Open For Business on Facebook & Instagram

I hit my first milestone today: my laundry delivery company is open for business in Dallas! It has taken me about a month to get to this point. There’s still a lot of work to do internally, like setting up health insurance and worker’s compensation insurance and such, but at least now I can accept customers. And really that was the #1 priority. Next I need to focus on customer acquisition.

Advertising Online

When I left Tampa I also left my entire social network behind. Here in Dallas I only know a few people — I’m starting from scratch. In order to get my name out there I am spending both money and time. I’m running ads on Facebook and Instagram pointing to the newsletter sign up, the website, and directly to the order form. My goal is to test these against each other and see which converts the best. Right now there are 3 ads on Facebook and 1 ad on Instagram.

It is only the 1st day but I’m already getting good data.

You might be wondering why it is worthwhile to advertise on Instagram when it costs more than twice as much as Facebook per click. The thing I noticed about Instagram is people can like your photo (ad) without clicking on the website and that engagement does not count as a website click. Those likes are not represented in the graphic but now I have direct access to people. I know who they are and I can go follow them in hopes of a follow back.

This is huge because it builds a bond with your potential customer. Why not do the same thing on Facebook? Because a like on Facebook likes the page, and people are much less likely to like a page than an advertisement. I haven’t received a single notification on Facebook for someone liking the ad. This might change but as it stands Instagram is much better because in addition to those 8 website clicks I have 8 likes, which means direct access to 8 more potential customers. In fact I would venture to say that these likes are more valuable than the website clicks because I know who they are and I can develop a connection with them.

What I’m learning is that I need to step up my Instagram game, and it is only the first day. I should also create a campaign for Facebook page likes.

Advertising Offline

Marketing is similar to poker in that an advantage is lost when you are not there in person, physically immersed in what you are doing. Going door to door might seem absolutely outlandish in 2016, but that is exactly what I plan to do. I need to be able to see people’s faces and body language. I need to know how close they are to buying and there’s no way to do that online.

But to go door to door I need a permit from the Dallas Police Department which I am in the process of acquiring. In the meantime I’m designing print material such as flyers and cards that I can leave on people’s doors once I get the permit.

The Next Milestone

I’m setting my sights really low: 10 customers. I want to process 10 laundry orders that are from total strangers. Although there’s no deadline on this milestone there will be one on the next once I have an idea of how many customers I can get per day by going out there selling door to door.

I think it may take some time for orders to trickle in. I have to stay persistent in acquiring customers. I definitely need to have my print material ready to go as soon as I get that permit.

Final Notes

In a previous post I said the newsletter is the top of my funnel but I think that is a mistake now. I think the real top of the funnel will be my social media accounts. That is not to say the newsletter is worthless, but rather I need to double down on my strength: social media engagement.

Here is my updated to do list:

1. Build an ad wireframe and deploy new ad sets.
2. Document the back-end process from order to delivery.
3. Create a pick up & delivery calendar. Link it to the spreadsheet if possible.
4. Design print material for referrals.
5. Design print material for marketing.
6. Obtain Solicitor’s Permit.
7. Obtain health insurance.
8. Obtain workers comp insurance.

That’s it for this entry.

Thanks for reading!

Want to follow along? Feather is everywhere!

This story is part of a series documenting the journey of a 2016 Dallas startup called Feather. For your reference here is the Table of Contents for the series.

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