“White Way Cleaners’ owner, Dave Nemec, was invited to the Minneapolis City Hall to receive a “Green Business Award” in recognition for their eco-friendly cleaning methods. The dry cleaning company which is based in Stillwater, MN, switched to eco-friendly cleaning solvents in 2007 and have never looked back. “We are always looking for the next best technologies and opportunities to clean clothes with sustainable and eco-friendly practices. We have been working very hard to continue increasing our quality standards while staying as earth-friendly as possible. It’s such an honor to be recognized for these efforts,” Nemec stated.

Why eco-friendly? Because when your garments are cleaned using earth-friendly solvents, they smell better, stay brighter longer, and are softer to the touch. St Croix | White Way Cleaners has also installed a water re-circulation system, uses bio-degradable plastic bags and recycles hangers at all of their 20 Twin Cities Metro locations.”  from PRWeb

St. Croix cleaners uses a combination of  Kreussler’s SYSTEMK4 line of products and hydrocarbon for their Green Care approach. St Croix Cleaners also uses a water circulation system, effectively recycling and reusing the water supply in our dry cleaning plant.

St Croix Cleaners is a family-owned and operated, earth friendly dry cleaner. They strive to provide the highest customer service and highest quality dry cleaning to their valued customers. Their mission is provide the highest quality, non-toxic dry cleaning, laundry and specialty cleaning to the Twin Cities area, while providing excellent customer service. Values: Integrity, Quality Work, and superior customer service.

You can find St. Croix Cleaners on their website, Facebook, Twitter, and blog.

Pictured (from left to right): Patrick Hanlon – City of Minneapolis, Environmental Services, Polly & Dave Nemec – Owners, St Croix | White Way Cleaners, Kelley Nemec – Marketing Manager, St Croix | White Way Cleaners, and Mike Nelson – MN Pollution Control Agency.

“Kristy Flaherty of KMK Cleaners in Walpole has recently made the switch from dry cleaning to wet cleaning. Proponents say it has all the benefits of dry cleaning – But it’s safer, energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

It’s water-based technology that avoids toxic chemicals, like perchloroethylene (or perc), common in dry cleaning.

“People have noticed that our sweaters are softer, cleaner, clothes smell better, they don’t have that perc smell in them.  Stains are coming out, so the quality of work is so much better and it’s healthier for our consumers too,” said Flaherty.” from WWLP 22 News

Dry cleaning alternative saves $, environment

What is wet cleaning? 

“Wet cleaning chemicals are biodegradable and generally benign. As a basis of comparison, the impacts associated with wet cleaning are essentially identical to the environmental, health, and safety impacts associated with laundering.”

Regardless of the solvent you are using nothing supports your environmental initiative better then expanding your wet cleaning and no one does wet cleaning better then Kreussler, after all we invented it.

What can wet cleaning do for you as a dry cleaner?

• Increase production
• Fully utilize available capacity
• Increase customer satisfaction

“[Cleaners are] actually saving some money because they’re not having to buy the chemicals and dispose of the chemicals,” said UMass Lowell Professor Michael Ellenbecker, who also serves as the director of the Toxic Use Reduction Institute.  “Wet cleaners use less water than the dry cleaners because the dry cleaners use water for cooling… all of the utilities they use less of when they use this new system.”

The total cost of the switch is up to $70,000 dollars that environmentalists say can be made back in 2 to 3 years.  To sweeten the deal, Massachusetts is offering grants to those who invest in the dry cleaning alternative.

“Our grants are about $15,000 dollars and we work with the cleaners to convert to a new technology, assist them in getting the training they might need, setting them up with the appropriate vendors and detergents,” said Joy Onasch, the small business program manager at the Toxic Use Reduction Institute.

Photo credit by @Doug88888

What is social media?

In general, social media is online communication using Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social media platforms.

Why should you, as a small business owner, care about social media? This is where your customers are talking and you want to engage them and listen to them.

Social media is all about influencing people one-on-one; and achieving person-to-person communication that influences awareness, acceptance and behavior. Powerful tactics and tools of communication, social networks can and should play an important role in every brand-building, maintenance and protection strategy.

I recently read an article called 6 Reasons that Dry Cleaners Should Ignore Social Media and I disagreed with every point that the author made which led me to write 12 Most Spotless Reasons Dry Cleaners Should be on Social Media which is the foundation for this presentation today.

What is traditional media?

Print advertisements, coupons, radio spots and any of the other things that you have been doing for years.

Should you do both? Absolutely!

Integrated media is combining the new media with traditional media. No need to throw the baby out with the bath water. Traditional media still has its place and value in your marketing plan.

