10 Tips on How to Market an Auto Repair Business
Many entrepreneurs try to capitalize in the automotive world because the ever-growing market is quite promising. However, the problem that many repair shop owners often face is how to promote a car repair shop to grow. Below we share 10 tips on how to market an auto repair business.
1. Market Your Shop on Social Networks
A good way to attract new customers and increase the car count in your shop is through social media strategies. Social networks like Facebook and Instagram can help disseminate information, allowing more people to know about your shop. The reach of this type of platform is staggering and continues to grow as we speak.
In addition, social networks also provide customer relationship options. Through social pages (both Facebook and Instagram), it is possible to deliver informative material, publicize promotions and other types of content. This is also a great tool to get feedback from your customers to improve any possible issues.
2. Use a Website to Promote Your Repair Shop
Even with the advancement of social networks like Facebook, the website is still the place where your company can show its essence. Social networks do not give you autonomy over layouts, page flows, among other navigation features.
On the website, you avail to the user what you want and in the way you want. The layout, buttons, content, everything is done as you want, without anyone’s interference.
You should put together a site that explains your services, provides compelling content, and delivers some value to readers. This will make your customers gain interest in the services you provide.
3. Paid Google Search Ads
By leveraging paid tactics like Google ads your auto repair business will appear at the top of google search results very fast. Google ads can be a great tactic on your marketing strategy because when a customer’s vehicle breaks down, he or she is likely to use Google to find the nearest auto shop to get help.
By searching for keywords such as “mechanic near me”, they will be able to see your ads which will direct them to visit your website, which will display the services you offer.
4. Start a YouTube Channel
By using YouTube, it is possible to convey an image of credibility by delivering information to your customers. The videos of the services you offer can be made available on a YouTube channel.
The cool thing about using YouTube as part of your strategy is that it creates engagement between your brand and your prospect. The customer can take a sneak peek at how services are done at your shop and better understand who they are hiring to fix their car. This engaging relationship with your customer makes it possible to drive more cars into your shop.
Another great advantage of using YouTube videos for your repair shop is the credibility that the video builds. The knowledge and experience of your professional team will be featured front and center. This way, your prospects can feel confident about the team taking care of their vehicle.
5. Leverage Local SEO
Who am I kidding? Local SEO for auto repair shops is probably my favorite tip on this list. By investing in local SEO, you will be able to improve your online visibility when prospects search for services you offer. The more clients that can find you the more cars you will have driving into your shop.
Let’s say your repair shop focuses on body repairs. You can optimize your website, GMB, and local directories towards “body shop” keywords. The goal of your local SEO is that when someone searches for a body shop online you show up in the top 3 spots.
6. Start an Auto Repair Blog
A repair shop can also use a Blog to your advantage by posting relevant content that customers can read when their cars are in good condition. The goal is for the customer to remember your shop regularly and visit you in case of an automobile breakdown.
Use your Blog to provide specific advice, do’s and don’ts of maintenance, maintenance schedules, and much more. Blog posts only cost you 30 minutes of your time to write or you can always outsource it for $30-$50 by hiring a freelancer. But trust me, the time you invest has a very good rate of return. This is also an important tool that will help you attract more customers to your auto repair business.
7. Promote Transparent Pricing
To drive more cars into your shop, your prices need to be competitive in your area. As you know, it’s better to make a smaller profit and focus on a high volume of cars instead of trying to make all your profit on a single customer.
With competitive prices, you will certainly win new customers and also bring customers back. If your prices are too high for a single job, you’ll have a hard time retaining that customer and it can affect your reputation.
You are in business to make a profit. Your prices should always cover the costs of the job plus a profit margin on top. However, make it easy and transparent to customers to understand your pricing ranges on different services. This way, the customer will be satisfied and will feel confident when visiting your shop for future repairs/
When your prices are exesive and unclear, the customer tends to feel unpleasant and they start sharing their bad experience. On top of losing the customer, it is even possible that he may even post complaints online as negative reviews that may affect your online reputation.
8. Setting Service Reminders
Every vehicle has maintenance schedules that customers will want to maintain in order to keep a car in good mechanical condition. A shop that can send reminders of its maintenance schedule offers a valuable service to its customers as they can better maintain the car. And you are also ensuring that that customer returns to the shop regularly.
This can be done with a simple mix of technology. If you want to do it manually, you can use Google Calendar and record each scheduled maintenance date with alerts so that an email can be sent. This is a simple way to do it that costs nothing.
9. Launch an Email Newsletter
The newsletter is an excellent tool to maintain constant communication with clients and prospects. With a little discipline, you can ask for the email addresses of all your shop customers and invite them to subscribe to the newsletter.
Periodically you can send them an email with a summary of the information you published on the Blog and possibly some promotions and offers for clients. With this newsletter, you keep yourself in the minds of your customers and prevent them from choosing another workshop for their repairs in a moment of need.
10. Text Notifications
Text message notifications are a very easy way to communicate with your customers. They are especially powerful for notifications that require customer action.
For example, when their car is ready. Both SMS and WhatsApp are easy to respond to and allow you to write communications with the customer. SMS typically has a very low cost that provides a very high return on your investment. You can earn your customers’ trust through open communication which may translate into more sales for your shop.
It is possible to increase the car count in your repair shop and boost your sales using simple techniques as we showed on this blog. By implementing these marketing tips you can certainly promote an auto repair business that can set your shop for success.
