Is your dry cleaner business growing? If it’s not, it’s dying. That’s what experts say. It’s dying. Companies that grow, however, survive long-term. They also retain good employees, create new jobs, and enhance competitiveness. More importantly, they boost profitability and increase their chances of flourishing long-term.

But growing a dry-cleaning business is a challenge. There are no two ways about it. Dry cleaning is a dog eat dog industry. Print advertising in the local newspapers help, but it is expensive. You have to not only buy the space in the publication but also pay for the ad’s design. Direct mail also is costly.

Pay per click advertising (PPC), however, is a better way to boost growth. This proven approach to generating business promotes your business every bit as effectively as print advertising and direct mail, if not more effectively. Plus, it’s cheaper—a whole lot cheaper.

These benefits are why more and more small business use PPC advertising. Research, for example, indicates that 45% of small business use this promotional approach, while 74% of companies with more than 50 employees also use PPC advertising.

Below we review the topic of how to use pay per click advertising to grow your dry cleaner business. The article covers the following:

• Challenges to growing a dry cleaner
• Basics of pay per click advertising
• Benefits of this online advertising tactic
• PPC strategies that work

Challenges to Growing Your Dry Cleaner

Dry-cleaner managers and owners face numerous challenges to growing their businesses. These challenges include:

• Low-profit margins
• Shortage of skilled labor
• High employee turnover
• Low customer retention
• Intense local competition
• High customer expectations
• Logistics problems

These challenges are enough to drive you crazy. But failing to overcome them can keep you running in the red.

What is pay per click advertising?

So, what is PPC advertising and how does it benefit you? First, this article refers primarily to Google’s PPC online advertising model. (Bing also provides a pay-per-click platform. It shows ads on the Bing and Yahoo networks. Also keyword-based, this approach uses search partners.)

Simply put, PPC advertising lets you bid on keywords associated with your target audience’s interests. When customers use your keywords to search the Internet for a product or service, your ad pops up on the search engine results page (SERP). Typically, the higher your ranking on the page the better.

To get a higher on-page ranking, however, you need to bid more for the right keywords. The might sound costly, but Google only charges you when customers click on your ad. (That’s how the process got the name pay-per-click.) PPC is ideal for cost-conscious owners and managers.

Clicking on the ad takes customers to your website. If customers like the offer on your webpage, they buy your product or service. That’s called “converting.” It’s the Holy Grail of Internet marketing.

PPC advertising offers endless possibilities. It’s ideal for many dry-cleaners because it allows you to compete with larger competitors cost-effectively. That’s the biggest—and best benefit for dry-cleaners.

Additional PPC benefits for dry cleaners include:

• Ease of creating/managing ads
• Quick setup and campaign launch
• Targeting of specific locations and demographics
• Pinpoint target with keywords
• Set and forget features for basic tasks

PPC advertising is proven and productive. And while it may need a keen eye for detail sometimes, it saves you time, money, and effort over traditional promotional approaches.

How to Use PPC to Grow Your Dry Cleaner

If you’re a dry cleaner owner or manager that’s extremely cost-conscious, pay per click advertising is a powerful tool to grow your dry cleaner. Below are seven PPC advertising best practices that can help you boost traffic to your website and grow your business:

