Using Paid Search To Grow Your Dry Cleaning Business

Are you a dry cleaning business looking to grow your customer base and increase your brand awareness? If you have already exhausted the traditional methods of advertising and are wondering what’s next, you will want to try paid search advertising. As one of the fastest growing markets today, you cannot afford to underestimate the benefits of paid search marketing for your dry cleaning business.  

What’s Paid Search?

While we use the term “paid search” in this article, you may have heard of this particular type of advertising under a host of other names, including:

• PPC (pay per click) advertising
• Search engine marketing
• Sponsored searches
• Google Adwords
• … and many more

These terms have one thing in common, which is that they more or less refer to the same thing: a form of advertisement through optimizing search engine results. Paid search results are distinguished from “organic” search results in that in the latter, you do not have to pay for your website to appear on the first page of search results. Don’t get us wrong – while you do need to spend on an efficient SEO strategy to do well in organic search results, it is not the same as paid search.

What exactly, then, is paid search? Please note that in this article, we will be focusing solely on “paid search” in the context of Google due to its large market share. When you Google something as generic as “dry cleaning” or “dry cleaning near me”, the top few results are paid ads and have “Ad” stated next to their websites. As the top few results are taken up by paid search – above the best organic results – you cannot afford to rely solely on your SEO strategy and organic search results!

You may be asking now, how does Google choose which paid search ads appear with certain search results? This all comes down to the keywords and ad text you use, which you will have to bid for. Although you will have to decide on the maximum amount you are willing to pay when a user clicks on your site, you are only charged per click, which means that you never pay more than what you get.

Why Paid Search?

Now that you know what paid search is all about, let us give you some good reasons your dry cleaning business should try it out. In this industry, it’s not simply about the number of customers, but loyal customers that come back. While you can never beat the magic of word-of-mouth, paid search advertising is getting increasingly popular due to one simple fact: it works. Below are some reasons why:

• Paid search allows you to target your audience. With traditional methods of advertising such as giving out flyers, not every person you hand a flyer to will have a use for your service. That’s just part and parcel of being in the industry. However, when someone searches for “dry cleaning services” on Google, you can be 100% sure that they are looking for and need your service. Even better, with search terms like “dry cleaning near me” and “dry cleaning Los Angeles”, you can further narrow it down to customers for whom it is physically possible to use your service.
• You only pay when a customer clicks on your website. Paid search is the only form of advertising where you only pay once your ad has achieved its desired results: getting a click from a potential customer.
• The better your keywords and ad text, the lower your ad costs. It may seem increasingly like we are living in an age of meritocracy. Gone are the days where the businesses who can afford to pay most end up in top spot, regardless of ad quality. Today, small businesses can compete with larger ones when it comes to paid search due to Google’s rankings being based on quality.
• You set your own budget and only pay as much as you can afford. This is a major pull factor of paid search ads: you have complete control over how much you spend. From how much you are willing to pay for each click, your daily and monthly budget, where you want your ad to appear and who it appears to, it’s entirely up to you. This makes paid search one of the best options for small businesses that do not have a substantial budget.
• Paid search allows you to keep track of conversion rates and patterns. Conversion rate is not the only thing you can track with paid search – you can even track the actions customers are taking on your website, whether they result in sales, and many more. This allows you to constantly upgrade and improve your strategy, trying new techniques and cutting out what doesn’t work.

Making the Most of Paid Search for Dry Cleaning Businesses

What are some ways you can make paid search work to your advantage? We list them out for you below:

• Geo-targeting: What this means, in a nutshell, is selecting which ads will appear based on the searcher’s location. It goes without saying that if your dry cleaning business is located in Los Angeles, you are not going to get a conversion when someone from New York clicks on your ad. Hence, it is important to map out a specific radius around your location(s) so that only searchers in the immediate area will see your ad. If your business has more than one location, having separate ad texts for each location will be better. Your keywords should be formulated with these considerations in mind, and should include:
• Geo-specific: “Dry cleaning Los Angeles”
• Geo-intent: “Dry cleaning near me”
• Generic: “dry cleaner” “dry cleaning services”

• Scheduling your ads: Does business pick up on a particular day of the week? Perhaps Friday is when parents bring in their children’s uniforms for dry cleaning or when business types need their work clothes laundered. If so, you can adjust your ad to turn on or off on certain days of the week, or even down to certain hours of the day if necessary.
• Understanding the kinds of devices your customers use: Your ads will target all devices – from laptops to tablets and mobile phones – by default, but if you have noticed a pattern in which your customers are coming in, you may want to optimize your paid search ad to cater to that. For instance, if most of your customers are finding you through mobile search, you may want to increase your bid on mobile searches.
• Adjusting your bids accordingly: As mentioned above, there is bound to be a consumer pattern for every dry cleaning business, whether it is more customers on weekends or better conversion rates on mobile search. When you notice such a pattern, adjust your bid to be higher during this time or for a certain group of customers.

Grow Your Business with Paid Search Advertising on SmartSites

If we have managed to convince you that paid search advertising is absolutely essential for your dry cleaning business, do not delay. The sooner you start with paid search, the faster your business will expand and your conversion rates increase.

If you need a better reason to choose us, did you know that SmartSites has been ranked in the top 1% of digital marketing agencies? With an impressive track record of growing successful businesses, our paid search specialists deliver results without compromising on customer service. We strive to be completely transparent with our results through reports, providing you with actionable insights based on a detailed analysis of your ad data. If you are ready to get your dry cleaning business onboard with paid search, please do not hesitate to contact us today!