BUT you should take advantage of social media as well and put it into the mix to reach your customers where they are talking.

Word of mouth marketing is very strong and information travels very quickly through social media. Here is an example of how word of mouth marketing works for Facebook.

Susie moves to a new town. She friends her new neighbors on Facebook. While she is updating her own status, she sees that her neighbor just liked a coupon for a local dry cleaner. Susie doesn’t have a dry cleaner yet but she checks out the Facebook page and likes it so she starts seeing coupons in her Facebook timeline from the cleaner. She asks her neighbor about their pick up and delivery service and gets a rave review. Susie uses the Facebook coupon and sets up her first delivery pick up from the dry cleaners Facebook tab. Sound easy? While reaching their current customers, the dry cleaner also reaches all their customers friends as well.

Build relationships

Let your customers know who you are and what your company does in your community. Tiffany Couture Cleaners does a wonderful job on their Facebook page and Twitter account letting their customers know what they are doing and connecting their staff with their customers. On Halloween the staff at Tiffany’s dressed up and they shared the photo on their Facebook page. What a great way to show who they are, that Tiffany’s is a fun place to work and featuring their staff who will be interacting with their customers is a great way to build the relationships with their clients.

Have you thought about short videos? How can they help you reach your customers?

8 Ways to Use 15 Second Videos to Connect With Your Customers

#1 Share your events

#2 Highlight a company milestone

#3 Share a promotion or weekly special

Customer service

Many businesses are afraid to get involved in social media because someone might write a negative comment on Facebook or tweet that they’re shirts where ruined. This is why you SHOULD be involved so you can respond to customers.

This is an example of a Facebook post by Magnolia Bakery in New York City. Magnolia Bakery started as a small neighborhood bakery with a few employees and now people wait in lines around the corner to get their delicious cupcakes. Magnolia has expanded to social media and here is a post they made on Facebook which received 482 likes, 30 comments and 47 shares! Magnolia has 73,573 Facebook fans, a perfect example of a small business that has grown with a great product, word of mouth and continuing their growth with social media and the internet. You can now order their fantastic baked products and have them delivered to your home.

Social media is a conversation.

It has been said many times that social media is like a cocktail party. There is great potential to promote your products within social media but it must be done the right way. You wouldn’t enter a room and immediately start talking about yourself and pushing your products. You can’t enter the online world and expect everyone to be immediately fascinated with your message.

How to Promote Yourself Without Being a Jerk

Social Listening

Because you are in a conversation on social media, it is important to be listening more than you are talking. There are easy ways to make sure that you hear what your customers, followers and community are saying. Set up alerts with Social mention or Google Alerts for your company name or important keywords such as dry cleaner or the name of your town to get up to the minute news from the web. This can be used to keep you up-to-date and also feed your content to share on your Facebook page or other platform.

Social Media Monitoring 101 How to Get Started

Topsy

How to Simplify Your Social Monitoring

Are you mobile ready?

What is mobile marketing? SMS or texts, QR codes, mobile responsive websites that people see via their smartphones.

Three Mobile Marketing Questions Your Business Needs to Answer

Mobile Marketing: How to Reach Your Buyers Wherever They Are

Invite customers to tweet photos of their favorite outfit or holiday table to enter a contest. Many small businesses that have been successful with mobile marketing started out studying how big companies were using it, and then borrowed the tactics that worked for them.

3 Steps to Determine if Social Local Mobile is Right for your Business or SoLoMo. It’s the convergence of social, location-based and mobile marketing into a new category of tools that many businesses are using to acquire new customers. Examples of SoLoMo: Yelp, Facebook Places and Foursquare.

How can you get started?

Keep in mind that starting in social media is like getting a puppy. It’s cute and cuddly but it also needs to be fed, taken for walks and loved.

Start a Facebook Page for your business.

Plan on updating it on a regular basis. Create a calendar of events, holidays and specials that you will be running so you can have things ready to go.

12 Most Effective Ways to Market Your Business with Facebook

Facebook 101 for Business: Your Complete Guide

Facebook Engagement Tips to Power Up Your Page

Start a Twitter Account for your business

1. Set up your profile with professional design work to match your current branding.
2. Create an interesting profile with links to your website.
3. Use a few keywords that you would like people to find you with such as dry cleaner and your town. Work it into the text “Boston’s #1 Dry Cleaner” or Stop by Hartford’s #1 Dry Cleaner” so that people will find you when they search.

Plan on tweeting at least once a day optimally 4 times per day if you have good content to share. Check Twitter to make sure you’re talking with your followers and tweeting back to those to mention you.