1. Use negative keywords — These keywords help you remove unqualified traffic. Someone looking for “free golf clubs,” for example isn’t looking to buy. Add the word “free” as a negative keyword and people searching for free stuff won’t show up in queries containing your keywords.
2. Focus on audiences — Often used in remarketing, audiences contain users segmented in a particular way—page views, time spent on a page, on-site pages per visit, and so on. As with keywords, you bid on audiences based on relevance.
3. Target your zip code — A two-pronged effort, this strategy targets your zip code. First, you set up a campaign with your keywords. Next, you set the location as your dry cleaner’s zip code. Then, you offer coupons with your ad, enticing customers near you to try you. This best practice is ideal for targeting people close to your business.
4. Choose the right delivery method — You can use one of two delivery methods. Standard shows ads throughout the day. It works well if you have a limited budget and don’t want to show ads for every query. Accelerated shows ads until you deplete your budget. It works well if you have an unlimited budget and want to show ads for every query.
5. Select the right ad delivery approach — Google provides two ad delivery choices—optimize and rotate indefinitely. Optimize delivers based on ads expected to generate higher click rates. Rotate delivers more evenly into the ad auction but aren’t optimized toward any goal, such as clicks or conversions.
6. Retarget website visitors — This strategy requires you to set up your infrastructure to tag every one visiting your website. Then use Google to retarget them with display ads to further convince them to use your services. Retargeting can lead to massive sales growth.
7. Split testing — Google lets you run experimental ads next to your other performing ads. You can then use the data generated by this strategy to decide to use the changes in the experimental ad or delete them. It’s a useful strategy when you want to test ad creatives with similar audiences.

These seven best practices are just some of the PPC strategies available to you to help you grow your dry-cleaning business. Dozens of others exist that can pay off for you. Plus, PPC isn’t that costly to try.

Hopefully, this glimpse into how to use pay per click advertising to grow your business resonates with you. It’s a cost-effective promotional approach to online marketing that can provide an excellent ROI. More importantly, it boosts growth, which will help you flourish long-term.

If you are interested in learning more about Pay Per Click Advertising, here are several articles to help you on your journey:

Pay Per Click Guide for Beginners

The Ultimate Guide to PPC Marketing

Employees hate change. No two ways about it. The reason: Our brains are hard-wired to do the same thing over and over again and again—whether that activity is right for you or not. So, we resist change until we have no other option.

Change, however, is useful—especially if you’re running a dry-cleaning storefront. It can, for example, help you grow as a person. That’s never a bad thing. Below are some additional reasons why change is right for you:

• Pushes you out of your comfort zone
• Generates more experience
• Tells you exactly who you are
• Increases flexibility and adaptability
• Opens you up to saying YES more often

We could add more reasons to why change is right for you. But we think you get the idea. In the case of running a dry-cleaning business, change is often useful because it can take your storefront to another level and boost profitability dramatically.

Despite these advantages, owners and managers of dry cleaners often hesitate to make changes to their dry cleaners point of sale (POS) software. Dry cleaners will often go 15 or 20 years using the same software without changing it.

If that sounds like you, don’t be discouraged. Many owners and managers do the same thing. Some will even wait until the software is no longer working before doing anything about it. That’s often counter-productive, especially when it comes to customer service.

When Changing POS Software Makes Sense

Changing POS software makes sense when it’s hurting the company. Using an older POS software solution, for example, can slow customer service and undermines customer experience. That, in turn, can hurt customer loyalty, hamper productivity and shrinking profitability.

But how do you know when it’s time to change Your POS solution? Ask the six questions below. The answers will tell you if it’s time for a change or not:

Is the software having technical problems?

Older software often creates challenging technical problems. If you’re spending time and money resolving these technical glitches, it’s time for a change.

Is there a compelling reason to do it?

If making a change provides a tangible benefit for the company, like boosting customer service or increasing productivity, a different direction is in order.

Are customers complaining?

The last thing you need is to have customers complaining. If the software solution is impacting customer service or customer experience significantly, you can’t afford to keep using the platform.

Are employees complaining about the platform?

Employees complain about things. That’s nothing new. But if employee complaints about the software solution are coming fast and furious, consider a change.

Is it providing a competitive advantage?

If the software isn’t differentiating you from your competitors, it’s no longer an asset. Find a solution that does.

Do you have the resources to do it?

The key to upgrading software solutions like a POS platform is having the staff, time, money, and focus on doing it. If you do and you’ve got the right answers to the other questions, then it’s time to make a change.

The last question is the most critical of all.

If you don’t have the resources to make a change, however, it’s probably not in your best interest.

But replacing your legacy solution with one that’s easy to install and use, like Enlite’s, can offset the lack of resources.

