Auto Repair Marketing 101

Auto repair marketing is your most important responsibility as the owner of the shop. Nothing else is as fundamental to your survival. Too many times I talk to owners who let far too many other things take priority; and that’s the first step in auto repair marketing 101, make it the TOP PRIORITY!

The second key to success in auto repair marketing is figuring out exactly who your customer is. I’ll give you a couple of BIG HINTS, they live and/or work within 2-4 miles of your shop and they own at least one car that is 3 years old or older. These characteristics are pretty universal, however the more specific you can get, the more efficient (less expensive) your marketing will be. For instance, how old is your average customer? How much money do they make? How much did their house cost? What’s the average value of homes in their neighborhood? How many people like them like within 4 miles of your shop? If you don’t know how to find this information call me at 727-565-1806.

The third key to success in auto repair marketing is deciding what offer to use. Do you give away something free like an oil change or tire rotation, or do you give a significant discount on any repair the customer does? The answer is YES! You do both. A common mistake is to limit an offer to either a free/cheap oil change or a discount of some kind on any service. You severely limit the effectiveness of your marketing by doing this. There is no way you can know if the potential client is in need of an oil change or a repair so why not give him a good reason to do either or both in every marketing piece. The more ways you give the customer to save, the more likely they are to do business with you.

The fourth and final key to successful auto repair marketing is choosing the method of delivering you message to potential clients. The best method to deliver auto repair marketing is the one that gets results. I know this sounds pretty basic, but you’d be surprised how many times I see people using delivery methods that are not working and have not worked in the past simply because they have fallen in love with the method. Base your decisions on how to deliver your auto repair marketing messages on results and nothing else. This is one of the huge benefits of the internet. You can test and measure, test and measure and then test and measure some more.

If you follow these simple rules, you pass auto repair marketing 101 with flying colors. It’s not complicated; it just requires focus and attention to a few key concepts.