In the beginning, it is good to set up notifications on Twitter and Facebook so you know when someone mentions you or comments on your page.

How to start a Company Twitter Account

Twitter Tips for Newbies

5 Strategies for Using Twitter Effectively

Tips for a Fabulous Social Media Profile

How to Build Customer Relationships with Twitter

I hope that this information helps give some background on what social media is and why you should be involved in it as a small business owner. Please let me know if you have any questions or stories about how it’s helped your business.

Featured image courtesy of ►CubaGallery via Creative Commons.

Are you heading to the NEFA Fall Fest this month? Cleaners from all over the region will be attending on November 16 – 18, 2012. Kreussler Inc. supports NEFA and their efforts for bringing quality educational sessions combined with networking opportunities for all their membership.

NEFA’s Fall Fest is returning to Sturbridge MA this November.  Based in the heart of NEFA Territory it is easily accessible from all parts of NEFA.  This years Management Conference and Table Top exhibit is already shaping up to be one of the largest — and most important yet.

Click here for the complete schedule & to register!  NEFA will be focusing on these topics:

• Maximizing Your Marketing Budget
• Increasing Productivity and Profitability
• Managing your Business to Maximize Value
• Navigating the New Environmental Reality
• Making Membership Pay for Itself
• Turning Customer Service Reps into Superstars
• Heads Up! Fabric and Fashions From the DLI Analysis

Please contact NEFA Executive Vice President, Peter Blake if you have any questions or would like to participate in this event: (peteblke@aol.com ~ 800-442-6848) Hope to see you there!

Featured image courtesy of life is good (pete) via Creative Commons.

Invitation from the FTC to comment

As part of the Federal Trade Commission’s systematic review of all current FTC rules and guides, the FTC is seeking public comment on proposed changes to the Rule that requires manufacturers and importers to attach labels with care instructions for garments and certain piece goods, so consumers have reliable instructions for dry cleaning or washing, bleaching, drying and ironing their clothing. The Commission proposes amending the Rule to: (1) allow garment manufacturers and marketers to include instructions for professional wet cleaning on labels; (2) permit the use of ASTM Standard D5489-07, “Standard Guide for Care Symbols for Care Instructions on Textile Products,” or ISO 3758:2005(E), “Textiles – Care labeling code using symbols,” in lieu of terms; (3) clarify what can constitute a reasonable basis for care instructions; and (4) update the definition of “dry clean.” In addition, the Commission seeks comment on several other issues.

What is social media? “Social Media is the new Wild, Wild West of Marketing, with brands, businesses, and organizations jostling with individuals to make news, friends, connections and build communities in the virtual space. A plethora of platforms ranging from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to a vast variety of newly emerging and rapidly dwindling services, like, Foursquare and MySpace, social media is all about influencing people one-on-one; and achieving P2P (person-to-person) communication that influences awareness, acceptance and behavior. Powerful tactics and tools of communication, social networks can and should play an important role in every brand-building, maintenance and protection strategy.”  Deborah Weinstein — Strategic Objectives More thoughts on what social media is here: 30 Social Media Definitions

As the Director of Marketing and Social Media Manager for Kreussler Inc., I feel I am uniquely qualified to write this piece as I work with social media and dry cleaners. Kreussler Inc. works in the dry cleaning industry and supplies chemicals to dry cleaners. We are involved with Twitter and Facebook. I encourage all dry cleaners and other small business owners to be involved in social media and here is why:

1. Build relationships

Imagine that Mrs. Jones just moved to a new town, she doesn’t have a dry cleaner yet. She makes some new friends and they friend each other on Facebook. Mrs. Smith likes a comment on her dry cleaners page and Mrs. Jones sees this in her timeline. She didn’t ask Mrs. Smith directly for a referral for a dry cleaner but she got a vote of approval on Facebook. She likes the dry cleaners Facebook page, checks out their location and decides to try them out.

2. Maintain client relationships

Studies have shown that people who like a brand on Facebook are more loyal and spend more money with them. More information at The Real Value of a Facebook Like.

3. Community outreach 

Facebook and Twitter are great places to stay involved with your community. Share community events and talk about what your business is doing in your town. Small businesses are the heart of every town and your small business is no exception. Puritan Cleaners posted this cute photo guaranteed to get a few likes.

4. Blend your traditional marketing with social media

Starting with social media doesn’t mean that you need to stop your older methods of reaching clients, especially if they have worked for you. Using your existing methods can help boost your new social media program. Small businesses should have an updated website to list their hours and services which can work together with newer media.

