LOS ANGELES — When profits decline and budgets tighten, marketing is often the first thing small-business owners cut. It can feel like an “expense” or a “nice-to-have option” rather than a necessity. But neglecting marketing could trap a laundry business in survival mode, unable to grow or possibly even sustain itself.
Patty Ross shared some advice during her Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) webinar, “How to Create a Marketing Plan for Your Small Business.” She’s a social media expert, brand manager and business marketing adviser at Golden State Marketing.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING
Consistent planning is key to effective marketing and Ross warns against what she calls the “Rubik’s Cube plan” of constantly twisting and adjusting as the company pivots to the “next big thing,” or the “spaghetti on the wall” approach of trying random tactics and seeing what sticks.
Even worse is “marketing spray and pray,” which she compares to shooting arrows randomly at a target and hoping one hits.
“All these efforts waste your time and money,” she says. “I know I don’t like to waste either one of those — especially time. You can always make more money. You can’t make more time.”
SWOT TACTICS
One of the first steps to building a marketing plan is seeing your business objectively. Ross recommends performing a SWOT analysis to understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Strengths: What sets your business apart? What do you do better than competitors?
- Weaknesses: Where do competitors outperform you? What areas hold you back?
- Opportunities: Is there an underserved market or gap in your local area?
- Threats: Are new competitors emerging? Are customer attitudes or regulations shifting?
Ross advises businesses to complete a SWOT analysis when starting out and update it every six months to a year. “Things change,” she says. “Your marketing should reflect those changes.”
YOUR PLACE IN THE MARKET
Another key strategy is identifying your unique selling proposition (USP) — the overlap between what your brand does well, what your competitors do well, and what consumers actually want.
- The winning zone is where your strengths align with consumer needs.
- The losing zone is where competitors already excel, and you risk wasting resources.
- The “who cares” zone is where no real customer demand exists.
When all the factors overlap, the market becomes crowded and competitive, requiring clear differentiation.
“Find a way to stand out,” Ross advises, noting that businesses without a clear USP often spend heavily just to stay visible.
BUILDING YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY
To connect meaningfully with customers, a business must define its personality. Ross suggests using brand archetypes — frameworks that describe a business as if it were a person.
“Brand archetypes represent your business’ personality as human character traits and how you communicate with customers,” Ross says. “They help you emotionally connect to your audience. They can help a business stand out from competitors and help owners with the consistency of their marketing and message.”
Outlaw, hero, lover, ruler, innocent and explorer are some archetype examples. She highlights two especially relevant for laundry businesses:
- The Caregiver — Motto: “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” This archetype focuses on protecting and caring for others. It’s characterized by selflessness and putting others first. This might mean emphasizing your role in preserving valuable garments, with messaging that focuses on trust, expertise and careful handling of customers’ belongings. “To appeal to your customers,” Ross says, “you must make them feel safe and cared for.”
- The Everyman — Motto: “You’re Just Like Me and I’m Just Like You.” This archetype emphasizes reliability, accessibility and belonging. It’s about being friendly, approachable and relatable. A laundromat using this archetype might focus on being the neighborhood’s trusted store, emphasizing convenience and consistent quality at reasonable prices. “To appeal to your customer, you must make them feel a sense of belonging,” Ross says. “Brands that revolve around everyday activities might use this.”
KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMERS
While archetypes shape your brand’s personality, buyer personas help identify who you’re actually trying to reach. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional profile of your ideal customer based on research and real data.
Ross suggests including:
- Demographics: age, income, profession
- Location and lifestyle
- Values and fears
- Goals and challenges
- Preferred communication methods
- Media consumption habits
To build accurate personas, businesses can conduct customer interviews, run surveys, analyze digital data, study competitors’ audiences, and use insights from social media. Even AI tools like ChatGPT can help identify trends by evaluating a website’s messaging and appeal (paid version only).
Personas ensure that marketing campaigns are designed for real people rather than vague “consumers.” They also help align promotions with customer needs and motivations, increasing effectiveness.
Coming in Tuesday’s conclusion: Building a brand, creating a marketing budget and measuring the success of marketing efforts
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