Choosing a POS Software Solution

More dry cleaners are replacing their POS software with one of today’s solutions. Installing a POS software platform, like Enlite’s, simplifies and streamlines operations. It also frees you and your employees to other more important activities, like helping customers and increasing profitability.

The key to enjoying these benefits, however, is picking a POS solution that fits your specific needs. That means you want a solution that’s customizable, cost-effective, and cloud-based, which eliminates the need for you to upgrading by yourself. The software company does that for you.

Here are six must-have features to look for in a POS software solution:

• Powerful point of sale functionality
• Robust billing/invoicing capabilities
• Dynamic CRM features
• Mobile mobile capabilities
• Easy-to-use management functionality
• Online routing and delivery capabilities

This list isn’t intended to be exhaustive. But it’s a good start.

Installing a new POS solution with these capabilities can take your business to the next level.

Migrating to a New Dry-Cleaning Software  

Purchasing a new software solution, however, is only half the battle.

The other half is implementing it. That activity can stress out you and your employees big time.

Below are ten additional tips that can help you implement a new software solution at your dry-cleaning storefront and reap the rewards new technology brings:

Express the Benefits of the New Software

One critical step in migrating to a new software platform is communicating the benefits of making the change.

If your employees aren’t clear on how the software benefits the company and themselves, they might not fully commit to the change.

Identify Early Adopters

Keep in mind also that adoption rates vary. Adoption depends on how open your employees are to new technology and a willingness to learn. If you can build momentum with any early adopters on staff, you’re chances of succeeding improve dramatically.

Name a champion

Similar to an early adopter, if you can find a champion on your staff, you can leverage his or her enthusiasm to build momentum for the change.

Champions need to know the software well and understand the learning needs of everyone.

Explain why you chose this solution

Make sure your staff knows why you chose this software and how it makes their jobs easier. Also, make sure your people know what the software is, how it works, and what it does.

Schedule training sessions

Use training events to train your staff on using the new software. You should also encourage dialogue, answer questions, and reinforce the solution’s benefits at these meetings.

Move critical content to the new software

This step increases adoption by moving important functions and contact to the new system. This will require employees to use your new tool to complete their responsibilities.

But be careful with this step. It could backfire on you and frustrate employees if you do make this move too soon.

Use rewards and gamification

The carrot and stick approach to teaching something doesn’t work for everybody—especially creative thinkers.

Rewards and gamification are other ways of encouraging behavior changes. A lot depends on your work culture and core philosophy.

Involve your IT person

If you have an IT person, get them involved in the adoption process. He or she can help you make sure your new software doesn’t have any security holes that could cause trouble.

Investigate the challenges

Find out what problems exist in every area of the business impacted by the software’s introduction. Are your employees getting everything they need from the solution? You can then make adjustments based on these needs.

Communicate with transparency

If employees think they’re being kept in the dark, they may resist the change. To maximize buy-in, try to make employees feel like they’re involved in the process. If you don’t, they may resist using the solution.

Develop an engagement strategy

Creating an engagement strategy after you’ve installed the software encourages adoption. Also, appoint a “super user” in each department. They can serve as “go to” people for questions or concerns.

Monitor performance

You could have some “teething” issues as your staff migrates to a new way or working. Expect them and allow for them. Monitor how your team is using the software and the performance of the solution.

Conclusion

These tips will make migrating to a new POS solution easier and faster. Having migrated, you may want to revisit the entire existing business process if you’re adding a POS solution. You may see other opportunities to simplify and streamline the process, boosting customer service and customer experience.

Change is hard. But it’s a fact of life—, especially with dry cleaning businesses. So, if your old POS software solution is failing, it’s time for a change. But do your homework to find the right POS solution for your business—one that’s easy to use, customizable, and cloud-based.

In addition, you want an easy to use POS solution that includes the key features mentioned above and provides a good ROI. Then use the tips above to migrate to the software successfully. A new POS solution can help boost productivity and profitability, and take your business to the next level.

Our dry cleaning software customers ask about merchant account rates all the time.

Questions like;

What is a good rate?

