Auto Repair Shop Website Marketing Blog

Many companies spend big bucks attracting customers who will never stick around long enough to pay back what it costs to acquire them. Are you wasting your marketing dollars on bad customers?

The auto repair industry as a whole is fighting a generally accepted bad reputation. Building trust with new customers is tough when the public's poor perception is supported by independent studies. The following three part approach can be very effective in developing your reputation and attracting long term customers: awareness, referrals, and an impeccable track record.

The terms advertising and marketing are often mistakenly interchanged but they have quite different meanings. Understanding their proper definitions can help you define and implement a marketing plan for your auto repair business.

Some say that plagiarism is a form of flattery. I call it outright intellectual property theft. A nasty form of disrespect that seems to have become all too common these days. And I'm sick of it. And here is what I'm going to do...

If you think you can ignore social media and ratings and review sites, think again. Check out this short, thought provoking video on the impact of social media on EVERYONE. It asks (and answers) the simple question: Is social media a fad?

Here are some though provoking quotes from the video:

Someone asked me yesterday to do some Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work on their auto repair shop website. I declined. It wasn't that I didn't want to help, but more that no amount of SEO could make the website perform. What was needed was a total rebuild of the website.

Do you dare get your business into the social media arena? Are you afraid you will only expose yourself to complainers? You will be happy to know that by far the greater number of Yelp.com users who post reviews give businesses a thumbs up. While there are no guarantees of five star reviews, the feedback will allow you to improve your service quality. And besides, people are going to talk about you regardless so you might as well participate in the party. Social media may be the best free automobile service marketing idea available.

Developing customer trust starts by focusing on website content and features. Auto repair shop websites need to make a personal connection and communicate trustworthiness to viewers. Building a feeling of trust should be the overriding website design objective.

If you have been wondering if social media could help your auto repair shop marketing check out Yamato Auto Repair's Yelp profile. If you have any doubts that social networking and customer driven advertising can attract new auto repair customers just check out the 49+ glowing, thumbs up reviews these guys have. Why wouldn't anyone want to do business with them. One of the strongest examples of referral marketing I've seen. And best of all, it's free!

Bad economic conditions often force auto repair shop management to look for expenses to cut. Slashing auto repair shop marketing budgets is easy, offers an immediate solution to cash flow problems, but is the worst mistake possible. Outsmart your competition by continuing your marketing - just spend your dollars more wisely. Be primed and ready for economic recovery.

How to stabilize auto repair shop car counts through better management of marketing and advertising. Increase auto repair customer acquisition and retention throughout the year. Decrease marketing spending and increase results.

A fabulous example of free automotive service advertising from social media. Any automotive repair shop looking for a great example of free auto repair marketing needs to check out this local community forum posting that just keeps on attracting new customers.

When dealing with service failures (screw-ups) and angry customers you really need to think about the long term consequences of how you respond. Social Networking is all about getting people to talk about you. The powerful aspect of this is that what is said lives on the Internet virtually forever. Positive chatter is like a credibility savings account that goes on paying dividends. Negative rants are sticky, reoccurring public relation nightmares that will never go away.

Auto repair shop websites can save you money

Stop spending a fortune on traditional print advertising! Newspapers, flyers, local directories, and Yellow Page print advertising all cost huge amounts with questionable returns. Sure a well designed ad may catch a prospect's eye, but people are still very wary of doing business with an unknown company. Most small businesses just can't afford the size of print advertisement copy that will provide the information that will convert prospects into customers.

Your online social reputation is quickly becoming the life blood of a strong marketing plan. Consumers are dumping their heavy telephone yellow Pages directories and turning to the Internet – 21 million visited Yelp.com in May 2009 alone! Every auto repair shop should be working hard at building social proof of their competence and trustworthiness.

The new social media websites seem to be a perfect way to connect with new customers but will social media such as Yelp, MerchantCircle, Twitter, or Facebook work for auto repair shops?

Marketing is all about connecting with people. For advertising to be effective you need the person's attention and interest. Social networking can be a fabulous marketing tool if your target market participates and you provide a common 'local' interest to bring them together.

