Auto Repair Shop Marketing Specialist
Articles and writing about auto repair shop marketing
The new social media websites seem to be a perfect way to connect with new customers but will social media such as Yelp, 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.
Customer referrals are a great way to find new customers. Being more referable will make referrals work even better. To get customer referrals you need to become so remarkable customers can't stop talking about you. And once you've got people talking about you can 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.
Traditional advertising has got it all backwards. It just doesn't work for small businesses who don't have ad budgets in the millions. Auto repair advertising needs to be very targeted and product specific.
Typical advertising spends huge amounts of largely wasted money attempting spreading your message to everyone. If your lucky you attract a few prospects who are possibly interested in what you are offering. Most times they forget who you are by the time they actually need you.
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.
Are you worried by all the competition in the auto repair and service market? Are you losing customers to big chain stores, specialty shops, dealerships? 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?
To thrive in a price driven market you need to to be a HIGH VALUE 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?
The High Value LEADER offers the lowest price for highest quality products resulting in high consumer value.
In contrast the low price LOSER provides low pricing for low quality products. Think poor value. Consumers notice the difference and the High Value LEADER becomes the winner.
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!
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, fine tune it, and keep doing it! Consistency counts!
RobMax Web Solutions