Do you know how much I should be paying?

Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as just posting rates for merchant accounts on a website. The answer is a bit more complex than you may expect.

In this article, we will prepare you to get the best merchant account rates for your dry cleaning business.

Shopping only by rate can be a mistake

For many merchants, the merchant account rates can amount to only a small portion of their overall cost.

If you only consider merchant account rates, you are excluding a long list of potentially costly factors such as:

• credit card equipment
• start‐up or termination fees
• annual fees
• contracts
• monthly minimums
• statement fees
• and many other expensive pitfalls.

Contrary to what some companies would like you to think when they boldly advertise seemingly low rates, there is no “standard” rate for merchant accounts for pricing comparison.

Visa® and MasterCard® each have hundreds of different merchant account rate categories based on the type of card, the environment in which the card is accepted, and whether all the cardholder information collected properly and accurately.

These categories are then consolidated by each processor into groupings with averaged rates called:

• qualified
• mid‐qualified
• non‐qualified

The less “qualified” the transaction, the more you are charged.

Be prepared to ask the right questions

So, when you are evaluating processors remember to avoid them, “What are your rates?” question.

Instead, try to focus on the overall expected cost of processing and factor in all potential fees.

If a company guarantees the lowest rates, ask to see it in writing.

If they have the guarantee in writing, you will quickly realize that these low merchant account rates only apply to a very small fraction of your credit card transactions.

What will the process be when you are ready to start accepting payments?

The first step is to set up a merchant account.

A merchant account is a special bank account that enables you to accept credit cards.

As a Dark POS customer, you can set up a merchant account with TSYS and link it directly to your existing POS software solution.

Once you have decided to set up a merchant account, you will need to reach out to whatever processor you chose.

They will likely ask you for some information that will help move your business through the underwriting process. The time and complexity will vary depending on your business and your processor.

In general, though, you may be asked for things like:

• Social Security number
• Employer Identification Number
• Business license
• Other things that will help the payment processor learn more about your business.

If you have additional questions about merchant processing, please reach out to our payment partner TSYS.

Have you heard? Dark POS has partnered with CardConnect to provide our customers with a fully integrated payment solution that will allow you to streamline the way you do business. This new offering brings simple, secure, and affordable processing so that you can run your business more efficiently and ensure a seamless payment experience for your customers.

By integrating CardConnect’s innovative payment technology with Enlite software, clients will benefit from a single source solution. Single payment entry means easy transaction management and reconciliation, simplifying your day-to-day business management. Even better, this solution includes all payment channels so you can process transactions anytime, anywhere. Keep reading to learn more about the many benefits of this solution!

Features to love

Seamless Customer Experience

Easily manage your business and securely accept payments, all within one platform. With CardConnect, you can easily accept transactions that can be easily reconciled inside your Enlite software, making this the perfect solution to streamline the way you do business.

Best-in-Class Security

Protect your business and customers with CardConnect’s payment security technology. Powerful features like point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and tokenization secure sensitive cardholder data for the ultimate data breach protection. Even better, these features will allow you to reduce the time and costs associated with maintaining PCI compliance.

Transaction Management + Reporting

CardConnect’s powerful CardPointe platform serves as a one-stop shop for managing your credit card transactions, drilling into transaction details, performing actions like voids and refunds, and pulling real-time reports. It’s even accessible from both a desktop app and mobile app, so transactions can be managed from anywhere. Have multiple locations? You can easily manage all of them from one login!

Accept All Payment Types

You can accept all of the major payment methods with this solution. Whether you want to accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Debit, ACH, EBT, gift cards, or even NFC (Apple Pay), we have you covered.

Interchange Optimization

An interchange rate is the base fee that credit card companies charge per transaction. CardConnect aggressively manages interchange rates and have built their technology to automatically include Level 2 and Level 3 data with a transaction, all so that you qualify for the lowest rate possible every time.

Get started today!

Dark POS is excited to offer unparalleled payment technology through our partnership with CardConnect. Together, we will help you continue to grow your business. To get started, visit here.