5. Fantastic marketing opportunity

Share your services, your hours, your “customer of the month,” you name it! Social media is direct, current, and easily available. Take the time to learn some of the tips and tricks to most effectively reach your clients and jump in!

6. Word of mouth marketing starts in social media today

Remember this commercial?

Well, today if someone likes something, they don’t just tell two friends they tell ALL their friends on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Word of mouth buzz for your services has never had the opportunity to reach so many people!

Take a look at this case study on Word of Mouth Marketing Association‘s (WOMMA) website: Snackers look to Social for New Products.  ”Whether it be a car wash, a dry cleaner, your neighborhood Chinese restaurant, or your favorite snack foods, all brands and services can greatly benefit from passionate and genuine advocacy.” Imagine your very best customer sharing the story of their love for your small business to potential customers. Now make it happen with social media! Creating a Facebook page gives your advocates a place to share their recommendations and learn more about your brand.

7. Nine out of ten businesses are present on at least one social media platform

Of course, you should be too! It would not be prudent at this stage of the social media game to ignore it. You don’t need to jump into all the different platforms at once, start with Facebook and branch out to Twitter when you are comfortable. Pinterest is also a fun way to get in social media.

8. Chances are your competitors are already there

Don’t lose market share and a competitive edge by letting the cleaner across the street talk to your customers.

9. Make sure you are listening to what your customers are saying about you on social media

Social media is a conversation so you need to be listening to what you customers are saying. Worried that you might get a customer complaint on Facebook? Guess what, it is going to happen but you can use it as an opportunity to fix the problem and rebuild the relationship with your customer. If you aren’t there to respond, it is much more damaging.

10. Talk to your customers where they are talking

4.8 billion people now own mobile phones. Just 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.  My first thought, “ICK!” Second thought: “Bet they would love to get a coupon for 20% off their next dry cleaning order on their smart phone so they can use it when they stop in later.” Check out the great infographic with more info here.

11. Build your brand

People like to do business with people they like — humanize your brand with social media. Tiffany Couture Cleaners posts a fun picture of Pooh waiting to be cleaned which is engaging and interesting. Instead of just receiving a static coupon in the mail, let them see the picture from your company softball game over the weekend or something fun!

12. Increase your bottom line!

Studies have shown that social media has increased revenue for companies by 24%. Here’s some great information: What’s a Facebook Like or Twitter Follower Worth to Brands?

I’d also like to mention that in the post, the writer says “10 Reasons Why Dry Cleaners Should (initially) Ignore Social Media” but then only lists six in the article and title. I am guessing he didn’t have four other thoughts on why they should ignore social media.

As you can see, social media is the PERFECT place for a dry cleaner or any small business. What are your thoughts on social media for small business? Any other suggestions or arguments about dry cleaners being on social media?

Republished with permission, courtesy of 12 Most.

Let’s get look at the dry cleaning industry and see where people are spending their time on social media.  List.ly is an online site that allows easy, interactive lists that grow and change with each addition.

Just use this link and share your social media usage.

Along the way where they will have tweet up events and many memories will be made as they bring awareness for breast cancer. Peggy has created a Pinterest Board for Breast Cancer Awareness for HerHighway journey and it will be updated throughout this experience with photos, articles and resources to gain awareness for this important cause.

Kreussler Inc. is proud to help bring awareness for breast cancer, applauds HerHighway for their incredible task of organizing this event and of our involvement.

If you would like to help with a direct donation for the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation, here is a link.

In photo: Dr. Detlev Travers (pink tie, center) and Mrs. Christa Travers-Kreussler  (in white pants and pink jacket) and Dr. Stephan Travers center with Kreussler Inc. employees.

What makes Kreussler unique is that it is not only a family owned company but also a company that operates as a family with teamwork and perseverance building upon each success and continuing to grow. It is large enough to compete in the global playing field but small enough for everyone to know each other’s name. Forward thinking and always on the cutting edge, Kreussler maintains and strengthens  its presence on six of the seven continents worldwide with each passing year.

To quote Dr. Stephan Travers, who gave an inspiring speech and runs Kreussler today,

“Using this anniversary year to look back at our past also lets us look towards the future, because awareness of the positive and encouraging events from the past serves as the starting point and springboard for our future successful development.”

The celebration was held at the lovely Schloss Biebrich (Biebrich Palace) which “ is a Baroque residence in the borough of Biebrich in the city of Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. Built in 1702 by Prince Georg August Samuel of Nassau-Idstein, it served as the ducal residence for the independent Duchy of Nassau from 1816 until 1866.”

Kreussler Inc. wishes to thank all their loyal and supportive customers throughout North and South America and hopes that you will join us in this celebration of our first 100 years.