Asking for referrals is a great way to find new customers. But being more referable will work even better according to John Jantsch in his article 7 Signs Your Marketing May Need to Evolve. Once you've got people talking about you stop paying for expensive, ineffective advertising and rely on referrals only marketing!

What would happen if your business only accepted new customers referred by your current customers? No more advertising. No more discounting. Referrals only. Would your business grow, just survive, or quickly die? If the thought of depending on referrals alone frightens you your problem is not auto repair shop marketing – it's service quality.

Social media has given your customers a loudspeaker and you need to monitor what they are saying about you. The Internet provides consumers with limitless vocal power – both positive and negative. Size doesn't matter in this game. Big or small any company can have their reputation damaged by rumors, service complaints, and even malicious competitors. You need to be proactive about building a solid online reputation that can withstand the inevitable service failure complaints of everyday business operations.

Local search business listings in Google, Yahoo, Bing search engines are vital to auto repair service shops. The more information about your company out there, the greater chance people are going to find you. It only takes a few minutes to create a listing and where else can you get great free advertising like this!

When auto repair shop repairs fail customers react in three basic ways. In all cases there is a very high likelihood you will lose the customer. With proactive follow up communications dissatisfied customers can be uncovered, problems fixed, prevent future service failures, and if you recover well, you can prevent losing the customer.

Reputation rescue

Unhappy customers destroy loyalty and repeat business. Most dissatisfied customers are vocal but silent, unhappy customers are missed opportunities to win the customer back and protect your reputation. When auto repair shop service failures happen, and they will, how you recover makes the difference between being “the best” shop or a “don't go there” shop.

Customers are more willing to forgive service problems if they are recommended to your auto repair shop by a friend. Are you actively asking your customers for recommendations? Robert Maxim has a number of tools to encourage personal recommendations and help build a loyal following of great customers.

Should you charge environmental fees?

It's all in the presentation

Auto repair shops spend big bucks to dispose of waste generated from repairing vehicles and it is only fair business practise to pass this expense on to the customer. However shops need to be careful how the expense is presented to their customers. Using a separate environmental fee on invoices can have a serious negative impact on the shop's reputation. Instead of highlighting your shops concern for the environment, itemized fees may make your customers feel like they're being gouged.

Power of the collective voice

On-line Social Networking^[1] is a recent phenomenon that has exploded in popularity. One outcome of this new virtual community is a collection of shared consumer experiences. Participants are using these collective reviews of products and services to make informed buying decisions. Auto repair shop owners should be participating in these online communities to promote their businesses.

Be careful that uniqueness and service specialization doesn't put you out of business. If you become so specialized or unique there may not be enough customers to support your business. This may seem obvious but many operators seem to be unaware of the basics of marketing and business management.

Give them what they want

Are you worried by all the competition in the auto repair and service market? Are you losing customers to big chain and speciality shops? What is it that people are attracted to? The answer is uniqueness. Consumers are willing to pay more for what they can't get elsewhere. Are you providing what your customers want?

Are you a low price leader?

Leaders and losers

To thrive in a price driven market you need to to be a low price LEADER. Some auto repair shops know they're leaders. Some think they're leaders. Many don't know they're losers. Consumers know the difference and quickly find the leader. What are you?

A different way of thinking about advertising

Traditional auto repair shop advertising has got it all backwards. Typically you spend huge amounts of largely wasted money attempting spreading your message to everyone. If your lucky you attract a few prospects who are reluctantly interested in what you are offering. The problem is that almost everyone has become numb to the daily bombardment of hit-or-miss advertising. We just plain ignore it. Maybe what you need to do is forget trying to communicate to EVERYONE and make it easier for the TRULY INTERESTED prospects to find YOU.

Flash or cash?

A pretty website sure looks good but research^[1] tells us that a fancy website doesn't attract users or cash flow. If fact it can drive users away^[2][3] and leave you with an unproductive, expensive monument. Content and how your website is constructed is what your customers want and your bank account needs!

Basics Win

Advertise or die

Often when business slows down the first expense to be cut is advertising. Bad idea. There is an old saying in the auto service business that you must advertise or you die! But advertising doesn't mean you have to spend bags of money. There are many methods of auto repair advertising and not all cost big bucks. What you need to do is find something you can afford. And keep doing it!