 250 vended laundry clients.
Charles Measley, who owns two laundromats and a vibrant pickup-and-delivery operation, is a partner in Suds Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency for laundromats. The firm enables store owners to maximize revenue by generating or expanding their online presence; it serves some 350 clients throughout the country.
Part 1 examined how content creation attracts customers to laundry businesses and the types of content that most resonates with them. Part 2 delved into user-generated content and testimonials, plus some content strategies for targeting local customers. Let’s conclude the Q-and-A:
Q: How can laundromat owners with limited resources effectively use video in their content marketing?
Diaz: The power of AI these days makes video creation so easy. There are software tools out there that if you record something at your laundromat, maybe how to get a card from your card system, you can quickly upload that into video software that will automatically put up captions for you based on was said and also edit it the right way.
Starting with your camera is always important. Everyone has a phone. Record something at your store and then find someone to edit for you, or get software that has some AI capability to do some things for you.
Measley: It doesn’t have to be a full-on video production. Take your cellphone and do a selfie video. Keep it simple, keep it short. One or two minutes is all you need. It literally only takes a minute to record it. Maybe do one a week for four weeks. Commit to doing that and see what customers say and what reactions you get. Keep it realistic and personable and pretend you’re just talking face to face with a customer and see what happens.
Q: How should a laundromat measure the success of its content marketing efforts?
Diaz: I think the quickest and easiest way to measure success is the engagement level you have with the content. When posting on social media, you know how many “likes” you’re getting. If you’re going on a forum and you’re talking to people, you can see the conversations being had about your business. Those are easy metrics to look at that will help you understand whether the content was successful or not.
If you put something in your content that mentions getting $5 off if someone mentions your business on Facebook, that’s another way to indicate that the content is working and turning into a transaction, which is really important from a small-business level.
Measley: This would be a good spot to identify the difference between generating content and the search side of it. When we’re posting on Instagram and Facebook, we’re pushing something out there to an audience. We’re pushing for customers to see this message, watch it and hopefully say, “I wasn’t thinking of going to the laundry but they’re talking about this great deal they have on comforter cleaning.” That’s versus someone going onto Google and doing a search for a laundromat “near me.”
When you’re doing videos, you need to go in with the mindset that you’re making it to push it out to a customer. With our videos, I would love for each video to bring me an extra $500 a week, but we’re basically doing brand awareness. We’re letting people know where we are and the services we offer. When that customer has that need, the idea is they will have seen our videos and photos a few times and they’re going to say, “I want to go to Fluff and Fold Laundry and get my comforter cleaned.”
It’s not like a short-term goal. We’re looking at this through (the lens of) a long period of time. It’s the same thing as Coca-Cola. They run ads all the time. Everybody knows what Coca-Cola is but they want to be in your mind so that when you walk into that convenience store or restaurant, you’re not thinking of Pepsi. That’s basically what we’re trying to copy.
Miss earlier parts? You can read them here: Part 1 – Part 2
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